The following files have been made available for download ahead of the upcoming APCM. If anyone would like a hard copy of these, please contact Helen in the office.
2015 Annual Report
2015 group reports
April 7th Vestry minutes
2014 APCM minutes
Five Year Plan 2015-2020
As you know, we have been waiting to launch the plan until the building project is complete. Since January 2012, there have been consultations, meetings, reflections, bible studies, and prayers on what we need to do to plan to keep moving as a church.
This process culminated in January 2015, when PCC reviewed and approved the final version. So the time to launch the plan has arrived, and below is the final version we will be using to shape our thinking.
We hope you’re excited to grab hold of the opportunities they represent!
There will be a short presentation, some discussion and prayer on Saturday 24 January, 9.30-11am.
From then on, we pray that the Lord will continue to bless the work of St John’s in preaching the good news of Jesus Christ to this generation, making and growing mature disciples to continue the Lord’s work into the future.
Vicar, Wardens and PCC
Five Year Plan 2015-2020
Overall theme: ‘A fearless church’
Teaching
Aim: to ensure we are united by what we believe
• Continue to train teachers through the North West Partnership Course (a further 20).
• Develop a wider variety of ways of learning together (eg Catechism).
• Invite regular guest speakers (c. three per year) from like-minded churches.
• Hold monthly Q&A sessions with the Vicar in services.
• Reintroduce monthly ‘Cafe Church’ or similar format.
• Strengthen national and international links with like-minded bodies.
Discipleship
Aim: to grow a closer, deeper and stronger walk with Jesus
• Run one annual discipleship course, eg Yr1 parenting, Yr2 marriage MOT, Yr3 [TBC], Yr4 people into ministry, Yr5 [TBC].
• Run quarterly special in-depth seminars on pressing topics.
• Create database of gifts/skills, and look to nurture and develop people’s skills.
• Encourage more active PCC membership eg commitment to service.
• Observe continuous improvements in planned giving year-on-year.
• Increase membership on Electoral Roll.
Fellowship
Aim: to ensure we encourage and admonish one another in love.
• Introduce informal and engaging pieces into the morning service prayerbook format.
• Make the monthly prayer meeting essential, and have additional prayer opportunities.
• Arrange two church family social events per year, combined with Toft.
Mission & Evangelism
Aim: to enable us to reach the lost with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
• Start/source an annual apologetics course.
• Create open events and social action specifically for our community (that values what they value).
• Noticeably increase the attendance at the Sunday services through making new Christians.
• Enable and encourage people to enter politics/government.
• Explore the opportunities to plant a church.
• Continue to partner Christians around the world, and to encourage church family members to serve in overseas mission.
Joining Reform
Reform are currently having a membership drive, and we are encouraging as many people as possible to sign up. The reason we are supporting them in this is because they support traditional orthodox Anglican churches like ours by standing up for us. They are frequently the spokespeople for the Conservative Evangelical position, and they do that with great eloquence and persuasion.
However, without a larger membership, they risk being portrayed as minor and marginal.
So would you consider joining Reform?
It’s for everyone, not just clergy. And it’s simple. Click here, and fill in the online form.
Alternatively, if you click here, a form will be downloaded, and you can print and fill it in, ready for sending.
If you need more information about them, go to their website (here). There is full information about everything they stand for, and recent media campaigns they have waged.
Anglican Teaching on Marriage
Nigel writes:
‘In the light of the introduction of controversial legislation to redefine marriage to include same-sex relationships, I invite you all to remind yourself of the Church of England’s teaching on marriage. This helpful PDF document (prepared by Rev Stephen Trott) presents the teaching  clearly, together with the implications of the new legislation.’
The Pilling Report
On Sunday, Nigel made reference to the ‘House of Bishops Working Group on Human Sexuality’ (known as the Pilling Report), saying it could have significant ramifications for the Church of England – and possibly for St John’s – since it could make the position of orthodox churches like ours untenable.
You can find a copy of the full report here.
Nigel also mentioned the Bishop of Birkenhead’s dissenting statement in Appendix 3, a copy of which can be found here. It is a faithful, robust and Biblical defence of the church’s orthodox position on sexuality, for which we should be very grateful – especially given the slant of the rest of the report. If you would like to write a short note of encouragement and thanks, the Bishop’s email is here.
Global Anglican Futures Conference 2013
The churches of St John’s Knutsford and St John’s Toft were represented by Rev Dan Young at this important conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, 21-26 October 2013. The Conference, the second of its kind, was organised to provide an occasion for discussing the future of the Anglican church worldwide, particularly in view of the pressures in every province to conform to a secular agenda, and consequently to abandon scriptural truth and Anglican tradition.
The Nairobi Communique is the official summary of the resolutions of the Conference – and it is regarded as a remarkable statement of Christian unity and doctrinal clarity given the wide backgrounds of the 1300+ delegates from dozens of countries around the world. It is a powerful demonstration of what biblically-faithful gospel partnership might look like for churches like St John’s that face an uncertain future in a rapidly changing Church of England.
There is an encouraging video with  highlights of the week, and more videos, PDFs and audio resources can be found at www.gafcon.org. The talks by Michael Ovey and William Taylor (to follow) are recommended.
If you would like to know more, please do catch Nigel, Dan, John or Julija for a chat.