Church News
' "Look, another man running alone," the king said, "He must be bringing good
news." ' 2 Samuel 18:26
This March elections had two candidates and bth were elected. This means that Vicky Gray and and Angela Clarke are now Deacons. Andrea decided not to stsnd for re-electitn.
2023/4
Phil Black who was elected last year Phil has kindly agreed to continue in the role of treasurer for another year hoping that in that year he can train up a replacement.
Meeting dates The deacons will meet on Sept 5th. at10.30. Any questions, moans or gripes please hand them to a deacon in writing in good time before their meeting.
Church Meeting at 10.30 SaturdayNov 18thept 14th
The Manse
Probably the last update! The Manse is now operational!
Rhiannon and Ceinwen are now in residence and getting into a regular routine with Ceinwen attending school. Now she can walk there!
Why we have had to spend on the manse.
No major work has been carried out for at least 20 years on the manse. Following the tenants move into their own property we have learnt that if we wished to let it to new tenants we would have to carry out major refurbishment so the work we are carrying out to make it fit for Rhiannon would have been necessary for any tenant. What has become apparent is that the kitchen, bathroom and central heating boiler at a minimum will need to be replaced as well as redecorating throughout. this work is now in progress. Hopefully we will discover no more 'nasties' as the work is carried out. What all this means is that the monies we have put aside plus some generous donations will not be sufficient and the reserves that we had earmarked to ensure that we could fund Rhiannon for at least three years will have to be raided. Phil therefore in his role as treasurer made a plea for members to think seriously about their offering to the church and whether that could be increased, ideally by standing order and gift aided. Standing orders allow Phil to plan expenditure knowing that he has a steady stream of income coming in.
October 16th 2021
Was a great day in the life of Mount Carmel when the Reverend Rhiannon Francis was formally inducted to the pastorate of Mount Carmel.
The Church was full downstairs and with a goodly number in the gallery. Orders of service had been printed and placed on seats but in addition key moments and hymns were shown on the back wall for all to see. Even the sound system forgot its recent foibles and behaved itself. We were also blessed with the presence of Alistair Jenkins, a personal friend of Rhiannon, and his box of musical tricks that made the piano sound as if it had some friends along.
A key moment for some was the welcome to Ceinwen, Rhiannon's 4 year old by the the Church and her obvious delight when given a delayed birthday present.
After the service refreshments were on hand at the back of the Church. Many positive comments were received from our visitors and thanks are due to Marjorie and Cilla who spent all day Friday sandwich making, bagging up and labelling everything in compliance with Covid rules.
Overseeing all the work and preparations was Jenny our indefatigable Church Secretary. Preparing the order of service and setting up the computer was Anne who had a hotline to Rhiannon whilst doing this.
Those who contributed to the preparations were pleased to receive compliments from our many visitors on the whole service, the welcome and the refreshments.
Rhiannon's first Sunday
Rhiannon's first Sunday was on Oct 3rd and she preached on a harvest theme challenging us all to consider others less fortunate than us not only in our giving but in our use of the resources at our disposal.
We have a challenging time ahead!
Church Anniversary
Before the induction we had another important day in the church calendar. The Church Anniversary and Gift Day when we give thanks for those believers who decided that there was a need for an English language chapel in Caerphilly and worked hard to bring it into being. This is our opportunity to donate for the continuation of that work as we go forward in the future with a young and energetic new minister.
Phil (treasurer) will be pleased to accept donation and reminded me that we were unable to hold the Anniversary service last year so he is hoping that you will be able to support the Church at this busy time.
A special collection box was placed at the exit door from the Sanctuary and was left there until the end of September. If you still wish to give for the work at Mount Carmel, cheques made payable to Mount Carmel Baptist Church will still be gratefully received by Phil.
The path to a new minister.
The Church finally paid off the loan that was generously given to enable the renovation to take place in July of last year and the deacons' minds turned to the question that has been on many of the membership. ' Can we afford a Minister?' After much checking of figures and discussions with regional Ministers they decided that yes we could but only on a half time basis. we had discussions with one possible candidate but they were also talking to another church and they opened up earlier than us so that person went there.
We had submitted our Church Profile which had been approved by a majority of members and then were offered the profile of another possible candidate and the deacons decided to meet that person. That went well and they have now preached twice in recent months at Mount Carmel. At a specially convened Church Meeting it was decided unanimously by the members present to invite the Rev Rhiannon Francis to come again and this time 'Preach with a view to the pastorate of Mount Carmel on a halftime basis'
This took place on Sunday July 18th with a Special Church Meeting on the following Thursday July 22nd that decided to go forward with this candidate.
Bethel Penyrheol are also continuing to hold a zoom service at ,4pm on Sunday, which Mount Carmelites are welcome to join, this will continue for the immediate future and will be led by the Rev Andy Ralph the link is:-
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86056242626
The radio 4 services have continued at 8.10am.
The Diaconate
One of the unfortunate casualties of the Virus lockdown was the postponing of the Church AGM for 2021 and that in turn meant that the deacons election could not take place as usual. The deacons decided that instead a postal ballot would be held. This took place and the result was that all three candidates secured the necessary votes to succeed. This means that Andrea Bridgeman will continue on the diaconate. That Kate Foad after a gap of some years returns to the diaconate where her experience is welcomed and Judith Palmer is welcomed to the diaconate for the first time. Your prayers are requested for these sisters.
As an aside, more votes were cast in this election than we usually get at an AGM.
The diaconate are meeting when decisions are required. Initially by means of the video conferencing app 'ZOOM'. But now masked face to face we meet again in the Church. If you have proposals/questions or other matters related to the Church please do not hesitate to contact one of the deacons.
The pastoral roundup is put together by Anne and besides its use to spread information from Jenny it depends on the readers to supply information, news, thoughts and a few funnies. It goes out to all on our email circulation plus physical distribution in paper form by Jenny, Mike and Anne. The aim is to reach all regular attendees. Contributions are always welcome.
THE CONSTITUTION
UPDATE: The pandemic put all our plans in disarray and not just ours the government as well. They have now put the deadline for adopting these new constitutions back by 10 years! Pressure off. It also means that the new constitution will have to take into account Hybrid ways of communicating i.e. video meetings etc.
Collection Envelopes
The new envelopes are pale green in colour and will start to be used from May 3rd 2021. Please do not use the old pink envelopes from that date.
DEACONS
The election of deacons will take place at the next Full Annual General Meeting of the church when it can be held. Please consider prayerfully who you think might usefully serve the church and give it serious prayerful thought if asked yourself.
PARKING
Disaster after all of Marjorie's dogged efforts had borne fruit we had permission to park in the car park by the Domino Pizza shop on Sunday Mornings between 10am and 1pm. They have now installed a number plate recognition system that is unable to tell whether you go to Mount Carmel on a Sunday morning. We need it to be upgraded to a truly intelligent system that can detect Mount Carmelites!
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GARFIELD WESTON FOUNDATION COMES TO THE RESCUE YET AGAIN!
Do you believe the old wives’ tale that lightning never strikes twice in the same place? Well, experiences at Mount Carmel prove the converse! Allow me to explain in 2013 after a costly roof repair (£49, 000), an internal survey of the Church Sanctuary revealed dry rot, wet rot and rising damp necessitating a complete refurbishment of the Sanctuary at a further cost of £150, 000!!
This massive sum was addressed via a Pledges Scheme involving members of the Church Fellowship in addition to generous donations from the Caerphilly Town Council, Allchurches Trust and a most generous donation from the Garfield Weston Foundation (£10, 000) without which the Church would have struggled financially for a much longer period. Lightning strike one!
Fast forward to August 2018 and lightning strike two materialises!
A late-August deluge (torrential rain!) exposed the weaknesses in the Tea Room roof and, before a repair could be implemented further, inclement weather resulted in the need for a replacement roof and the total refurbishment of the interior of the Tea Room, a room intrinsic to our worship, particularly the Children’s Ministry flourishing in the Church at this time. Total cost of the necessary remedial work: £33,000, funds which the Church did not have at its disposal. Once again, generous donations from Caerphilly Town Council, Allchurches Trust, and the members of the Mount Carmel Church Fellowship, but none more so than the massive £10,000 donation from the Garfield Weston Foundation, (our knights in shining armour!), allowing our worship and community missional work to proceed apace. As a Diaconate and Church Fellowship we are so grateful for all donations received!
You must also be aware of another saying: every picture tells a story! In this respect, I have included a series of pictures which narrate the whole story of the Refurbished Tea Room Roof from the August deluge to the refurbished Tea Room in full swing.
All that remains is to remember, too, that God is Good all the time, and all the time God is Good!
Tea room before leak
Tea time at Messy Church
Food prepared for Messy Church
Somebody is enjoying the food
Crafting at Messy Church
Buckets to collect rain water
Leaky ceiling
Leaky roof from above
Repair from above
Tea after the repair on a Sunday
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We are also extremely grateful to this organisation as they have supported us at a very difficult time and enabled us to go forward in our mission to the local community.
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IF YOU ARE IMPRESSED, AND WOULD LIKE TO HIRE THAT ROOM, PLEASE CONTACT THE CHURCH SECRETARY.
Already we are seeing the results of employing Alyson with a club for young children being started on Wednesdays in term time. It runs from 5.45 pm to 7.00 pm, Alyson already has a team of four, but would welcome other helpers simply being there!
Sunday Morning Worship:
If anyone would like in-house training for the following: computer (SongPro), use of Clavinova during services, or provision of sound, please see Terry or Anne for the computer and Beth for the Clavinova as soon as possible.
The two regulars would also appreciate some reinforcements in the sound room for services (this role does give a certain amount of power)
Gaps exist in the Communion Rota (foyer wall). If you can fill a gap, please see Lynne as soon as possible.
Pastoral Visiting Team:
Everyone is invited to join the team in support of the Diaconate. If you are interested, please see Jenny as soon as possible.
Church Choir:
If you would like to join the Church Choir, please
see Marjorie or simply join us after Morning Service on Sundays. You do not have to be solo standard, as long as you can reasonably sing in tune, Marjorie will be pleased to see you.
