From Mike Essex

By the time you read this, Dean will have completed his ministry among us. We have had the opportunity to express our gratitude for what he has given us over the past five years. I first came to Christ Church in the late 1940s. Since then five ministers, Robert Paul, David Geddes, Jim Todd, Brian Treharne and now Dean Tapley, have enriched my life in different ways.

Looking back, we have had 60 years of stability, with our church sitting firmly in the Congregational and then URC tradition, and enjoying the full-time attention of a minister. That is about to change. We face a future where a full-time minister is not an option, and where our strongest links are with churches of other denominations in the town, rather than neighbouring URC churches. This is not to say that we should ignore the latter. I believe we should seek to strengthen our links with Cobham, Dorking, Bookham and Epsom and Ewell churches.

A plan is emerging for a group of five churches, two URC and three Methodist, to share two ministers as a team. This has come about because of the Leatherhead Covenant, which draws us towards unity with our Methodist and Anglican partners, and the need to protect the interests of smaller churches in Cobham and Effingham. The plan envisages the two Cobham churches, URC and Methodist, and Effingham Methodists calling a URC minister, and the possibility of Revd. lan Howarth becoming minister of our church as well as Leatherhead Methodists. He cannot be appointed before the Cobham appointment, which is likely to be well into 2010. Also of course Christ Church has to agree to call him, just as they would any other minister. Many of us know lan well, but many do not, and we will make opportunities for you ail to meet him over the next few months. There is no question of Christ Church being railroaded into agreement. Everyone agrees that the authority of the church meeting is paramount.

Meanwhile, as in the last vacancy, this is an opportunity for the members of Christ Church to develop their full potential I am sure they will rise to the challenge.

I believe this is a testing time for all churches. We are all rightly proud of our traditions, but a generation is growing up for whom denominational differences mean little or nothing. They are much more likely to be concerned with how sincere and relevant we seem to be. The big problems which face us now, such as global warming, Christian/Muslim reconciliation, global communication and sustainable economics, were barely recognised 50 years ago. We need to be a caring, properly functioning community, which plays an active role in our evolving society.

We need God's blessing and the living presence of Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Mike Essex, Local Church Leader

Calendar

Church family news

Greetings to all who have celebrated birthdays in the last week or two, including Eunice Paul who was 88 on Monday last.

Gweneth Lidgey was 97 last Tuesday and enjoyed a small party with her daughter Alison and friends from Christ Church. At her request we all sang a harvest hymn together.

Sylvia Braithwaite is very poorly in Epsom Hospital.

Stella Morris is still in St Helier Hospital, Ward C4 and would welcome a card or visit from church friends.

Stella Tunks is in Epsom Hospital, Croft Ward, after a recent fall, but is keeping cheerful.

We remember these friends in our prayers and all those who are unwell or recovering from operations.

We record with sadness the death of Clarice Griffiths on 29 August, and offer our condolences to Roland, their daughter Sue, and the rest of their family. The service of thanksgiving took place in Christ Church on 17 September.

Thanks

Roland and Sue Griffiths wish to thank Dean for his conduct of the Thanksgiving Service for Clarice, Anthony for preparing the service sheets, and others for the many comforting cards, messages and flowers which we have received and appreciate greatly.

Roland Griffiths

We would like to say a huge "Thank you" to everybody who helped to make the retirement party on Sept. 26th such a success. From the canapés to the chocolates, from the film to the flowers, every detail was perfect. Thanks also to those who contributed so generously towards our gifts and to those who provided words of encouragement and support during the past five years. It has flown by!

What a lovely service on Sunday! What wonderful memories we are taking with us! With family and friends from times past, it was difficult for us to speak to everyone over coffee so our sincere apologies if we didn't have the opportunity to say goodbye properly. Please don't hesitate to get in touch. We hope you'll feel free to contact us as friends.

With our love and best wishes,

Dean and Lydia

Dean's picture

The church was very pleased to receive a photograph of Dean, and this will hang in the James Todd Room alongside those of previous ministers.

Bible reading rota

I would like to say thank you to all the readers on the rota for agreeing to read once or twice during the year. Sadly over the year we have lost several volunteers so it may well mean that those at present on the list will find their name appearing more often. If there are more members of the congregation who would be willing to be added to the rota I would be delighted to hear from them. In the meantime, thank you to all those who have read for us but feel unable to do so in the future, thank you again to all of you who are willing to continue and to those considering doing so - come and join us. Looking forward to hearing from you...

Jill Osmond

Interim Moderator

Professor David Cutler, a member of Raleigh Road United Church in Richmond, has agreed to be our Interim Moderator, subject to the approval of Church Meeting.

From Revd Ian Howarth

In the September issue of 'The Link', the magazine for the Methodist Churches in Leatherhead, Cobham and Effingham, the Revd Ian Howarth, who recently finished his time as Superintendent for the Dorking and Horsham Circuit of the Methodist Church, expressed some thoughts about the possibility of future cooperation between our churches: .. As I step down as a super, and as we pursue our conversations with the URC about a new way of sharing ministry between us in this area, I have become very much aware how much I value the fact that I belong to a circuit. From a personal point of view, a key element of this is that I work as a member of a staff team. There is always a colleague to ring up to talk through something, a staff meeting where issues can be thrashed out, a staff social where you can relax with people who share experiences of ordained ministry ..

I also think belonging to a circuit helps us as churches. We are not independent bodies, we have to think about the wider mission of God in our area, we have to see how we can support other churches in the circuit and how we can best share resources. The URC is not used to this mind-set, although the moderator [Nigel Uden] tells me that as they move to ministers having more than one church, he feels that in this area they have much to learn from us.

As the proposals for sharing ministry move forward over the five churches in Cobham, Effingham and Leatherhead, I hope that something we can bring to the table is the benefits of churches and ministers working together in mutual support, and it could be said that we are looking to create a mini-circuit, while retaining our allegiance to Dorking and Horsham. One of the things for us still to work out is how best we do that, while not imposing a Methodist model on the URC.

What we also need to remember is that church structures, whatever they are, are not an end in themselves, but simply a way of our trying to order ourselves so that we can be most effective in worship, service and mission, in the name of our loving, inspiring God.

Yours in Christ,

Ian Howarth

Bike Ride

Thank you to all those who helped in any way make to Christ Church a welcoming place for the 25 cyclists who visited us this year on Saturday 12 September on a perfect sunny day. All were very appreciative of the clear signs, including the new sandwich board made by Dave Hannant, the warm welcome and the refreshments. Perhaps we shall have some participants from Christ Church next year.

Harvest

It was wonderful to see a packed church including representatives of all the Uniformed Organizations, friends and relatives for our Harvest Festival celebration on 20 September. Thank you to Dean and all those who contributed to the service, especially the Cub Scouts: Alison Gillott and the Beavers made the Fair Trade posters, and the Cubs made water posters. The church looked beautiful - thanks to Dinah Essex and Carol Hazell in particular, and other helpers, and those who distributed the harvest gifts to Beatitude and Pitstop.

Anne Cairns

Sponsored walk

John and José Henderson are once again organizing our sponsored walk in aid of our church project, the Leatherhead Clubhouse.

It will take place at 8:30am on Saturday 10 October starting from the Mole Valley District Council car park at Milton Heath.

There is a short walk of 12 km and this can be extended at the half-way point to a long walk of 25km.

Please collect sponsor forms from John and José, and sponsors from among all your friends.

Music in the churches

When the Revd Graham Osborne is installed as Vicar of Leatherhead on Wednesday 18 November, singers from the Parish and Methodist Churches and our own choir will join together to lead the music, and Revd Ian Howarth will sing the solo in Greene's anthem Thou visitest the earth, chosen by Graham. The organist will be Robert Leach from Mickleham Parish Church, and I have been asked to conduct.

We are also planning to unite the three churches musically on the evening of Sunday 19 December for a combined Service of Christmas Readings and Carols.

Last Tuesday, I joined other local church choir singers who remember David Oliver, the late organist of the Parish Church, whose wife Debra Andrew-Oliver is producing a CD of songs in his memory. We spent three hours on our feet in a recording studio in Stamford Brook, recording chorus tracks over prepared instrumental backing tracks. Two songs were repeated dozens of times while we improved our performance, conducted by Paul Dodd and helped by five singing students from the Royal College of Music, while the producers (behind soundproof screens) slid their sliders to and fro. Unfortunately we didn't hear Debra sing a note, although she was there to encourage us: her track will be added later.

The Pilgrim Players and Singers, based mostly at the Methodist Church, are not planning any independent events at the moment, but are involved with the Murder in the Cathedral project which still needs more people for speaking parts in the chorus: please apply to Linda Heath, 372603. The production takes place on 19-21 November in Leatherhead and Epsom.

On Saturday 24 October at 7:30pm, my chamber choir AntiphoniA is giving a concert entitled One Equal Music, with programmes at £8 (Students £3) including refreshments, the proceeds going to our church project, the Leatherhead Clubhouse. Music for double choir will include Gibbons's 8-part anthem O clap your hands, Delius's atmospheric part-song The splendour falls (words by Tennyson) with wordless voices representing distant horn calls, two 8-part anthems by Harris: Faire is the heaven (words by Spenser) and Bring us, O Lord God (words by Donne, from which the concert title is taken), I love the Lord by Jonathan Harvey (written for Winchester Cathedral choir) and Stanford's often-sung Three Motets. Continuing the theme of doubling up, the concert will include a flute duet, and also some duets for two harpsichords. The refurbishment of my two harpsichords, the first having been begun some 30 years ago, is only just nearing completion in my garage as I write.

An organist's garage

Anthony Cairns

Sacraments course in Wimbledon Area

A Sacraments course is being mounted at Ewell URC on the evening of Monday 16th November and all day Saturday 5th December for a maximum of 12 students. This course is a requirement for any new applicants for Synod authorisation to preside at communion or baptisms and is strongly recommended for existing lay preachers and ordinands who have not previously attended such a course. It is also part of the Synod Lay Preachers recognition procedure. With the increasing shortage of ordained ministers, you will recall David Skitt's advice that each church should ensure that one or two elders should be prepared to preside in cases of pastoral necessity.

I attach details of the course and an application form and should be glad if you would approach any potential students. Closing date for applications must be Tuesday 20th October but, from an administrative point of view, the earlier the better.

Application forms, endorsed where necessary by the minister or church leader, should be returned to Revd Mike Hensman, 89 Sparrow Farm Rd., Stoneleigh, Epsom KT17 2LP by that date.

Mike Hensman

Our church has been heavily dependent over the years on the leadership of ministers and lay preachers, but the number of ministers and lay preachers we as a church have produced has been relatively small. Opinions are sometimes divided as to the propriety of having a lay person presiding at Holy Communion, but we note the advice of Revd David Skitt, Southern Synod Pastor, cited above - my italics.

Please contact me if you know a suitable person who would like a form.

Editor

'In the Beginning'

Nick White, Children's & Youth Development Officer of the URC, would like to draw the attention of churches to a one-day conference at The Millmead Centre, Bury Fields, Guildford GU2 4AZ, 10:00am-5:30pm on Saturday 7 November 2009. Differing opinions about the origins of our world will be heard and questions from the floor will be welcome.

Speakers include:

• Dr Jules Gomes, lecturer in biblical theology at London School of Theology and an Anglican Priest: Introduction
• Prof Keith Fox, chair in biochemistry at University of Southampton and Chairman of Christians in Science: Theistic Evolution - the belief that God created through evolution
• Dr Arthur Jones, Chairman of Association of Christian Teachers, doctor of biology with 30 years' teaching in UK, India and Nepal: Intelligent Design - the belief that input from an 'intelligent designer' was necessary at certain key stages in the development of life
• Dr John Peet, Travelling Secretary of the Biblical Creation Society, who holds a chemistry doctorate and has served in higher education for 22 years: Young Earth Creationism

Cost: £30 (students, unemployed, pensioners: £20). Refreshments and lunch will be provided, and a data CD with copies of all the presentations.

Holiday Club 2009

This year the Holiday Club went on a 'Jungle Jamboree' as everyone journeyed through the jungle in search of God's great reward.

Our hall was transformed into a rainforest containing six base camps; one for each team of explorers. Just under 60 children at Christ Church and 25 at BFree sang, played and crafted their way through a week of fun and highly engaging activities. Many had joined us in previous years but there were many new faces too and the atmosphere was very relaxed and welcoming.

The team, drawn from the three churches and led by Jane Smith and Ian Howarth, did a fabulous job of sharing God's word in an accessible and fun way. We are already looking forward to next year....

Rachel Clarke

Seen in a church porch

Be silent, be thoughtful, be reverent,

for this is the house of God.

Before the service, speak to God.

During the service, let God speak to you.

After the service, speak to one another.

Contributed by Anne Ray

Newsletter

Please leave items for the next issue in the box in the vestibule by 12 noon on Sunday 25 October or send them to chch@andante5.plus.com by 12 noon on Monday. The Newsletter is usually online at www.chch.org.uk/news by midweek before it is published in print.