## St John the Evangelist Magherally Annual General Vestry Report 15[th] April 2024 

Our focus this past year has continued to be three specific areas of building that I believe God wants us to give attention to as a church family: building our faith, building our church family and building our finances. Together we have worked hard on these: 

1. God has been building faith in our church family through worship services on Sunday and Thursday, the SOMA Mission week, Alpha, Prayer Walk, Youth Fellowship, Summer Madness, Saturday Night Live, Sunday School, Connect Group, September Mission event, our Holy Week prayer stations, Tenebrae and various Bible reading resources. Our musicians Glenn, Lynn, Paul, Emma and Jill, our choir, Paul and Jane, Rita our lay reader, Ronnie our licenced preacher, guest preachers, Mike and Trevor on audiovisuals, Stu our deacon intern and ordinand Kyle all played significant roles in building faith, but there is more to do. We will build faith by establishing another midweek connect group and the Down and Dromore GROW events 12-19[th] May. We will build our youth ministry by employing a part-time Youth and Children’s Worker. Helping people live well with Jesus at the centre of their lives is at the heart of building faith, this is what we will focus on, to see our church family grow in faith and develop as followers of the Lord Jesus. 

2. Father God has built our church family through our Big Breakfast, Teddy Bear Christmas Festival, Coronation BBQ, Daffodil Tea, Quiz, Beetle Drive, Ladies Guild Day out, Picnic lunch, Pizza, Police and Prayer lunch, Marriage preparation and Marriage Enrichment, after church tea/coffee times, Welcome Meal for new members and the grounds clear up teams. These initiatives have helped nurture friendships within our church family and across our two churches. Plans are in place for an after-church salad lunch following our wellbeing Sunday service and another welcome meal for new members in June. Our events are aimed at encouraging, supporting and providing a place of safety where 

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strong relationships and friendships, within and across age groups, can be fostered and built. It has been my privilege to come alongside people facing significant life challenges, supporting the bereaved with a ‘living with loss’ course, walking with those facing physical and mental health challenges, as well as those facing death. 

3. God has blessed our finances through generous giving by our church family, we are also grateful for legacies, an ABC grant and two generous gifts from The Church of the Cross USA. The church hall and our beautiful church building received some essential maintenance, but there remains an issue on the church roof, which we need to tackle. Our Teddy Bear Christmas Festival, harvest gifts, Easter draw, cars and burger evenings, and the church fete raised substantial funds for the church and for charity. Our Wine Tasting evening and another ABC grant paid for our defibrillator. We have generously supported Water Drops, Friends of Cancer, Newry Hospice, Kidney Research, and Air Ambulance. Despite giving away ten percent of our income, our finances remain healthy. Magherally is known as a warm, welcoming church family; a happy place for new people to easily fit into. Our church wardens Colin and Dorothea and each church member have played an important role in this. 

Members of the select vestry have worked hard this year. Mike on communication and church visuals. Trevor on church audio. Justin and his team on furnishings, fabric, health and safety. Philip, Heather, Briony and Carol on finances. John and his team have put in hours of hard work making the grounds beautiful, Mickey and his team have made significant improvements at the graveyard. Christine and the safeguarding panel and others on vestry put in many hours behind the scenes. My sincere thanks to our leadership team. 

Revd Karen Salmon 

Magherally and Annaclone Parishes 

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