Trustee's Report (YE 31/03/2023)
At Larne Mission Hall we have a lot to praise God for in the past year. Activities are all thankfully back to normal and the dreaded COVID is well behind us.
This year we celebrated the Queens Jubilee with a special celebration dinner and a cake. It was a great day, we held it in the church hall straight after the Sunday morning service, with almost 100 people attending. It was organised and served by the ladies of our fellowship - they did a spectacular job.
June is a busy month for our ladies as they run a Fit for Life each Monday night. All ages are welcome and ladies from the neighbourhood and surrounding district are invited. It is a good ice breaker for people who don't usually come to church. There is something for everyone, walking for the able bodied or just sit and knit or chat and finish off with a healthy supper.
The Sunday School children, along with teachers and parents went on their yearly trip away, also the older ones in Bible Class still enjoy a day out together.
Bible Explorers, which is our Children's Club each Wed night has a special parents night each year. Mrs Heather Boyd and her team provide refreshments and an opportunity to see what the kids get up to during the year.
Mums and Tots which is on each Thursday morning keeps on going from strength to strength, with new kids replacing the ones who move on to Nursery School etc.
In Sept we held a Community, Fun Day. The whole congregation got behind this and made it a great success. There were various attractions; the usual bouncy castles, face painting, kids crafts, football and some animal visitors which the kids enjoyed. We provided free hot dogs, chocolate biscuits, hot and cold drinks and the ice cream was subsidised by the church to reduce the price. The weather was fantastic, as a result there were around 400 parents and children who turned up. The only problem being a few of the ladies had to do some panic shopping to cope with the large number which exceeded our expectations.
The highlight of our year was in November when we had the joy of welcoming our New Pastor into the fellowship. He is called The Rev Paul Ferguson, with his lovely wife Cheryl, their teenage daughter Sarah and son Samuel. They have travelled quite a bit throughout the world and have recently been living and in charge of a church in Singapore for many years. Paul is originally from NI but his wife is from Singapore. This has brought great relief to the oversight of the Church, also stability and comfort to the people of the congregation. He has settled into the work quickly and has been doing a lot of door to door work in the town. As a result the numbers are steadily growing. Most important of all there have been those who have come to put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour which is always the aim of any evangelical work.
We give God all the praise and Glory for answering our prayers in this respect and look forward with anticipation to the days ahead.