Thanks to everyone who attended our AGM on 21 September. The meeting started with shared food, a guest speaker and some congregational recognitions before we reviewed our activities in the 2022-23 year.
Guest speaker
Jan Rutledge QSM spoke. Jan is the General Manager of De Paul House, and discussed its vision and work as a transitional and social housing provider. De Paul House’s vision is ‘to give vulnerable families hope by empowering them to achieve a future sustained by security, dignity, and independence.’ Services include housing, family and tenancies support, the early childhood centre and a range of community learning opportunities responsive to evolving needs. As an example of a need addressed, support for people whose first language is not English to pass their driving licence tests. In her talk, Jan acknowledged the support of neighbouring organisations, including Onewa Christian Community.
We were fortunate to have Angela Spooner with us also. Angela manages Highbury Community House, our partner in the successful Birkenhead repair cafés (initiated by Highbury House). Invited without warning to say something, Angela thanked Onewa Christian Community for our collaborations and goodwill. Baruk Jacob, a speaker from our talks series, joined us for the evening too.
AGM
Rev. Jin Sook Kim reflected on her first couple of months in the parish, and Greg Morgan and others talked about 2022-23 as a year of experimenting in community engagement. We looked forward to the ongoing development of external relationships, increased use of our facilities and other opportunities to keep growing. Key activities for the year under review included a congregational survey, the creation of our first congregational (mission) plan, starting Mind The Gap talks, inviting other speakers to the community breakfasts and building on our hospitality and children’s ministries.
We noted increased attendance and community activity over the year, and support from Northern Presbytery, PressGo and the Justice-Compassion Trust. The meeting received financial reports and an update from the St Aidans Presbyterian Property Trust (Iona Close). A special part of the meeting was honouring Robin Baxter for more than 35 years’ service on the church council and Lynda Burkett and Colin Reid for their time as trustees on the St Aidans Presbyterian Property Trust (ten and 30 years respectively). We paused to remember friends who had died during the year.
Please contact us for a copy of our annual report.
