EBENEZER METHODIST CHURCH Achievements in 2024.
2024 was a year of goodbyes and welcomes. We said goodbye to Rev Tony Morling in July who moved to serve in the Halifax District. We are so grateful for all Rev Tony contributed during his short time of leadership at Ebenezer and to the Jersey Circuit over eleven years. In September, we were delighted to welcome Rev Keith Sandow who moved from the Peak District to Jersey as presbyter for the eastern churches of the Circuit, including Ebenezer. We also said goodbye to some Ebenezer stalwarts who were promoted to Glory this year; George Noel, John Cabot, Alf Le Goubin, Roselle Green and Rev Derek Poole. We give thanks for their lives and service, and all they contributed to Ebenezer over many years. Derek led our bible study group, which continued online throughout Covid, and we have him to thank for broadening our understanding and knowledge of the bible. As we’ve sadly lost long-standing faithful members and some of our congregation have health issues, the number worshipping on a Sunday has sadly dwindled. We’re pleased to continue to join with the URC twice a month, as they face similar challenges. Whilst we might be a smaller congregation, we remain a tight-knit church family, enveloped in a legacy of love, care and mutual support for one another. Our Pickles community is also a tight-knit family and even with many new intakes this September, there remains a strong sense of ‘belonging’ with an ethos of mutual support for one another. Our heartfelt thanks to Amy and Kirsty who take such care over their flock. We still have a long waiting list for those keen to join. Pickles went into the Church for Mothering Sunday and for our ‘Graduation’ ceremony, when books were given out to all the children moving on to nursery. Once again, the Pickles cake sales were really well supported, with busy mums and grans baking and everyone enjoying each other’s cakes. During the year £150 was raised to help cover some of the craft items and £180 for the BBC Children in Need Appeal. Generations had a new lease of life when friends from Cheval Roc joined us towards the end of the year. The December session was made even more special when one of the care assistants who has a wonderful singing voice, brought along a Karoke machine. She sang Christmas carols and songs non-stop, and everyone joined in - we even had some dancing during ‘Feliz Navidad’! Staying with Christmas, we delivered a card and small gift to our neighbours at the Highfield Apartments. Following a request made at our Church Council meeting for a Games afternoon, Viviane Jayes has made this happen and a small group, including some folk from the URC, now meet about once a month to play board games, have a chat and enjoy a cuppa. One of the many bonuses of having a new Minister is that they bring new and fresh ideas, and that is very true of Rev Keith. He led us in two festive and very different services; ‘Deck the Halls’ on the first Sunday in Advent and a ‘Festival of Light and Water’ celebrating Epiphany. They bookended the season and gave us a great platform to travel through Advent. Sandwiched in between these two services, we welcomed some of our Pickles community to our annual Pantivity entitled ‘Casper the wise tells a story’. There were many enthusiastic helpers for the various roles with lots of shepherds, angels and wise men taking part in a totally unrehearsed script! It was ‘wonderful joyous chaos’ that is becoming a traditional part of Christmas for many of our Pickles families. Other annual traditions include Ebenezer hosting one the Trinity Lent lunches and thanks to all our soup makers and helpers, particularly Joyce Perchard. It is always a wonderful community event and a fantastic team effort with about 90-100 people being served. The three Lent Lunches raised an amazing sum, and our share was £630, which was donated to Mind Jersey Youthful Minds. 1 On 2nd June we shared in the Baptism of Oliver and joined the family in our Hall afterwards for refreshments. Our Parish Liberation Day Service with friends from Trinity Church was led by Rev Peter Goodhall and Anne Le Cornu shared her memories. Rev Keith and others joined in the Parish Remembrance commemorations at Petit Port and the war memorial in Rue de Diélament on 8th November and we continued to contribute to the ‘Tattler’ Parish magazine every quarter. Trinity School was very welcome at Ebenezer for their Carol Service on 16th December and it was great to see a packed Church enjoy the children’s performance. On the property front, we are grateful to Michael for dealing with all the ongoing issues that frequently surface when managing old properties. We have on average 20 spaces rented out in our top car park, which is a good source of revenue, along with our flat rental. Our new tenant (Lucy) arrived in April and some work was done in preparation. We engaged Bridles Estates to manage the flat going forward. We employed Guttervax to clear and clean the church and cottage gutters at least twice a year. There is damp penetration in the north-west corner of church but, for the time being, we have decided to leave things as they are until other property matters have been addressed. We also experienced water penetrating through the inside of the two south windows and our carpenter fitted some perspex panels to try and get all the water to drain out through the existing drip tray and weep holes. Since our large redevelopment in 2008, and with other projects and major quinquennial works, a total of £746,000 has been invested in all our properties, bringing them up to date and in a much better state of repair for the future ahead. Our hall is fully booked during the week of school term time (apart from Mondays), and our main hirers are Baby Sensory and the Jersey Dolls House. Our finances remain in a healthy state despite our membership and giving being down. The Parish continued to support Ebenezer with a donation of £5,500 towards our ongoing renovation works and community outreach. Our circuit assessment will be £21,651 for the fiscal year 2024/25; a small decrease of £1,108, as we have been placed in the lower band for assessment purposes due to the decline in our membership. It now costs c.£50,000 to cover our routine annual costs, including the salaries of our two community workers. Our annual Gift Day raised £760 and, under our ‘Window to the World’ scheme, we paid £200 each to our two chosen charities, Dementia Jersey and the Mustard Seed ‘Bread Appeal’. We held our own Remembrance Day service when we received £100 in donations for the Poppy Appeal. Our Liberation Day Service donations for the British Red Cross amounted to £400 and our Connexional donations were kept at £2,100. Our charitable donations in 2024 totalled £5,920, which again exceeds 10% of income. Our congregation also continue to be very generous with weekly donations to the Jersey Women’s Shelter Food Bank. We continue to visit and pray for those members who are not able to join us, and the Pastoral team of Joyce P, Ruth and Maureen met during the year. Members joined in the well-attended Circuit Advent bible study held at Ebenezer for four weeks, starting on 26th November. We continue to be blessed with the valuable support of Helen Higginson as our lay worker in the eastern section. The Leadership Teams of St Helier Methodist Centre, Georgetown, St Martin and Ebenezer continued to meet monthly and relationships are strengthening. Latterly, we have collaborated on plan making, worship ideas and have agreed to read ‘The 21st Century Christian’, as we discern the next steps into deepening our work together. Amidst some challenges we have faced, we give thanks for all the positive things we have enjoyed and look forward to the opportunities that lie ahead in 2025, as we live out our purpose to be a Church for the generations, meeting people where they are in the community.
ROSEMARY PARKER Church Council – 2nd March 2025