EBENEZER METHODIST CHURCH Achievements in 2022 Following two years of uncertainty caused by a global pandemic, the majority of coronavirus restrictions in the UK were lifted by March and a corner was turned as the ‘new normal’ bedded in. At Ebenezer we forged on, prepared to tackle what lay ahead during Rev Nico’s absence on her sabbatical, subsequent ill health and transfer at the end of the year to a Circuit near Edinburgh to be nearer her son. Our best wishes to Nico and thanks to Rev Dawn who has provided ministerial support and Lorraine Wheeler pastoral support since September. Ministry through work with our Pickles community goes from strength to strength, with our offering of a ‘safe space’ and a strong sense of ‘belonging’ to those families who have been with us for many years (and are now making the tea as their children are now at school) and those who have joined us more recently. Pickles went into the Church at least once a term to celebrate Mothering Sunday, Harvest & Christmas and our ‘Graduation’ ceremony with Deacon Sally Wheadon, when books were given out to all the children moving on to nursery. Our Pickles cake sales are so well supported and during the year they raised £200 for the All We Can Emergency Ukraine Appeal, £205 for BBC Children in Need Appeal and £212 for Macmillan Jersey; a grand total of £617. For a small group of 20, this is a remarkable achievement. Pickles Plus sessions for our older Pickles community continue to be lively with ‘after school’ craft activities for the children and genuine support and chats for the grown-ups. During the summer months the group met at the beach and had a very special end to their term with an inter-tidal walk led by Lou Wagstaffe, which was very interesting and so much fun! Due to Covid still being prevalent in our primary schools during the first half of the year, Generations went ahead without the children and took the form of a games afternoon and quiz. During our first session with the children in May, crowns were made in readiness for The Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations and in June the Trinity community police officer came along with a uniformed officer and police car, which proved great fun for the children who were able to try on police hats and 'have a go' in the police car. And for the last meeting of the year for our Generations family, there was an afternoon of cake, party hats and a quiz, which got quite competitive at times! The icing on the cake at the end of summer term was the nomination of Amy in the Pride of Jersey Community Award. Amy may not have picked up the top award, but she is always a winner in our eyes when it comes to caring and supporting our families. Our family friendly monthly service ‘Friends@4’ resumed after Easter and we had hoped that more families from around the circuit might join us. Sadly, this has not been the case and, whilst the ministry was enjoyed by the small number who did attend, it was agreed that we would run the monthly services to the end of the year and focus our resources on other community work. It was wonderful to see the Trinity Lent lunches resurrected after a break of two years due to Covid. People from all walks of life came together at the parish hall and the sum of £457 was raised for the British Red Cross Afghanistan appeal. On 3rd April the Jersey chamber choir Cantabile shared a most poignant concert combining poetry and music. Together with eight young local actors, they performed Words and Music for Passiontide. Jersey Heritage loaned the famous Henry Bosdet painting which was on display in Church. The concert raised £1,170 for the Jersey Women’s Refuge and the Bailiff’s Ukraine Appeal. Our Liberation Day Service was led by Rev Tony Morling and attended by over 50 people. Kay Papworth gave an amusing account of her childhood memories from the Occupation. Friends from the URC joined us for Harvest on 2nd October. The vast amount of tins and packets on display were distributed to the Jersey Women’s Refuge and Mustard Seed Jersey for delivery to Romania, together with some beautifully knitted items. Rev Dawn challenged the congregation to participate in a Harvest Basket competition, which attracted a number of innovative entries, including Paddington Bear who featured twice. Anne led our Remembrance Service with Rupert guiding us into the 2 minutes silence and Jasper playing the National Anthem on his French horn. Large red poppies were crafted and handed out to the congregation by the children, which were then placed around the Cross during the final Hymn with individual people or places to remember written on them. 1 We were delighted some of our Pickles families joined us for this year’s ‘Pantivity’ when the Christmas story was led this year by Mr and Mrs Donkey. It was a special and memorable service involving all the children in a very impromptu and enthusiastic way, together with friends from the URC. We continued to worship at the URC throughout the year on the third Sunday of the month and have been grateful they have provided a minister or someone to lead the services, which has helped the resourcing challenges of the Circuit. We welcomed ‘the two Anne’s’ as they transferred their membership from Eden. It was also wonderful to have two lovely ladies from Kenya, Veronicah and Rahel, who were working at Funghi Delecti and joined us when their work commitments allowed. And for three months, we were blessed with Finjah who was on a school exchange and staying with the Maddox family. It was a pleasure to present Finja with a youth bible when she left the Island. Special thanks must go to Mel who each week comes up with a wonderful craft activity for the young people that ties in with the theme of the service and keeps everyone engaged. Some marvellous outputs have been celebrated. On a sad note, we lost three faithful members in 2022; Eileen du Feu in May, Elaine Le Sueur in July and Lennard du Feu in December. We remember, with thanks, their dedication and commitment to Ebenezer over many years. On the property front, the Quinquennial works required from our April 2018 survey are now virtually complete. Our next survey is due in 2023. Following the discovery of major rot in the cottage front door frame, it was replaced in December at a cost of just over £4,000. The new refreshment area in the north-west corner of church was completed in March and thanks to the Fiscal Stimulation Fund for their grant of £11,000. Since our large redevelopment in 2008 together with other projects and major quinquennial works, our premises are now up to date and in a good condition for all our community activities and for hiring by others. The Jersey Youth Performing Arts (JYPA) rehearsed weekly from Spring to Autumn, and again in December. Our Hall is fully booked during the week of school term time and our main hirers are Baby Sensory, the Jersey Dolls House and the Jerriais Dancing Group. Our finances are in a healthy state despite our membership and giving being down. The importance of the covenant scheme, where we can reclaim tax, becomes ever more important. It now costs c.£44,000pa to cover our routine annual costs and salaries. Fortunately, we have rental income from our flat and from an average of 12 spaces rented out in our top car park. The Parish again donated £5,000 towards our ongoing renovation works. Our annual Gift Day raised £750 and under our ‘Window to the World’ scheme we made donations to Malindi Brighter Futures and locally to Mind Jersey. Our total charitable donations in 2022 totalled £3,767 and we have supported the Poppy Appeal, the Bailiff’s Island Disaster Appeal and the Pakistan Floods Appeal. In addition, we continue to collect food items and toiletries throughout the year, which are delivered at regular intervals to Jersey Women’s Shelter. During 2022 we set up a formal Pastoral team and are grateful to Joyce, Ruth and Maureen who stepped forward as Pastoral leaders. We missed Rev Derek’s bible study sessions due to his ill health and thanks to Anne who has endeavored to keep our Zoom sessions going, including our Advent reflections. We continue to be forever grateful to our Leadership team; Michael, Anne, Ian and Jane for their commitment, wisdom and hard work, to our lay workers; Amy and Kirsty, and to all other members of the Church who hold office. Our congregation may be small, but we are a close-knit Church family who come together in worship, fellowship and love. Whilst this review of our year features some really positive and tangible achievements, what’s really important is all the things that happen under the radar, things that you just can’t measure or put into words. For example, the love and concern shown for others through messages on our WhatsApp group, the support given to members of our Pickles community who have experienced difficult times and our conversations and prayers for others during our Zoom get togethers. Robert McNamara’s quote seem rather an appropriate ending to this review as we give thanks for the year that has been and look forward with hope and faith to 2023: “Measure what is important, don’t make important what you can measure”. ROSEMARY PARKER March 2023