CTiW 2019 AGM
A report of this meeting is also included in our Newsletter 15
The CTiW Annual General Meeting for 2019 was held at Salvation Army Regent Hall, Oxford Street, London W1.
Over 50 people from some 20 churches were present at the meeting which was chaired by Rev’d Jonathan Evens. He began by welcoming everyone, and thanking The Salvation Army for hosting the meeting at Regent Hall. He then gave a report on the full programme of CTiW activities for the past year. These included a number of ecumenical events such as “Meet the Neighbours” held at the Jesuit Church of The Immaculate Conception, (Farm St), the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family, and St Martin-in-the-Fields Anglican Church. Our service for Advent Sunday was hosted by St James’s Piccadilly Anglican Church, and on Pentecost Sunday we joined with the Salvation Army at Regent Hall.
CTiW members once again took part in the Ecumenical Good Friday Walk of Witness – The Cross on Victoria St. We also heard from Voices of Iraq: Stories
of Trauma, Survival & Hope at All Saints Margaret St, and held an Ecumenical Prisons Mission Vigil in Notre Dame de France RC church which involved prayers, readings, music and drama.
The Finance & Membership Report was presented by the Treasurer, Andreea Gherman, and approved by the meeting.It was agreed that the Membership Donation would remain at £30 for 2019, and the Treasurer anticipated that finances would break even, for which CTiW would like to thank everyone for their support. Membership in 2018 was 33 churches, with approximately the same number yet to do so. New member churches are very welcome.
Members of the CTiW 2019 Executive were introduced, and voted onto the Executive by the meeting. These included five new members who were welcomed by the Chairman. All the Executive members were thanked for their contributions over the past year.
John Plummer gave a brief report of activities by the CTiW Prisons Mission over the past year, pointing out that more
churches were needed to engage. The Mission’s 2018 Prisons Week booklet was felt to be the most successful yet, and
the “First Impressions: Portraits from Prison” Art Exhibition curated by Koeslter Trust, along with the accompanying
events at St James’ Piccadilly, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church and St Martin-in-the-Fields were well-received, and
attracted a large number of visitors. John and his team were thanked for the tremendous amount of work which they
have put into the Prisons Mission.
Future Plans – it was agreed to continue with our present activities, including “Meet the Neighbours” and the Prisons Mission. The Executive would value any thoughts and ideas on other activities and events, and in particular any celebrations or foci for mission and ministry that are particular to 2019 that CTiW might consider.
HeartEdge – the ‘4 Cs’
HeartEdge is a new ecumenical movement for renewal that has been initiated by St Martin-in-the-Fields with several churches in Westminster becoming early adopters in the movement. As a result, it was felt that the CTiW General Meeting would provide a good opportunity to explore the model of mission Congregation, Compassion, Culture and Commerce) advocated by HeartEdge and that we could do so by hearing from Westminster churches that have joined HeartEdge.
As Jonathan Evens explained, HeartEdge supports churches in blending their mission around four key areas:
Congregation: Inclusive approaches to liturgy, worship and day-to-day communal life.
Commerce: Commercial activity and social enterprise generating finance, creatively extending and enhancing
mission and ministry.
Culture: Art, music and ideas to re-imagine the Christian narrative for the present moment
Compassion: Models of outreach serving local need and addressing social justice.
He then continued by giving four examples of the 4 Cs in action in numerous locations both in the UK and worldwide.Presentations on these subjects were given by representatives from Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church (Andreea Gherman on Bloomsbury Reimagined), Notre Dame de France (Sarah Hughes on Notre Dame Refugee Centre), St James’s Piccadilly (Lindsay Meader on art installations) and St Martin-in-the-Fields Limited (Allyson Hargreaves on mission initiatives). This gave an opportunity to hear about innovative mission activity in Westminster and to explore the ways in which integrated approaches to mission impact communities.
The Chairman ended by thanking the speakers and all who had attended for their interest and support. He closed the meeting with the blessing for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.More info on HeartEdge website https://heartedge.org/
MINUTES 2019 CTIW GENERAL MEETING
NDF Churches Together in Westminster presentation 2019