Our Purpose Statement, above, is an active guide to our desire as a church community to serve and witness to the area in which we are placed. We have a large extended community of approx 300 (number of newlsetters distributed) with a current membership of 48.
All four of these areas are addressed through the regular life of the church and its many activities, outlined below. The Gifts of the Spirit are particularly nurtured through regular worship, Home Group Fellowship and additional focus groups such as Advent and Lent. Sharing Gods Love and welcoming all are particularly nurtured through our regular weekly and monthly activities. Discovering God together is a constant exercise, as is finding Forgiveness in Jesus. Our aim is to invite all who have links with this church family to find that forgiveness for themselves and that aim is embedded in all we do, sometimes overtly, sometimes not.
Regular Activities
Sundays
Worship at 10.30am. Toys and suitable books are available for those with very young children. With the new space there is plenty of freedonm to come and go during worship if need be and the sound can now be diverted to The Hub so the speaker can be heard outside if necessary.
Mondays
Beavers
Rainbows, Brownies, Guides, Rangers
Tuesdays
TotsPlay Toddler Group
Wives group meets fortnightly on a Tuesday afternoons. Average attendance 10. Long standing group, largely non church members, but involved in some aspects of church life.
Tuesday Fellowship meets fortnightly on a Tuesday afternoon. Average numbers 25.
Alternate Tuesday sees Tweedway 50+ Sports Group using the hall. Approx 15 - 20 each fortnight.
Wednesdays
Home group Fellowship once a fortnight -
A day time gathering offering Bible study and prayer, average attendance 10.
Thursdays
Rainbows
Brownies
Fridays
Barnes School of Dance hire the hall every week in term time.
Saturdays
SaMoCo - Saturday Morning Coffee. Every Saturday 10am-12pm. A chance for anyone to drop in and share refreshments and chat with whoever is around. This space is also used on occasion for community information or events.
Lawn's Pre-School are present every morning and three afternoons a week. We have a very good relationship with the leaders. They have developed a garden area for their use to comply with government requirements for outside play experience.
During 2016/7
The building works gained consent from the Methodist Church and we moved ahead to secruring tender's for the project. These came in way over expectations so we scaled the project back and are proceeding with a Phase 1. This provides the bulk of our vision, though the loss of the new rooms to the rear means opportunities for smaller community groups to meet will be slighlty diminshed. All our resources were diverted to seeing this project to starting point (Dec 17).
Annual Fixtures
Havering Rd is not really a place for tradition. When asked 'how we normally do things' we are often stuck for an answer as we rarely do anything the same for long enough to get fixed in place, but there are some long standing events, and some more recent developments that are becoming fairly set in the church calendar.
Christmas Fayre
This is something that is fixed in the Havering Rd psyche and has been going almost as long as the church. The last weekend in November is an institution. All church affiliated groups, and the pre-school leaders, get involved and whilst the profit is not huge (average £1,000) the atmosphere is great. Christmas starts here
Church Family Feasts
This focus began some 12 years ago with a meal after the Covenant Service. The purpose is to provide church family ‘connection’ time that does not involve a formal meeting or agenda. From such gatherings often the best ideas surface for the meetings to then get to grips with. The concept has grown to incorporate other occasions but the Covenant meal and summer BBQ are the key markers. Harvest in Autumn 2017 was also used since we had a change of Minister so this was a good opportunity to get to know each other.
Summer BBQ
Again, the first of these was about 12 years ago. It is linked to an All Age service in the hopes that those who join us for worship for these occasions will join us for a time of food, fun and relaxation. The purpose is to relax and get to know people better. An increasing number of families are joining us at this event.
Advent and Lent Groups/Worship series As a church we mark these occasions with a preaching series and/or study groups. These are appreciated both by church members and the preachers who agree to take part. The theme is clearly indicated but preachers have the freedom to explore that theme as they feel led and they are a blessing to all who take part. In recent years because of the demands of the building project and all that entails the preaching series have been the main focus.
Review of Progress and looking ahead
Attendance at Sunday worship of the families within our fellowship is sporadic. We have some youngsters in there 20's who have returned to us after university, which is a great pleasure. The numbers of families attending other events such as Messy Church and Totsplay are increasing. TotsPlay toddler group was launched in Sept 2011, grew significantly during 2014 and now has maintained a healthy core of approx 20 children ever since. Many of these people see Havering Road as ‘their church’ even though they do not attend on a Sunday morning. An increasing number join us for Messy Church occasions now.
Since the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics in 2012 we have screened a number of national events at church as a focus for corporate worship and sharing. In 2014 this was the WW1 commemoration vigil in August. We now take every opportunity to make an occasion of such events and it often draws those who would not come to Sunday worship. The WW1 commemoration theme has been used through the Hope14 resources. We will continue to use such ideas in worship and outreach through 2015 and whenever the chance offers itself. The building works will increase and enhance these opportunities.
Our Pastoral Support structure is still under review. The clusters are not funcitoning as envisaged, but pastoral care is very high. It is kind of organic.
Prayer is once again the key issue to concentrate on for the future. Our prayer life is developing during worship on a Sunday. We know God's Spirit to move amongst us and we have total confidence that he will continue to guide and bless in the future, as He has done in the past.