Father's Day at Christ Church Sunday School

 

Students (and sisters) Grace and Elizabeth display the lovely gifts they made for their father during craft time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Wardens...

A proposal to renew and extend our Shared Ministry Covenant

 

We are fast approaching another milestone in the life of our Shared Ministry together: the two-year anniversary in November of our Shared Ministry Covenant. Some of you may remember that the theme of our joint Stewardship Campaign two years ago was "We are all in this boat together!" It could reasonably be said that we have spent the time since then learning to row the boat together, at the same time, and in the same direction! The two Bishop's Committees have been learning to do this especially well.

 

We have spent the last several months of our Shared Ministry doing a "check-in" process via the Mutual Ministry Review that you each had an opportunity to participate in through the questionnaires that were distributed to all members of our congregations. The joint Bishop's Committees reviewed ALL of your responses in detail at a Mutual Ministry Review Retreat in York with the Rev. Canon Hannah Anderson.

 

Then we reported the results to all of you who attended the Bishop's Committee Forums in April at both churches. We hopefully allayed your concerns that travelling back and forth to serve our two churches was overly burdensome to Father Chip. He assured us that due to the larger territory and number of communities that he was responsible for at his last church that, by comparison, travel between Portsmouth and Hampton was really quite reasonable.

 

We also "reviewed the numbers" and it is reassuring to know that the numbers at both churches, both attendance-wise and income-wise have improved over the last couple of years. However, it is also true that neither church will likely be ready to stand on its own for at least several more years. Therefore, at our June Joint Bishop's Committee meeting, the Mutual Ministry Review Follow-up Team recommended to that gathering that we renew our Shared Ministry Covenant, and that we do so for a period of another three years. Furthermore, after reviewing the Covenant language in detail, the Follow-up Team has recommended that the Covenant be renewed exactly as written.

 

A document called "A Resolution to Renew and Extend the Shared Ministry between Christ Church Portsmouth and Trinity Church Hampton" has been created. We have been calling it the "Whereas Resolution" for shorthand because it lists the history of our Shared Ministry over the last several years in a multiple "Whereas" format, concluding with a "Therefore" statement of our intent to continue our Shared Ministry Covenant. This document will be available for you to review over the next several weeks. The Joint Bishop's Committee will not be meeting in July; however, it is our intention to vote on the resolution at our August meeting, so that it can be forwarded to Bishop Rob for his review and approval well before the renewal date in November.

 

We are greatly appreciative of all the hard work done by everyone who worked to create such a detailed, yet flexible original Covenant document. Moreover, every single one of us (including those who were more skeptical along the way) deserves credit for working so hard to make our Shared Ministry as successful as it has been already. We are looking forward to the next three years of our two churches supporting each other and continuing to strengthen and build new friendships between parishioners at both locations!

 

Craig Davis & Patrice Wood, Wardens

 

 

Another step in our summer bulletin "experiment"...

 

The response to our summer experiment of printing a seasonal worship booklet supplemented by a weekly insert listing hymns, readings and announcements has been decidedly mixed. Some grumbled at first, but then said they were finally starting to "get it." Others are still grumbling. And a third group said, "Hooray! Glad you're not wasting so much paper anymore!"

 

And then there were those who provided helpful input, including providing me with samples of bulletins from other churches that have used this approach. This latter group has inspired me to offer a "tweak" to this set-up, which will begin appearing this Sunday and be used through the end of July (longer if it works). The insert, starting this week, will be a "tri-fold," which will make it much more readily distinguishable from the seasonal booklet.

 

While I imagine there will remain a grumble or two, most folks are starting to understand how this is saving us between 160 and 240 pages of paper a week. That's at least 2,000 saved over the summer - probably more. As your feedback continues, I'll be listening.

 

Fr. Chip

 

 

Summer Picnic at Christ Church

 

Despite the rain last Sunday, our congregation pulled together to enjoy a barbecue lunch, complete with dessert and all the "fixings" (see photo below).

 

Last two weeks to reserve Fisher Cats tickets

 

Our annual trip to the Fisher Cats game in Manchester on Sunday, July 19 is quickly approaching. We begin with a  "tailgate party" at Christ Church, Exeter (43 Pine St.) at 10:30; the bus for Manchester leaves at 11:45, and at 1:00 the game begins.

 

The tailgate party is basically free. The cost of a ticket (great box seat behind third base) and the bus ride is $20.00 per person ($11.00 if folks drive on their own). A few pertinent details: 

• The final cutoff date for tickets is July 5. Checks should be made out to Christ Church, Exeter, with "ballgame" on the memo. Drop your reservation and check in the offering plate - or stop it by the Shared Ministry office.
  
• Choir members from both congregations are invited to join Exeter's choir to sing the National Anthem. There will be a brief rehearsal at the tailgate party. Choir dress code is khaki pants or shorts and blue shirt. The more the merrier!

Tickets will be distributed at the tailgate party before boarding the bus or cars. If people are not coming to the tailgate party, other arrangements can be made as long as we know in advance.

 

Questions may be directed to David Holroyd: dholroyd0219@comcast.net. 

 

 

Joint picnic set for Saturday, Aug. 8

 

Liz Malone and Lynda Swartz have graciously offered their spacious backyard in Hampton Falls for a joint picnic for both our congregations on Saturday, August 8. They've hosted groups as large as 100, so they have plenty of space - and they have room for badminton, volleyball, wiffle ball and even have stakes for horseshoes. We'll publish more specifics as the date approaches, but for now, save the date! It will be good to share food and fellowship - and their home is conveniently located at 14 Kensington Rd. (Route 84) just off Route 1.

 

 

Fr. Chip's vacation plans

 

The first of two vacation periods for our Vicar starts in a couple of weeks. Fr. Chip will be away from July 13-24, and again Aug. 29-Sept. 7. The Rev. David Plank will cover the Sunday in July he will be away. Coverage plans for August are still in the works. During both periods, neighboring clergy will be covering emergencies, and our Shared Ministry office will be the contact point.

 

 

Our Shared Ministry Cycle of Prayer

 

Each week, in both of our churches, we pray for one ministry we share and one or two households in each church. About once every six weeks, we will instead using the Shared Ministry Collect we prayed throughout the opening months of our Shared Ministry.

 

In our prayers the next two weeks, we give God thanks for...

 

July 5	Our E-News editor, Liza McGuckin; Mike Spinelli, George & Judy Koch, and Ned & Bobbie Stead of Trinity Church; Peter Monte of Christ Church
July 12	Concluding collect for our Shared Ministry