What a year!
Despite a pandemic which led to churches being curtailed, and worse still, closed for the best part of two years, Tayside Christian Fellowship has come out the other side with a renewed vigour and lease of life, according to reports shared at this year’s Annual General Meeting in June.
There is no guide book written to aid elders in such a situation as a pandemic, but one verse in the Bible was central to everything they did.
Acts 2:42
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
Services, including communion, were streamed live on You Tube every Sunday, the Daily Bible Reading was enhanced with Devotions on weekday evenings on You Tube, and Zoom groups met for prayer, fellowship, and Home Group meetings. There was even support for members not previously technically proficient!
This was an immense challenge for the elders and one they met well. It is hard to appreciate that ‘normal’ church life as we know it only returned eight weeks ago but attendance has exceeded pre-pandemic times.
All TCF’s ministries, without exception, reported on how the last 12 months had been for each of them and there was a sense that the pandemic, tough as it was for everyone, had presented each group with a chance for reflection, prayer, and new ideas. They face the next year re-energised and firing on all cylinders.
Other points from the AGM especially worthy of mention include:
- Following 10 months of discussion with the elders and the approval of TCF’s members, Will Cottrell was invited to be our new Pastor and joined us on the 1st of June. (Get to know him on a separate feature this month on the website.)
- Five baptisms have been celebrated in the last few months, with more anticipated shortly
- Jean Kerr who was called home on 17th August last year was fondly remembered as someone who exemplified the essence of what it means to be a follower of Christ. She is greatly missed.
- Both our Youth Fellowship and Young Adults groups have grown in numbers and had an amazing year
- The church band has also grown with the introduction of new singers and instruments
- The recent refurbishment of our premises has enabled greater flexibility and a great kitchen!
- Our audio-visual team has expanded and they are getting to grips with much improved audio-visual equipment, while a new IT admin system has enabled weekly news bulletins for all and a coordinated church booking system.
Looking Forward
TCF proudly claims to be a family church of all ages, to
- care and share through working together
- keep Jesus at the centre of all we do
- effectively communicate the Gospel
- help everyone in the church follow Christ as a disciple, and
- proclaim biblical truth in our teaching and preaching, both privately and publicly
With our new Pastor and elders, we look forward to the next twelve months when the scripture will be explained with the aim to have our hearts renewed and to become even hungrier to see God’s presence in our lives.
Covid isolated people and still does to varying degrees. We are not meant to live like that, we are meant to live in community and unity. At TCF, Communion is so important reminding us of our need of grace and each other.
Recently we celebrated the Queen’s platinum anniversary. At the coronation ceremony all those years ago, she was presented with a Bible with the words “We present you with this book, the most valuable thing this world affords. Here is wisdom. This is the Royal Law. These are the lively oracles of God.”
Header photo by M ACCELERATOR on Unsplash
Published June 2022