We continue with our Bible study, looking at the Letter of Jude, this Wednesday evening, the 22nd of February at 7.00pm in the Abbey Church and all are welcome to come and join us.
The next soup lunch will take place this coming Wednesday, the 22nd February, between 12.00-2.00pm in the Abbey Church. All are welcome to come and join us and catch up with friends old and new. We look forward to seeing you there.
All are welcome to come and join us for worship every Sunday morning. We gather for worship at 10.00am in Bendochy Church and 11.15 in the Abbey Church to hear God’s Word and sing to His praise.
After an absence of two years because of the pandemic, Friendly Friday returns to the Abbey Church on the 6th of May between 1.30pm and 3.00pm. All are welcome to join us for tea or coffee and a catch up with friends old and new. Whilst there is no legal requirement for face coverings whilst moving about the church or social distancing, please request those who choose to wear face coverings and who would appreciate a little more space.
This coming Sunday, the 3rd of April, we celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion in both Churches at the usual times o1 10.00am in Bendochy Church and 11.15am in the Abbey Church.
Thank you to all who have donated to our humanitarian appeal for the people of Ukraine. A total of £345.00 was raised at Bendochy Church and £503 at the Abbey Church – both wonderful amounts.
Our next online Bible Study will take place on Wednesday 16th March at 7.00pm, looking at John 2:13-22
If you would like to join in please email the minister on Andrew.Graham@churchofscotland.org.uk
Presbytery Restructuring
You may have been aware of some newspaper articles recently referring to changes within the Church of Scotland which may result in a number of churches having to link, unite and even close, and naturally this has caused a certain amount of unrest. So I would like to just give a brief update on what is actually going on at this time.
The General Assembly has instructed Presbyteries to engage in a revised from of presbytery planning, known as Presbytery Mission Planning. Each Presbytery has been instructed, by 31 December 2022, to prepare, and have approved by Faith Nurture Forum and General Trustees, a Presbytery Mission Plan, setting out how presbytery intends to carry out the mission of the Church within its bounds.
In preparing this plan, each Presbytery must take account of a reduction in the number of Full Time Equivalent Ministries (FTE), which will be financed by Faith Nurture Forum. The present FTE allocation to the Presbytery of Dunkeld and Meigle is 11.3. However, this will be reduced to 6.5 by 31 December 2025, which, as you can see, represents a significant reduction. At the moment Presbytery is considering how we will achieve this and consultation papers have been sent to our Kirk Sessions for them to respond to by June.
However, please note that any changes recommended by Presbytery will not affect the current tenure or status of any Minister currently serving in post within our Presbytery.
Running alongside all of this is the merger of Presbyteries within Scotland, a process that has already taken place in some areas. For us here this will mean our Presbytery of Dunkeld and Meigle merging with the Presbyteries of Perth, Stirling, Angus and Dundee. The new Presbytery – the Presbytery of Perth as it will be known – should be in place by the beginning of January 2023 and again discussions as to how all this will work are well advanced and an overture to this effect should go to the General Assembly this May.
I hope this is of some help and I will of course keep you updated as we progress through all of this. However, if anyone does have any questions or any concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.
God Bless,
Andy
Our on line Bible study for Lent begins on Wednesday the 2nd of March at 7.00pm and everyone is welcome to join us for this. It is friendly and informal and as it is on line lasts for only 40 minutes. If you would like to join in please email the minister on Andrew.Graham@churchofscotland.org.uk and he will forward you the link and joining instructions.
It is with great sadness that the Kirk Session have regrettably decided to cancel the planned Christmas Eve Service. This is not a decision that was taken lightly, but following Scottish Government advice in the wake of an exponential increase in cases caused by Omicron, the Session felt it was the right thing to do to keep everyone safe. Sunday worship, however, will continue as normal in both churches. Sunday services continue as normal, however, we have reinstated a 2m spacing between households which means that in Bendochy we can accommodate up to 13 households and in the Abbey Church 47 people.