Our Minister

July-August 2022 Circuit Link - Letter from our Minister

‘The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore’. Psalm 121:8

This issue of the Circuit Link is a two-month edition, covering the summer season, with rest and relaxation for some, holidays and time with the family for others, and hopefully some fine warm weather in which to enjoy a few days out and some sightseeing around our beautiful county.

There will also be a lot of clearing and sorting for some – packing up boxes and farewells in the Circuit as we say ‘Goodbye’ to Rev Chris, Alison, and their family as they move to Tavistock. Chris has been a colleague ever since 2010 when he and I joined the Circuit together. I know that I am not alone in my appreciation of his friendly warm nature, his quiet assuring presence – and his short meetings! It will seem strange to think of the Circuit without him. I know that you will join with me in wishing him and Alison the very best of good years in their new home – and Dartmoor is so very close to Tavistock!

The Plymouth and Exeter District of which we are a part has just said ‘Goodbye’ to our District Chair, Rev Graham Thompson and his wife Alison, as Graham takes up his new role as President of the Methodist Conference. You will probably be reading this during the week that the Conference is meeting, 23-30th June, and we will be praying for Graham and following his diary with interest as he leads the Methodist Church during his presidential year.

Then, after the ‘goodbyes’, a greeting, later in August, for Rev Annie and her husband Moses as they fly into the UK from Kenya, and take up residence in Bridgwater. As we have been preparing over these past months, we have felt very blessed to have links with the World Church, through which ministers across the globe respond to the call to serve overseas. The churches for which Annie will have pastoral charge have been able to introduce themselves through the medium of Zoom, and Annie has been able to begin to acquaint herself with some of the areas of work and mission with which we are involved.

We asked how much luggage she and Moses would be bringing – they said ‘4 suitcases weighing 23 kg each’. I wonder how many of us could pack all we wanted to bring halfway across the world, for a period of 5 years, in 4 suitcases. I doubt I could! The reason I am still here after 12 years is that I can’t face packing up the house! (That’s not quite true of course!)

We shall have many practical things to do throughout July and August, but most important of all will be to offer our prayers – for all who are responding to God’s call to embrace a new thing, a new place, a new group of people. ‘The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and for evermore’.

And as for those of us who continue here, let’s be alert for the new things that God will be doing with us and the new possibilities that God will show us, as we ‘praise him for all that is past, and trust him for all that’s to come’.

Deborah

NEW CIRCUIT APPOINTMENT:

Dear friends,

I write to let you know the very exciting news that we have a minister from the Methodist Church in Kenya being stationed to our Circuit (subject to Conference) from September 2022.

The lady is Reverend Annie Deche, and she comes to us through 'direct stationing' (that is, neither the Circuit nor the Presbyter will be expected to challenge the match). Annie trained at the Queen's Foundation in Birmingham, and has served in Circuits in the Methodist Church in Kenya, and in Northern Ireland. The skills and experience she will bring appear to be an excellent fit for us, and Annie has been reading our profile with excitement, and is very much looking forward to serving among us. She is married to Moses who will accompany Annie, and they have 3 adult children who will probably not be living in the UK, but may visit from time to time.

There will be opportunities for representatives from the Circuit churches to meet Annie in various online meetings over the next weeks, and our task now is to make the necessary prayerful and practical preparations for Annie and her husband Moses.

Please feel free to share this really wonderful news with others.

With every blessing,

Deborah