God knows us all intimately , and goes ahead of us softening the falls when they happen . He makes no harsh demands of us , He just asks us to tell Him what we want . Prayers were said by you , and by the whole of the SEC for Ashley , and they were answered in his healing on earth . Thanks be to God . I returned to duties in April and since then there has been a levelling out of growth . As a person leaves they are replaced . No decline but no growth .
+ Gregor said to me after I told him that we were not growing in number “ that ’ s your job ”. A few of you have said the same thing A few of you have said that you knew getting a pioneer wouldn ’ t work So , isn ’ t it a good job that I am not the sensitive kind 😊 And in answer to the + and others ; With respect No ! it is not my job .
My job is to lead you in the faith as Priest , love you as Jesus does in sickness and health , and teach you the good news of the gospel .
A pioneer has lots of ideas and can / does connect with the community in varied ways . A pioneer even a priested one is only human . A pioneer needs a group of willing and able volunteers from the inherited church family to enable the community connections to strengthen and be meaningful and fruitful . Some of the connections that I have made , will take years to bear fruit , because hardly any person I have contacted outside of this church family has much of a clue about the SEC , let alone an understanding of God beyond the nativity , Noah , and Easter . It takes a lot of time to teach well , but before the teaching even happens trust needs to be there . And then there needs to be a reason to belong to the SEC .
With respect to + Gregor it is part of his job to prayerfully and skilfully support his priests and to encourage us in the faith when we are tired , praise us for keeping joyful in the hard times and scold us if we act less than priestly . And he executes that job extremely well .
With respect to others ; it is your job to prayerfully support me , and the church family members who can and do actively volunteer .
To encourage us when we are tired , praise us for keeping joyful in tough times , and keep me to account in my priestly duties – see me for details of
the ordinal 😉 .
St Oswald ’ s will not grow quickly as there is a huge amount of work to do within the wider community first ; our church reach out projects have begun that process .
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