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Intake United Reformed Church, Doncaster
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Service Times:
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Sundays
11.00am
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Our Church:
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Intake United Reformed Church is one of two United Reformed Churches in Doncaster. We are situated in the Intake area near to the racecourse.
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Our mission is to serve our Lord in our area through our links with our attached Children’s Centre with its 500 registered families. We are both physically and emotionally linked to the centre which was built onto our site and opened in 2006 at the same time as our worship area was refurbished. As the Centre provides physical and emotional support to young children and their parents, we aim to provide a spiritual dimension for them and for the staff in the centre. Much of our contact work is done through the Café in the Centre.
We organise a weekly KeepFit seesion for ladies and a monthly social evening for ladies (The Breakways). We also host a monthly lunch for local over 60's.
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We are a happy family working together and this is reflected in our worship which is conducted on most occasions by our minister or another of our team of lay preachers linked to the two Doncaster United Reformed Churches. We try to be innovative in our worship and are learning quickly. We celebrate Holy Communion on the morning of each fourth Sunday.
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We try to be involved in the wider Church through our active involvement in Synod and Mission Council and through our links to Churches Together in our area and to Commitment for Life. We are an active Fairtrade Church.
In the past the Church has supported two of its members through the TLS Course: one working on Worship and one working on Prayer and it has found their experience to be of great value to the Church.
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Secretary's Report for 2009
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What is clear is that throughout this report we will have to say thank you to many people who have done so much in the previous year with the ever-present danger that I will miss someone out. If I do, then it is not by intention but due to a fading memory. We have a small membership compared to many Churches but our 21 members along with those who support our work, but have yet to make the declaration of faith, are involved in so much. This fellowship can usually be found playing its part whether it is at a local level, within the Synod or even nationally. It can be successfully active both in worship and in service and does so well because every member of the fellowship is involved.
As usual we need to focus on the most important activities which involve all our thoughts. We have met for worship on 55 occasions during the year and all of these, I believe, have been of a very good standard indeed. Our minister Rev Baiden had led worship on 26 occasions, 24 services have been led by other members of the Hall Gate and Intake preaching team and 5 sessions have been led by other friends. During the year we held our usual special services for Easter and for Christmas when the ‘Unwrapping the crib’ service and the Christmas Eve service were excellent as in previous years. The Church Anniversary and Gift Day was especially good because so many attended and we shared a good service led by our minister and a faith lunch which followed. It is pleasing to reflect on the fact that at the end of the year we were seeing many more friends in our worship on a more regular basis than before. Apart from those who lead worship, there are many who contribute to the worship in other ways. We must thank those who welcome others at the door, those who provide and organise the flowers each week, those who read the lessons, operate the projector, play the organ and provide refreshments and those who are carefully tending our small JC’s group. The JC’s are doing wonders and we must continue to pray that God adds to their number. Those who plan for JC’s each Sunday and those who care for them have a very precious task and they are to be thanked. We have also been present at the baptism services of William Harrison and Yamdana Yakubu and the blessing service of Milly and Brett Reeve. Also in our church, our minister also conducted the funeral services for Richard Watson and Maurice Guest. Our minister also preached the sermon at the joint service for the Churches Together in Intake and Wheatley Hills which was held at All Saints’ Church. As part of the local churches together group, services are held at Sandal Park Day Centre but these are organised and supported by our members alone. Thanks to Elizabeth Dodsworth these services to that community are continuing whenever possible and last year services were held for Epiphany and for Harvest. We also shared our Lenten lunches with the Churches Together group during Lent. I must also thank all those who support the work of the councils of the Church, attending Synod, our Mission and Care Group and Church and Elders’ Meetings.
As well as formal worship, we have also met as a group for Prayer time each Tuesday and for Bible Study and these have continued to be most worthwhile and appreciated by many. The Bible study has also continued as part of our Vision4life work and we have met on 9 evenings and one full Saturday to share a meal and to continue to explore the Bible together. These sessions too have been very valuable and we hope for similarly great things during the coming year as we focus on prayer.
As part of our service to the community, much of our effort goes into supporting the Children’s Centre and trying to help with those with whom they are in contact both parents of young children and families which are in need. We have many volunteers from within our fellowship who help with the Credit Union, the Toy Library, Cook and Eat sessions and generally with support and concern for the welfare of the staff and helpers in the Centre and by our continuing prayers for their work. We must also recognise the valuable work done through Keep Fit, through Breakaways and through the over 60’s lunches; all of which have an important relevance to those who attend. Thank you to all those who help in any way with all these outreach programmes and especially those who are in the position of organiser. Thank you then to Jennifer Binks, Elizabeth Dodsworth, Jackie Laws, Jennifer Lowe and Judith Garthwaite. During the year we exchanged visits with a Church in Bolton who were also working in the community and had a most interesting time.
We have unfortunately had to stop stocking and selling Traidcraft items each Sunday, although some Christmas cards and gifts were bought. There seems to be little call for Fair Trade items at Church when so much can now be purchased in normal stores. There is always the concern that people will forget and perhaps we need to find a way of reminding friends of the importance of buying fairly traded goods whenever possible.
We have however managed to maintain and even improve on our support for overseas work. Through refreshments on a Sunday morning and personal donations we have been able to continue giving to Commitment for Life. Thanks to the work by Margaret Dyson and many others we have continued to support the Christmas Child project which supplies gift-filled shoeboxes for distribution. This latter effort is not only important in its own right but it brings together church friends, staff and parents of the Children’s Centre, and members of the wider community. To find even one thing in which all willingly participate with enthusiasm is a wonderful achievement.
Of course there are other occasions when we enjoy times with the wider community and we really enjoyed the New Year party last year. Also enjoyable but with an edge of raising funds for the Church and its work, we remember with pleasure the Spring Fair and Plant Sale, the Quiz Night and the Pea & Pie supper for the Shoebox Appeal. We need to thank everyone who helped to organise and participate in all of these. Thanks too to Janet and Elizabeth for trying something new this year to replace the Flower Party which Janet has run for many years in her own home. Judith’s marmalade and Joyce’s jam have also been a great success. Towards the end of the year we unfortunately had to cancel the Christmas Fair with the feeling that we needed to look again at its organisation and content.
As I was checking through my diary for last year, I came across two strange events: a coffee afternoon and a coffee evening and I must admit to being a little puzzled until I remembered the Talents fund-raising events which so many members organised. I had forgotten how successful that series of events was and how much talent was on display. Thanks to you all for your skill and support. And we must offer a final thank you to all those who support the Church by being available to enable us to let the church space to outside organisations. There are many tasks that have been done which has resulted in so many groups wanting to come back here time after time. It not just the refreshments but it’s the way we welcome individuals and try to provide all that they need. I only hope that sometime in the future they will remember that the generous hospitality they received here was provided by members of a Christian fellowship and was so much more than just a business arrangement.
Above all things organisational, financial or theological, what last year proved once again was that we are a family in which all the members are cared for and loved. What power a fellowship that shows such concern has on those around. What an example we set to those who are on the margins; what an opportunity we have been blessed with to show God’s love in so many ways. I am convinced that we must be prepared to do more still to support the excellent work done in this place and that this is where our mission lies as well as the spreading of the Gospel. We must continue in prayer that we will be shown what we must do and given the strength to do it.
I present this report in the name of our Saviour.
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