During this past year the Church has met Sunday by Sunday to worship God and to enjoy fellowship. Attendance levels have continued to rise and there has been a good lay involvement in the preaching and leading of services. At the request of the PCC the Bishop renewed the authorization for the three Readers to administer Communion by Extension. The Young People have continued to take responsibility for a monthly evening Service which is enthusiastically received. The major festivals were well attended this year especially those of Easter, Remembrance Day and Christmas. Throughout the year there have been the usual cycle of Thanksgivings, Baptisms and Funerals at St Mark’s. Following on from the Church Audit we have been working through the five marks of a Mission Shaped Church program.   

During the weekdays of Term Time small groups meet together to study God’s Word and pray. This year we have been using SU material entitled "Slow to Anger."  As well as prayer and Bible study the groups also support the youth and children’s activities and pray for the St. Mark's Mission Partners. On a Sunday morning specific groups take their turn to lead the Intercessions, attend to the public reading of Scripture as well as serve refreshments once the service is over. About two thirds of the adult congregation are in groups as well as other cell groups run for the young people through the Youth and Children's Dept.   

The weekly Kidz Club, which links into the annual SPLAT Holiday Club, continues to flourish and this year a number of the Young People attended Soul Survivor and the annual Detling Bible Week, as did other members of the congregation. In the summer Sarah and Jim organized along with other Gillingham Churches and in conjunction with Medway Council, a successful project called, "Love Gillingham". Some hundred people, both young and old, were involved in this ministry of social / spiritual outreach to the local community. The project culminated in a joint "Open Air" service in Balmoral gardens with about three hundred people present. We hope to hold a similar event next year. In the spring a Pup style "Quiz night" was held at the Palm Cottage and in the autumn the Church held a very successful Saturday early evening sports activity at the Black Lion Centre which was attended by over three hundred church and fringe members of the congregation. Both these events as well as the autumn Barn Dance and Christmas meal at the Golf Club provide opportunities to reach out into the local community.

 Another of the highlights of the year was that in spite of the stringent financial situation we were able to send some eighteen folks, mostly from the congregation, to Uganda on a summer Exodus. Two groups visited separately Bufakula and the diocese of Kumi with the purpose of getting to know the Ugandans and helping with small building projects. There were opportunities to preach, share testimony and pray. The folks returned excited by the Church and all that God had done.   

The Voluntary Aided, Church of England Primary School on St Mary's Island continues to take up a considerable amount of time. The vicar is the Chair of Governors and Jim Findlay is the school's Chaplain, he and others are involved in the daily act of Christian worship.

The school has grown to about three hundred and twenty pupils so far, and the new wing which was opened last year not yet been signed off by the architects. In July the school was given "Notice to Improve" by Ofsted. The Headteacher, Mrs. Sharon Day with her staff have embraced the challenge and at the point of writing are on track to raise the school's academic standard.   

The PCC have continued to devote a considerable amount of time and effort on the betterment of the Vicarage Hall, providing a toilet for the disabled and extra storage space for Playgroup and the new Parent and Toddler group. A new digital projector has been installed in Church to replace the old OHP and just before Christmas the Medway Council put up fencing around St. Mark's Sq. thus improving the security and visual aspects of the property. 

This past year we have continued to see an influx of folks from different nations worshiping with us. Most of them come from the growing university campus at Greenwich as well as from the local Medway hospital. It is a great joy to have them with us and to join in Church / Community activities. As in previous years we have seen a continuing growing together with the Gillingham Baptist Church and the North Gillingham Fraternal of Churches. We have enjoyed some good times of prayer together as well as united services both inside and outside of church buildings.  

Financially the year began badly with the Church stretched to the limit of its resources. However after a very successful stewardship campaign in April linked to a "Vision Weekend" the situation was resolved. Gratitude must be expressed to our Treasurer, Rod White, for the way he has carefully managed the various a/cs. and brought us through this difficult time. The year ended with a comfortable financial “roll-over."  To God be the glory for His generosity through His people.     

In conclusion I want to express our thanks to Jim Findlay our Curate and to Sarah Ryan the Youth and Children's Co-ordinator and their families. Lynda Smith the Church Administrator has now successfully completed her first year in the Church office. Thanks too to the Coffee Shop team, the Lay Ministers, the Wardens Glyn and Terry, the PCC officers Vicky and Rod, the musicians and the many people both young and older who voluntarily give of their time and effort to make St Mark’s, the Church on the Island, and the ministry at Brompton, St. Mark's House and Mount Evans House a thriving and growing congregation of people.  

Proceeding of the Parochial Church Council January 2006 – December 2006 

The PCC meeting begins each meeting with a Bible Reading and prayer, committing to God the Agenda for the meeting and asking for His guidance on the discussions and the decisions to be made. 

Items covered during each meeting include:- 

Matters arising from previous meeting - a quick run through the last PCC minutes covering any items that will not come up under any of the heading on the Agenda for the meeting. 

Building Issues

Doctors Surgery – in January it was reported that the Doctor’s Surgery was completed and the staff would be moving in towards the end of January 2006.

Vicarage Hall extension was to begin at the beginning of February.   The extension to the Vicarage Hall was officially opened after the morning service on
Sunday 20 May.   

There have been a number of other building issues including discussing ways in which we can incorporate a toilet for the use of the disabled in church. 

The PCC have a report at each meeting on the ongoing repairs, on the church, Old Vicarage, and Vicarage Hall. 

Financial Matters - The Treasurer gives a brief overview of the current financial situation. – At the beginning of January 2006 one of the major discussion
points at PCC was the need to cut expenditure in the light of the poor financial situation, and the deficit of nearly over £12,000 on the 2005 accounts. 
There were many recommendations of ways this could be achieved, including cutting the Away Giving percentage, looking at increasing the hire charges for
the Halls, reducing the heating and lighting costs and having a rota to cut the grass at the Old Vicarage.  As well as suggesting these expenditure cuts, it was agreed that there would be a weekend of Prayer and Giving to inform the Church and include them in the financial dilemma.   

It was with great thanksgiving that the PCC were informed at the March meeting that following Gift Day Sunday the response from the members of St Mark’s.
The amount of money given and the promise of some increases in Standing Orders almost exactly meet the 2005 deficit.  The PCC recognised this as being God’s provision, and we were thankful and amazed at the way the St Mark’s congregation had responded in such a way to this humanly very serious financial problem.  How wonderful to be able to respond and thank our heavenly Father for His provision through His people. 

Other Financial matters include such things as agreeing large expenditure items, such as the expenditure for the data projector. 

Five Values of a Mission Shaped Church was another area that was discussed at length at PCC meetings.  Some of these decisions are being outworked throughout the church.  These have included sermons covering all aspects of the values: Worship, Incarnational, Transforming, Discipling and Community.
John Beck was approaching people in the congregation who are not presently in a Home/Belonging group, asking them whether they would like to join a group.   

Youth and Children’s Work - Sarah Ryan has kept the PCC informed on the exciting news of this area of St Mark’s life.  

Playgroup- The playgroup makes reports to the PCC, and had advised that there had been a drop in the number of children attending.  
It has been reported that now the numbers are at a healthy level. 

Parent and Toddler group - Also during the year the PCC were happy to hear that a new Parent and Toddler group was being organised and the PCC
were kept up to date with all the planning.  To help in storing the equipment for this the PCC agreed to buy a concrete shed that has been erected and the
end of the Vicarage Hall. 

The PCC has much to thank God for during 2006.  It was been a year of much thanksgiving, as we have had the privilege to see, first hand, how our heavenly Father has been answering our prayers to Him, and how He has thrilled us in answering in magnificent ways. 

Vicky Allen

As you read through the next few pages of reports I hope you get a glimpse of how God has been at work amongst our children
and young people and their families.

A large group of people continue to be involved working with both our church family children and those outside the church.
(I have just sent out 165 Easter cards to the families we have contact with!)  

So much happens amongst our children and young people here are the highlights of my year:

What an amazing, awesome God we have! 

The biggest highlight is the great team of people I work with who commit themselves to ministering to our children and young people.

A huge THANK YOU

CRÈCHE
The year has gone by swiftly for crèche. We first began with an influx of about 7 babies and 8 volunteers. Claire Coombe as moved back to South Africa and half the babies are now toddlers enjoying scramblers. This means we can accommodate new children. We are aiming for Bible stories and tapes on a regular basis. We would love your input: either on a regular basis or as a one off.

The Crèche team. (Linda, Mike, Denise, Jo, Mags, Lucy and Natasha)

SCRAMBLERS 

Scramblers is for 2-5 year olds and we met in the Old Vicarage on Sunday mornings. We have had many changes over the year. Some of the children moved
up to Climbers but we have also welcomed some new children. We now only have 5 children on the register with 3 attending regularly. 

It has been good to see the improvement in confidence of the two youngest boys in the group who now love Scramblers and can stay without a problem.
The children like story time, playing games and craft! 

Within Scramblers recently, we have looked at creation in depth and we have been on walks outside to see what we can find depending on the season.
In general, we use the Candle Bible for Toddlers as it means the children can learn stories from the bible in an interesting way, which is age appropriate and
with clear pictures. 

In the past year we were sad to say goodbye to Lucy Wheatley and we thank her for all her hard work. Rachel Mann joined us in September and is a great help. 

Thank you to everyone for your ongoing prayer and support and please pray for yet another successful year and preferably a few more children! 

Sarah, Rachel and Jemina 

CLIMBERS 

We continue to meet in the Old Vicarage on Sunday mornings, for infant school aged children. We currently have 12 children on the register with the majority
of these attending regularly and being boys! We have benefited from having the same team of leaders for the last 2 years, enabling us to get to know the children. 

During this year we have once again been using the Light material, which has covered a wide range of topics and we ask for prayer as we sometimes struggle
to convey the message to this age group. 

As always sessions continue to include games, craft, stories, drama, painting and balloons with the emphasis on fun! We once again had our annual visit
to monkey Bizz last summer and enjoyed a joint Christmas party with Xplorers and Scramblers. 

We would like to thank parents who entrust their children into our care each Sunday and we ask you to pray for us as a group as we continue to meet each Sunday. 

Caz, Nat, Jason, Sheena, Duncan and Michelle

 XPLORERS 

Xplorers have 32 children on the register with 19 attending regularly. The children have great fun together and get stuck into the bible together on Sundays.
Drama being on of their favourite activities. A highlight of the year has been to take a family service for the rest of the church family. During the year the
team has also provided some social activities to help the Xplorers get to know each other better.

 From THE TEAM Vanessa, Helen, Trevor, Angela, Steve, Martin and Andrew. 

PATHFINDERS 

Pathfinders continue to meet upstairs in the Old Vicarage with a growing number of young people between the ages of 11 and 14.  We currently have 13 on the register and about eight or nine attend regularly.  We generally follow the Scripture Union Grid materials with a mixture of games, bible teaching and worship activities.   There are some adaptations made to suit the group dynamics but everyone joins in and it’s been good to see the continued growth of relationships and confidence.   We have also met once a month on a Saturday for a Social evening.  The events are varied and often revolve around food – we have been bowling, enjoyed a chocolate fondue and pancakes (not together!), been on a scavenger hunt and had a barbeque.   

Our prayer is for all of us to continue growing in our relationship with God and the knowledge that He is with us whatever we do or wherever we go.   We also
pray for new leaders to join us especially as we are expecting at least six more young people to join us in May!  This report must end with thanks to
Naomi Barrett for her support in leading Pathfinders alongside Mike Haslam and Chris Atkins.  She leaves after Easter to follow her midwifery course. 
She will be missed but we wish her well.    

Chris Atkins, Mike Haslam, Naomi Barrett 

LANDMARK

 Hi, 

Tanx 2 u all 4 yr luv & prayrs 4 us L&markrs – keep prayin

cos we r doin stuff 4 God & need His help.

We r learnin 2 – evry Mon eve @ L&mark meetins, goin 2 Soul Survivor,
helpin wiv church famly, doin ‘Luv Gill.’ etc.

We wanna b movin & growin wiv God – it’s not easy so pls b prayin 4 us & our leadrs.

If u wanna kno more bout us, we’d luv 2 tell u!  Pls com & chat wiv us! 

L8rs XLandmark 

SPLAT! 

Yee ha!

Splat ‘when the going gets tough’, filled the church in the October school holiday. We had a cowboy theme, so the church was transformed into the Wild West. Cowgirls Sarah and Jo took the children through the many activities so important for good cowboys and cowgirls to learn before they can go riding off in to the setting sun!

The mornings included ‘live’ interviews with Moses, Esther, Samson and Peter. All of whom, in their own unique ways, told us of the power of God to take
over when things got tough. 

Each child was part of a team. They did lots of activities and crafts, like Indian headdresses and pinch pots, cowboy bandanas and wagon wheels.

Every day, including Sunday there was a horse race (hobby horse that is!), loudly cheered for by team members and leaders alike. Children panned for gold in the hope of striking it rich with sweets at break time. 

Dandelion and Burdock – the not so gentile cowboys warmed us up with line dancing, and then later gave lessons in the not so gentlemanly bodily functions of a cowboy’s day. Who would have though a simple spittoon could create so much laughter? I won’t mention what happened when they ate the beans!! 

The week was over so quickly but the leaders were given precious time to show the children the love and power of God. Please continue to pray for the
seeds sown in their hearts and minds. We want every single one of them to know and believe that they are Special People Loved And Treasured. 

Keep praying for us! 

Sarah, Lesley, Jeri, Lucy, Lucy, Catherine, Simon, Callum, Thomas, Amy, Sarah, Trevor, Darren, Matilda,  

KIDZ KLUB 

Kidz Klub is now in it’s 4 year and still is thriving. We have over 100 children on our books and a regular 50 – 60 each Friday night. We continue to provide a
fun atmosphere with lots of different activities to suit all tastes, including crafts, cooking, dancing, sport, Playstations, pool, tuck and games. A new initiative
this year has been “the questions room” which has a couple of leaders specifically talking about God. Every week we finish with XTREME time with challenges, quizzes a chance to win prizes and teaching. Great time for all, if at times challenging for us leaders!

A highlight of this year has being asked by 3 Kidz Klubbers to be baptised.  

We have continued to try to get to know parents and provide opportunities to get to know them better with a Pub Quiz, Family Fun day at Riverside, the
Blacklion event after SPLAT! and our Christmas celebration “BETHLEHEM VILLAGE”.  

Kidz Klub has a large team of leaders, which we need and this ensures that we get the children and no one leaves without feeling welcome and valued. 

Keep praying for us! 

Sarah, Lesley, Jeri, Lucy, Lucy, Catherine, Simon Callum, Thomas, Amy, Sarah, Trevor, Darren, Matilda,

SNUG

Snug has met monthly for the last year with good attendance by young people. It aims to enable young people year 6 – year 9 to meet socially.To promote Christian values and actions and to share Gods love through games activities and Gods word, informal education on issues that young people deal with in their lives and enable young people to have practical tools in dealing with these issues. 

Snug is a new group that is still in the developing and changing stages as a group. Snug is a follow on from Kids Club and has not been advertised in the
local area, this will happen when Snug has become established and a more stable programme and staff are in place. Young People are encouraged to tell
their friends and family. The team hopes that by September 07 we will be able to visit schools and other area’s to promote Snug.

Leaders have been asked to identify a few young people each to pray for their needs during the month and take an interest in their issues and give support.
This can be openly discussed with young person or not depending on the young person and what is best for them. 

Sarah has step away from Snug due to her other on going commitments with the youth work at ST Marks but will be always there to support and guide
me as I lead.

A Big thank you to Sarah for all her work with Snug that has enabled us to provide this group for young people at this vulnerable age.

Thank you to Nat as she steps away from Snug due to motherhood and family commitments. Nat has agreed that she will continue to support us when
needed.

Please pray for us as we work with this important age group 

Kerry McMorris on behalf of SNUG team 

PARENT & TODDLERS 

This time last year we held a vision of what God wanted us to do. We had no equipment, no storage, no time slot…. but, we had a place to meet in the
Vicarage Hall. 

God has certainly led us on an incredible, exciting journey this year. Every penny we asked for in funding for equipment was given by the Kent
Community foundation local network fund; the PCC built us a concrete storage shed; we managed to squeeze in the required 1 ½ hours on a
Wednesday afternoon. So, with our vision still in place we put up posters and gave out leaflets and opened to just 11 families in September 2006. Since
then we have rarely seen less than 25 families attending and in the last month never below 30. This term 59 different families have come though the door,
 most from the local area.

Our aim is to provide a safe, fun environment for pre-school children, their parents and carers. We encourage adults to play with their children, have refreshments, have a craft time, sing together and have a story. We celebrate special events such as Christmas and Easter. We also have time to chat to both adult and child and relationships are growing. Some share their worries and problems with us. For many finance is a big issue. Returning to work causes much heartache, but we try to support and stay in touch.

We are exhausted on Wednesday evenings (especially the OAP!) but it is exciting seeing God at work in the conversations we have and the relationships being made. Just this week 33 families heard a very simple Easter story and took away a palm cross. A seed sown! 

So, our vision of what God wanted us to do among families in Gillingham is taking shape. We are still learning and one change is who we thought we would be working with. Not the younger mums, but we have found a real need for this setting among older mums. Whatever age, we hope they feel welcome!

So can you help?

We hope you feel something we feel now you have read this!

With our love Sheelagh, Mags, Nat, Jo.

PLAYGROUP YEARLY REPORT

Gone are the days when a Playgroup was run by a few like minded mums of young children who got together in a home, or rented a hall for a couple of hours a week, to offer play facilities for their own children and a few others..  Playgroups and those who run them (paid, qualified staff) now have to register with the Early Years department of the LEA and Ofsted and conform to a whole horde of regulations. There is a set curriculum which the children must follow and goals which hopefully they will attain. 

The Playgroup Management Committee (4 church representatives nominated by the PCC plus 2 parents elected annually at the Playgroup AGM) are pleased to be able to report that despite making a slight deficit on our income / expenditure account, in many respects 2006 was a good year. 

At the beginning of any year we are always a little apprehensive as to whether we will be able to make the books balance at the end of the year and 2006 was
no exception to this rule.  Our income comes from two sources only – a) funding, which provides by far and away the majority of our income, for those children who are over 3 years of age comes from the local education authority early years department and b) fees paid for by the parents of children aged 2 – 3.  Our largest item of expenditure is staff wages. Since we are registered with Ofsted we must comply with the statutory number of staff, (1 adult: 4 children aged 2 – 3 and 1 adult: 8 children for those aged 3 – 4 plus).  This means that when we have a full house we need to have five qualified staff employed each day.  Last January (2006) the number of children was quite low and we had to temporarily ask some of the staff to work fewer days.  Throughout the academic year
numbers increased and we were able to offer extra days to some of the staff but we were not able to re-employ all of those who had agreed to a cut-back. However  to comply with Ofsted staffing requirements in September we agreed to employ a full time Deputy Supervisor to work alongside Julie Hanning.  
Sue Hall has proved to be an excellent addition to the Playgroup team.  In many respects this was an act of faith. During the Autumn / Winter term we saw the number of children enrolled at Playgroup increase dramatically which means that this January we were able to offer an extra day to one staff member and also take on a new member of staff for two days.  This means that we now have a full complement of staff. 

We must thank our long suffering Playgroup Supervisor and her staff team, as well as the children and their parents as during the spring and summer term they had to work around the disruption caused by the building works on the Vicarage Hall.  The upheaval was worth it in the end and the new ground floor storage
room has been a tremendous improvement to the day to day management of playgroup equipment.  The entrance porch and disabled toilet facility are also much appreciated. 

At the request of the PCC we increased our contribution to the running costs of the Vicarage Hall from £1050 per annum to £3000 per annum. This in part contributed to the deficit on our income and expenditure account.  With the building of the annexe to the Vicarage Hall we had some additional costs in
providing shelves and new storage equipment in the store room.  We were pleased to make a contribution from our reserves of £3500 towards the building
costs of the annexe. 

Our thanks must go to Janet Aldington who has been the Chairman of the Playgroup Management Committee for the past six years. At our AGM in October Janet decided to stand down and hand the baton onto someone else. She also resigned from the Committee.  This has meant that for the past few months we have not had a full complement of church representatives on the committee.  However this has now been rectified and Gary Atkins will be joining us after Easter. 

Volunteers are also part of the Playgroup scene and we are most grateful to those who come in regularly to help.  Their contribution is invaluable.  Everyone
who works at Playgroup – paid staff and volunteers have to be in possession of a current Enhanced CRB Disclosure Certificate. 

Our last Ofsted inspection (which was very good) was in February 2005 so we can expect a ‘spot check’ at any time in the next twelve months.  Our staff are always being encouraged to improve their qualifications and most have taken advantage of the courses currently on offer.  Julie Hanning is taking a two year
part-time course in Early Years Education for which she has been given day-release from Playgroup.  Running a Playgroup entails a lot more than just being
there to open the doors at 9.30 each morning and to close them after the last of the children has been collected at lunch-time.  There are plans to be made for
the next day / week/ term.  Learning Goals to be identified; activities to be arranged; toys and books to be found relevant to the current topic; shopping to be
done to provide for the healthy eating snack time; individual children’s profiles to be kept up to date; legislation to be implemented; policies to be reviewed.  All of this is done outside of the normal paid hours of work – and for the most part without complaint. 

Playgroup is very much a part of the overall ministry of St. Mark’s - ‘Connecting people with Jesus’.  Playgroup endeavours to ensure that all the children in our care are treated with respect whatever their ethnic / religious / social background and all parents send their children to our Playgroup knowing that first and foremost we are a Christian run Playgroup.  

Yours on behalf of the Playgroup Management Committee    

The St. Mark’s team that reaches out into Esmonde House and the Brompton area of the Parish  has throughout the last year held services once a month on the second Sunday, and met for tea, chat and prayer on the last Friday of each month.  Rod White, Rachel Littlewood, Darell Miller, Vicky Allen and myself have taken turns in leading services and preaching, and I have led Services of Communion by Extension both on Sundays and Fridays. 

We minister to a small but faithful group of people who obviously appreciate our ministry, and who are willing to share with us the joys and difficulties that they face as older members of the community.  Certainly friendships with them and among them have deepened in this past year, and it is a real pleasure to serve them in any way we can. 

We are helped practically in our ministry by Pauline Jackson who leads our singing, Daphne Beck and Jenny White who provide us with teas and coffees, and Jenny who delights us with beautiful seasonal flower arrangements.  Recently we have been blessed with Brenda Eames who has joined us on a Friday to make tea for us. 

We long to see more of a sense of community in Esmonde House and further people drawn in to worship with us, and as in previous years we ask you to pray with us for ways in which we as a group can continue to reach out in an effective way for the gospel of Jesus Christ in this area of need within the Parish.

Judith Saunders 

The Island Church has now been holding Services in the School Hall on the Island for the last seven years. Its membership has been steady for the last couple of years at about forty adults with about another twenty / thirty adults who come sometime but who do not come regularly enough to be members The number of children attending is very irregular. One week we could have ten the next week none which has made it difficult to carry out any consistent children’s work. 

The School Hall has doubled in size in the last year so we have ample room for expansion on a Sunday. We have been thinking how we can reach out into the local community. In conjunction with Gillingham Youth for Christ we had a team called NOMAD for a week to do youth work on the Island.  This was mainly financed by the Island Residents Association. 

We are aware that there is strong desire to have an open youth club in the Community Centre on the Island and this has been in our thoughts in the last year, but we know as a lay led church and small congregation we can only do so much. 

Although the S.M.I Church is part of the Parish of St. Mark’s the Church on the Island is also ecumenical with a constitution that means we as a Church are Anglican, U.R.C. and Baptist. Most of the members are joint members of the three denominations. This has not been any problem since most members of the congregation just think of themselves as members of the Island Church. 

The original members who left St. Mark’s to start the new Church are still there i.e. Chris Green, Jacqui Green, Gwynne Grant, Janet Mann and Ernie Mann.  

We have a weekly Bible Study, Alpha Courses every now and again, our monthly meeting for ladies in Community Centre called “WOW”.   We have held a number of social
events in the past year such as Ten Pin bowling, trips to the seaside, to the theatre, and numerous meals together at the church. A number of us have joined with the local
rambling club on its walks.  

An evening coffee group for ladies from the church and others on the Island meet together to strengthen friendships and increase our links with the community on the Island.  

We are seeking to strengthen our links with the school in the coming year and have our own Office/ Vestry in the school with a computer and filing cabinets etc. We are hoping to have a regular time when the office is manned during school hours.  

We joined with the school in commissioning the Royal School of Military Engineering to create a sign for all to see using our striking logo
and lettering.  This makes it very clear that the building houses both a school and a church. The Logo was made using stainless steel for
the boat and sails. The cross and waves being made of brass.  

Ladies’ Group has been a thriving support group for about fifteen women each Wednesday morning throughout the past year. As we have looked at what it means to live out the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives, studied “The Purpose Driven Life” together and looked deeply into the story of the Prodigal Son, we have encouraged one another to continue our Christian journey whatever our circumstances. 

Each Wednesday there has been a crèche for the small children, enabling mums to take part in the study without too much distraction.  Darren Thom has regrettably had to back out from helping at this.  We have been grateful for his help as well as for that of Margaret and Rose who will continue to look after the children in the future. 

Our monthly coffee times have become a regular relaxing feature of Ladies’ Group, whether at Riverside or at the Garden House (thanks to Mags’ hospitality!).
At Christmas we went bowling together – hard work and good fun, enabling our friendships to develop and deepen. 

Through Helen Towers’ visit to Uganda, we have twinned with the Ladies Group from Bufukhula, Uganda and send them copies of our studies and pray for one another. 

Coffee shop continues very well and we are very busy.  We have had a few new customers over the past year, as well as our ‘old faithfuls’ who have been coming in for many years. Our coffee, cakes, scones and sausage rolls are a very great draw, as is the lovely atmosphere in St Marks which is enhanced by Colin Haggart who puts up pictures on the overhead projector together with C.D’s 

We were very sorry that Rose Clay had to retire due to ill health.  She was in at the beginning of Coffee Shop and had served for many years.  .We were sorry to lose her.  Daphne Beck was also ill for some months and not able to join us, however, we are pleased that she now feels able to return on a fortnightly basis
(and of course bring her super coffee cake) it’s a winner with our customers.  We were very pleased to welcome Brenda Eames to our team – she is a lady
who is able to do three jobs at once and is great help.  Ann Townsend is now a regular part of the team and was missed when she had to have time off for hospital treatment.  However, John retired from work and he helps with washing up.  We were a bit anxious for a few weeks that we might not be able to cope,
but after a request  for help Lucy Haslam who was home from university came in, as did Callum Whitley  (he makes a  good chocolate sponge cake) who was
on half term.  Andrew Bairnsfather comes in with Lynda and helps with clearing tables.   We also thank our usual team of Kelvin Baker, Margaret Roberts, David Norton and of course John Walters who comes in early to light the urns. 

Our Christmas and Easter services are very popular and well attended and we look to the Lord   to continue blessing us and our customers.

This year we have met for three meals, the first in June with guest speaker Harry Goring, Former High Sheriff of West Sussex, This was held at Gillingham Golf Club.

In September Gillingham Baptist Church hosted a Breakfast in the “Lighthouse” with Guest speaker Malcolm Smith Director of Gillingham Youth for Christ.
Our Christmas meal with guest speaker The Dean of Rochester Cathedral The very Rev Adrian Newman was attended by us men and our female guests.
The events with the various speakers were both enjoyable and challenging with men from churches across the deanery, with just a few guests being invited.

In recent years the events have been less well attended and we have not had many men invited as guests.

Gillingham Christian Viewpoint for Men’s ethos is primarily to be evangelistic whilst also encouraging to Christians, The committee will be meeting shortly to
seek the Lord and plan the way forward. 

MTG, our mission support group, has met regularly most months to pray for the mission partners of our church, to co-ordinate the dissemination of information about our mission partners and to monitor the level of financial support that is allocated from the PCC Budget. 

In 2006 due to the financial situation of the church, the percentage of unrestricted income allocated to our mission partners was reduced to 10%.  This was a reduction in commitment compared to previous years where the percentage has been around 12.5%.  The PCC is keenly aware that any reduction in income for any of our twelve mission partners has serious implications and so by the end of the year, thanks to the generosity of God's people, we were able to make up the difference in a one off gift to each of them.   

Our twelve mission partners are involved with a variety of organisations and associated with different home / belonging groups within the St. Mark’s Church family.  They are as follows: 

 It has been a real blessing to our church family to receive visits from many of our mission partners over the duration of this past year.  Not only have they
shared at church in our services, but they have also had the opportunity to spend time with their associated home groups. This year we have been visited by
Jan Rowland, Lynne Martin, Richard and Carolyn Davey, Mike and Helen Tozer, Carri MacFarlane and Tim Barrow.  Rob Ryan, who is training for the Ordained Ministry, and Malcolm and Abby Smith also pay us frequent visits!

MTG provided details of each of our mission partners, their work and their prayer needs through detailed inserts in Marktime and on the ‘Missionary of the Month’ board in church. The board has continued to raise awareness about our partners into 2006. 

In addition to this it was also encouraging to see Exodus 2006 develop.  This entailed two teams from St. Mark’s travelling to Uganda.  One team comprising
10 people travelled in August and another team comprising 8 people travelled in September. 

The team in August erected concrete water tanks to provide clean and safe water for a school in a rural village named Bufakuhula near Mbale in Eastern Uganda, they visited folks in their homes, shared their faith and played football with the children. Their ministry was in partnership with ‘Food for the Hungry’. The September team helped construct a diocesan mission centre for the Anglican Church of Uganda in the Diocese of Kumi as well as preaching, praying and
visiting in the local church.  

Each volunteer had to raise £1000 for the trip to cover the cost of flights, living expenses and a financial contribution to the building projects and MTG had been involved in advising, supporting, encouraging and praying for this venture as it developed.   

The teams returned excited and in some cases overwhelmed by the hospitality of the local church and the deep faith and commitment to Christ of the Ugandan peoples. Another Exodus `2007` is planned for August where a small team will visit the two areas visited last year and report back.  

These 18 people together with our 12 long term mission partners represent our church family in their own corner of God’s Kingdom.  As a church we are all engaged in our own individual ways of Connecting People with Jesus and we are, or should be, just as much a part of God’s mission as they are. 
We demonstrate this by being with them in prayer as well as in other practical ways. 

Please consider whether you could commit one evening a month to joining with others in prayer for our mission partners.   

St. Mary's Island School, Island Way West, Chatham Maritime

A significant feature of my role as curate of St. Mark’s has been that of part-time chaplain to the Island school.  It’s a role which constantly challenges and surprises me but never ceases to be a privilege.  I find so many of those who belong to the school community welcoming me into their classrooms and, more importantly, their lives. 

I aim to be in the school two to three times a week and try to commit as much time as is feasible to that community, ensuring I strike a balance between this work and my other duties as a curate.  When I’m there my ‘duties’ are many and varied and encompass the breadth of that community, involving me with students, teachers, T.A’s, dinner ladies, office staff, cleaners and parents.  Each of these groups of people seek me out in relation to pastoral and spiritual issues.  Teachers and parents can refer children to me in order that I can be a listening ear, help with anger management or just talk through difficulties with them.  I have often found teachers in need of the same!  I offer them Prayer, Ears, Advice and Support –PEAS for short.  I have prayed with a good number of the staff in relation to many issues and circumstances, in my office, in the corridors, in meetings and in staff prayer meetings called around difficult circumstances for individual staff.  As a chaplain I have also been asked to attend a number of meetings involving a collaboration of local authority service providers in relation to particular family needs.  Parents often engage me at the school gates on anything and everything – including questions like ‘did Jesus really die on the cross’, and ‘my son keeps asking me why Jesus died on the cross – what should I tell him?’.  This is without a doubt an extremely privileged aspect of my job. 

These pastoral duties are supplemented with a commitment to the regular worship life of the school through regularly taking assemblies and participating in services at key times in the year.  It’s always a challenge to communicate the gospel to such a wide age range of children and adults from such a wide range of backgrounds.  Assemblies are great fun and it’s always a challenge to work out how best to involve the students and convey the message whilst at the same time avoiding the horror of action songs!!  Our services, like the recent acts of worship John and I were involved in for Easter, are a real joy where we see the extent to which the students engage in the Christian story in depth and just how much it characterises their experience of school.  Both Key Stage 1 and 2 presented moving and meaningful services to their fellow students, staff and parents.  The Christian faith is significant in the life of this school. 

A highlight of my year, and perhaps my curacy, was participating in the year 6 trip to Norfolk in October last year.  Spending a week with these students and teachers was fantastic!  They were a joy to be with as I watched them rise to the challenges placed before them through a number of demanding activities.  Highlights included walking bare foot across the mud flats, resting in the glorious sunshine in the sand dunes, the monster trail, soaking large numbers of students with buckets of water (though not as much as Lucille, the Deputy Head-teacher) and seeing this bunch of people ‘grow up’ so much in the space of a week.

Although there is much to be positive about, I would crave your continuing prayers for this school and all who belong to it.  There is no doubt that they have been through a tough time this past year, after a disappointing Ofsted inspection at the end of the last academic year.  This has resulted in a good staff working even harder to raise the standards of education and provision for the students at the school.  This inevitably takes a toll on people through increased scrutiny, observation, extra support measures, new initiatives, new targets and goals.  All of this has been seen by the local authority and by Ofsted who are full of praise over the progress the school is making, which is excellent.  But I would ask that you pray for all the people on whom this pressure falls – the governors, the senior management team, the teachers and the T.A.’s.  My prime concern in that place is the people - their well-being and their relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  Please keep praying for both. 

Video Projector

The most notable addition to the Church’s technical equipment in the last year, has been the installation of a permanent projector system. As the system, including the “Easy Worship” software, has been operational for nearly six months, we are now able to provide many useful visual presentations within services. The “Easy worship” software allows us to incorporate not only song words, but also insert Power Point and video presentations within a service schedule and each object is sent live with a simple key stroke or mouse click. At present we have a core team of operators who are fast becoming conversant not only with the actual live projection, but also assembling the service schedules. Further enhancements to the system are planned in the near future, most importantly the provision of a screen facing the platform area; which will enable those presenting the service to see the same image as the congregation.

Sound Equipment

There have been some minor changes to the sound equipment, in fact by the time you read this the new induction loop amplifier, which provides a signal for hearing aids with a “T” setting, should be fully operational. We have been working with a borrowed amplifier since the demise of the Church’s original one. We have also purchased a new radio microphone system to replace our oldest unit which has had to be repaired at least three times in the last two years. The other changes have been improvements to the audio cabling and repairs to the main sound mixer.

Following the demise of the main CD player over a year ago, we have been working with a variety of borrowed machines but were finally able to purchase and install a new CD player just before Christmas.

With a technical system as comprehensive as ours it is always necessary to monitor the performance of each item of equipment and it has become clear recently that many of the microphones we use every Sunday are showing their age and a programme of replacement is about to begin.

Personnel