Dear Everyone,
We are hugely grateful to all the people who have contributed time, skills and resources to St Barnabas over many years, but it is also lovely to have so many new people attending the church. We hope that you are finding both a warm welcome here and a good place to explore and deepen your faith. Some of you are just beginning to make it your home church, and we hope that in the years to come your sense of belonging and believing will grow. But we also do need to ask for your help.
Like most churches, apart from Ian and Claire in the office, we are run entirely by volunteers and do need assistance with a number of roles, some small and some more demanding.
We still urgently need a treasurer and will need more part time administrative support in the future.
We will also be putting together a job description for a paid administrative post very soon, as Claire, after many years fantastic service, has decided to stand down.
You can also contribute by helping with the garden, with singing in our excellent choir, giving tech help, welcoming people, helping with Sunday School, and preparing refreshments. Service on our very small number of committees will also help.
We run regular online courses for people to reflect on their faith, and previous sessions can be found on the website.
Covid 19 had a large effect on our numbers, the health of our congregation, and led to people feeling they should move out of London.
As a charity we have also seen the impact on our finances of the cost-of-living crisis. One example is that our annual electricity and gas bills are likely to increase from £8000 per annum to £25000 over the next year. So, we do need money to help, and regular giving is a particularly important part of that. We do manage to generate income through our beautiful halls, but that comes with many overheads too, in terms of cleaning, administration and maintenance.
We will be doing a recruitment and involvement drive over the next few months. Hopefully, this will be a rewarding thing to do, which will strengthen our community and the life of the church.
More details will follow, but if you would like to offer a skill and have any questions, do feel free to contact Ian or Helen.
Best wishes,
Ian Tattum, Vicar (iantattum@gmail.com)
Helen Hotten, Church Warden (helen.hotten2@btinternet.com)
Andy Hansen, Co-Warden
