ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 14 NOVEMBER 2017

AGENDA

1. Welcome and Worship

2. Apologies

3. Approval of minutes of last meeting

4. Reports on church ministries

- Children’s Ministry

- Youth Ministry

- Global Impact

- Music Worship

- Tech

- Local Impact

- Catering

- Men’s Group

- Home Groups

- Stewarding

5. Building and Fabric

6. Presentation of Accounts and Finances

7. The Pastor’s Report

8. Items submitted in writing

9. Any other business

10. Date and time of next meeting

ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING HELD

ON TUESDAY 15TH NOVEMBER 2016

AT ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP

Chair:Brian Boyd

Present:

Vijay Pillai James Packham Malcolm Webb

Lesley McLaughlin David Young Cheri Young

Nickki Baggaley Calum MacKenzie Gillian MacKenzie

Brian Boyd Rona Boyd Dave Robertson

James MacKenzie Pamela Maclure Efraim Doczi

Lorraine Watson Mandy Garden Graham Cuthill

Christine Robertson Bert Wilson Derek McHardy

Alex Wood Pete Henderson Elaine Henderson

Eleanor Forbes Dave Johnstone Aileen Johnstone

Len Milne Gillian Milne

Matthew Smith Lorna Thomas Alma Cordova

Julian McCormack Katie Paterson

1 Welcome and Worship: Brian welcomed everyone. James Packham led worship and Derek opened in prayer.

2 Apologies:

Esther Milne Craig Smith Billy Mail

Karen Webb Jennifer Packham Kevin Ashton

Val Ashton Aylwin Pillai Karen Robertson

Donna Cuthill Beth Wilson Isabel McHardy

David Maclure Florence MacKenzie Tabitha Doczi

Adrian Watson

3 Approval of minutes of last AGM: The Minutes of Meeting for the Tuesday 15th November 2015 AGM were reviewed and approved. Len Milne proposed and Calum MacKenzie seconded the accuracy of the minutes and their adoption as accurate.

4 Membership Update: Membership now stands at 65, 9 up on last year. Those voted in on Sunday were welcomed to the AGM. Since the last AGM there have been 9 baptisms.

5 Reports on Church Ministries: These are done primarily by volunteers as part of their service, as an act of worship. ACF is blessed to have Ministry Team Leaders, and Brian thanked them on ACF’s behalf. Prior to the AGM each member received reports detailing the progress of each of the Church Ministries, written by the respective Ministry Team Leaders. There was an opportunity for the authors to comment and for questions to be addressed to the authors.

Children’s Ministry – There was a comment from the floor – thank you for the report and for everything done for the children of ACF.

Youth – Again there was a comment from a member who already had a high opinion of everything Gillian and David do, but reading the reports made him realise even more their input and commitment. And another that it was a bold step for a church with 65 members to have 3 staff.

Global Impact – A verbal report and presentation was given instead of a written report. This included a review of the year:

January – Global Impact Meeting at Rona’s

February – four Sunday morning service slots

April – Miek led Prayer Meeting, and organised an ESCAPE anti-trafficking weekend

June – Val led Prayer Meeting on Tumaini

August – Dan and Katie Paterson led Prayer Meeting, on Bulgaria

October – Stephen went to Hungary (with some others!)

Oct/Nov – Over 80 Christmas Shoeboxes given to Blythswood (including 20 from Bucksburn)

November – Barnabas Evening hosted by ACF

And thanks

• to all who pray for global mission in general, for the organisations we support, and for Beata

• to those who organised, contributed to, or bought from, the Christmas Fayre

There were no comments or questions.

Music/Worship – No comments or questions.

AV/Techie – No comments or questions.

Local Impact – a couple of reports were made verbally.

Seniors: around 30 meet on Friday mornings; seniors, special needs and adults with carers. It has been great to see God working in the group. We prayed for a carer through back surgery, now she is bringing her sister. It is great to worship the Lord each week as a group.

Mainly Music: This has been going for 5 years now with 25 families coming every week. It is intended to have an alpha in January for mainly music families, led by VJ. Other plans: using scripture to teach English (TEFL) and a Single and Parenting course. There were no questions.

Crèche – No comments or questions.

Catering – Gina is going to help Mandy. Thanks to all who serve on the rota. Food at church = fellowship.

Men’s Group – No comments or questions.

Home Groups – No comments or questions.

Stewarding – No comments or questions.

6 Building and Fabric: A presentation was given in lieu of a written report. This covered April’s boiler repairs and the fitting of Electric heaters in Coffee Hall in case of future boiler issues, as well as Fixed Electrical Installation Testing and the overdue fitting of two outside lights. On the environmental front, extractor fans have been modified to be more efficient, and steps have been taken to reduce water consumption by the flushing of the urinals. But the most significant activity reported on was the internal modifications over the summer holidays which doubled the size of the Ignite Room behind the stage. Gary Thomson (and Calum Webb) were thanked for this: a great job, on time and on budget. The report concluded with thanks to those who help keep the building going, those who report faults, and to all those who use the building, which makes it all worthwhile.

There was a question regarding the CCTV monitor which was referred to Tech (Pete), and a comment: thanks for the bigger Ignite Room, and another thanking Graham and Pete for all the work done behind the scenes.

7 Financial Report: The AGM has been moved from January to November to be closer to the financial year-end. A new presentation format has been adopted. We have a small surplus. 2013-2014: £7k deficit. 2014-2015: £2k surplus. Income and expenditure were both up this year, but income more than expenditure.

Malcolm explained that in Section C “grants” means the Local Impact and Global Impact tithes. He indicated that the budget for 2016 in based on income of £155k and expenditure of the same.

Year-to-date income has been £99k (including Gift Aid) and expenditure £99k (including pensions).

He gave a reminder that with Gift Aid, £100 becomes £125.

He finished by thanking all who help with the administration of the finances.

8 Pastor’s Report: Thanks to all who volunteer in all ministries. Thanks to all for their grace and perseverance – the place where people’s faith grows.

Vijay introduced the Portlethen Outreach with a video of drone footage of the area. Kincorth, Cove, Portlethen, Newtonhill down to Muchalls is a large residential area without much evangelical presence. We are in a good place to plug the gap; we are growing numerically but our building is not big. Portlethen has a population of 12,000, with primary schools and

an Academy. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Luke 10:2). “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?

Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!” Romans 10:14, 15

Vijay outlined a model: Community, Evangelism and Discipleship.

Children’s and Youth: Gillian and David aware

Other ministries could also be employed: e.g. mainly music, Alpha

Maybe an afternoon service using the morning preacher again.

Ideally the church plant would grow into an autonomous church in its own right.

Alex Wood mentioned a community hall in Newtonhill and the Bourtree Hall was also discussed along with empty office space.

Vijay concluded by stating there was a huge need and no other churches seemed to be addressing it.

9 What do we need to plant a church? Leading on from Vijay’s talk, Malcom led a session on this subject. The meeting separated into Breakout Groups to discuss the topic “What do we need to plant a church?” and when we reconvened many things were suggested, including:

Risk, partnership, open-mindedness, strategy based on demographics, time, prayer, regular presence, trailing and trialling, prayer, enthusiasm, local contacts, publicity, a venue, prayer, finance and faith.

10 Items submitted in writing: None.

11 Any other business: None

12 Date and time of the next meeting: Tuesday 14th November 2017

13 Closing Worship and Prayer: James led closing worship and then Vijay closed the meeting in prayer.

REPORTS ON CHURCH MINISTRIES

Children’s Ministry

“Train up a child in the way he should go;

even when he is old he will not depart from it.”

(Proverbs 22:6, ESV)

Introduction

As I approach the end of my fifth year as the Children’s Pastor at Aberdeen Christian Fellowship, one of the greatest blessings I get to experience is seeing this verse come to life in the young people in our church family. It is a true privilege to walk with children as they grow in faith, and it serves as a daily reminder why it is so vital that we continue to invest in this ministry. As I reflect on this proverb today, it also reminds me of the well-known saying, “it takes a village to raise a child”; this is something I have come to appreciate more and more this year.

The past twelve months have brought new challenges and opportunities, both for me personally and for ACF. In August I submitted the dissertation for my Masters in Ministry Studies course, which concluded my two years at the University of Aberdeen. I found the course to be of great value, even though balancing work and essay-writing was somewhat of a struggle! In addition, since Donna stepped down in the summer, I have taken on joint-leadership of the Mainly Music outreach (see Pamela’s feedback in the Local Impact report). This has pushed me out of my comfort zone, but has been greatly rewarding at the same time. Finally, the new church outreach in Portlethen has added a new dimension to my schedule, where I have tried to free up time to invest in the schools down there without sacrificing all that goes on at ACF. In this busy season I am reminded of, and am thankful for, the great support the church offers both me and the children I get to work with.

The children’s ministry at ACF (and now PCF) would not happen were it not for the dedicated service of all the volunteers who give so generously to support the various groups and events that we run. I offer each one my heartfelt thanks for their involvement and am constantly encouraged that ACF is a place where the village take seriously their role in raising the child!

The remainder of this report will now look back over the year that has been, highlighting some of the key moments from the children’s ministry since our last AGM. If you would like to find out more about any aspect of the children’s ministry, please do get in touch!

Creche & Children’s Church

Our creche and children’s church groups have continued to offer age-appropriate Bible teaching for young people on Sunday mornings, and this has been another year full of highlights. We have welcomed several new families to the church through the year, and their children have become an integral part of these groups, which is great to see! Sadly, as is often the case, we have also had some valued families move on to pastures new, and whilst we certainly miss them we wish them God’s blessing as they go.

One of the highlights of the year for our children’s church is the Christmas Fayre, where the boys and girls get involved in making crafts, baking cakes, and running stalls, all in aid of the Tumaini Fund. Not long after last year’s AGM we had our fourth annual fayre, and a total of £800 was raised, which was amazing! The children love being involved in this event each year, and many have developed a real connection to Tumaini through it.

In June, we had our annual prizegiving service, where we celebrated the children by awarding them books for their dedication to creche and children’s church. This year the books that were given were all designed to help the children read and understand the Bible, and the hope was that parents would read these books alongside them. This is also the service where we recognise the many volunteers who serve week in and week out with the children’s ministry, and I want to offer a special thanks to those who have now decided to take a step back from this ministry after many years of being involved.

Children’s Talks & More

ACF has long had children’s talks in our services on Sunday mornings, but in the past year or so I have sought to add a wider variety of up-front alternatives to help the children get involved in our worship services.

This began with the Q&A box, where I invited children to write down any question they had about church, faith, the Bible etc. I then asked volunteers to come up on stage to answer these questions. This was driven by my desire for the children to grow in understanding of why we do what we do as a church, and I feel this was very successful, even if not all the questions were easy to answer!

In a similar vein, at the start of this year I conducted a series of interviews with people involved in different ministries in the church. We talked about how each one suited the individuals’ gifts, as well as how each ministry was linked to the mission and worship of the church. The goal here was for the children to understand that the church is for people of all sorts of different gifts, and that everyone has a place in God’s family.

Most recently, since the summer, I have introduced a testimonies slot where the congregation, from the youngest to the oldest, are given the opportunity to share what God is doing in the lives of His people today. The purpose of this is both to give God praise and thanks for His faithfulness, and also to help the children understand that we have a living, active God who loves and cares for us all today.

Messy Church

One of the very first events I ran when I began my role at ACF was to start a regular Messy Church, and over the years we have seen many children come along and engage with Bible stories in a fun and hopefully understandable way. This continued in the first half of this year, where we looked at the miracles and parables of Jesus, had a special ‘Easter Journey’ event where we walked through the events leading up to the cross and the resurrection, and latterly we held events looking at the early church and Pentecost. Each one was a special time, filled with crafts, activities, games, and worship.

With that said, in the run up to the summer it was noted that numbers were down a little bit, and it was decided to put this event on hiatus for a few months as we prepared to launch Portlethen Christian Fellowship. The plan is to re-evaluate this situation after Christmas and perhaps restart this outreach then.

Regarding Portlethen, the main outreach to children during our initial week there was to run two Messy Church events, where we welcomed children from both ACF and the local area. These two events focused on the cross and the resurrection, and the children who attended

seemed really engaged with all the crafts and the story. We had a great week!

Step Out

Our annual summer holiday club was held on the first week after the schools broke up, and our theme this year was ‘Guardians of Ancora: Treasure Seekers’. All week the children were exploring the significance of who Jesus is and what happened during His time on earth. As always, we had tons of fun during the week, through stories, drama, games, crafts, prayer times, worship and much more! The week ended with a special Step Out Service where we shared with the church about all that the week had entailed. This event is always popular and a real highlight in the calendar, and this year was no different!

In addition, we also held our annual Step Out Reunion in October, where we got back together to revisit the stories we looked at in the summer and think about what happened next. For this event we looked at the Great Commission, and what that means for us today. Once more we had a great time, especially with our artistic craft, which is the favourite one I’ve ever done! We closed out our time by sharing a meal together, and I am so thankful to Mandy and others who cooked for children’s event throughout the year!

Schools Work

A big part of my schedule through the week is getting involved with local schools, and this year has seen several new opportunities present themselves alongside the connections I had already made.

At Albyn School I have been giving assemblies for several years now, and whilst this continues I have also added a new role at the school. Since the summer I have been getting involved with the SU group which meets on Thursday lunchtimes, and am beginning to take on a greater leadership role with that group after the October break. I have developed a strong relationship with many at this school, and it is a real privilege to be able to get so involved there.

I also continue to be involved with leading an SU group called ‘JAFFA’ at Ashley Road school. There is a completely new set of children coming along since the summer, and this is both exciting and challenging in equal measure! Our new gap-year intern Anna gets to join me in running this group, and it has been great to get her involved in the past couple of months. I really look forward to seeing how this group develops over the course of the year.

Finally, again thinking about Portlethen connections, I was delighted to be welcomed into two of the three primary schools in the town. Both Fishermoss and the newly completed Hillside school brought me in to lead assemblies in the past month or so, and I have plans in the diary to be in both schools each term this year. This is a great opportunity, and several of the children who were involved during our outreach week already knew me from assemblies, which was a real confirmation that getting involved at the schools is important. I have not given up on the third school, Portlethen Primary, and hope to get in there in the future too. Please be praying for that to happen!

Jump

One of my real passions is seeing churches working together in bringing the Gospel to the people, and Jump continues to be something I love being involved with. This group is for children’s ministry workers and volunteers to get together for training, encouragement, and inspiration, and this year we have been able to run three events with those aims in mind.

Firstly, in March we ran our third conference at Sheddocksley Baptist Church, which was another great success. We welcomed Lucy Moore, founder of Messy Church, to be our main speaker, and we had over one-hundred people come along on the day. In addition to our main sessions we had a wide range of workshops on offer, featuring a number of great local speakers. This event is always a highlight of my year, and plans are already in place for next year’s conference!

Secondly, in April we had the great pleasure of welcoming Terry Williams, from SU Australia, to speak to us about discipleship. Terry is one of the leading voices in children’s ministry today, and in particular the issue of raising lifelong disciples. We were truly blessed that he had a couple of days free in his world travels to stop by Scotland to see us, and he shared some thought-provoking ideas which were helpful to all that attended.

Finally, in September we ran our first event for children and families to come along to, by way of a Family Fun Picnic. The weather was just about agreeable, and those that came along enjoyed bouncy castles, games, food, and more. Our hope for the future is that we might build on this type of event to run a Powerpoint-style get-together for children, but that may be a long way off yet!

Conclusion

In closing, I would like to once more thank each person who supports me, encourages me, and prays for me in my role, and even more so for all those who do the same for all the children we are blessing to have at both

ACF and PCF. There are clearly exciting times ahead for our church, and whatever the future holds I trust that God is guiding our paths, both individually and collectively. My final word of thanks goes to God, who strengthens me in my weakness, is patient with me beyond measure, and continues to bless me with the opportunity to serve in this church community alongside such loyal and loving brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures for ever.”

(Psalm 107:1, NIV)

David Young

Youth

Diesel (S3-S6)

This past year we have been doing studies on Eternity and also a Bible overview looking at different threads that run through the whole Bible. Rather than going through each individual book and explaining what each book is about I wanted to show how even through the Bible is made up of 66 books, it’s one big story. So we looked at these threads running throughout the Bible - Kingdom, Covenant, Jesus, Salvation, Worship and God’s presence.

Fuel (P7-S3)

This past year we have run a Youth Alpha course, done a series on “Not a Fan” (looking at how we can be followers of Jesus rather than fans of him.) We looked at how Jesus changes lives through a book of other young people’s testimonies of how they had come to faith and discussed what we would share if we were asked about the hope we have in Jesus. I’ve been so encouraged with this group and how they are coming to grips with the practicalities of living out their faith and applying what they are learning to their everyday situations.

Ignite (P7-S2)

This past year we have studied the book of John (alongside doing Youth Alpha in Fuel) to really get to grips with who Jesus is and what he has done for us. We also did the Bible overview with this group too, but a slightly simpler version of it, mainly for time constraints!

We have continued with our YP Devotionals where every couple of months we will do the first devotional together as a group and then they take the booklets home and do it themselves or as a family.

Sunday Socials (P7-S6)

We continue to meet after the evening services at the Webbs. It’s a great time to hang out and relax with each other, without the structure of the other activities we do together. A BIG thank you to Karen and Malcolm for opening their home to us, it is such a blessing!

Youth Weekends

Each year we have our two youth weekends. Our S3-S6 weekend in Nov last year was on “Making Decisions” looking at conflict and forgiveness, purity before God and what if we make a wrong decision? I was so proud of them as they really tackled these topics with openness, honesty and a desire to follow God’s ways.

Our P7-S3 weekend was in Feb where we doubled it up with the Youth Alpha Day we were running at Fuel. We looked at How does God guide us? Who is the Holy Spirit? & How can I be filled with the Spirit? It was brilliant to have more time to discuss these things together compared to a Thursday evening and wonderful to see our young people draw close to God and for some making a commitment to Him for the first time.

Youth led services/Prayer meetings

The youth led the evening service in June on the theme of restlessness. Matthew Ashton spoke passionately on being restless for more of God, Matthew Smith led us brilliantly in worship and Kirsten, Isla and Regina did a fantastic spoken word taking much of its influence from the book of Ecclesiastes and thinking about how everything is meaningless without God.

We also had a Soul Survivor feedback evening at one of our regular Bible study and Prayer meeting nights on a Tuesday in September. It was a wonderful time hearing testimonies of how God had been speaking to our young people during that week away together. They also led us in a time of worship and we had a very special time praying for one another. It really highlighted to me the desire to bring young people and adults together in this way more often.

Discipleship/Youth Leadership

I continue to offer regular coffee catch ups and discipleship for the girls in the youth and with our youth leadership team and also with some of the guys on a more irregular basis to catch up or co-ordinate events we are doing together. The leadership team, help co-ordinate youth weekends, youth/kids talks and evening services etc. I love getting to know them individually and having quality time together to talk about life and faith, it’s such a privilege!

Scripture Union – Encounter Aberdeen event

SU run Encounter Prayer Events across Scotland and this year our Youth Band were approached to lead worship at the Aberdeen event. I was immensely proud of the work and dedication the band put into preparing for this and how Matthew Smith led people into God’s presence in such a humble way. Kirsten Watson also shared her testimony at the event and a few others helped with stewarding and also attending the event. It was a great afternoon and exciting to see the youth having opportunities to serve other young people outside ACF.

Baptisms

This year on Easter Sunday, two of our young people Matthew Ashton and Chelsea Fong, were Baptised, and shared powerful testimonies of how they had come to faith in Christ, and the impact Jesus is making in their everyday lives.

Step Out

Our Theme for the Youth Café during the week was the Lord’s prayer which we split into 5 different parts – looking at God as our Father, God’s Kingdom come, forgiveness and temptation and we finished the week with opening the floor to any of the youth who wanted to share what God had been doing in their lives that week as we reflected on the final part of the prayer – the power and the glory are yours forever, amen.

We had several different themed evenings during the week including a Games night, Quiz night, Scrapheap challenge, Glow in the dark rave, BBQ and Beach Party all at ACF!

This year we also brought two young people (Richie and Viktoria) across from Mezotur, Hungary where we have visited as a youth group the past two Octobers. They were generously hosted by Dave and Aileen Johnstone for the week and I just want to say a huge thank you to them but also to the whole church for helping to fundraise their flight costs so they could

have this opportunity. It really was life changing for them to come here and experience a thriving church youth group context, which is not the case for the small communities that they live in. The highlight of the week for us as a team was when Richie gave his life to Christ!

Soul Survivor

This year we joined up with the Banchory youth group that Ethan Noble had been doing his gap year with. We had a great week together and very much enjoyed having our hired, robust tepee tents and a marquee to socialise in as one big group. We love going to Soul Survivor each year, to get away from the distractions of everyday life and focus on God. It always brings up lots of great conversations and for many of them it really is a fundamental part of their faith development.

Powerpoint Aberdeen

No it has nothing to do with Microsoft! Powerpoint is a worship and teaching event for young people that is very popular in Edinburgh and Glasgow and now a group of eight Youth Pastors across the city including myself have started Powerpoint in Aberdeen. We had our first two events this year in March and September both of which attracted more than 300 young people at each event. It’s an amazing sight to see that many young people queuing to get into church on a Saturday night on Union Street. We had a lot of people enquiring what was going on?! I have really enjoyed leading this team and learning about how to put on an event of that scale!

Young Adults

Young Adults in its current format has been up and running for just over a year now and it’s been great to connect with youth who are now towards the end of their time Diesel or have moved on to College, University or work.

We meet each Tuesday from 9-10.30pm for hot chocolate, chat, Bible study and prayer together.

This term we are doing Alpha and I have been particularly encouraged with having two non-Christians coming along regularly to this and asking fantastic questions. Please keep Sam and Clare in your prayers.

Over this past summer 4 ACF students also joined me at the Naturally Supernatural conference in Stafford for a week to be equipped in living lives boldly for Christ, specifically looking at the work of the Spirit and our

spiritual gifts. It was amazing to join together with thousands of other Christians from all over the UK and beyond.

October Portlethen Outreach

The past two October holidays I have taken a group to Hungary with OM but in the run up to this October we decided to go to the exotic destination of Portlethen and help at all the outreach events as we launched Portlethen Christian Fellowship. There were 11 young people who committed and served wholeheartly all week. I was so incredibly proud of their courage particularly at the youth cafes as we went out on to the streets to chat with local youth hanging around schools and local shops and invited them to the café events.

Our Theme for the Youth Café was Identity, I introduced the week thinking about where we often place our identity – in what we have or what we do then as the week progressed Sebastian Barclay spoke on how we are loved by God, Anna Morrice spoke on how God has a purpose for our life and Matthew Ashton spoke on how the Holy Spirit makes us a new creation in God.

The week started off with 6 Portlethen youth dropping in for a while but from the Tuesday onwards there were staying for the whole two hours and around 10-15 other young people were coming and going each evening. So we have a Porty Youth Group all set to go forward from this week and we hope to start a regular youth group from the Porty Cabin in the very near future.

Anna Morrice - SU Intern

This year ACF has taken on a Gap year student from Scripture Union. Anna is our first intern and has slotted in so well and joins Dave and I in a variety of different children’s and youth activities in and out of church. Anna has a particular heart for the younger youth that go to Fuel and has been a great help in the preparation leading up to the Portlethen Outreach week. I’m excited to see the journey we will all go on together throughout this next year!

Finally a big thank you to all who invest in our youth each year so many are not in an official capacity but love to encourage them as they use their gifts in the worship, tech, stewarding or children’s church teams. I am so grateful to you all! Also a HUGE thank you to all who are specifically involved in the youth ministry – Nikki, Kev, Bishop, Graham, Paul, Dave,

Anna, Siobhan and Kevin, Karen and Malcolm. Thank you for your friendship, servant hearts and team spirit.

Gillian MacKenzie

Global Impact

Verbal Report to be given at AGM.

Music Worship

Verbal Report to be given at AGM.

Audio Visual and Tech

As the church gets busier there’s been increased focus on improving the quality of what we do as a team. The key change this year has been the addition of stage lights which improve the clarity of the front of house area. There’s no truth in the rumour that the worship team have now

requested stage makeup.

We swapped out the projector in the cube room for an LCD screen and we’ve also got a dedicated laptop running a presentation on the screen in the foyer. We’re looking at the possibility of adding video cameras to the system so we can record the services, but this is at an early planning stage.

As we approach the Portlethen outreach it’s likely that the current team of Calum, Phil, Seb and I will be stretched further – we would welcome anyone who has an interest in tech to get in touch! I’d like to thank the team who sacrifice a lot of Sunday lie-ins as well as lots of other Saturdays and weekday evenings to operate and maintain the equipment.

Pete Henderson

Local Impact

Local Impact is the ACF name for Outreach, or Evangelism, that is, being Christ’s ambassadors in and to a world that desperately needs Him. It’s showing the love of Christ to others, and sharing the Good News of the love of Christ with others, by speaking with them.

So, apart from children’s and youth activities that you will have read of elsewhere, what does LI look like at ACF?

Well, as a church we support para church organisations, namely Street Pastors, The Lighthouse Support Centre, Choices and Integrate (which seeks to reintegrate offenders back into society), all of which show and share (above); individual members serve in some the abovementioned groups and others in the city; there are various on-going and regular outreaches within ACF (not necessarily within the building), the reports for which are included here after; and finally there is the LI Group, comprising Helen Prakash, Chrissie Barclay, Kirsten Watson, Adrian Watson and myself, which oversees, and often organises, one off events, and seeks for new and different ways in which we can show and share.

I’m grateful for and humbled by all the hard work of the team, and all others involved in evangelism at ACF, as they seek to faithfully serve Christ through LI.

Brian Boyd

Parish Nursing

Lorna Falconer faithfully served as the Parish Nurse at ACF for several years, blessing the lives of many old and elderly in the City, often leaving a lasting impression for Christ on not just those she visited, but also their families.

As many will be aware, Lorna left ACF earlier this year, focusing her service in Ellon, where she lives, and now worships. I want to put on record my grateful thanks to Lorna for her contribution to Parish Nursing, evidencing her commitment to her task and her Saviour. Brian

Carols in the Car Park

Carols was a great success this year. We were joined by Albyn School orchestra and choir, who performed to a very high standard. Weather conditions meant the event had to be held inside, but this was possibly not a bad thing, given the large numbers in attendance. As well as guests invited by the congregation, many parents of the performers stayed for the event and refreshments afterwards. For the first time in the history of

Carols, this year Pastor Vijay Pillai gave a short message on the meaning of Christmas during the event. Informal feedback from Albyn School appears that teachers and pupils enjoyed taking part and were keen to come again next year.

Helen Prakash

Pink Breakfast

PB was held on 8 July as a community - building/outreach event for women, where the guests enjoyed a great breakfast, some music and a testimony by some of the young people in the church, and a short message from Florence McKenzie.

Attendance was good, and several people who don't normally attend church came along (guests invited by the congregation as well as folk who are involved in ACF ministries such as Mainly Music and the Parenting course). Those who wished to made donations to " Bosies", a local breast cancer charity, which meant we were able to present Bosies with a generous donation after the event, which was greatly appreciated.

Helen

mainly music

As we enter our seventh year of mainly music at ACF there is so much to thank God for.

He has been faithful in providing a new team which we started with in August and as the first term draws to an end we can reflect on how far we have come. The new team is David Young and myself as team leads, Rachelle Crofton as treasurer, Jenny Meredith, Doreen Hobbs, Karen Robertson, Kirsty Webb, Fiona McCall and Aileen Johnston, with Brian Boyd and Sheena Fyfe helping in the kitchen.

Reflecting on what has happened over the last year, in January we held a mainly music Alpha course which Jenny, Fiona and Lorna (one of our team members at the time) attended. We were grateful to Vijay and Rachelle for leading this and for others who provided prayer support. This course resulted in both Jenny and Fiona coming to faith and now being part of the team. We have another couple of adults who are looking to participate in the Alpha course and we await God’s timing for this to come to fruition.

We have had a lot of team changes recently, as intimated above. Donna Cuthill, team leader for six years, moved on at the end of June. I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Donna for all that she has poured into this ministry. Over the years she has worked tirelessly to shape this ministry and has been a faithful servant to God. Coincidentally, Lorna Falconer, another original member of the team, left at the same time, having been an integral part of the team particularly in relation to pastoral issues. God used Lorna’s passion and understanding for people’s needs to minister to so many families while she was part of the team. A third member, Lorna Thomas moved away in the summer and had been one of our original families that attended mainly music when we started in 2011. She transitioned to the team a few years ago and this reflects how God provides and sustains mainly music teams all over the world. Tabitha Doczi moved back to her home country too, originally coming with her children and then being part of the team also. Her creative talents were put to great use through crafts and providing lovely pictures of the group. Through this God has showed us that life has different seasons and when he is ready he will move us on.

Looking ahead to this year we are excited to see what God has in store for this ministry. The team is working well together and God is shaping, moulding and giving us new skills to move forward. Plans are forming for our Christmas sessions and with this the chance to share our faith with families that attend. We hope to run another Alpha course for mainly music mums at some point through the year and are blessed by Vijay being with us on a regular basis to speak to anyone about life and faith issues in his role as pastor.

We are grateful to the church for their ongoing support with prayer, baking and providing hands in the kitchen on a Thursday morning. If you would like to know more about this ministry we would love to share this with you on a Thursday, please feel free to come along, you will always get ‘a fine piece’ as they say in the north east! Alternatively contact myself or David Young for a chat.

Pamela Maclure

Alpha

Alpha continues to be a great tool for evangelism at ACF. We are currently running 3 Alpha groups of varying sizes, meeting at various homes, and at the church. The total number of participants is 11. The response in the

groups has been very positive. We are hoping to run an away day on 4 November. The Johnstones have very kindly agreed to host the day.

Since the last AGM, three other courses have been held, one at Portlethen, one involving mums from Mainly Music, and another at the Johnstones.

Please pray for breakthrough in the lives of all the participants. Running the Alpha course this season has helped emphasise the importance of evangelism at ACF.

Vijay

Single and Parenting

The past year has seen the beginning of our church ministry to single parents with a 13 week course to help and support those on their own with kids. We are part of the local impact team, and like unchurched people, including single parents with noisy and disruptive children, they are welcome in our church.

I am humbled by what God has done, proud of what our team has achieved, and excited about what lies ahead. We met at ACF on Tuesday evenings in a safe and positive environment. 4 participants came along representing 7 children, with 2 children using the child care provided.

Some key highlights from the year were:-

* how the group gelled on a deep level so quickly

* that each attendee grew in their knowledge of how much God loves them

* the practical advice to take home from the DVDs and discussions

* hearing from attendees on how the course was helping them live a more healthy and peaceful life in the midst of difficulties

* the relationships between families and their children, the new friendships formed across the group, and ongoing sharing of prayer needs

Thank you to the entire ACF community for all of your prayers and support.

We had a wonderful team and thanks go to Jenni, Lorraine and Julian for going the extra mile to see this vision come into being. Roll on our next one launching in January 2018.

Esther Milne

Catering

Verbal report to be given at the AGM

Mens Group

Over the last year there has not been an ACF men’s group meeting.

However there have been several men’s evenings at different locations within Aberdeen including a few at ACF. These meetings have seen men from different churches within and around Aberdeen meeting together for fellowship, including sharing, prayer and singing a few songs.

Some of these events have been organised by the area CVM (Christian Vision for Men) representative Ricky Bain.

The vision for these meetings is encouragement and discussion on how to prepare and provide opportunity to witness to our non-Christian friends, family and colleagues. With a desire to organise events that are intended to provide a platform to invite these friends along to build the relationships that present the opportunity to share the gospel message with them.

There is a CVM event taking place at Sheddocksley Baptist Church on Saturday 25th November. See the posters in the coffee hall for details.

Calum MacKenzie

Home Groups

I’ve been really encouraged this year to see the way that the homegroups have been recruiting new members. Each group has its own distinctive culture, studies different topics and meets at different times, but they’re all united by their love for Jesus and their commitment to ACF.

As we get ready for the Portlethen outreach it’s been really encouraging to see a group of mature and strong Christians emerge from the local community – some of them are already thinking about starting a home group which is amazing.

I’m grateful for the efforts of the group leaders – leadership has a cost and I really appreciate the commitment you’ve been able to make.

Pete

Stewarding

The Stewarding Ministry continues to be blessed with three teams of four stewards serving one month on and two off. As ever, we continue to seek recruits and we encourage anyone who feels drawn to the Stewarding Ministry to approach any of the current stewards. It continues to be a great encouragement that our youth group are stepping up to duty both within the church and recently internationally and we look forward to the youngsters joining the Stewarding Team as the Spirit leads them.

As we have seen in recent years there is considerable turnover among the congregation and this is reflected in the stewarding teams. Regina Javorka has been a great addition to Dave and Kevin’s team, but Antony will shortly be leaving to work in London. He tells me he’ll be back every 4 weeks or so, so he’ll still be worshipping with us from time to time. We wish him well in this new chapter of his life.

The start of worship at our new church in Portlethen will also require additional stewarding support. I have already had a volunteer from the new congregation willing to help out and I’m fully expecting more as the congregation grows. The longer-term plan will be for Portlethen to be fully autonomous, but for the next few months, even years, there will be a need for ACF assistance in all the various Ministries. This additional workload will require more volunteers from within ACF and a rota for the Portlethen church will be developed over the next few weeks.

The Stewarding duties includes providing a warm, friendly welcome to those arriving for our Sunday services, collecting the weekly offering, reminding the Worship Leader of the need to collect the weekly offering as well as preparing and serving the bread and wine during Communion Services and tidying up afterwards.

The Stewarding Ministry has been described as the "face" of ACF and as such is a key part of the ACF “experience” and is often the first step in growing our fellowship. Over the Christmas period we were blessed with a great number of visitors in church and I was very pleased to hear from many of them that the welcome they received at ACF was very special and made their visit “unique”.

That is our “Mission” – if you think you could continue the work, then see me, or any of the other Stewards, before or after the weekly Service and we can get you signed up.

Volunteers are always welcome.

Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

Dave Johnstone

BUILDING AND FABRIC

Verbal Report to be given at AGM

ACCOUNTS & FINANCES

The annual accounts will be presented at the AGM.