Keeping the records

This is transition time here. The school year comes to an end with graduation ceremonies. The business year ends with many employees moved round the country to other branches often on very short notice. The church year comes to an end and March often sees the AGM which is usually preceded by many weeks of preparation of reports and statistics for the current church year and plans being made for the next year. The amount of detail (and paper!) can be quite phenomenal. The time spent in the AGM varies according to the church but can often last for several hours. We are still a baby church but we do need to begin keeping some records of the church year so that these are available for future reference. It is also important for us to record something of the story of this church plant - why we started where we did; how we arrived at the church name; what the ethos and vision of the church is. So we produced a short document with this story and a few facts and figures of the life of Izumi Church to this point, as well as some ideas for what we would like to see happen over the coming year. Nothing very detailed but enough to have some sense of purpose and direction as we wait to see how this church plant will unfold. And today after our service we had our very first AGM, though that is probably too grand an expression. It did not last very long but it was good for us as a missionary team also to get Sambi's input and ideas. We are looking forward to the coming church year with expectancy.