Gina Murray, Anglican Women’s Guild of St Matthew’s, Dunoon, Dunoon and District Gazette
We are going through a time of change within our church. Our Rector (i.e. the Rector for the whole Parish of Lismore) has relocated to Gosforth and we are currently without a full time incumbent.
We have had various ministers who have stepped in so that we do not miss out on our regular Saturday afternoon service. On Saturday 15 July, the Bishop of Grafton, The Rev. Murray Harvey, came to do the service. We felt very honoured and it was a great service. This is the first time a Bishop has done a service in our church since 2011 – our 100th birthday!
Messy Church has been suspended for a while and we missed the interaction of the congregation from a fellowship point of view. A few of our congregation have decided to have afternoon tea in the church at 4.30pm before the 5pm service. Everyone is enjoying the interaction. Come along and enjoy afternoon tea followed by our normal church service on a Saturday afternoon.
Photos courtesy Dunoon and District Gazette
In the last article I told you of the wedding of Heidi Cierpiol and now we have had another wedding in the church – that of her brother Daniel and his long-time partner Jackie Hayter. The church was full for the occasion. It is such a great venue for weddings – such a magnificent building!
We are facing a great dilemma at the moment. Many churches all over the country are closing down due to lack of congregational numbers. We are a very small congregation (usually about 15) and three years ago, the Grafton Diocese gave us notice that we had three years to increase our numbers or face closure. The three years is now up, so it looks very possible that we might face closure. Decisions will be made at the November meeting of the Diocese. Why not come along to our service at 5pm on Saturday afternoon? We would love to see some new faces.
This article appeared in the Dunoon and District Gazette, October – November 2023.
