HELP! We need somebody! HELP! Not just anybody!

Since arriving in Bath in March of last year, Maurene and I have anticipated that our three churches would receive a third minister to help us with some of our workload. But, because of the shortage of ministers in the URC, and bleak prospects for anymore in the future, we had just about given up. So, we were quite pleased when we had a meeting with our Synod Moderator and he offered us someone for the position.

Although we can't put her name on the blog because someone might discover it in some obscure Google search we feel she will be a welcome addition. In URC terms she is a non-stipendiary minister, which means that she is either retired and works as a minister for no pay, or she has another profession and fills a ministry slot out of a desire to serve the church. In our case, our candidate is a Physicist working for the National Health Service. Who said that religion and science can't find common ground? She will take a couple of services per month which will give us some relief worship wise.

So, there have been some smiles around the manse these past few days. Who knows, maybe one of us will get to spend a Christmas back in the USA? No, that's too much to hope for.