This letter is being written not very long before our new Vicar Andrew Gandon, will be taking over here at Saint Giles’ Church. Andrew and Margaret have already moved into the new Vicarage in Saint Giles’ Road and they are settling in and finding their way around the area.
Some people are busy preparing for the Collation Service at 7.30 pm on 1st September whilst others are beginning to think of what we will eat and drink after the service when it is likely that there will be a goodly number of visitors joining us. Bishop Christopher will be leading the service assisted by the Archdeacon and Area Dean, The Rev. Peter Allan. Other local clergy and readers will join us and we have also invited ministers from the other local denominations to the service. The Mayor and local counsellors have been invited together with our MP and the heads of local schools and other folk with whom the church has regular contact. It is also expected that there will be a strong contingent from Andrew’s former parish, Saint Mary’s, Harefield.
Everything is shaping up for what should prove to be a very special evening to mark the start of a new and exiting era for Saint Giles’ Church. Recent PCC Away Days have come up with all kinds of interesting ideas of things that we could do as a church to reach out into our community and build up the existing church family too. One of the most obvious, but long-term, is the construction of a new church hall on the land that Miss Startin has kindly offered to give to us and solicitors are currently working on that for us.
Psalm 127 verse 1 warns us that “Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain”. We can work really hard at all kinds of interesting plans for the church but unless they are God’s plans they are unlikely to achieve anything worthwhile. It is always reassuring to know that God’s plans for us are good ones. “‘For I know the plans I have for you’, declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29: 11).
The whole process of appointing a new Vicar is surrounded with prayer from start to finish ensuring that the person appointed is the person chosen by God to do the job. Similarly the person appointed does not simply pitch up and start work but begins with a special service led by the Bishop. It is a prayerful service and it is a service about commitment – commitment to:

However that commitment is not just something Andrew has to undertake, it is something that each one of us is called to share in during the service. Building God’s church is not a one man job. It is a job for the whole church family of which we are all part.
It has been wonderful to see so many folk really working hard and committing themselves to serve the church during the interregnum, using a wide range of different gifts, and I have been very grateful for the help and encouragement of everybody – thank you all so much!
May that wonderful, encouraging level of commitment and service continue as, under God’s direction, Andrew takes over and leads us into an exciting new era of challenge and opportunity for the gospel in Ash Green and Exhall.
John Horton