Parish of Circular Head

It all started in 2004: I went to Church, after admittedly not going for some ten years or so. I encountered not exactly what I expected, and a congregation of ten to fifteen (older people).

I now have younger children and would like them to experience some sort of Christian outreach and thought that 'my' Church would be the answer to this. Well not at all! The service attended had no children, no teenagers, no youth. I'm 35 and was the youngest in the congregation. So I rang around some of my old friends from our youth group days, to see if they were interested in providing contemporary worship for families and children.

So, after a few sing-a-longs, barbeques, teas and a trip to witness Burnie's Rock the Flock, Bop with God was formed. All this was under the unforgettable guidance of our enabler Peter Adkins. Our monthly service was organised to be in the parish hall, as we thought the Church was a little too constrictive and daunting for our families (but 2008 has better ideas - we're back in the Church). At Bop with God there's craft, lively singing, stories, skits, memory verses, interactive prayers and is always followed by a shared lunch. Our attendances average from 40 to 50 people of all ages: 0 to 91 to be exact.

But...we felt more was needed. So a trip to Hobart was organised, otherwise known as our 'Church Crawl'. We needed some fresh ideas, and felt that other churches could help us to accommodate all ages. Hence ½ Eleven was formed - a contemporary, prayer book orientated service.
Four years on... the contemporary worship team consists of Leighton, Jenny, Lisa, Marcus and Karen (who are all lay ministers for Children and Family Ministries within our parish) and let's not forget the guidance of our enabler Jill McCoy.

Our parish has gone from strength to strength, so much so that our parish is now self sustaining and growing. We have taken another huge step of Faith, within ourselves and our parish, to move further forward. Plans are now underway to extend our Church at a cost of around $150 000+. Our parish has also accepted change greatly, the older congregation more so, than we could ever have comprehended. In saying this, we fully accept that traditional services still play an important role in our Church, but by providing these contemporary services, the life is remaining within our Church, making it much more viable.

God is working in each and every one of our hearts; five years ago we would never have dreamt that this would be part of our future. We are so thankful that our faith has grown and we are looked upon as the future of the Anglican Parish of Circular Head, and are honoured to be thought as such.

This is not so much of an individual faith story, as we feel that God wants us as team players. By working through each one of us, and with our own unique gifts, has been a huge story of faith - a gift from God.

Jenny Poke

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