The Sannox Prayer:
“Today I choose to stand in this place you have called me to,
And I declare that You are a Mighty God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth.
Your Kingdom shall endure and will never be shaken.
Open the windows of Heaven and pour out Your promised blessings in this generation.
Revive us, restore us and heal our land.
Thank you for going before us to open the way and remove all obstacles.
Increase our Faith, stir up Hope and keep us grounded and walking in Love.
Thank you that You are creating a dwelling place for God and man here; in Sannox, on Arran, for the nations.
Amen”
Summary Prayer Points:
- Give thanks for our Friends of Sannox who support us in so many ways. We bless you and pray for you in the name of Jesus.
- Give thanks for our two new Directors and pray for the outworking of the new governance arrangements.
- Pray for our Zoom Prayer Gathering on 2nd November at 8 pm.
- Give thanks for our fund raisers and pray for the grant applications for the manse as they are sent to various organisations.
- Pray for the new one-day retreat led by Roy Searle.
More details on Prayer Points:
- Prayers for our Friends – We appreciate all of our Friends of Sannox who support us in so many ways. We are praying for each of you by name through this difficult time. Please contact us if you would like us to pray for specific things by contacting Heidi, our administrator, at admin@sannox.org. These will be kept confidential.
- New Governance Arrangements – Here as promised is a report on the new governance arrangements. The Directors have decided to simplify our governance structure and create a system that tightens the relationships between Directors, Advisors and Operations. To that end we have created three groups that will work together with clear, specific responsibilities and linkages between the groups. We want to create a culture of honour for our staff and volunteers, a structure that supports them and makes clear who they can go to for direction and advice. This is shown in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1
Description of the three groups:
- Board of Directors – The Board of Directors comprise 6 Directors as listed below; all have working roles with specific responsibilities. You will note that we have added two new Directors to the Board – the Rev Maggie Lane and Alistair Barton. We are delighted that they have joined the Board as they bring spiritual and practical experience that we feel we need. Before entering the Ministry, Maggie ran the front of house for a restaurant in Hong Kong and then managed operations at Glamis Castle for a number of years, with 40 staff. Alistair worked in the NHS as an Administrator/Director of Facilities for 23 years and for the past 22 years has been self-employed as a Policy Consultant working with housing associations throughout Scotland and more recently charities on policies, procedures, constitutions and general governance. Maggie is a Church of Scotland Minister and Alistair is Director of Pray for Scotland. As the Directors have now all taken on working roles we have agreed the following responsibilities:
- Andy Hall – Chairman – Teaching, preaching and events, workshops and conference planning
- George Hazel – Executive Director – Worship, finance and funding and external promotion
- Maggie Lane – Encouraging spiritual and personal development of people, teaching, preaching and Centre Operations – hospitality, hosting and bookings
- Moira Shirreff – Mission and Creative Arts
- Stuart Carr – Architect – Buildings Development and Maintenance Programme and mentoring
- Alistair Barton – Prayer and governance (policies, procedures, constitutions and general governance)
- Advisors Group – The second group comprise our named Advisors. The Advisors are there to provide oversight and advice to the Directors and Operations Group based on their experience and expertise. Liaison with our Advisors will be on a specific day-to-day basis, as and when needed, but also the Directors and Operations Group will meet with them at least twice a year as one group to worship, pray and discuss.
The Advisors Group is:
- Ken Burns – Finance
- DG Weir – Local communities and technical advice
- Jim Farrell – Worship
- Francis McFaul – Worship
- Jacqui McFaul – Creative Arts
- Roy Searle – Retreat Centre expertise and Northumbria Community link
- Gilbert McKinnon – Local communities and Kingdom Gatherings link
- Operations Group – The Operations Group is made up of staff and volunteers. Our staff are all part-time and comprise George as Executive Director, Heidi our Administrator and Michelle our Housekeeper. Our volunteers lead a number of operational areas for us and are supported by other volunteers. One of the key aspects emerging from our consultations is the need to have better support and management for our operations staff and volunteers. This is why we are introducing the three, inter-related groups with Directors and Advisors working with staff and volunteers in specific areas. The operational leads will therefore have direct access to the Board of Directors and Advisors Group for advice and support. How we manage and deliver our services and ministries will be developed over the next weeks by those responsible for those areas within the operational, advisory and Director groups.
The current operational leads are:
- George Hazel – Executive Director, overall day-to-day operations
- Heidi Nicklin – Administrator – bookings, housekeeping, hosting and events
- Michelle Ferguson – Housekeeper
- Jim McKay – Finance
- Gordon Shirreff – Gift Aid
- Alan Hewitt – Friends of Sannox Database, Website maintenance and Prayer News
- Pete Kirkwood – IT support
- John Jackson – History, heritage and prayer walks
- November Zoom Prayer Gathering – We held our seventh Zoom virtual prayer gathering on the 5th October which was great. It is so good to see friends from so many areas and to share and pray together. Many people have said how valuable and inspiring these gathering are, especially the breakout small groups and the sharing of what God has been revealing afterwards. Our eighth Sannox Zoom Prayer Gathering is on Monday 2nd November 2020 at 8 pm. As we did last month, we will circulate the Zoom link with instructions as a separate email to our Friends of Sannox, so watch out for that. Please join us and learn in more details about the new season we are entering and the new governance arrangements. George will open the meeting at 7.45 so we can chat and welcome each other.
- Restoration of the manse – Next phase – the Manse – The first grant applications to the Baird Trust and the Garfield Weston Foundation have been submitted. Ruth and Geraldine are now working on application to the All Churches Fund and also 26 small funders. Please pray for the £265,000 to be released by God to complete the restoration of the Manse.
- Events:
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- Postponed – Midweek Retreat led by Roy Searle – Monday 23 November to Thursday 26 November 2020 – Sadly, we have had to postpone this retreat again given the COVID19 situation. However, Roy has offered to hold a virtual one-day retreat on the 28 November 2020. In addition, we are in discussion about a revised date for the retreat in June/July 2021.
- One day retreat on Saturday 28 November 2020:
A Sannox Advent Retreat: A Journey into Advent by joining us online – led by Rev Roy Searle
The Celtic Saints had an appreciation of the seasons of the year and wove into their life and work an awareness of God and the sacred in the midst of ordinary life. In this time of darkness enveloping the world, we are invited to look again at the story that speaks of light, hope and peace. A story of God’s love for the world, a transformative story that touches the hearts of lives of all who encounter its central figure, Christ.
Our retreat will be led by Roy Searle, one of the founders of the Northumbria Community and a former President of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, who is well known as a speaker, retreat leader, writer, tutor and leadership mentor. Roy knows Arran well and has been a regular visitor and support of Sannox from its earliest days. He serves the Centre on our Advisory Board.
Programme:
9.45 Welcome and Introductions
9.55 Morning Prayer from Celtic Daily Prayer
10.20 Session 1: A Journey of Adventure
10.50 Personal Reflection and Coffee Break
11.15 Session 2: A Journey of Discovery
11.45 Journeying Partners – Break out Groups
12.15 Brief Plenary Sharing and Midday Prayer from Celtic Daily Prayer
12.30 Lunch Break
13.15 Pre-recorded video tour of Sannox, including the newly refurbished church, followed by one of the Sannox team sharing and taking any questions that come from retreatants.
13.45 Session 3: A Journey of Transformation
14.15 Journeying Partners – Break out Groups
14.45 Session 4: A Journey of Ordinary People
15.15 Concluding worship and blessings that I will lead to draw the day together concluding with an Advent Peace Blessing
16.00 Close
If you would like to join Roy and our team on the day please register with Heidi our administrator at admin@sannox.org. We will then send you joining details for the retreat. There will be a fee of £10 to cover costs.
We bless you, in the name of Jesus, to receive all that the Father has for you and thank you for your continuing support of His work at SCC. Be blessed and protected in all you do for the Kingdom, in the mighty and beautiful name of Jesus.
The Directors of Sannox Christian Centre