Moving forward

The first week of June has been a busy time in the life of Knox Church with various meetings taking place to address the vacancy, as well as Knox opening its doors for the Doors Open program.

The fact that the vacancy is being addressed is indicated in that the search committee met again during the week, this time to discuss the church profile, a document that will be sent to ministers who have an interest in applying for the vacancy here at Knox.

A great deal of time goes into preparing this document, as it not only offers candidates an overview of the congregation and the community, but also provides somewhat of a vision, so that the ministerial candidate and the church have the same vision as Knox moves forward.

There is still work to be done on the profile, but Rev. Bob hopes that it can be completed in the next few days, ready for Presbytery’s ministry committee, and ready to be sent out on request to candidates.

As indicated in previous blogs, there is an advertisement in this month’s Presbyterian Record, and the vacancy is also listed on the PCC website. Rev. Bob has contacted all those who have already indicated an interest, explaining that the church is moving along on the process, but was not in a position to send out the profile…just yet.

As much as everyone would like to move the process along as swiftly as possible, the search is a step-by-step process, following procedures as established by the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

One of the next steps to be taken does not affect the search committee directly, but in fact is one of the more important aspects of any call. One year ago, the Knox session had started on the process of purging the roll – a normal occurrence since there are many people who move away, or who have not had any connection with the church for a long, long time.

That action was put on hold during the first stages of the interim ministry, but needs to be addressed now because Presbytery will be looking at the level of support in connection with any minister to be called.

It is a time consuming, difficult responsibility, but an ad hoc committee will be meeting to address this aspect within the next few days, just one more step in filling the vacancy.


Doors Open
It may have been a rainy morning, but when the weather cleared in the afternoon, a large number of people came out to tour Knox as part of the Doors Open program.

Volunteers were stationed in the sanctuary and in the Bell Tower Room to welcome visitors and tell them a bit about the history of the church. There is a new set of brochures prepared for this year’s event, providing a list of church timelines, a history of our stained glass windows, a story about the housling cloths, plus a story on the church history.

Knox is just one of many buildings involved in this year’s Doors Open program which will continue until 4 p.m. on Sunday.

One of the added features this year is the presence of Al Clarkson from the Presbyterian Church Museum who has set up a display in the Bell Tower Room. Al knows his church history, and is eager to talk to members of the congregation about the museum, and church history across the denomination.

Pulpit supply
This Sunday Knox welcomes Marilyn Repchuck to the pulpit as Rev. Bob reverts to his new responsibility of interim moderator. Marilyn will be preaching on a number of occasions during the weeks ahead, although Rev. Bob will be back in the pulpit on Father’s Day. That date is important since it is also the date for the church picnic with a large number of the congregation planning to travel out to Crieff to join with the other three Presbyterian congregations for a joint picnic.

Despite the picnic, sessions decided several months ago to still hold a church service at Knox on the same day as many people are unable to travel to Crieff for the occasion, plus, it’s also important that the church doors be open for any visitors.