During the year, Dean Thorpe had to stand down as Outreach Deacon in order to take up another role in the church. Dean gave outreach a real “push” and we are grateful for his contribution.

So far no-one has come forward for the church to consider for the role of Deacon, but this does not mean that the church has ceased to reach out !  Many of the church’s regular activities draw people in from our local community, including the Thursday coffee mornings, the Lunch Club and the Monday Afternoon Fellowship. We should not forget that many of the activities for children and young people have the same purpose of reaching out beyond our own fellowship with the love of God and the good news of Jesus. We recognise the way that initiatives such as A Rocha and Fairtrade help make contact with those in the community who share similar concerns and with local politicians. As always, outreach is not just about what we do; it’s about what we are. And DBC continues to score highly as a loving and welcoming community where those who come feel cared for and affirmed. Without that, any amount of activity would be empty and pointless.

Three special events stand out in the memory. The first was the Open Arts Festival in the early summer. Many people contributed to this and gave it large amounts of time. It was good to see so many visitors coming into the church.  Later in the year, a breakfast at the Hallowes Golf Club attracted a good number of men who heard a straight-talking contribution form Rev Peter Amos, chaplain of Barnsley Football Club and Baptist Minister at Bentley. In the autumn, a group went to a conference in Nottingham run by Care for the Family, which offers bespoke courses which churches can offer to local communities. What emerged as the main learning point was that instead of starting new initiatives, we should build on what we were already doing. Our contacts with young families seemed a good starting point. The outcome was a Christingle event which positively buzzed! It was also good to see a large number of visitors at the Christmas services.

Other initiatives during the year have been to experiment with Sunday morning guest services and to revamp our publicity. By the end of the year, we were virtually ready to go live with a new web site, its purpose being more clearly to present ourselves to the local community. We continue to revamp our “house style” (logo etc) as a first step in producing new high quality, attractive publicity materials.

In drafting our church profile as part of the process of seeking a new Minister, we placed a good deal of emphasis on local mission. Echoing Dean’s comments in the last annual Report, we recognised that whilst we make contact with lots of local people, we do not do enough to help them begin to explore the gospel. We also acknowledged that we need to be more focused, perhaps building on our contacts with young families in particular as we plan future work.

And we still need a Deacon!                                                        Alan Sanders