It has been three months this week of journeying and serving with you all in our Ashbourne Group of Parishes. It has been a steep learning curve and a whirlwind! Thank you all for your warm welcome. Both Catrin (my brilliant wife) and I love living here in Ashbourne and are gradually becoming part of the community.
Thank you to all who attend our services and are part of the worshipping communities. Thank you also to our wonderful retired clergy and everyone who serves in a ministry — whether that involves welcoming, music, serving tea, or Ossie’s Kitchen (among many other ministries — these are busy churches!) A special thank you to our church wardens, all who serve on PCCs, and those who lead various ministries. A huge thank you to them for prioritising the safeguarding of our most vulnerable.
As this will be the last message before Christmas, I am delighted to wish you a peaceful, joy-filled Christmas and a blessed 2026! I’m excited about all the brilliant things already happening in our churches (and the fact that while we care deeply about the buildings, we all know we are not museums, but a living faith serving our villages and town). I’m also excited about some of the new things happening in the upcoming year, including a Visioning Awayday scheduled for Saturday, 7 March, from 10am to 3pm. It's open to everyone to help decide how our six churches work together and where we are heading – more details will be available in the new year. Please allow me a prayer to finish:
We commit ourselves to serving all our churches. Give us the faith to see the possibilities before us and the courage to explore the avenues of service waiting to be explored. Take what we are and direct what we would be as we move into the new year, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Happy Christmas to you and your loved ones!
Dwayne