The Result of the Experiment

Firstly. thank you for entering the spirit of the Experiment. We were immensely pleased with the way people seemed to take on the changes so willingly, and enjoyed the fellowship of shared worship.

Those of you who were able to come to the last church meeting will know what was decided regarding the Experiment. Our Interim Moderator, Peter Flint, chaired the meeting, and introduced the three options:

1.  to continue the rota of the last six months of sharing alternate churches for a further six months;

2.  to continue the Experiment by reverting to our original pattern of services of uniting once a month in alternate churches, and then, after 4 - 6 months, reviewing the situation; or

3.  to conclude the experiment and revert to our original pattern of services of uniting once a month in alternate churches

As is widely known, Epsom voted ‘overwhelmingly’ in favour of Option 1. However, Ewell voted strongly in favour of Option 2, with Option 1 coming in a poor third. At our Church Meeting, it was decided that we could not unilaterally continue with Option 1, with Ewell not reciprocating, and that we would revert to the ‘status quo ante referendum’.

At this point Peter introduced a new concept – that we should consider becoming an Ecumenical Church*. We were also reminded that we were to be affected, to a lesser or greater extent, by Epsom & Ewell BC’s ‘Plan E’, and that the future of our existing building in this place could not be guaranteed. After some discussion, it was apparent that we were much taken with this idea and we agreed to proceed down the ecumenical route.

[*Ecumenical - of or pertaining to a movement (ecumenical movement), among Protestant groups since the 1800s, aimed at achieving universal Christian unity and church union through international inter-denominational organisations that cooperate on matters of mutual concern. ]

We don't yet know how we are going to do it, or when we are going to start. But perhaps we have started already…

At our last service at Epsom we welcomed some visitors from the Presbyterian Church of Brazil in Epsom, who share our URC outlook. They would like to use our church during the week and seem keen to join us at our Sunday morning worship.

We also have some more regular visitors. It would be lovely if they made that a permanent arrangement! And now we have a new Minister coming…

Thank you, Lord, for your many gifts and your encouraging and hopeful signs for our church!

So, back to the Services; these will be as before the Experiment:

Morning services:

Held in our own church, with the exception that :
every third Sunday will be shared with Ewell at alternate churches (September at Ewell, October at Epsom, etc.);
on the first Sunday of the month we will celebrate Holy Communion.

Evening services:

All jointly with Ewell,
first and third Sunday at Epsom,
second and fourth at Ewell
5th Sundays alternating (October at Ewell)

Some variation may be necessary for special Festivals, e.g. Christmas.