Hello lovely Ilamites,
I’ve been working here in our office at 51 Ilam road today and thinking about what to write for the musing this week.
As I think back over these last few weeks at Ilam I wanted to write a musing in praise of all our volunteers. As a church we have heaps of opportunities for people to volunteer – most churches would crash in a heaps without them and Ilam Baptist is no exception. There are heaps of people who spend time each week engaged in some work that keeps everything ticking over at Ilam. From everyone who helps out on the roster for the Sunday services (we’re struggling to fill each week a bit currently so there is always something to get involved in); to those who help with maintenance and gardening at 51 Ilam Road; to those leading and being involved with some of the programmes here like Mainly Music, IBI and IBY; those who stock up our community pantry; those who help with leadership and governance, thinking about our direction as a church and our finances; those who help us support projects overseas; those who help us think about being more environmentally sustainable as a church community (Lindsay Blakie is having a meeting this Thursday night at 7 Wilfrid Street Ilam to talk more about this, you’re welcome to join); those who work on ways to connect us more to each other, like organising soup and buns lunches after church; to the myriad of other ways people help out – WE THANK YOU ALL. We are really grateful for all the support and volunteer work people do to keep Ilam Baptist humming along.
I know that churches can feel demanding of their community – from my perspective it feels stressful looking at an empty roster or seeing people doing something week after week because there is no one else available. However, we don’t want to ask too much of people and we want to appreciate everyone who helps out.
So anyway, enough rambling… thank you to everyone for the ways you participate at Ilam Baptist and there are always plenty of ways to be involved if you are looking for something to do. Chat with any of our staff, particularly Simone if you want to find out more.
I am very grateful to be part of this community and to learn and grow alongside you all.
Take care
Helen