Over the past year, a number of dedicated volunteers, to whom I am most grateful, have served on the Worship Team: John Barry, Jan Catherwood, Anne Kosacky, Margaret Mazhandu, Chris Mazhandu, Sue McCarthy, Christabel Pinto, Jeannine Pissey, Cheryl Poaps, Jean Senior, Blaine Stafford and Donna Toni, as well as Doris McGuigan. A variety of roles must be fulfilled by these individuals in order to accomplish the committee’s mandate: Coordinators of ushers, acolytes, communion servers and element preparation, greeters, baptism, hearing assistance devices, sound, music, as well as sanctuary decoration and changing of the antependia.

As a group, we want to thank John Barry for his tremendous service as sanctuary decorator and for the beautiful results of his labour that we all enjoy. He thinks he has “retired” from this position, but we hope he will be available as “advisor” quite a lot. Our thanks, too, to Christabel for the wonderful music she and her talented choir provide for us weekly and on special occasions. The Youth group involvement in our worship services is also greatly appreciated. Kudos to Property and the Christian Development Team. As well, we’d like to recognize the on-going efforts of the Sound team to make improvements to the sound quality in the sanctuary.

The Worship Team supported a number of initiatives this year. One was the acquisition of the lovely new choir gowns. We were also able to arrange for the brass collection plates to be refurbished. Members volunteered their assistance at a number of Christian Development Team events throughout the year and were happy to support them. A new initiative for the team will be the Worship Luncheon to be held on May 30th in the CE Auditorium.

Communication was a focus this year, reflected in the strategies developed for information sharing, including Worship calendars, agenda, minutes, budget updates, and event planning outlines. We invite you to check out the new Sunday Morning page on the 2010 Stoney Creek United Church website. We were pleased to contribute to the Communication Team’s work on this project.
On a personal note, thank you for the great support I received throughout my first year as team leader. The team, church staff, volunteers and members make Stoney Creek United Church a remarkable place to worship.

Respectfully submitted, Lin Hart