What does the PCC do?

You might well ask – and you’d be quite right to do so.

The legal function of the PCC is to ‘co-operate with the incumbent (that’s Mark) in promoting in the parish (Great Clacton) the whole mission of the Church (that’s what we’re all involved in), pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical’. That’s a bit of a mouthful but put simply it means that PCC members are responsible for people - congregation, those who don’t yet know the gospel, staff, clergy; mission - whatever we do to spread the good news;  money - our annual expenditure is over £150,000 funded mainly by giving (thank you);  and buildings - two churches, one hall and one house.  All of that does keep the PCC quite busy. 

We meet every two months, but have extra meetings when necessary. We recently met to discuss exciting new plans for developing our buildings – see inside this newsletter for more details. Some of our time is taken up with matters like Health and Safety, safeguarding, finance and repairs, but we do try to include time to talk about outreach, our church prayer life and our mission partners. We have regular reports from those who head up our various activities and groups. And we consider the planning for special events like our 900th anniversary this year.

Each meeting starts with a Bible reading and prayer; we discuss matters and try and come to a common mind. We even vote on some things! The minutes of each meeting are usually available on the Sunday following at the back of each church, so that everyone can be informed.

So, do take an interest, talk to members of the PCC – names and photos are in each church, let them know what you think, put forward suggestions for consideration, and think about standing for election at the annual meeting in April. Then you would find out what the PCC really does.    Ruth  (PCC secretary)