Dear Friends,

Welcome to the new plan, contained within it are the names of local preachers and all those who will bear the responsibility for leading the people of God in worship, and who will instruct and teach those who come to worship every Sunday throughout the Circuit.

This has been a particularly hard plan to prepare. It is during this third of the year we see something of the reality of the impact of local preachers rightly taking holiday with families during the school holidays, in addition to the moving of Kwabena, Tim and myself. All this has meant that particularly during the later part of July and August, you will discover an abundance of local arrangements and the invitation for various congregations to join together, so that we can maximize the resources we have available.

Working through the difficulties in compiling this plan has just reinforced to me, that when it comes to Sunday worship, in one way we ‘plan’ at our peril! All too often we seem to so predetermine who is going to lead, the when and where of what they lead, and if we are not careful we can even try and constrict what they say. We plan in order to be organized, and structured, but let us never forget that whilst God is a God of order, who brings order out of chaos, He is also the God of surprises.

As we journey together through this plan Sunday by Sunday, in the unexpected, in the out of ordinary may we discover the God who takes us by surprise.

Finally may I take this opportunity to express to all who I have had the privilege of partnering in ministry with in the North Kent Methodist Circuit, my appreciation and thankfulness for your wisdom and grace. May God continue to bless you richly.

Melvyn Cooke