Our minister The Reverend Ruth Maxey (she/her)
Ministers Letter
After what has felt like a long time of waiting and wondering I was thrilled to receive a call to ministry at Newport URC in April of this year. New things are both exciting and nerve-wracking! I am looking forward to all the new challenges and possibilities that working with you all will bring. The chance to get to know a whole new community, to explore together new ways of worshiping and all the possibilities that outreach at the Mead Centre brings.
But I am also a little nervous when I remember that is has been over 20 years since I have been a ‘normal minister’ at a ‘normal church’ . The last 10 years as a Pioneer Minister in an ecumenical partnership setting up Church Without Walls in Broughton and Brooklands, and before that, 10 years as a University Chaplain at Keele University. I am, though often reminded that maybe there is no ‘normal’ church! I am also aware that for the first time I will have two congregations to share my time between – a normality for nearly all URC ministers over the last 20 years but something I have yet to experience!
I imagine you all might also be feeling that mixture of anticipation and uncertainty: what will she be like? Will she change things? Will she stay? How often will we see her for 50%? Over the next few months, I want to spend time getting to know the congregation and the wider community. To begin to have a sense of who you are and what you are hoping for, both within the church community and beyond. So, pop in and see me when I am over at the Mead Centre (I plan to be there a couple of days a week) or chat with me on a Sunday (I will be with you every third and fourth Sunday leading worship and every other first Sunday).
These words from Isaiah speak to this moment (although I am not at all suggesting that either congregation are in a wilderness!!) but about the way they God brings new things into our lives and communities and the hope that brings.
Isaiah 43:18-19
“Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
and streams in the wasteland.