By Press Release
It is hard to believe that I moved to the Isle of Wight nearly six years ago as minister of two Church of England churches. The Bay is a really lovely area and community to both live in and serve.
As the local vicar, it is a pleasure to be involved in many aspects of the community, being a foundation governor at the Cornerstone Federation (which includes the Bay all-through school), working with the local town council on various projects and meeting people at some of the happiest and saddest times of their lives through baptisms, weddings and, sadly, funerals.
I write this article during what is the most important part of the year for Christians and that is Holy Week. I am reminded of these words of Jesus when speaking of Himself, “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
One of the roles of Christians and the church is to serve others without the thought of reward. This is of course a difficult task and one which Christians, and the church, have often failed to do.
Nevertheless, that is our goal and I think it is good if we continually check ourselves and our own motives to make sure we are serving our community with the right motives.
There is real importance in belonging to a community. Sometimes the communities we belong to overlap and that is a good thing.
The church is a unique community and exists to serve God, serve each other and also the area in which we live. Christ Church, Sandown, sits at the top of Sandown on the Broadway, next to The Heights, and I would like to think of it as a beacon of the light of Christ.
It has been a real pleasure to work with the town council and other groups over what has been a challenging winter period economically. We will all be aware of the increased utility prices and smart meters can quickly show us what we will have to pay. These increases have been eye-wateringly high, and unfair decisions are having to be made by many as to what to set the thermostat to and whether to heat or eat.
Across the Island and the nation “Warm Spaces” have sprung up in response to this economic reality. Many in our church recognised this and decided they wanted to open our church hall as a place to come and be warm and also be fed.
It was good to work with the town council to co-ordinate this, so that people could go to a different ‘warm spaces’ each day. We started in late October and, as the cold winter days set in, more and more people came.
It has been good to see people come in, be warm, be fed and form a community where new friendships have been formed. Many want this aspect to continue, so we will continue albeit for shorter hours over the spring and summer.
Christ Church has stood in Sandown since 1847, and it is there to welcome you at all times. We sadly expect difficult times again this year when the cold weather returns, so we are planning on returning to be a ‘warm space’ again. We would wish to anyway, because a small community has been formed in which friendships have grown and flourished.
The church serves in many ways, and you can see more about this on our website which is christchurchsandown.org.uk.
Tilly Walder 
Mal Butler