We had 6 meetings this year with Stephen, with Jim Perryman, our ICS contact person, being present at the last one on 5 March.

Issues we have discussed over the past year included the following:

Student work Sally Mc Namee, our student worker, was still with us for part of last year and had originally considered the possibility of staying for a second year. In the end of course, she decided not to stay and we did not feel that our work with international students justified having a person working full-time in that role. We discussed whether student work should be a priority for St Marc's. How should we go forward, if at all, without a student worker?

The new International Church The departure of Claire and Graham Naylor and other members of our congregation to the new International Church from October onwards had a great impact on St Marc's. Claire was our Sunday School and youth work supervisor, and music leader. These roles needed to be filled by others. Cory and Tony Vessa have valiantly replaced them over the past few months, but they too are now obliged to leave. Teachers and helpers are badly needed for Sunday School work.

Church handbook Last year, we said that "A (very small) start has been made on this, and council has recently taken up the question with new determination. This will be one of the wardens' goals for the next year." We had hoped to get something ready for the autumn but unfortunately, we have not made any progress with this. However, the council (especially Marie Colbert) have worked on various role descriptions and our statement of faith, and we do now have a welcome pack for newcomers thanks largely to the work of Claire Naylor.

Twinning with Jim Perryman's church in Maidstone, England In March we had a visit from Jim Perryman, former ICS chaplain in Lyon and now a member of the ICS council. Jim has suggested a twinning arrangement with his church. We discussed the forms this might take: skiing/walking holidays, youth group weekends, home exchanges, links to our respective web sites, support of Carine and Mark's missionary project.

Other topics we discussed were:

• Goals and priorities for the year.
• Pastoral care and keeping in touch with people. The idea of grouping people by geographical location rather than "affinity".
• The possibility of an office at St Marc's and ways of rationalising our own room (so far to no success!).
• The arrival of Dona and Howard Diehl, their role in the church.
• The possibility of employing a full-time youth worker. With the events of the past year this has not been taken any further.
• Carine and Mark's missionary work in Burkina Faso and the possibility of linking with the new ICG in supporting this as a joint project.
• Our strengths as a church, rather than our shortcomings. Emphasising what we are good at.
• Involving new members of the church and putting their talents to best use.
• Recognition of people's contributions: we now give cards each month to different groups of people as acknowledgement of their roles in the life of the church family.
• Work on the chaplain's apartment, especially the need to replace the tiles in the hallway.
• Renewal of our registration as a charity at the Prefecture, and the possible need to set up a separate "Association" to give away money. Many churches in France are having to look into this issue. It seems as though we may be covered by our present statutes but this needs to be clarified.

Bishop's visit As the Bishop's officers, we met privately with Bishop David Hamid during his visit in October to discuss St Marc's. We found him to be a very easy person to talk to and keen to learn about our church life, particularly how we felt about the church's work in relation to the new ICG. He stressed that we should feel free to contact him over any matters of concern.

Inventory There have been no important additions to the church's property this past year.

Lastly We once again wish to thank Stephen and Marian, Alan and Val for all the hard work they do, Howard and Dona for having come to work with us, Richard our treasurer, Elizabeth our secretary, the members of the church council, and all of you who contribute in so many ways to the life of our church.

May the Lord richly bless St Marc's and all its members in the coming year.

David Bailey – Mark Lewis Churchwardens