Yesterday I attended my first School Governors' Meeting at the local Primary School.  Accepting this role has caused mixed responses from my Deacons but hey, we say we want to get more involved in the local community...

I don't think I've ever heard so much jargon in one meeting - not even in the days when I did PSA and HFA for AGRs!  Thank goodness for Google, I now know what SEF and Panda mean in a schools context but still have to grasp a whole lot more acronymns.

Somehow I ended up being the governor who links (but not in Governor language 'cos that means something else) with the teacher responsible for music!  I'd rather have RE, science or numeracy - but my Anglican colleague, also a former engineer, had beaten me to it.  That and having to pick a 'cohort' to follow - I chose year 4 'cos at least they can talk to you!

It did make me realise though, how much jargon there is in churches that we all take for granted.  Aside from the weird concepts of 'sin' or 'salvation' there's all our institutional stuff which varies across traditions.  Try explaining to my sister's 8 year old that her Mummy being a URC elder is the same as my people being deacons and neither is the same as Methodist or Episcopal diaconal understandings!  Actually, try explaining it to my deacons...

So now back to preparing for the DM (Deacons' meeting) with a report from the PMT (Property Management Team) the FG (Finance Group) and some correspondence from EMBA re: HMF (East Midland Baptist Association regarding Home Mission Funding)!  And not a furry mammal in sight...