Preston St. Stephen’s

Parish Profile Spring 2017

St. Stephen’s Parish Centre, Bird Street, Broadgate, Preston, PR1 8DY

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VISION 2026 ...................................................................................................................... 4

Where we are ..................................................................................................................... 5

Who we are ........................................................................................................................ 6

Our Buildings ...................................................................................................................... 7

The Parish Centre ........................................................................................................... 7

The Vicarage .................................................................................................................. 8

Finances ............................................................................................................................. 8

Our Schools ....................................................................................................................... 9

Our links into the Community ............................................................................................ 11

Where we are going – Our Vision ..................................................................................... 12

What we offer ................................................................................................................... 13

What we need .................................................................................................................. 14

Bishop’s House, Ribchester Road, Blackburn, BB1 9EF

Tel: 01254 248234 Email: bishop@bishopofblackburn.org.uk

The Bishop of Blackburn

The Rt Revd Julian T Henderson

Ministry in the Diocese of Blackburn

Thank you for your enquiry about a vacant post in the Diocese of Blackburn, the Church of England

in Lancashire. We believe God wants His Church to grow, and so are looking for gifted and prayerful

clergy with a heart for the Gospel and mission, who have the energy and enthusiasm to implement

Vision 2026, Healthy Churches Transforming Communities. You can read more about Vision 2026

overleaf.

Almost all of our parishes have Vision Champions who have volunteered to work with their clergy

and lay leadership in keeping the Vision on the PCC and congregation’s agenda. The Vision is about

a radical change of culture, in which we engage in new ways in making the unchanging Gospel of

Jesus known in our communities.

The spiritual, physical and emotional health and the ongoing development of our

clergy is very important to us.

Please be assured of my prayers as you consider whether to make an application.

Bishop of Blackburn

Living in Lancashire

Lancashire people are known for their warmth

and friendliness and those who are new to the

area find it to be an easy place to make

friends. There are excellent transport

connections and the surrounding countryside

is spectacularly beautiful. For those with

children, the Diocese has over 180 church

schools including 10 secondaries, the vast

majority rated as Good or Outstanding.

+Geoff Pearson

Bishop of Lancaster

Our call to Mission

As a Diocese we are fully committed to the

breadth and diversity of the Anglican tradition.

Traditionalist, evangelical, catholic,

progressive, Eucharistic, charismatic – we don’t

care what the label is. As long as you are

passionate about sharing the Good News of

Jesus Christ and long to make new disciples,

there is a place for you in the Church of

England in Lancashire.

+ Philip North

Bishop of Burnley

ancaster

Bishop of

Burnley

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VISION 2026 The year 2026 marks the centenary of the formation of the Diocese of Blackburn. In the ten years leading up to our centenary, Vision 2026 is a plan to turn around the long-term trend of gradually declining attendance. Our vision is for the growth of God’s kingdom, not just of his church. Our vision is to develop healthy churches which transform their communities, a vision in which making disciples for Jesus Christ and pursuing social justice sit side by side.

Our vision has had a long gestation. When the Vacancy in See occurred in 2012 we began to look at how we were going to move forward as a diocese. On his arrival, Bishop Julian spent his first year visiting every member of the clergy in their homes and visiting all the parishes of the diocese. At the end of that first year, Bishop Julian shared his reflections and the vision began to become clearer. It was shared with the diocesan family in the deaneries and in a number of local events and unanimously adopted by the diocesan synod.

The first year was spent in prayer with the Vision 2026 as the focus. 2016 has seen the Vision develop, with parishes nominating Vision Champions who were commissioned in Preston Guild Hall along with Churchwardens in the presence of 1,600 people. As a diocese with our Vision, we are willing to face the cost of change; and in prayer we see the grace and power of God which can alone bring renewal and growth. We are committed to work together (clergy, laity, church schools, diocesan staff and the cathedral) to deliver Vision 2026 by:

Making disciples of Jesus Christ

• Knowing the Scriptures better through reading, teaching, preaching and study

• Praying with greater depth and urgency for the Kingdom of God to come

• Giving generously of our time, talents and money to the cause of Christ

Being witnesses to Jesus Christ

• Sharing the Gospel of salvation with confidence

• Holding regular enquirers courses in as many local churches as possible

• Showing God’s love in action through projects that meet a local human need

• Offering thorough and accessible Baptism preparation and follow-up

• Planting or renewing 50 new strategic congregations by 2026

Growing leaders for Jesus Christ

• Supporting and equipping the current leadership for today’s context

• Enabling missional leadership in every Christian community

• Liberating lay leadership for greater participation

• Creating the varied patterns of Sunday and weekday worship necessary to welcome all kinds of people, especially the newcomer

• Prioritising work among children, young people and schools to raise up a new generation for Christ

The Diocesan Vision Prayer:

Heavenly Father, we embrace Your call for us to make disciples, to be witnesses and to grow leaders. Give us the eyes to see Your vision, ears to hear the prompting of Your Spirit and courage to follow in the footsteps of your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

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Where we are

• St. Stephen’s is a small inner urban parish on the

southern side of the city of Preston adjacent to the

River Ribble in the area called Broadgate. It is split

geographically by Fishergate Hill, the main road

out of Preston city centre.

• It is the most religiously diverse parish in

Lancashire. St. Stephen’s is the only church

building in the parish. Other faith centres are a Sikh

gurdwara, 2 Hindu temples, a Buddhist centre and

a mosque.

• There is one school in the parish, St. Stephen’s

C.E. Primary School (controlled), with which the

Church has developing relationships.

• Housing is mostly Victorian/Edwardian terraces but

also includes newer buildings and some low-rise

flats. It is within easy walking distance of rail and

bus services, and close to local parks.

• There is a Doctors’ surgery, several food outlets

and some small local shops in the parish but the

larger shops of Preston are within a 15-minute

walk.

• The Empire Services Club with its bowling greens,

Preston Cricket and Hockey Clubs and BAE Sports

Club are all within the parish which has only one

pub, The New Continental.

• Some major employers in Preston include the

University of

Central

Lancashire, BAE

Systems, United

Utilities,

Lancashire

County Council

(County Hall lies

just outside the

parish) and

Royal Preston

Hospital. The

headquarters of

the English

Football League

recently moved

into the parish.

Some facts and figures

about our parish

This information is taken from Parish Spotlights and Returns of Parish Finance

Population 4650

Age spread

0-4 250 5-15 400 16-64 3600 65+ 400

Ethnic mix - 30% minority ethnic

Other Faith mix

Christian 43% Hindu 12% Muslim 17% Other 3% None 25%

Education background of population

20% of population have no qualifications

Employment

Of those who are in work

Hours worked 49 or more 7% 31-48 60% 16-30 19% 15 hours or less 7%

14% of those of working age are in receipt of a key out of work benefit

34% of those aged 60+ are in receipt of the Guaranteed part of Pension Credit

Health index score 1.2 10% most deprived nationally

Overall Deprivation Index score 32.1% 10% most deprived nationally

Main Issues Housing conditions Ill-health/disabilities Male life expectancy Elderly Deprivation Pensioner Poverty

Housing mix

Owner occupied 900 Private Rented 850 Social rented 350

Broadgate 1

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Who we are • We are an Anglican Evangelical Church made up of

people from all walks of life and from different

backgrounds and cultures. The PCC is open to

applications from men and women.

• Sunday worship and other activities take place in

the Parish Centre.

• Sung worship is led by our worship groups.

• The Church has two Licensed Occasional

Preachers and lay members of the Church lead

services, read, lead intercessory prayers and pray

with people after services.

• Junior Church is held during the Sunday morning

service for ages 3 to 14 and parents of younger

children use the crèche.

• A part-time administrator works in the office at the

Parish Centre.

• The last 2 incumbents wore clerical collars but not

robes.

• The Church held a weekend away in October 2015

and will be repeating this in October 2017.

• The men’s and ladies’ groups also hold separate

weekends away most years.

• Mothers Union meets monthly with 15-20 active

Church members.

• 3 weekly Bible study growth groups are held in

members’ homes.

• Weekly ladies’ Bible study group – ‘Coffee Pot’

meets in the Parish Centre.

• Monthly prayer meetings are held in the Parish

Centre.

• Rooted, the weekly teens’ lay led bible study group

with 6-8 members meets in the leaders’ home.

Electoral Roll 99 Age Profile of the Church

Age 0-10 19 11-17 10 18-69 62 70+ 21

Occasional Offices, Celebrations etc.

Baptisms 1 Weddings 0

Confirmation

Adult Candidates 0 Under 16 Candidates 0

Funerals in church 3 at Crematorium 0

Normal adult weekly attendance 60 Normal under 16 weekly attendance 18

Festivals

Easter Communicants 81 Attendance 110 Christmas

Communicants 103 Attendance 124

Our Services

Sunday Morning 10.30am Sunday Evening 6.00pm

Services follow a pattern where Holy Communion service (Common Worship) is held either morning or evening and then the other service will be based on Common Worship “Service of the Word”

Once a month, the 10.30am service is an All Age Service which is based on Service of The Word.

Church family Egg Rolling on Easter Monday 2017 1

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Our Buildings

The Parish Centre

• Built new in 1996 on the firm foundations of the original Victorian building within an

area of Victorian terraced housing.

• Designed to be low maintenance

and is mainly maintained by

parishioners.

• Worship area and hall area are

separated by a corridor off which

are an office/vestry and 3 toilets,

one of which is wheelchair

accessible and has baby changing

facilities and a shower.

• A kitchen, accessed from the hall,

has a serving hatch into the

entrance area.

• Upstairs there are two meeting

rooms, one large and one small.

During services, the large one doubles as a crèche, with the services relayed via a

screen and loudspeaker.

• Worship area can seat around 100 people and the hall is a similar size.

• Worship area contains a large wall mounted cross, a raised platform with a

communion table, a lectern, a ceiling mounted projector and screen and a sound

system.

• The ground floor is wheelchair accessible.

• Outside the entrance is a small car park with a play space separated by a flagged

pathway.

• Outside the building is a gated

Garden of Remembrance where

ashes are buried; this is

maintained by parishioners.

• In addition to parish use, the hall

is hired to a small number of

regular users including

Broadgate Residents Action

Group and is also occasionally

used for family parties.

Messy Church 1 April 2017 1

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The Vicarage

• 6 Woodfield Close, Penwortham, Preston, PR1 0SJ.

• Detached house built in 2005 with

gas central heating. Upstairs

there are 5 bedrooms and 3

bathrooms. Downstairs there are

2 living rooms, a cloakroom/wc,

kitchen, utility room and a

conservatory. There is a double

garage and at the rear is a small

garden.

• It is located in Penwortham, a

suburban neighbourhood south of

the River Ribble in the next parish

(a 15-minute walk or 5-minute

drive from the Parish Centre).

• Shops and schools are close by and it is near the regular bus route into the city.

• It is situated very close to Penwortham Girls’ High School and Cop Lane Church of

England Primary School, currently rated as Outstanding. • In addition, Hutton Grammar School (boys non-selective Church of England voluntary

aided secondary school), Archbishop Temple School (a mixed Church of England

voluntary aided secondary school), Runshaw College and Cardinal Newman 6th Form

Colleges are easily

accessible by bus.

Each of these

schools and colleges

is also rated as

Outstanding. • Hurst Grange Park is

also a very short

walk away.

Hurst Grange Park Play Area

1

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Finances The parish prepares budgets and has been managing to match its income to its

expenditure including meeting our parish share in full. An annual budget is prepared and

the PCC receives regular updates to monitor the actual income and expenditure compared

to the budget for the year.

Most of the giving is by standing order and the parish holds annual stewardship renewals,

the last one having been held in Advent 2016.

As far as the parish is aware, it has met the expenses of each of its incumbents in full.

The Parish does not hold fund

raising events for its own

needs, though may hold an

event for a charity.

The only other source of income is rental income of approximately £1,000 per year. All

other income comes from giving and related tax refunds.

We have established a number of long term mission partnerships with mission and

charitable initiatives both in the UK and overseas, and

give away 10% of all money collected through

Christian Stewardship (including the tax refund).

In addition, the Church supports Christian Aid and

holds special collections for other organisations in

times of need.

Given away in 2016 £

Missionary Societies

Wycliffe Bible Translators 1,492

Church Mission Society 1,120

Operation Mobilisation 374

2,986

Relief and Development

Orphaids 1,492

Tear Fund 746

2,238

UK Christian

Street Pastors 940

Cedar House 940

Archbishop Temple School 310

Church Urban Fund 50

2,240

Total £7,464

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Our Schools There is one primary School, St. Stephen’s CE Primary School (Controlled). Approximately

290 pupils attend, drawn mainly from the Parish. Recent figures show pupils come from 14

different ethnicities, other than white British and that twenty-one first language groups,

other than English, are represented. Nursery provision is planned to increase to full time

from September 2017. Previous incumbents have been active governors, but have not

acted as Chair of Governors. The PCC has two Foundation Governors and there are also

Church members who are parent or community governors. The current Ofsted grading is

Good and the SIAMS grading from the 2015 inspection is Outstanding.

Ideally the new incumbent will:

• Be part of the Governing

Body.

• Be a pastoral presence in

and around the School,

meeting regularly with the

Headteacher.

• Lead assemblies/worship on

a regular basis, and help to

develop these.

• Attend special assemblies

(e.g. Christmas and Easter).

• Be a part of the School

community.

• Attend and contribute to some school events.

School buildings, including a Community Room, are available for parochial use by

agreement with the Headteacher. Past events held by the Church in the school have

included Holiday Clubs, Community Family Fun Days and Mission/Outreach events.

The proximity of the Parish Centre

to other places of religious worship

in the Parish, makes the parish an

excellent venue for School visits

from across the county. Several

members of

the

congregation

facilitate these

occasions.

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Our links into the Community We have no particular links with the Local Authority, other than those with St. Stephen’s

Primary School.

Links to the local community include the following:

• Weekly Toddler Group with 15-20 regular

families attending.

• Weekly Lunch Club with 16-20 regular members.

• Weekly Community Choir which sings carols at

the New Continental Pub each Christmas

attracting about 250 people.

• Broadgate Residents Action Group (BRAG) meet

monthly with 30-40 attendees including local

councillors, residents and PCSOs (police

community support officers).

• We hold bi-monthly men’s and women’s events,

run by core teams to encourage outreach.

• Several Church members live in Judd House, a local sheltered housing complex.

Areas to grow and develop in the community

Our main priorities

would be to continue

to develop links with

the school, other

faith groups within

the community and

students/young

people.

We are a very

diverse inner urban

parish consisting of

many low income,

single parent

families with a lack

of positive male role

models within the

local community.

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Where we are going – Our Vision Our latest Mission Action Plan was called “Our Way and our Hopes” and was produced in Autumn 2014. Our PCC business has been put through this filter to make sure that we are moving in these areas.

This is our way

• To love God with all of who we are, compassionately serving others, and spreading the wonderful news of the hope we have in Jesus

These are our hopes

• To grow deeper spiritually within ourselves, building each other up & engaging in the Great Commission our Lord Jesus gave us.

• To make known the wonderful love of God through Jesus, as revealed to us in the scriptures, to all people within our community & beyond.

• Bringing everything we do & have to God in prayer & service, giving thanks for everything he does for us.

As “Our Way and Our Hopes” covers similar aims to the Diocesan Vision “Healthy Churches, Transforming Communities”, steps undertaken recently to achieve these objectives are shown below under the appropriate Vision 2026 categories.

Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

• Increased attendance at Sunday evening services.

• Former House groups reorganised into new Growth Groups following a period of meeting centrally.

• Encouragement to learn bible verses through Navigators Memory Verse System.

• Attendance at Monday monthly prayer meeting is increasing.

• Prayer week in first week in January providing opportunities for different people to connect with prayer.

• Prayer Triplets were set up for Lent 2017.

• Annual Stewardship Renewal commenced Advent 2015.

• Parish Weekend away was held in 2015 and one is planned for 2017.

Being witnesses to Jesus Christ

• In March 2015, Church members were involved in “The Mark Experiment” – a drama requiring participants to learn and perform the events from Mark’s Gospel and the congregation to invite people to come along and watch the production.

• Hosting “Brothers in Arms” – a diocesan production to which friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues could be invited.

• Participation in Crossroads Northern Bishops Mission September 2016.

• Bishops’ Mission Weekend in March 2017 and other ad hoc outreach events.

• Increasing involvement in local school and Broadgate Residents Action Group.

Growing Leaders for Jesus Christ

• Opportunities for prayer offered by lay people after morning services.

• Lay people authorised to take home communion to the sick and housebound.

• Weekends away for men and weekends away for women which include opportunities for teaching and fellowship and provide opportunities for different people to lead sessions.

• During vacancy, all services are lay led.

• Members of the Church have trained as occasional preachers. • At the Young People’s Bible Study Group (Rooted) the young people are

encouraged to prepare and lead sessions.

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What we offer • We have activities for all ages and abilities.

• We have active lay involvement in all that we do.

• We are a thriving Church community.

• We are growing numerically since the Crossroads mission.

• We have pastoral care within the Church.

• We are a happy, caring and welcoming community, made up of people from all walks of life and from different backgrounds and cultures.

• We have many families and have been awarded the Diocese of Blackburn’s Child Friendly Church Award.

• We are desiring to grow in faith.

• We have opportunities to develop ministry and enable the Church to grow both spiritually and numerically and increase in our outreach.

• We have a Parish Office with 2 desks, allowing the incumbent and part time administrator (12 hours per week) to work together. It is equipped with PCs, a telephone, broadband and a scanner/copier/printer.

Messy Church 1 April 2017 2

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What we need The areas of our Church life which we feel to be in need of development include:

• Growing in confidence to tell people the Good News of Jesus.

• Encouraging more engagement in corporate prayer.

• Renewing the work with children and young people in the parish.

• Growing new leaders.

• Increasing the ministry to older people.

• Continuing to develop every member ministry.

In the next five to ten years we aim to:

• Grow, both spiritually and numerically.

• Become financially able to support others to join the team.

• Increase connections with those who live on the west side of Fishergate Hill.

• Develop relationships with the other faith groups within the community.

To help us to achieve these aims, we are looking for an incumbent who is a:

• Person of prayer.

• Teacher of scripture.

• Evangelist of the Gospel.

• Leader of people.

• Enabler of others.

• Anglican Evangelical.