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1 Parish Church of St Mary’s Battersea: KW1 / 011BR (Kingston Area, Southwark) Battersea Church Road, London, SW11 3NA For more details including an application form please contact Tina Roberts, PA to the Archdeacons of Lambeth and Wandsworth, Kingston Episcopal Area Office [email protected] WELCOME TO ST MARY’S The Parochial Church Council of St Mary’s, drawing on congregational consultation and contributions, has prepared this Parish profile. Our aim is to describe the life, worship and witness of our Parish and to provide an introduction to our community. St Mary’s has an open, active, vibrant church community, which welcomes all, irrespective of ethnic or social origin, age, gender, relationship status, sexual orientation or religious background. We look forward to welcoming an incumbent willing to take forward our mission in the community. Sarah Macnab and Chris Moxey, Church Wardens St Mary’s Battersea: Parish Profile, 28 February 2011

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Page 1: WELCOME TO ST MARY’Shome.clara.net/pkennington/ParishProfile.pdf · WELCOME TO ST MARY’S The Parochial Church Council of St Mary’s, drawing on congregational consultation and

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Parish Church of St Mary’s Battersea: KW1 / 011BR (Kingston Area, Southwark) Battersea Church Road, London, SW11 3NA

For more details including an application form please contact Tina Roberts, PA to the Archdeacons of Lambeth and Wandsworth, Kingston Episcopal Area Office

[email protected]

WELCOME TO ST MARY’S

The Parochial Church Council of St Mary’s, drawing on congregational consultation and contributions, has prepared this Parish profile. Our aim is to describe the life, worship and witness of our Parish and to provide an introduction to our community.

St Mary’s has an open, active, vibrant church community, which welcomes all, irrespective of ethnic or social origin, age, gender, relationship status, sexual orientation or religious background.

We look forward to welcoming an incumbent willing to take forward our mission in the community.

Sarah Macnab and Chris Moxey, Church Wardens

St Mary’s Battersea: Parish Profile, 28 February 2011

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St MARY’S - AT A GLANCEFrom our web site; http://www.stmarysbattersea.org.uk/ you will be able to see a little more about our church, its history, and our community. In summary;

Forward looking & Friendly; St Mary's welcomes all people and all ages as we worship God together in a prayerful, searching and questioning community. We value each person's life experience and we try to learn from one another.

Inclusive and Diverse; St Mary's is an inclusive church, welcoming all people regardless of age, relationship status, colour, disability or sexual orientation, and regardless of how much or how little faith people have when they join us. We rejoice in our individuality and diversity.

Musical and Historical; St Mary's is a beautiful Grade I Georgian building in a spectacular location on the banks of the River Thames. William Blake was married here, J.M.W. Turner painted from here and Benedict Arnold is buried in our crypt. We have a wonderful musical tradition and support the arts.

FORWARD LOOKING We believe that God continues to lead and guide us into new ways of thinking and that the discoveries of science, archaeology and psychology can change our previous understandings of the Bible and Church teaching. We do not claim to know the whole truth, but to be on a learning journey together in our Christian faith.We welcome this opportunity to live and learn together as a prayerful, searching and questioning community, working for justice, show ing ca re and conce rn f o r t he environment and deepening our faith, and trust in God.

DIVERSE We believe in a God of extraordinary and imaginative creativity, & further, that we are enriched as a community by our wide variety of nationalities, races, life-styles, relationships and ages. Although as Christians we believe that God has been revealed supremely in Christ, we also respect the diversity of other major world religions, whose wisdom can enrich our own spiritual experience of life, prayer and service. We welcome people regardless of how much or how little faith people have when they join us. We rejoice in our individuality and diversity.

FRIENDLY We believe in a God of love who comes to us in many ways: in worship; through the Sacraments, especially the Sacrament of the Eucharist; through prayer, and through our meeting together week by week. We welcome the opportunity to be channels of peace in the world through our compassion, our care, our forgiveness, and love for one another.

MUSIC We believe that music and art can be a source of inspiration and joy raising the thoughts and emotions of heart and soul to worship God. We welcome our wide musical tradition drawing out the best of music over the centuries and are open to new expressions of music in worship as well as maintaining a traditional English choral tradition.

INCLUSIVE We believe that everyone is created equal and in the image of God. We value each person's life experience and we try to learn from one another. We encourage children to develop their spirituality on an equal basis to adults. We welcome all people equally into our community regardless of relationship status, colour, disability or sexual orientation. As a church we support the full inclusion of women in the ordained ministry.

HISTORY St Mary's stands on one of the earliest known consecrated sites on the South Bank of the Thames. The original church was built as early as 800 AD, and the present Grade 1 listed building was completed in the Georgian style in 1777. Benedict Arnold and his family are buried in the crypt, and the church has further links with the botanist William Curtis and the explorer "Scott of the Antarctic." Christians have worshipped here regularly for well over 1000 years and continue to do so to this day. The Spencer family has been patron of the church for 200 years.

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1 OVERVIEW

St Mary’s is a Grade I listed Georgian building and as such is strongly regulated by faculty procedure. (We have the most faculties of any church in the Diocese.) Generally speaking, however, the fabric of the church is in excellent condition and there is a significant reserve (approximately £250K) in the Fabric Trust (a fund independent to the general PCC fund) for major fabric works.

St Mary's stands on one of the earliest known consecrated sites on the South Bank of the Thames. The original church was built as early as 800 AD, presumably by the Saxons, and the present building was completed in 1777.

The Church has strong connections with art and literature through William Blake, who was married here, and Turner, who painted the river from the vestry window. Benedict Arnold and his family are buried in the crypt, and the church has links with the explorer "Scott of the Antarctic."

Christians have worshipped here for well over 1000 years.

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The Spencer family has been patron of the church for 200 years.

Because St Mary’s is the old historic parish church of Battersea it retains civic links with Wandsworth Borough Council and the Vicar is ex officio patron of several local

parishes and on various charitable committees, including Battersea Local Charities, the St. John’s Charity and the Katherine Low Settlement.

Worship is generally from Common Worship with the Book of Common Prayer used for the Sunday 8.30am Holy Communion (with BCP readings) and for Sunday Evensong (CW lectionary). Eucharistic vestments are worn and the Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the side chapel. There is anointing and prayer for healing every Wednesday evening at our “Sacred Space” Service.

St Mary’s has traditional robed choir. Music is a very important in the life of St Mary’s. A significant amount of money is spent on music (up to £20K per annum). The choir sings most Sundays but on the first Sunday of the month, we conduct a more informal Family Service with a band of mixed instruments and the Junior Choir. St Mary’s enjoys a very broad repertoire of hymns Sunday by Sunday and happily mixes NEH with 19th Century revivalist hymns and modern choruses.

St Mary's has a strong and friendly band of ringers. The bells are a unique ring of eight bells - the only surviving complete octave cast by Thomas Janaway of Chelsea in 1777. The first documented ringing of the bells is for the passing by of Queen Elizabeth I on her journey by river to and from Richmond Palace and thereafter, there are regular references to the bells being rung not only for the services of the church but at times to mark national events, as they still do today, maintaining a 500 year old tradition uniquely developed in England.

St Mary’s is in the liberal and inclusive tradition of the Church of England. The Church welcomes and embraces the full ministry of women and seeks to be welcoming and open to gay and lesbian people and, within the Bishop’s guidelines, offers prayers after Civil Partnerships.

St Mary’s Battersea: Parish Profile, 28 February 2011

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2 THE LOCAL AREA AND OUR WORK WITHIN ITBattersea used to be run-down and industrial; many of the old houses were bombed in the war and replaced with council estates. There are four high and low-rise Council estates in the parish. Two of them are rapidly being privatised and moving up-market; however one of the remaining two used to be considered an Urban Priority Area and has a high index of deprivation in the borough.

The old houses and flats and many new riverside developments are being bought by the young upwardly mobile, many of whom are well off, making Battersea an area rich in variety and contrasts. The congregation is itself mixed and varied.

The parish is quite small geographically and has an estimated population of about 10,000. According to the 2001 census Battersea has a far higher than average number of young (25-35 year old) singles / cohabiting couples and this is reflected in the large numbers of weddings and baptisms and the small number of funerals. People choose to be married at St Mary’s because of the beauty of the building and the location. Both weddings and baptisms are a significant area of church congregation growth.

There are two nursing homes in the parish, in which are taken regular Holy Communion services – this is coordinated by one of our Southwark Pastoral Auxiliaries (SPAs). In one of them, Meadbank, a team of lay people takes Holy Communion from the Reserved Sacrament every Sunday. There is also a day centre for people with disabilities and a home for people with severe dementia and one of our SPAs leads worship in both of these.

There is one state primary school (Westbridge) of which the previous Vicar was a community governor and which has good links with the church, and there are two private prep schools, L’Ecole de Battersea and Thomas’s. Thomas’s uses the church weekly for church assemblies and at other times and rents the church crypt for its kindergarten department. The Katherine Low Settlement is a thriving charitable community centre with excellent links to the church. (Three church members are Trustees, the Vicar being ex officio, many church members volunteer, and the PCC supports the Settlement financially).

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3 OUR SERVICES AND CONGREGATION

Electoral Roll (revised 2007): 190 (as at February 2011) Sunday 8:30 am: BCP said Holy Communion, congregation 15 – 20. 11:00 am: CW Holy Communion at Meadbank Nursing home, congregation

around 25 (led by lay people from the Reserved Sacrament). 11:00 am: CW main service - Holy Communion. Congregation is around 110-140 adults, 25 children. There is also a

Sunday School. Demographic; Mixed age, 10% black, 70% commute from outside the parish. Profile is mainly middle class with a further education qualification.

1st Sunday Family Service. 6:30 pm: BCP Evensong, Congregation 15 – 20. (1st Sunday) Film night – showing a film after a no-sermon Evensong. (2nd & 4th Sunday – Choral BCP evensong) (3rd Sunday – Modern praise and teaching service) PowerPoint

songs. (5th Sunday – various)

There is a regular Requiem Mass in place of Evensong on Remembrance Sunday (the morning service is non-Eucharistic). And the 5th Sunday has varied from Christian Aid Justice worship to Solemn Vespers and Benediction in Latin.

Three times a year, a visiting speaker from one of our focus charities speaks at the 11am Eucharist in place of the sermon. At Evensong a member of the congregation with links to the charity will speak. Occasionally, there are ecumenical services, which replace Evensong. In Lent Evensong is shorter and followed by a Lent Lecture – these have usually been thought provoking and attract a wider than church interest. In Advent, Evensong is replaced by the Advent Service of 100 candles – two Sunday evening talks – the Carol Service.

Weekdays Monday & Wednesday 8:30 am: CW Morning Prayer (simplified). Tuesday 8:30 am: CW Holy Communion Monday to Thursday 5:30 pm: CW Evening Prayer (sung/simplified) Wednesday 9:15 pm: Sacred Space (plainsong / compline / anointing) Thursday 10:15 am: Toddlers’ service 12:30 pm: CW Holy Communion

Also; 8pm Sung Eucharist on Ash Wednesday (CW), Ascension Day (BCP), Said Eucharist 5.30pm on Major feast days, which fall on a Monday or Wednesday and full Holy Week & Easter Liturgies.

Occasional Offices Baptisms Approximately 30 per year Weddings Approximately 15 per year Funerals Approximately 8 per year

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4 PARISH STATISTICS

Statistics for Mission (Diocese of Southwark Annual Congregational Count 2010);

Attendance on a normal Sunday = 175 Children & Young people (age under 16 years) = 25

Easter and Christmas

Communicants on Easter Day (including vigil services) = 202 Adults & children attending worship on Easter Day (including vigil services) = 327 Communicants on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day = 266 Adults and children attending worship on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day = 400

5 FINANCES

Generally, the finances of St Mary’s are in good shape. The annual turnover is about £170K of which about £100K is raised from direct giving, and a mix of rental, investment and other income, including our Parish Fair. The Fairer Shares assessment for 2011 is about £111K.

St Mary’s has for some years received rental income from the barge moorings on the river adjacent to the Church. This has produced a steady income that has contributed to our operating expenses. However, the facility is in need of modernisation, which would require an investment that is beyond our means.

Accordingly, we have negotiated a scheme with a private sector operator who will conduct the renovations and manage the moorings. The Diocese has approved this scheme. Once completed, hopefully between late 2011 mid 2012, the mooring scheme should once again produce a helpful source of funds for the Church.

The church also owns a house in Kerrison Road, occupied by the Assistant Curate, as well as a flat in Prichard Court, at present rented out commercially.

In the short term, we have a number of pressing projects requiring financial support from our limited cash resources. These projects will require careful prioritisation and we cannot rule out the need to conduct a fund raising programme of some kind.

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6 ACCOMMODATION

The Diocese owns the Vicarage, at 32 Vicarage Crescent. It is situated near Battersea Square, with its cafes and restaurants, and is only a three-minute walk from the Church.

The family sized house is a 20th century end of terrace property with a small garden. It is built on four floors with the ground floor being the study and a further sitting room. The study / sitting room suite is incorporated to the interior of the house but does also have totally separate access from the main road and there is a toilet and laundry room at this level.

The rest of the Vicarage comprises;

5 bedrooms – a master, two double bedrooms, one single and a further particularly large room that could be used as a bedroom or rumpus / family room;

A family bathroom (2nd floor);

A further shower room and WC (1st floor);

Large kitchen (to be renovated and replaced before occupancy);

Dining room;

Living room / family room. The house has central heating.

There is a garage and parking for another car. There is a security gate at the back door.

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7 PARISH MINISTRY TEAM AND STAFF

Priests Licensed

We have two priests; We have two Southwark Pastoral Auxiliaries; Adam Boulter, (Assistant Curate) Alison Wintgens and Libby Bradshaw and Peter Wintgens (Hon NSM Curate)

Staff

Our Parish Administrator is Sunny Walker-Kier and she works out of the Parish Office in the Church Crypt. Sunny works part time between 9:00 am to 1:00 pm Monday to Friday. She supports the Ministry Team, deals with enquiries from the public, arranges rentals of the crypt, and oversees all of our administration and maintenance needs.

Our Director of Music is Jonathan Wikeley and our Assistant Music Director is Tyrone Whiting. We also have a Parish Assistant, Laura Baker, who is a theology graduate on a one-year contract with us, which ends in July 2011.

Regular Ministry Team Meetings 2nd Wednesday of each month – 9am – 11am full Ministry

Team Meeting. 3rd Wednesday of each month 9am – 11am Clergy team

meeting. 4th Wednesday of each month 9am – 10.30am SPA

meeting.

8 THE LAY COMMUNITY AND OUTREACH

Lay people have an ever-growing ministry at St Mary’s. A wide team of lay people lead intercessions, read at services, act as Communion Assistants, help raise money for the Church, consider our financial donations, and when appropriate, speak or preach.

A team of lay people lead Holy Communion from the Reserved Sacrament every week at Meadbank nursing home.

A fortnightly service is held at Sir Jules Thorn Court care home for older people with dementia, led by Libby Bradshaw (SPA)

There is a termly house communion with lunch for the less mobile – this is organised by Alison Wintgens (SPA).

A team of lay people lead and preach at BCP evensong: namely; Bob Cooles, Colin Pinnell, Leslie Spatt, Sven Tester, and Sue Whitley. Dupe Aderibigbe leads Morning Prayer on Wednesdays.

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There is a lay-led pastoral network of care, concern and support for members of our congregation, with monthly parish lunches, coordinated by Alison Wintgens (SPA).

Sunday School is led in the crypt by a committed group of lay people and each Sunday during the sermon, anthem and intercessions there is a smaller Toddlers’ Church in the vestry at the back of church led by a member of the clergy.

There is a thriving Traidcraft stall, and a once monthly homemade produce stall, which raises money for the Anglican Church in Mozambique. St Mary’s takes part in Christian Aid Week - with a special Christian Aid Week Service at the 11am Eucharist on the first Sunday in May and door-to-door collections and other fundraising ideas. In 2010 we raised over £5,000.

We give away 5% of our annual income to charities proposed by the Mission Giving Committee, which gathers suggestions for these from members of the congregation.

St Mary’s operates a small charity making one off payments of about £150 each to named individuals from SW11 who are in financial need.

8.1 House Groups

Lay people also lead the house groups and Lent groups. There are three house groups; Monthly Men’s Group (4th Wednesday); Tuesday evening Bible Study Group; Thursday afternoon Bible Study Group. There is also a Book Club.

Also, a Wednesday morning Bible Study and Prayer Group at Randall Close Day Centre for physically disabled adults.

8.2 Alpha Course

For the past five years we have run three Alpha Courses each year. There will be no Alpha Course in 2011.

8.3 Other

The parish supports Cursillo – and has about 20 cursillistas. There is a Group Reunion every 1st and 3rd Sunday at 5pm. Libby Bradshaw is the coordinator.

Each year for the past 4 years a group of people (about 20 – 30) have attended the Greenbelt festival in Cheltenham.

For the past three years up to 2010, St Mary’s has been involved with Back to Church Sunday.

St Mary’s is involved with the local ecumenical group - The Riverside Group of Churches. The Monday Morning Outreach Group for Babies and Toddlers at Dimson Lodge. Libby Bradshaw and Alison Watson are our Safeguarding officers. The Friends of Battersea Parish Church is a separate organisation, which seeks to

support the maintenance of the building through the allocation of grants to the Church. They also work hard to raise the profile of the architecture and beauty of the building in the wider community.

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9 HOW OTHERS SEE US

We have benefited from the work of ARCS (Action Research - Church & Society) with Heythrop College in helping us to better understand where we were as a Church community, while helpfully leading us through a process which enabled us to deepen our theological awareness, develop and shape our vision and priorities, and reflect upon a chosen feature of work. Their research survey, conducted in 2008/09, and analysis is helpfully summarised us as follows:

A Church of Welcome St Mary’s clearly comes across as a church that welcomes all people. The highly inclusive practices described in the data help make clear both the gift of inclusivity, but also its proper challenges. This seems an important area for reflection, so that the complex aspects of inclusivity can be explored in the light of the Gospel, and of our Christian faith. The data suggested people were looking for the process of the Alpha Course (i.e. the relationships and social interaction) as well as the content and this appeared to be leading to a process of first belonging then believing.

Accompanying this ethos of being a church of welcome was a clear language of invitation (rather than obligation); whereby everything done by invitation rather than expectation was valued.

Theology of Hospitality The data shows friendship/welcome/social interaction as key arising themes, and highlights the much-needed theology of such practices for example a theology of invitation and friendship.

There are strong themes of hospitality, identity, being guests and hosts. Alpha includes a journey to be made from being a guest to being a host. And this is a very strong theme. The data suggests that some may be held as ‘permanent guests’ – so not necessarily committing to the parish for example.

Where is Jesus? It was noted that whilst people are giving a rich and complex account of personal and human concerns, that people are not talking in explicit faith language. However it was observed that there is a strong sense of people describing the reality of God in their lives.In the data so far collected there is little use of language describing personal relationship with Jesus Christ, or little reference to the Gospel.

Ways of being Church (Ecclesiological themes)In terms of a sense of Church (ecclesiology) there would seem to be a strong emphasis on the influence of the minister and a focus on relationship and community building.

The emphasis on PreachingThere is a strong emphasis on the value of preaching and worship. (In comparison with some of the other projects the ARCS team are working with preaching is spoken about more in the data from St Mary’s than a sense of the sacramental).

Culture of Choice and Autonomy (Sociological Observations)A striking cultural marker emerging in the data was the strong desire amongst participants for freedom of choice and personal autonomy. Many participants seemed to have had a prior period of non-attendance at Church and wanted to choose a church that reflected their need for inclusion or their reaction against a stereotype of church as conservative (both morally and politically).

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Commitment In the interviews participants were asked for their opinion about what levels of commitment to church life they felt should be expected at St Mary’s and whether it was feasible to draw up guidelines for newcomers to St Mary's. There seemed to be strong views both ways. Recurring words were obedience, duty and discipline. Referring back to earlier comments, there are fewer expectations on a guest but more on a host. There is a strong and positive sense of participants’ journeying into community activism at St Mary’s Church and a emphasis on community fellowship.

Holy SpiritA further observation / point of reflection concerns the Holy Spirit. It was felt that there was an ambiguous sense of the Holy Spirit in the data: for some the language of the Spirit was a source of apparent anxiety (about, perhaps, the “charismatic”; but it was also clear that the Spirit was, for many, the essential empowerment of the life and mission of the community. Growth in this life and mission might be aided by reflecting on the theology of the Spirit and its place in the living faith of the people of the congregation).

10 WHO WE ARESt Mary’s is a lively welcoming church, grounded in an intelligent liberal theology, practising a committed lively faith, through a mix of catholic sacramentalism and evangelical fervour for mission and personal faith. We have a thirst for study and learning, a beautiful building, and a traditional liturgy. We nurture our work with children, and really enjoy our wonderful traditional choir and music, which help make our services quite special. We have a very active bell-ringing team, numerous groups, and lovely people!

We believe in a God of love who comes to us in many ways: in worship, through the sacraments, through prayer, and through our meeting together. We believe in a universe created by God in which every detail bears God's imprint. We believe that the heart of God is broken by the pain and suffering of the world, which we bring to God in every act of worship. We realise that we share responsibility for the sins we commit, but we know also that as individuals, and as a community, we can be channels of healing in the world through our compassion, our care, our forgiveness and our love.

We believe that everyone is created equal and in the image of God, and that we are called by God into a loving and dynamic relationship through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe in a God of love, who gives us the Holy Spirit in order to love and to care for our fellow women and men both inside and outside the Church - and who gives us the urge to grow.

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11 VISION AND PRIORITIES

These are the key challenges we face:

Nurturing the prayer life and spirituality of members of the congregation. Every effort is made to ensure that every aspect of every act of worship is inspirational and brings people close to God. Our congregation is diverse and as individuals, our place in the spiritual journey is quite varied. We need to find the right balance in welcoming enquirers, developing the newcomer, and stimulating spiritual growth in our mature churchgoers.

Reaching both the poor and the lonely. Whatever the background, and particularly in these challenging economic times, there is a deep need to be sensitive to and respond supportively to meeting human need. Astute and effective pastoral care is a core means of providing support and more can be done to strengthen our outreach and support. Other means need development, like our membership of London Citizens, which is working well in inspiring and enabling members of the congregation who live in the parish to work together and with the church, to improve standards of living.

Encouraging all members of the congregation to be more committed to prayer and sacrament.

Helping parents with the Christian upbringing of small children. The Thursday Babies and Toddlers’ group has a natural two year cycle as babies grow up and move on to nursery. There are usually between 5 and 8 parents at this group with their babies. The Monday Morning Outreach Group for Babies and Toddlers at Dimson Lodge, opposite the church was founded and is run by volunteers from St. Mary’s to provide a friendly meeting place for a very large group of about 40 parents and carers of mixed faiths. We need to decide where we go next with this local engagement strategy; considering how we can progress from facilitating social contact, to expanding our Christian Ministry.

Working effectively with our youth and teenagers. Our work with the younger children is on a sound footing, with the Sunday School and Children’s Choir developing well. The challenge remains, how we should meet the needs of our teenagers; finding fresh and innovative ways to maintain effective engagement with them, and encouraging them to develop their Christian life. The Church has in the past earmarked money to pay for a Children’s / Youth worker. This post was filled between 2004 and 2009. In the meantime the church has committed to employing a theological graduate year by year.

Reaching the young who work hard and play hard. These are mainly young singles whose life focus is in the centre of London. The Alpha Course has been a point of contact, as has the Film Night. We need to strive further to identify new and progressive ways that will encourage effective engagement with this part of our community.

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12 JOB DESCRIPTION - OUR HOPES FOR OUR NEW VICAR

St Mary’s and our Parish in Battersea is an exciting and diverse community, which we are confident, will offer a rewarding Ministry to an experienced Priest with a lively, open and imaginative faith.

You will hold a deep faith and help us to grow and strengthen ours.

You will inspire us with your preaching and equip and encourage us to know God through your teaching-centred ministry.

You will help us to develop our liturgy and deepen our experience of worship.

You will have a proven vocation for pastoral work and will be an engaging and confident communicator.

You will be likeable, open and personable and will share our inclusive, welcoming approach.

You will be a ‘people person’, able to interact with all ages and will easily establish good rapport with local community organisations and stakeholders.

You will have energy and vision, possessing strong leadership skills but also the will and ability to work collaboratively with the PCC.

You will enable the people around you to fulfill their potential and you will be self-assured with a sense of humour and fun.

You will be able to nurture our musical tradition.

As we embark on the next phase in the life of our Church, we are seeking an exceptional leader to refresh, guide and inspire us on our journey.

Our priority is to develop our worship and witness to God’s love for our community.

The new incumbent will offer leadership to our licensed Ministry Team, to the PCC and to our lay members and our many volunteers. The Vicar will help develop our worship, guiding those responsible for particular elements including our music.

The incumbent should be comfortable with a variety of traditional and informal styles of Anglican worship.

We want to grow our regular church-going numbers and we need to design the format of our Services to both attract and appeal to newcomers while sustaining the needs of the more mature and equally important components of our established congregation.

We expect our Vicar to work through consensus and team building. We look for leadership in relation to the work already being undertaken, with for example; Meadbank, Dimson Lodge, the Service of Meditation and Healing, the Alpha programme, the Lent lectures, our Sunday School and with our young children. We hope to extend this to incorporate young people in later teenage years.

The incumbent should enjoy working in a multicultural community, embracing the diversity found in our congregation and surrounding community.

St Mary’s Battersea: Parish Profile, 28 February 2011

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15

13 CRITERIA FOR SELECTION

Criteria Essential Desirable

Qualifications and Training

• Ordained priest within the Church of England, or a Church in Communion with it, or a Church whose orders it recognises.

• CRB clearance.

• Over 5 years experience, post initial curacy placement.

Experience• Able to lead, inspire and develop both creative

and conventional liturgy in a variety of contexts.• Engaging with all ages.• Staff management.• Volunteer management.

• Project management

• Financial management

• Ability to engage with local community.

Knowledge• A strong grasp of theology, its foundations and

interpretations.• Understanding of the importance of music in

worship.• A thoughtful approach to the design of services,

with a good understanding of how to incorporate atmosphere and sensitivity into the calendar of annual worship.

• Music ability

Skills and Competencies

• A strong inspirational preacher with excellent communication skills in both liturgical and non-liturgical situations.

• Evident leadership skills, with the ability to negotiate, inspire and mentor the work of others.

• Strong strategic capabilities, being able to

develop sustainable vision for the life and ministry of the church.

• The ability to work collaboratively with the PCC, the Ministry Team, and the wider community.

• An evident vocation for pastoral work and Christian outreach.

• Good computer and IT skills.

Personal Attributes

• Prayerful. • A genuine interest in people.• Energetic / enthusiastic.• Confident.• Ability to see the potential in others.• Accessible spirituality.• Warm, outgoing and a sense of humour.

St Mary’s Battersea: Parish Profile, 28 February 2011