Summertown-Wolvercote Church Partnership

Summertown United Reformed Church St Michael’s CofE Church, Summertown Wolvercote Baptist Church St Peter’s CofE Church, Wolvercote

Reports on our work in 2019-2020

Partnership Enabling Group

The Partnership Enabling Group (PEG) meets three times a year, to oversee and plan the joint work in the four churches in our Partnership, and to share news of each church's own activities. PEG has two representatives from each church, plus the clergy, who chair the group, passing on the baton each year. PEG is particularly grateful to Caroline Harding, who continues as its efficient and supportive secretary.

PEG organised a joint study course during Lent again this year. The study sessions were led by members of our churches, and each looked at difficult or challenging aspects of Christian discipleship in today's world. The Lent Quiet Day was organised by Viv Bridges. Dr Romola Parish led the day using her own artworks and poetry to lead us to listen and respond to a God who loves, forgives and renews us in Christ.

The Partnership churches took part in the Churches Together in North Oxford (CTNO) open-air service held in Summertown on Good Friday, and also joined with CTNO in January to hold a service focusing on homelessness and the church response to this serious and growing problem (see the CTNO report below for more details on both these services).

The FairPlay network continued to raise awareness of climate justice issues. They held a very successful Climate Change Eco Fair in St Michael's Church, described in more detail in the FairPlay report below.

Fundraising has begun for the next visit of our South African friends from the parish of Taung. An Art and Craft Fair was very well supported, and further events are planned.

The Partnership Churches all joined with the URC in Summertown to celebrate the completion of work to renovate and improve their building. It was lovely to see everything so spick and span. The church was full of worshippers as friends from far and near joined in 3 the celebration. The Partnership Choir made a fine contribution to the worship.

The summer Coffee Cafe was held at the URC, its new facilities and new garden frontage providing an excellent venue. The URC has a prominent position on the Banbury Road and a good number of passers-by were attracted to the Saturday morning events. The charity cake sales were successful.

The Partnership Advent Carol Service was held as usual at St Peters, with readers from all the churches and beautiful music provided by the Partnership choir with other guests. The Partnership Christmas cards were again distributed to every home in the area, this year using a different colour card and picture.

Various 'nuts and bolts' matters, such as the website, are still ongoing. Plans were made to welcome people moving into the new homes on the Wolvercote Mill site, but the building has gone more slowly than we anticipated.

Throughout the year PEG has supported and encouraged the churches, and has enabled our life together to flourish. Many people have been involved in the different initiatives, and our thanks are due to each one.

Vivien Edwards

Cutteslowe Church Partnership

The Cutteslowe Enabling Group (CEG) dedicated a lot of attention and detail into finalising plans to create a bishops mission order (BMO). This is a wide-ranging missional opportunity which the churches of the partnership have embraced alongside St Andrew’s Church, Linton Road.

As many of our church members will know, St Andrew’s have, for a long time, dedicated a lot of resources into the Cutteslowe estate.

CEG has recommended to our church councils that St Andrew’s should be given a more formal agreement in order to create – in partnership with CEG – a church community in Cutteslowe. This means that the Anglican parish maps which cover the Cutteslowe estates, both north and south of the ring road, will, for an initial 5- year period, be given jurisdiction under the diocesan bishop (Steven). The burgeoning church community, called Cutteslowe Connected, has an ordained leader, Tom Murray, and a host of lay leaders.

CEG will remain the body to which the BMO procedures will be executed now that the churches of the partnership have agreed to the terms and conditions of the BMO. I would like to say how indebted I am to the gentle and wise leadership that Charles Draper has demonstrated throughout this process. Charles has gracefully led the CEG negotiations, always keen to reconcile differences and forge new alignments for the sake of God’s Church. I speak on behalf of everyone on CEG that we will greatly miss Charles’ prescience.

In other areas of life, the Pavilion Service continues to attract Seniors every month, but in decreasing numbers. We are committed to care and welcome the elderly in Cutteslowe as we go forward; the tea & chat events demonstrate this commitment.

Please continue to pray that we may respond to God’s desire to be a caring, loving community in the midst of Cutteslowe. Let’s see how, by God’s Grace, the living faith may flourish.

Gavin Knight

Churches Together in North Oxford

Churches Together in North Oxford (CTNO) is the ecumenical forum for the local churches. It arranges occasional united worship,

5 and promotes the exchange of information, fellowship and witness. Its lively committee meets regularly during the year.

At the end of 2019 Revd Andrew Anderson ceased to be chaplain at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies and resigned as Chair of CTNO. Andrew has been Chair since 2014 and the committee is very grateful for his outstanding leadership. He is succeeded by Revd Shei Crowther, licensed Associate Priest at St Peter’s, Wolvercote and All Saints, Wytham.

In December CTNO was saddened by the death of one of its most faithful supporters Ann Spokes Symonds. Ann was involved in the founding of CTNO in 1965 and has supported it ever since. She gave a talk on its history on the 50th anniversary and never missed an AGM.

As usual CTNO was represented and members took part with Churches Together in Central Oxford in the World Day of Prayer service in March organised by the Christian women of Slovenia.

The major event in 2019, the open-air Good Friday Service, was again held at the Summertown shopping parade, with about 100 attending and stopping to listen. This year the service was led by Revd Shei Crowther and the preacher was Revd Prof William Whyte. The service began with a procession from the URC, led by the Cross with banners representing the local churches. Hot cross buns were distributed to the congregation and to passers-by and were gratefully received.

Along with many Oxford churches, CTNO takes a keen interest in issues surrounding homelessness, and continues to support North Oxford Action Against Homelessness (NOAAH), a local group providing practical support and advocacy for local homeless people, and other initiatives. On Sunday 26 January there was an afternoon service at Wolvercote Baptist Church led by Revd Vivien Edwards at which the preacher was Revd Charles Draper, Vicar of St Peter’s Wolvercote. This was followed by a reception at which the work of

6 the Gatehouse was presented by Revd Andrew Bunch and Katrina Horne, the Project Director. An update on the continuing work of NOAAH was provided by Diana Clews, Chair of NOAAH.

Shei Crowther, Chair of CTNO

Partnership Lent Course

Once again this year we shared in a Partnership Lent course, this year with the title “Faith in times of crisis”. Andrew Dorman gave us a fascinating talk on the subject of “A world in turmoil” – times of change and uncertainty in politics. Then the FairPlay Group gave us a much needed introduction to the challenge of global warming, under the title “A Planet in crisis”. Our third session was a moving talk on “The Church in danger” – coming alongside the persecuted church worldwide. And finally, under the title “The Church in the wilderness”, we explored the place of the Church in 21st-century Britain.

I have valued enormously these times of learning together across our four churches in the Partnership, and feel this is one of the most valuable things that our Partnership gives us.

Charles Draper

Open Fellowship Group

The Open Fellowship Group, which was originally begun at the suggestion of the Revd David Michaels, sadly ceased to meet after last summer. Our numbers had declined owing to migration, declining health and/or mobility and the passing away of several regular members, to the point that it seemed unfair to ask speakers to come. We have been blessed with a wonderful variety of speakers and topics over the years, not least in our final sessions, when we learnt about youth development work in Ethiopia (Sarah

Dorman), writing a film script (Gavin Knight), technology and mental health (Romily Gregory) and a City of London livery company (Peter Bridges). Many thanks to all our speakers over the years. Should the demographics of our congregations change, perhaps the Open Fellowship Group will be born again!

Tony Lemon

Community Outreach

Since early last summer, a small group of us have been meeting to focus on ways to welcome and connect with the new residents moving into the CALA homes Wolvercote Mill site. Additionally, we have prayerfully considered ways of serving our local communities in Wolvercote and Wytham by getting alongside local groups who are developing various community based initiatives, offering to assist in practical ways. One example was our provision of hot refreshments for those planting new trees in lower Wolvercote during the Autumn (a Tree Group initiative).

We have also begun visiting the new residents monthly to welcome them and have planned a welcome coffee morning at Wolvercote Baptist Church on Saturday 4 April. Our small group embraces members of St Peter’s, All Saints and Wolvercote Baptist Church. Together we are finding ways of reaching out in our community and have jointly produced a welcome leaflet which shares information about our individual churches and services.

Sarah Flashman

FairPlay

The major event last year was the Climate Change Eco Fair held at St Michael's & All Angels and organised by the Ecochurch team. This was a follow-up to the Climate Justice campaign of the previous

8 year. The aim of the Fair was to provide answers to an individual's question: 'what can I do to help combat climate change?' 30 stalls provided advice on recycling, repair and upcycling, planting trees, solar panels, vegetarian food, house insulation, green energy, reducing plastic waste, local allotments, supporting poorer communities and campaigning. Electric bikes and car were available to try out. The Lord Mayor and representatives of Oxford City Council for zero carbon planning attended, as well as 3 MP candidates of different parties, and engaged with around 330 visitors. This was a community/church event; local supermarkets provided refreshments, a local company gave car parking facilities and Cutteslowe and Wolvercote Primary Schools provided an excellent climate themed art exhibition.

The Partnership churches contributed support with funds for publicity and with the loan of extra tables. St Peter's and St Michael's manned a joint Ecochurch stall, two St Peter's members manned a nature/bee stall, and Beryl Knotts from the URC held a stall for Oxfam.

Much planning was required for the Fair, starting early in the year, and the stallholders were all very helpful and positive about attending. The Ecochurch team was keen to be involved as part of their church/community involvement. The general feedback from a number of Fair visitors was of appreciation for the variety of advice and information available.

Helen Dodd

Traidcraft

By reducing the number of products and concentrating on their best-selling range, Traidcraft has turned a corner: in 2019 during the run up to Christmas, they turned a trading loss into a profit.

The principles of Fairtrade are unchanged: creating opportunities for

9 economically disadvantaged producers; transparency in accountancy and in fair trading practices; payment of a fair price to producers; ensuring no child labour or forced labour; no discrimination, freedom of association and gender equality; ensuring good and safe working conditions; and promoting Fairtrade and respect for the environment.

Thank you for supporting fair trade in our church Partnership; this is guaranteeing fair prices for Traidcraft producers around the world.

David & Susan Smith

Fairtrade Stall

Phillipa Hardman and I continue to take it in turns to run the stall on the 3rd Sunday of the month at coffee after the 10am service in St Peter’s church (except in August). We sell goods on behalf of the [email protected]’s shop in Cornmarket. I also hold a stall at All Saints Wytham after the service at about 11am on the 4th Sunday.

We have ceased holding a stall at the White Hart Wolvercote but the community market there might be organising a fair trade stall of its own in future.

In conjunction with the Eco group, we are promoting more Eco friendly goods on the stalls. Come and see!

Lorna Logan

Partnership Link with St Chad’s Parish, Taung, NW Province, South Africa

With the move of Fr Tsabeng from St Chad's to another church in July last year we have been keeping in touch with Tumelo and giving St Chad's our support through prayer and exchange of news. Last year St Chad's sent supplies to a village in Zimbabwe affected by

10 floods and in January this year they supplied shoes to children so they could go to school.

The Partnership has raised funds to support a visit by friends from St Chad's this year, a cake stall raised £196 and an exhibition of crafts raised £996.74.

Fr Kubeka has been appointed as the new priest for St Chad's and with the congregation is moving forward with new ideas. St Chad's have confirmed that six people will be visiting us in July of this year.

Accounts for the Taung Link Fund

Balance April 2019 £487.02

Income Cake sale at Coffee Cafe £196.00 Art & Craft fair (inc. £250 donation) £996.74 £1192.74

Balance April 2020 £1679.76

Beryl Knotts (URC), Rosemary Williams and Margaret Broadbent (St Peter's), Gill Harper and Jill Galloway (Wolvercote Baptist Church), Sue Smith (St Michael's)

Christian Aid

With the demise in 2019 of the ‘Oxford Council of Churches’ Christian Aid Committee it has become necessary for individual churches to deal directly with Christian Aid. Within the Partnership, however, we are able to plan our activities together.

In 2019, despite some widespread worries about house to house collections and for the third year running, St Michael’s collectors increased the amount raised this way to reach the sum of £3,830.12 (excluding Gift Aid). In addition, along with David Potts, previous chair of the Oxford Christian Aid Committee, they raised a further

£331.50 at a Christian Aid Coffee Café stall. The collection at the URC Celebration service at the beginning of Christian Aid Week raised £952.91 while the main contribution from St Peter’s was half the proceeds of the Annual Fete, a sum of £846.96. Meanwhile under the aegis of the Partnership Enabling Group our Churches together are attempting to raise £5000 for a Christian Aid project supporting those affected by displacement from Syria to Lebanon and Iraq. This project attracts a 6:1 matched funding from a German Protestant Churches group ‘Bread for the World’. So far the sum of £4339 has been received, leaving an outstanding sum of £661 to be raised.

John Harding

Coffee Café

As always we were grateful to the 23 volunteers from our Partnership churches for the invaluable help they gave over the 19 Saturday mornings of last summer’s season, from mid-May to mid- September, in the URC front garden. We certainly felt the benefit of being able to serve the café from the improved adaptations at the front of the church for the first time in the 32 years of the life of the Coffee Café! We were pleased to be able to donate the total season’s proceeds of £500 to Sunnymead Minnows (through the Cutteslowe Community Association) to further their work with pre-school children following the closure of the Children’s Centre there. 18 different charities also benefitted from their respective charity cake-stalls, and many are now happy to be regular annual fundraisers.

I do hope to be able to hand over the coordination of this venture in 2020, and, as many of our volunteers are now in the latter stages of ‘the third age’, we particularly welcome younger volunteers who are strong enough to help with the moving of chairs and tables (and occasionally erecting and dismantling a gazebo) at the beginning and

12 end of each Saturday morning. We look forward to many friends signing up to help when the Helper Rota rotates round our churches during March and April this year.

Beryl Knotts

Messy Church

Messy Church provides a monthly opportunity for people of all ages to come together to make and do, eat, pray and share joys and sorrows together as a Christian community. This ‘fresh expression’ of church comprises arts and crafts, games and activities followed by a short celebration featuring stories, songs and prayer. Our time together finishes with a shared meal.

Recently we have enjoyed exploring animals in the Bible, which included learning about Balaam’s talking donkey, and the ravens who offered a meal delivery service to Elijah!

We continue to meet from 3.30pm to 5.30pm on the second Sunday of the month in the Wolvercote Baptist Church Hall. We would love for you to come along and join us!

For further information about our Messy Church programme, please contact me at [email protected].

Dawn Davidson

Communications in the Church Partnership

1. Partnership Link (formerly Teamsheet) Now in its 41st year of publication, our thanks go to Jenny Gerrard, the current editor, who continues to keep us all in touch with activities and events of general interest to our four congregations. Our thanks also go to the team in the Partnership Office who print

13 it, and other Partnership papers, each week, in particular to Julia Goddard who leads this team.

2. The Quarterly The Quarterly enters its 19th year of publication with the March 2020 edition. We are very grateful to all those who submit or suggest material for publication - on them the quality and interest of each issue depends. The editors, Ann Stedman, Michael Daniell and John Harding, wish to encourage the submission of original articles, book reviews and responses to articles published previously.

3. Church Partnership Website The Partnership website (http://www.summertown- wolvercotechurchpartnership.org/) highlights joint activities and events involving all, or most, of our four congregations, as well as hosting information about Wolvercote Baptist Church. Links take readers to the websites of St Peter’s, the URC and St Michael’s.

The platform on which the Partnership website is based is now more than 10 years old. It has become unstable, hard to edit, and security problems are arising. Thanks to Val Tate (St Peter’s webmaster) who has agreed to update the Partnership website, moving it to a new Squarespace template on which both websites will be based.

John Harding

Church Partnership Office

We continue to do the printing and photocopying for the Partnership churches in the office on Thursday mornings (except for August, and the week following Christmas and Easter), and can be contacted by telephone (01865 236094) or by email ([email protected]). As ever, I owe much gratitude to Jenny Gerrard and Sue Smith, for their invaluable help each week, for taking care of printing in my absence, and not least for their

14 wonderful company and conversation: the work we do in the office really wouldn’t be possible without them. Thanks also to everyone else who helps periodically, especially Bill Clarke and Caroline Pepys.

Julia Goddard, Administrator, Partnership Office