North Hinckford Benefice N O R T H H I N C K F O
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
NORTH HINCKFORD BENEFICE N O R T H H I N C K F O R D 1 NORTH HINCKFORD BENEFICE WELCOME & VISION 3 MESSAGE FROM +STEPHEN 4 YOUR HOME AND WHERE WE ARE 5-6 A BIT MORE ABOUT US 7-8 THE TEAM 9-11 CURRENT WORSHIP 12 YOUR CHURCH BUILDINGS 13 OUR PARISHES – TEAM SOUTH 14-20 TEAM NORTH & WEST 21-27 COULD THIS BE YOU? 28 As a benefice we are committed to the safeguarding of children, young people and adults. We follow the House of Bishops guidance and policies and have our own Parish Safeguarding Officer, PSO. The Diocese of Chelmsford’s safeguarding pages contain vital links and information including contacts for the Diocesan Safeguarding Advisor (DSA) who advise our PSO. 2 NORTH HINCKFORD BENEFICE WELCOME VISION A warm welcome from the North Working together the Team will seek to Hinckford Team. nurture and grow our worshipping communities through living and telling Thank you for viewing our Benefice the story of a God who loves, inspires, Profile. We hope you will enjoy reading empowers, and transforms us. We will it and that it enables you to judge seek to share God’s love with all; whether the role of Team Rector to the reaching out to those in need; North Hinckford Team is the role to prioritising the elderly, the vulnerable which you are called. and young families and their children You are in our prayers. and helping our church members to live out the gospel in their daily lives. Heavenly Father, during our vacancy we ask that you guard and grow these COVID 19 churches and help us to grow in faith, love one another, care for those in The Coronavirus pandemic has given us need, reach out to others and welcome time to reflect on what it means to be newcomers 'church' in our deeply rural parishes. It has given opportunity for us to move Please guide those who are seeking the forward in terms of technology and also right minister for us, and those who are to know that we can exist outside of our seeking the right team for their buildings. A great desire does remain to ministry, that together we may discover return to our buildings as they are your way for the future and see the central to our communities and kingdom grow cherished by many but it is hoped we Amen will take forward with us some of our new experiences from our time in lockdown. Our Team Rector will need to embrace the after effects of this crisis in terms of vulnerability of our parishioners, disadvantages for those without internet access, financial burdens and the potential new shape of our communities that have been created during this time we have all lived through. 3 NORTH HINCKFORD BENEFICE The Diocese:part A messageof the fromNorth Bishop Hinckford Stephen and In the Chelmsford Diocese we believe that God is calling his church to be a transforming presence. Our vision is that the church - that is the people of God here in Essex and East London - should be a transforming presence in every one of our parishes. These are our priorities – • To inhabit the world distinctively • To evangelise effectively • To hold ourselves accountable to one another and to God for the stewardship of the gospel • To re imagine the way we minister so that each ordained minister and each individual Christian discovers their part in God's ministry and so that each church flourishes. To this end we are looking for priests who are excited by this vision of becoming a church which is itself transformed, and which is becoming a more visible and effective presence in the huge diversity of communities that make up this most exciting and energetic part of England. There are many challenges ahead of us. • We are a diocese generously subsidised by the national church. We need to become financially self- sufficient. • Leadership often seems distant. We are creating patterns of leadership that are closer to the parishes. And we are looking to develop missionary leadership at all levels of church life. Nearly half our clergy will retire in the next ten years. We need to find out how to minister with fewer stipendiary clergy and with a re-imagining of how stipendiary ministry works. We need to re-organise the way parishes relate to each other in what we are calling Mission and Ministry Units. • Some of our congregations still think ministry is what Vicars do. We have a vision of ministry where the whole people of God are involved in the whole of God's ministry. We are also experimenting with new forms of authorised lay ministry. • Church must be a safe place. All those in ministry will be expected to undergo training that will equip them to respond well in situations associated with safeguarding. • Levels of church going are below the national average. We need to get evangelism on to the agenda and into the lifeblood of every church. We encourage and train churches to put on weekends of mission and outreach. One of our aspirations is that every benefice should have a trained lay evangelism enabler. • We are developing missionary discipleship, so that every church in the diocese is a place where Christians are formed in order to be sent out in witness and service. Despite planning for a future with fewer stipendiary clergy, we remain as committed as ever to the local church. And what is the local church, but that community of men and women gathered around Christ, and living and sharing the gospel in the networks and neighbourhoods of their lives? But we need priests to lead and to serve. We know we need to change. We can only be a transforming presence when we have allowed God to transform us. Therefore at the heart of all we do is a longing for intimacy with God and a renewed life of prayer. First and foremost a priest is a minister of the word and sacrament. All ministry flows from this. But a priest shares the ministry of the bishop, therefore presbyteral ministry will increasingly be a ministry of oversight, guiding, nurturing and directing the mission of God's church in the communities we serve. It is an exciting time to be part of God's missionary movement for the world, and the Diocese of Chelmsford is an exciting place to serve. We have a clear vision and we are looking to appoint clergy who will share this with us. In every parish we long to see each person and each community grow in faithfulness and ministry so that together we may serve in the world and Christ may be made known. +Stephen 4 NORTH HINCKFORD BENEFICE YOUR HOME AND WHERE WE ARE You will be living in a large 1960s brick North Hinckford is set in the beautiful, built 4 bedroomed property, with a gently rolling countryside of North separate garage and store. Set in an Essex. Our villages are surrounded by elevated position with spectacular views mostly arable land. The population of the Stour Valley in the village of Gt include people drawn from all walks of Henny. The pretty garden slopes down life. Many work on farms and a variety from the house. There is parking for of other local jobs including those who several cars on the drive. are self-employed. Many of the business and professional people commute to London, Cambridge, Bury St Edmunds, Colchester and Ipswich. Events throughout the benefice are well supported and as a benefice we worship regularly together. We have two church primary schools one in Belchamp St Paul and one in Bulmer servicing the local communities. The house is just a short drive from the pretty market town of Sudbury and a short walk to St Mary’s church. A truly lovely place to live, peaceful, tranquil and yet close to the local amenities. There are a number of local secondary schools at Hedingham, Sudbury and Clare and a little further away is Colchester Grammar School. Our nearest town is Sudbury which provides a good range of facilities. It is a lovely market town, famously the home of the artist Gainsborough. Sudbury boasts Tesco’s, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Roy’s supermarkets and a good range of small independent shops, a twice weekly market and an excellent Farmers Market once a month. There is a small 5 NORTH HINCKFORD BENEFICE theatre and a branch line train station linking into the main line to London. There is a local bus service to Sudbury from some of our villages, but generally our residents rely on their cars. We are about 30-40 minutes from the M11 and Stansted airport. We have a good selection of local pubs, some with excellent restaurants in our villages. Our total population is approximately 3,250, made up of all ages, with a relatively large proportion in the over 60 age bracket. However, with two thriving church primary schools we also have a good number of young families. The whole area benefits from beautiful countryside with excellent public footpaths and bridgeways making the area a walker, horse rider and cyclists paradise. 6 NORTH HINCKFORD BENEFICE A BIT MORE ABOUT US WE OFFER • Welcome, friendship and fellowship • To be part of a great team • A hardworking team of Churchwardens • Two thriving church primary schools in Bulmer and Belchamp St Paul • Enthusiastic Lay Worship Team • Lay Pastoral Team • Organists and Bell ringers • Supportive PCCs • Flower arrangers and bakers • 15 Beautiful churches KEY TASKS • Outreach – embrace, grow and further develop our communities to engage with them proactively.