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PARISH OF REDCAR (ST PETER’S) PARISH PROFILE CONTENTS WELCOME FROM THE, BISHOP OF WHITBY 2 INTRODUCTION 3 OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES 5 WORSHIP AT ST. PETER’S 9 OUR PEOPLE AND GROUPS 15 OUR BUILDING 17 OUR FINANCES 18 OUR LOCATION – REDCAR 19 1 WELCOME FROM PAUL, BISHOP OF WHITBY Thank you for your interest in the post of parish priest for Redcar. St Peter’s stands at the centre of this interesting and characterful seaside town. There is very much the sense of being the church for the community: alongside a pattern of well-ordered, welcoming worship and of supporting people of all ages in their Christian journey, the parish has a strong record of reaching out widely in service and in civic engagement. The PCC has put together this Profile, and I hope you will be able to catch from it something of the sense of dedication, possibility and excitement that I recognise as being true of the parish. At the same time it is realistic about the challenges that need to be addressed by priest and people together. A note on the Suspension of Presentation At present the larger community of Redcar comprises three ministry units: St Peter’, Kirkleatham, and Coatham & Dormanstown. The whole Diocese of York is beginning a consultation on ministry and resourcing, with a view to deanery plans being drafted towards the end of 2021. Whilst no decisions have been made in respect of ‘greater Redcar’, in order to allow the possibility of some re-organisation, which may involve a different assignment of resources and conceivably the future reduction of the ministry units to two, this appointment is being made to the position of Priest-in-Charge rather than incumbent. Any re-organisation would follow the necessary process. If you sense that God may be calling you to be the priest of St Peter’s parish, I hope that you will consider applying. Please do contact the Archdeacon, Area Dean or me if you would like to have an informal initial conversation. The appointment will be made by the Bishop of Whitby, acting as the delegate of the Archbishop of York. The appointment will be subject to an Enhanced DBS Disclosure, Bishop’s reference, and eligibility to work in the UK. At present this vacancy is only open to clergy already serving in the diocese of York. For an informal discussion about this post please contact any of the following: The Archdeacon of Cleveland, the Ven. Dr. Amanda Bloor: 01642 706095 [email protected] The Area Dean, the Revd. David Tembey: 01642 482896 [email protected] The Bishop of Whitby, The Rt. Revd. Paul Ferguson: 01642 593273 [email protected] 2 INTRODUCTION St Peter’s Church has been serving the people of Redcar for nearly 200 years. The Parish is part of Guisborough Deanery and the Archdeaconry of Cleveland. The vision of the Diocese of York, led by the Archbishop, the most Revd and Rt Hon Stephen Cottrell, is to be ‘Generous Churches Making and Nurturing Disciples’. We are committed to this vision and to the diocesan goals of reaching those we currently do not; growing in numbers, disciples, and influence; and achieving sustainable finances. These goals have been at the forefront of our past mission plans and are still the challenges that lie ahead, as we seek to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and to grow His Kingdom here in Redcar. We are a moderately-sized congregation of loyal, caring, prayerful and generous people who gather to worship together and enjoy fellowship. We seek to serve God in our lives and in this place, and to enable others to share God’s love. Some of us have worshipped in this church for decades while others of us are relative newcomers, and we include people of all ages and family situations. We feel that we are loving, resilient and adaptable, approachable and child friendly. Many lay people use their gifts and skills to serve God and the church, which we consider to be a great strength of ours. We are now praying for the person who will become our new Priest-in-Charge? Could it be you? The Parish Prayer Bless Us Lord Bless Our Parish Inspire our Worship Fill us with your Love And send us out In the power of your Spirit To live and work To your praise and glory “to lead us into Amen the future and help us grow a younger Church...” https://www.stpeterschurchredcar.co.uk/ www.facebook.com/stpeterschurchredcar 3 Effects of, and our response to, the pandemic At the time of writing (December 2020), the coronavirus pandemic is still sweeping across the world. In common with all churches, worship and mission at St Peter’s has been profoundly affected. Over half of our congregation are over 70 and/or vulnerable and many have been self-isolating or shielding since March. Our church building has been closed during lockdowns with no worship services or social groups and activities. This has resulted in a significant drop in church income and St Peter’s has been unable to pay its freewill offer in full to York diocese. There have been few fundraising events which has impacted on our mission of giving to national and international charities. We have been unable to offer the Foodbank, which has impacted on our mission to serve the local community. There have been few social events, which has impacted on church fellowship and there have been reduced links with schools. But there have been positives, too. The Ministry team have kept in touch with every church family on the electoral roll via telephone, a letter, or a card or by contacting online. The team have embraced the new technologies and offered online church services via the church Facebook page and Zoom. In fact, many of St Peter’s congregation have proved surprisingly adept with IT (with help from friends and family members) and have been able to access services and form informal online ‘house groups’ for prayers and social support. There have also been some online coffee mornings and virtual social events. As soon as permission to re-open was granted, risk assessments were done, and COVID-safe measures and protocols were put in place to enable the re-opening of the church building for services. A ‘last-day-before-lockdown 2’ Wedding at St Peter’s! A local couple were due to marry at St Peter’s on Saturday, 7th November 2020. They had already had to alter their plans several times during the year due to coronavirus but then it was announced that a second national lockdown would start on Thursday 5th November. However, St Peter’s and local businesses went the extra mile and re-arranged everything so the marriage could go ahead on Wednesday 4th November. Revd Tina Burgess said: " It was my pleasure to have been able to conduct the Wedding of Hannah and Ben. After a few challenges due to COVID regulations, they were able to make their declarations and vows to each other and before God and family. We celebrate their joy and happiness and send them all our good wishes, prayers and blessings.” 4 OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES Planning for the appointment of our new Priest-in-Charge As part of our preparation for the appointment of our new Priest-in-Charge, members of St Peter’s PCC and congregation considered the areas of St Peter’s life, worship, and purpose where we think we need support; how we see a new Priest-in-Charge helping us serve the Parish of Redcar and encourage potential mission and growth; recent events in the life of our church which seem significant for Christian life and witness (where we see, or have seen, God at work) and the qualities and attributes we hope to see in a new Priest-in-Charge. We believe we need support with… Discerning a new vision for growing the church and moving us forward. The church has lots of connections with children and families through Pram Service, Messy Church and links with our 4 primary schools. There are people keen to engage with this vital aspect of mission but we need someone to encourage and develop this further. We also need support with growing faith in older children and young people. Developing our worship We are keen to look to ways we can rebuild and revitalise our worship and music in ways that witness to the good news of Jesus. We need help to engage with younger people and grow a church community who want to live as active disciples. Engaging with Mission in our community We want to be a church that engages with and supports the most disadvantaged members of our parish. We seek someone with a passion for putting the church at the heart of the local community who will help us help those in need. How our new Priest-in-Charge could help us serve and encourage mission and growth… As we seek to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, we are praying for someone who will explore ways forward, lead us, re-energise us and help us embrace change. Our new Priest-in-Charge should have a heart for Growing Faith and seek to work at the intersection of church, schools and households. As nearly 80% of Christians in the UK today came to faith under the age of 18 (Church of England research), we are particularly keen to explore the opportunities to develop our children and young families’ ministry and to better integrate this within the life of the Church.
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