A NEW TEAM VICAR FOR THE LORDSBRIDGE TEAM,
The Lordsbridge Team Prayer
FOR THE PARISHES OF BARTON, COTON, HARLTON AND HASLINGFIELD
JUNE 2020 THE CONTENTS OF THIS PACK-
1. Introduction & overview 2 2. The Lordsbridge local area 4 3. The life of the Lordsbridge Team, as a whole 6 4. The parish pages: Barton, Coton, Harlton & Haslingfield in their own words 11 5. A vision for the Lordsbridge Team of Churches 19 6. The new Team Vicar’s role 22 7. The person we are looking for 23 8. The vicarage 24
Christmas 2016 at Haslingfield
June 2020 I hope you like what see in looking through this profile and appointment pack. I, and the other members of the clergy team, think that Lordsbridge is a great place to live and minister. It works largely because all that we do as incumbent clergy is held and supported by the scaffolding of the team structure and the collaboration that it enables. If you like variety and creativity, working relationally with colleagues and communities, being grounded in the rhythms of rural church life, asking and answering the questions of mission, placing the Christian community at the heart of local action and care, if you are prepared to look for the work of the Spirit in unexpected places and ultimately to grow fragments of the kingdom of God, then come and see whether God is calling you to join us here. With my prayers for this process of discernment,
Team Rector
1 1 INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW
The Lordsbridge Team of Churches is looking for a Team Vicar to be licensed as incumbent of 4 of its 11 parishes – Barton, Coton, Harlton and Haslingfield - and to join the Lordsbridge’s ‘core team’ of clergy.
The Lordsbridge Team of Churches is a network of worshipping communities, spread over 11 villages, in an area of about 9 by 5 miles west of Cambridge, and served by a core team of four incumbent-status clergy. The work and witness in the parishes is held together and made possible across multiple communities by the framework provided by the Team.
Dry Drayton Coton Barton
Hardwick
Caldecote
Toft Comberton
Gt Eversden Lt Eversden Harlton Haslingfield Created from four smaller benefices, the Lordsbridge Team of Churches, now a team ministry, celebrates its 10th birthday later this year. Each of the incumbent clergy in the team has responsibility for a particular geographical area so that each village knows who its vicar is. Each also takes the lead in specific ministries and projects across the whole benefice, according to need, interest and expertise. Together they share leadership across the whole patch and the network of worshipping communities.
Each parish has at least one worshipping community and some have, or are growing, more. At the last count there were 16. Eleven of these are congregations worshipping in a more or less traditional way in our ancient parish churches. Alongside these are, variously a monthly gathering of seniors for tea and prayer, a weekly congregation of under 5s and carers, a Messy Church, an ecumenical gathering of families around baking bread and a monthly multi-denominational youth service. And there are other possibilities and opportunities.
In 2019, 2% of the local population was in a Lordsbridge church on an average Sunday and 3% attended a service (including mid-week services, baptisms and Harvest celebrations) in any one week in October. In Advent 19% of the local population visited a Lordsbridge Church for a service of some kind. Although the electoral roll has declined between 2013 and 2019, particularly with last year’s revision, the size of the Lordsbridge worshipping community has increased by 14%, to 500. (From ‘Statistics for Mission’ data).
2 OUR ETHOS
We have three primary working principles:
• The Lordsbridge Team is a network of worshipping communities rooted in their local contexts.
• The Team works primarily through its worshipping communities and enables greater flourishing in their life and mission.
• The Team allows us to be more than individual parishes and to do things together that could not be done alone.
Alongside these we have identified these key values for the direction of the Team’s life:
• Mission: a desire to be mission-focused in our nature and activities, with prayer being central to this
• Celebration: remembering how God has been active in our communities over many years and is still active and creative now
• Relationships: growing worshipping Prayer station for the 2019 general election communities, building the network, and consolidating relationships between churches, denominations, village groups, businesses and schools
• Enjoyment: through being and doing things together.
The Team Council has also stated that prayer is the ‘engine house’ for all that we do.
In the 10 years since its inception, the Lordsbridge Team has evolved to become a mutually supportive network that retains the local strengths and essence of its individual parishes while also bringing together commonalities and encouraging collaborations.
We recognize that each worshipping community – whether traditional or new - is best placed to understand, reflect and grow relationships within its own local context and so we make sure that the ‘core’ of the Team resources the ‘mission-edges’, rather than pulls resource into the centre.
We celebrate ‘small church’ as being good and having value and purpose in its own right. We therefore encourage small, locally rooted worshipping communities, avoiding amalgamation and empowering lay people and volunteers in their own places. However, we also recognize that multiple small worshipping communities are more effective when linked together sharing skills and resources and mutual support.
We grow by ‘multiplication’ as well as ‘addition’, mindful of the research (referenced in the C of E paper ‘Shaping Strategies for Mission and Growth in Rural Multi-Church Groups’) that shows that creating new and different congregations tends to make more new disciples than expanding existing ones. And we actively support ‘mixed economy ministry’, both celebrating the faithfulness of generations worshipping in these villages, whilst making space for the innovation and creativity that are vital in the service of the Kingdom of God for the sake of future generations.
3 2 THE LORDSBRIDGE LOCAL AREA
The Lordsbridge Team Ministry covers the villages of Hardwick, Dry Drayton, Caldecote, Comberton, Toft, Great and Little Eversden, Coton, Barton, Harlton and Haslingfield. The communities range in size from a few hundred to nearly three thousand. The congregations similarly vary in size, although some of the smaller villages maintain a very active church life, and the proportion of villagers involved in the churches in the larger communities is sometimes lower.
Each village is self-contained, set in mostly arable farmland and, though linked by ancient bridle paths, they are several miles apart by road and there is little or no public transport between them. All have established and individual identities and most have strong community spirit which, along with the rural environment, is very popular with local inhabitants. There many beautiful listed buildings (including the churches). The village populations and congregations are diverse – from manual and agricultural workers to professionals and academics, from local families with historic links with particular villages to many relative newcomers – so, never a dull moment!
Different villages have expanded with new housing at different times (eg Hardwick in the 1980s, and Caldecote’s Highfields development around 2000) bringing in new families and changing the demography. This is still going on with a number of edge of village and in-fill developments underway or being actively discussed within our Team area. In addition, there is major development underway to the immediate north west of the Lordsbridge Team’ area and within the deanery which will drive significant local population growth.
While rural in many ways, all of the villages of the team are influenced by their proximity to Cambridge. Cambridge is a small but vibrant city (population c 125,000) within the agricultural countryside of East Anglia. It is internationally renowned for its universities, Addenbrookes and Papworth Hospitals (situated with the largest Biomedical Campus in Europe) and the high-technology Silicon Fen concentration of bioscience and software businesses. Cambridge is the base for three Church of England Theological Education Institutions (TEIs): Ridley Hall, Westcott House and the Eastern Region Ministry Course (ERMC).
There are many employment opportunities locally, and Cambridge and other local stations have excellent transport links, with fast trains to London, Stansted and Peterborough (for East Coast Mainline and the Midlands) and there is easy access to the M11, A1 and A14. The area is one of the most economically buoyant and fast- growing in the country.
Local schools include the seven village primary schools in the Lordsbridge Team area, four of which are Church schools. At secondary level Comberton Village Oasis seniors holiday Club College and Comberton Sixth Form (both rated highly by OFSTED inspections) are in the benefice, and St Bede’s is a church secondary school
4 within reach in Cambridge. There are other sixth form options in Cambridge too and various independent schools ranging from pre-prep to sixth form.
Though some villages are short of public space, across the area there are a range of cafes, shops and pubs which reach beyond their immediate locality, eg, Coton Orchard Café, Flock at Burwash Manor Farm in Barton, the Blue Lion pub in Hardwick and the Moringa Tree café in Haslingfield. There are a number of farm and village shops and village Post Offices. Other gathering points in the Lordsbridge area include the Arbory Trust Woodland Burial site in Barton, and, the secondary school and sixth form in Comberton.
This is a beautiful and diverse setting in which to live and minister, with much potential for growing mission and Christian presence.
Lego day at the half term ‘pop-up café’ in Dry Drayton church
A ‘listening post’ at a village fete
Young people at the campfire circle behind the church in Hardwick
Carols at Harlton
5 3 THE LIFE OF THE LORDSBRIDGE TEAM
WORSHIP ACROSS THE VILLAGES OF THE TEAM
Every Sunday there are at least 10 main services of worship across the team including BCP and CW Holy Communion, All Age Worship, Morning Prayer and Evensong. In addition to these are the fresh expressions of church or new congregations with different meeting times and formats. Clergy and lay people lead collective worship on a regular basis in all of the church schools and some of the community schools.
Population USA Regular E Roll Sunday Youth Primary Other church F x C2 2018 E 2019 Worshipping Club School community Community1 Barton 828 28 38 47 - - Church Barton - school Baptist Church Caldecote & 1835 11 29 21 - - Community - - Childerley school
Comberton 2327 52 94 93 - - Community Comberton Monthly school Baptist Oasis Teas Church Coton 938 18 36 35 - - Church - Monthly school Messy Church Dry Drayton 649 22 40 35 - - Church Quakers; - school 7th Day Adventists2 Great & Little 810 19 42 35 - - - - Monthly Eversden Family Church Hardwick 2552 32 70 47 - - Community Hardwick Weekly school Evangelical under 5s Church (Bap) church Harlton 310 18 29 24 - - - - -
Haslingfield 1916 42 75 67 Yes Café Endowed Haslingfield - Saintz school Methodist Church Toft LEP 536 20 46 31 Mondays - - - Monthly ‘Bread Church’ Lordsbridge- West Comberton Thirst wide Cam’dge Village (WCCYM) Christian College Youth (CVC) & Ministries Sixth Form
Note 1 – Regular worshipping community is those worshipping at least once a month including children (‘Statistics for Mission’). Note 2 – A fresh expression of Church (FxC) is a form of church established primarily for the benefit of people who are not yet “members” of any church. https://freshexpressions.org.uk/about/what-is-a-fresh-expression/ . There are other projects and gatherings that fall outside of this definition.
6 THE CORE MINISTRY TEAM
Lordsbridge has an active and collaborative Core Ministry Team which operates around the principle of shared leadership, shared support and shared accountability. We have 3 stipendiary clergy of incumbent status - a Team Rector and two Team Vicars – and a self-supporting minister as a fourth incumbent. Our Team Curate is also part of this Core Team. Each incumbent member of this Core Team takes responsibility for particular geographic parishes – he or she is their Vicar - and takes the lead for particular projects and activities that are cross-Team. The Team Curate works across some but not all of the villages.
The day-to day functioning of the Lordsbridge Team is overseen by this Core Team of incumbent-status ‘lead ministers’ who, with the Team Curate, meet weekly to pray, eat together and plan tasks and activities.
5th Sunday Team Service for The members of the Core Team, their parish responsibilities and Candlemas at Toft some of the cross-Team responsibilities are as follows –
• Vacant – Team Vicar, lead minister for Barton, Coton, Harlton and Haslingfield. • Revd Charles Fraser – Team SSM, lead minister in Great Eversden and Little Eversden. Charles is also Head of Divinity at The Leys School in Cambridge. • Revd David Newton – Team Vicar, lead minister in Comberton, Caldecote and Toft (LEP), and lead minister for safeguarding and for weddings. David is also studying for a PhD. • Revd Paul Garnell – Lordsbridge Team Curate, working currently in Hardwick, Dry Drayton, Coton and the Eversdens, and lead minister for funerals. • Revd Canon Alison Myers – Team Rector, lead minister in Hardwick and Dry Drayton and for pioneering projects. Locally, Alison is a trustee for West Cambridge Churches Youth Ministries and deanery lead for new housing, and at diocesan level she is the Diocesan Clergy Chair and a member of the Bishop’s Strategy Group.
RESOURCE HUB: TEAM ADMINISTRATION AND OPERATIONS
The award of a grant from the Diocesan Growth Fund is enabling us to create a ‘Resource Hub’ to increase our administrative capacity to support better our missional vision. The Resource Hub Team currently consists of: • Robbie Thomson – Resource Hub Manager, part time for 3 years to 2022, tasked with implementing better shared software, more comprehensive administrative services, a resource library for the wider use of the ministers of the Team, and currently supporting our increasing use of social media in response to COVID-19. Robbie also works for the national para-church organization ‘Youthscape’. • Gemma Markettos - Team Administrator, working for 16 hours a week providing admin support for weddings, funerals and communications amongst other things.
7 THE LORDSBRIDGE TEAM CHAPTER, LOCAL MINISTRY TEAMS AND STUDENTS
• Lordsbridge Team Chapter - We have a strong, committed wider team of self-supporting and retired clergy, LLMs (Licensed Lay Ministers or Readers), and resident staff from Cambridge theological colleges. Some of these have a peripatetic role and some serve in a specific local church ministry team. The full Lordsbridge Team Chapter meets termly.
• Local ministry teams – These meet at parish level and, as well as lay and ordained members of the Team Chapter, also include Authorized Lay Ministers (ALMs), church wardens and others. They function in different ways in different church communities depending on both the context and the mix of ministers and other roles serving within that church.
• Students - We offer attachments and placements to ordinands, curates and trainee lay ministers wanting to explore team ministry and/or ministry and mission based in villages. There are usually several students within the Team at any one time and some live, with their families, in our villages.
THE TEAM COUNCIL
In order to oversee Team-wide activities, there is a Team Council, comprising a lay representative from each parish and the members of the Core Ministry Team, which meets three times a year. They support Team- wide vision setting, coordinate Ministry Share, employ the administrator and Resource Hub Manager, oversee youthwork, Team communications and other Team-wide projects. Each parish has its own PCC and its own finances, to support decision making at a local level.
TEAM-WIDE ACTIVITIES & PROJECTS
The life of the Team is strong at local parish level, with distinctive local initiatives. Team-wide some resources and activities stand out as being ways in which pooling resources can lead to outcomes that would not be possible at an individual parish level and some are opportunities to bind our parishes together for worship and shared activities:
• Supporting prayer & spirituality: The annual Prayer Pilgrimage (now part of “Thy Kingdom Come”) encourages congregation members prayerfully to visit other churches in the Team. Sacred ‘Summer Afternoons’ at Hardwick church outdoor cafe Space is an alternative worship gathering held 3/4 times a year, using prayer stations to offer the experience of (and demonstrate) a different way of nourishing our spiritual lives. In some years we also hold an annual Team quiet morning. During the pandemic we have experimented with Zoom Night Prayer, and short reflections on social media and video.
• Encouraging learning & discipleship: The School of Theology, most recently run as a series of evenings in summer 2019, draws on local educators and provides serious theological study for those who wish to explore their faith more deeply.
8 • Being a training benefice: We have a good reputation both as a supportive environment for students for village-based Team ministry and as a place for innovative practice-based thinking. Members of the wider ministry team are encouraged to contribute, for example, to thinking in pastoral theology and to the national conversation around sustainable rural Fresh Expressions of Church. The Team is to be the focus of PhD study into the ‘mixed economy of church’ in 2021.
• Developing mission: We have been exploring and implementing patterns of mission and ministry that reach beyond ‘inherited’ approaches to being church. In the recent past we had a Pioneer Curate in the Team who led this work. We are also conscious of the need to respond well to the considerably edge of village development underway. There is scope for a new Team Vicar to focus some of their time here.
• Resourcing worship: Final agreement for the allocation of ministers for Sunday services is made at Core Team level, so that any absences or other gaps are covered, and responsibility is shared. Worship resources created locally are made available for adaptation by colleagues via Dropbox. During the pandemic we are pooling resources to create a ‘Worship at Home’ pack for each Sunday, adapted and distributed locally and occasional video services.
• Administrating weddings & funerals: The Team Administrator organises weddings, including banns, registers and invoicing, and couples are invited to an annual Marriage Preparation day run by the incumbents. She has recently also taken on the back- office admin for funerals.
• Communicating Team-wide: We produce a bi-monthly on-line newsletter called ‘Lordsbridge Life’, and circulate a weekly notices email as input into local pew sheets and equivalent.
• Working with young people: A volunteer youth worker acts as coordinator and consultant to parishes developing local youth work. We are a member of West Cambridge Christian Youth Ministries (WCCYM), an organisation of local Dry Drayton School ‘Easter Experience’ churches and youth workers, who run groups in the church in the secondary school and sixth form, host a monthly area-wide youth service, an annual youth weekend and a summer camp. The Team Rector is a trustee of WCCYM. • Worshipping and celebrating together: 5th Sundays are Lordsbridge Sundays and we invite congregations to “worship with friends or make new ones” at a single service, where we take the opportunity to pool musical and other resources, and have some fun together, in choral, contemporary, or some other style. Ascension Day is a well-established occasion for shared evening worship. Once a year, on the feast of Christ the King, all the churches of the area gather for an area-wide multi-denominational celebration with an invited speaker. While the churches have been closed, we have created YouTube services for 5th Sundays, including Pentecost, and Easter Day.
9 ECUMENICAL PARTNERSHIPS
There are good relationships with local Baptists (Comberton, Barton & Hardwick), Methodists (Haslingfield) and Roman Catholics (gathering in Cambourne or in Cambridge). Toft has an LEP between the Methodists and Anglicans. There are local projects and opportunities to work together in each of these villages. Across the patch, we work together on youth (via West Cambridge Christian Youth Ministries), on aspects of mission strategy and we celebrate our Christian diversity and unity annually with the service on the feast of Christ the King. Area wide service at Comberton Leisure
BOURN DEANERY
Lordsbridge is part of the Bourn deanery which, as well as the Lordsbridge Team, consists of the Papworth Team Ministry and Cambourne Church, a four-way ecumenical partnership in a nearby new settlement. Revd Canon Sue Wyatt, a retired minister and member of the Lordsbridge Chapter, is our Rural Dean. Because of the unusual make-up of the deanery, deanery meetings other than synod are rare.
There are two large new settlements planned or in planning for our deanery. One is an extension of 2350 houses to Cambourne (an existing new town) to the west and the other is a self-contained settlement of 3500 houses on an old airfield on the northwest boundary of the Lordsbridge Team. The deanery’s response to this has recently resulted in the allocation of diocesan funding for a pioneer post and agreement in principle of a Bishop’s Mission Order to cover mission in the two new settlements and development relationships with other churches and church groups on the ground. Beyond the north-east boundary, outside the deanery, is the university development of Eddington, and some visitors to the closer Lordsbridge parishes come from here.
Lordsbridge social media www.lordsbridge.org Lordsbridge Team Churches Online (YouTube) Team Rector’s blog
In addition to these, each worshipping community may have its own online presence and social media, according to context, style and resources.
10 4 THE PARISH PAGES ST PETER’S, BARTON
BARTON VILLAGE www.barton-cambs.org.uk
Barton lies in the green belt three miles to the south-west of Cambridge, currently with a population of around 850/900 with a high proportion of retired folk. Others work in Cambridge and the surrounding area and some commute further afield: London and beyond. Most, but not all, housing is privately owned. St. Peter’s Church, the Primary School, village hall, playgroup building, Post Office and general store, the Hoops public house, hairdresser, Barton Baptist Church, and a complex of some fifteen small retail businesses at Burwash Manor (also a wedding venue), are situated in the centre of the village. On the A603 there is a fuel station, garage, and shop, and the White Horse public house. Barton has a thriving economy, that draws people into the village and provides some local employment. A recreation ground with children’s play area, bowling green, tennis court and football pitch are situated off the High Street, with a sports pavilion. The doctor’s surgery, dental practice, and secondary school with a sixth form are in the adjacent village of Comberton. The Countryside Restoration Trust charity has its headquarters in the village.
ST. PETER’S CHURCH BUILDING www.bartonstpeters.org.uk
The church was built in the 14th century and contains some nationally important wall paintings of that period, which have been the subject of a major conservation programme. The building is in good order. The PCC do their best to complete any fabric works required by each Quinquennial report, by putting in place a rolling programme of repair and maintenance.
There is a modern north porch entrance with disabled access, toilet and storage cupboard. At the West end of the church there is a small kitchenette and space for serving coffee. New lighting was installed in 2018 and there are current plans to improve the heating. The church is unlocked during daylight hours.
THE SCHOOL www.bartonprimary.org.uk
The church Primary School has voluntary aided status, and has pupils from Barton, the neighbouring village of Grantchester and some from further afield. The church has strong links with the school and some of the congregation regularly volunteer as helpers. Every Wednesday during term time the school hold their assembly in the church, led by various local clergy. There is an ex-officio place for the incumbent on the Governing Body, and the PCC appoints one Foundation Governor. There are currently around 100 children on the school roll.
WORSHIP AND MINISTRY
Services on Sunday are at 9.30am and include, BCP Holy Communion, A Sung Eucharist, A Service of the Word and an All Age Service. On Mondays and Fridays, Morning Prayer is said at 9.15am in church, led by an ecumenical team of laity and clergy.
11 Public worship and service to the community is the core of the church’s witness and mission in the parish and, although traditional worship is favoured, other authorised liturgical material is also appreciated. Lay people read lessons at the main services, lead intercessions and assist with the chalice. The congregation is mostly over 60 and is very committed.
A retired priest living in Haslingfield, an assistant priest living in Barton regularly assist with services, along with an LLM who takes funerals and leads family worship. We also have an ALM Worship leader able to lead services. Advent and Lent Coffee on a Sunday courses are offered annually, shared with the Baptist church.
COMMUNITY AND PARISH LIFE
The Church plays a central role as part of an integrated community; the ministry is to everyone in the parish. Several church fundraising events are held each year, well supported by those beyond the congregation. Once a month during the summer months, free coffee is served in the church for anyone to ‘drop in’ to chat etc. A monthly Men’s Breakfast - full English and a speaker -is held in the Sports Pavilion. There is a Baptist Church in the village with whom we have a good relationship. There are a large number of other community activities and groups, including a Community Car Scheme run by volunteers to take those without transport to the doctor or hospital. The A Murder Mystery Evening Church produces the Parish Magazine which is delivered free to in the village hall every house in the parish (ten issues a year). It is prepared jointly by two parishioners, and includes a letter from the incumbent or LLM. An annual appeal to village organisations to offset the production costs is very successful. A number of people mow the churchyard grass and care for neglected graves, while twice a year volunteers give the churchyard a good clean-up.
FINANCE
St Peter’s is financially well supported by the regular congregation and by the wider local community, with the majority of income derived from voluntary giving (£10k from regular giving) and fundraising events. In recent years the church has met its Ministry Share commitment in full. Our expenditure in 2019 was circa £25K (£600 above income). There is an active Friends of St. Peter’s Group, who have raised money for the PCC over the last two years towards replacing the church heating. Our assets total £75K.
FUTURE NEEDS
• To continue building on the strong foundations already in place, which have encouraged active lay involvement • To encourage inter-parish relationships at all levels while recognising the challenge of meeting the particular needs of all four parishes individually • To continue encouraging links with, and active participation in, school affairs • To find ways of attracting younger people and families to church • Ministering to the elderly
12 ST PETER’S, COTON
COTON VILLAGE www.cotonvillage.co.uk
Coton is a small village about three miles west of Cambridge - slightly under a thousand people in 400 households. The population includes a number of young families. There are few unemployed and relatively high number of academics employed at the university. Most workers commute into Cambridge by car, bike and bus. The sense of being a village is strong.
Coton is set in farmland, separated from Cambridge by the M11 motorway. It is linked to Cambridge and to the West by Madingley Road in the north, and by Barton Road to the south. Both also offer access to the M11 motorway, but the main part of the village is in a cul-de-sac with only local traffic. The village has a C of E primary school, a village hall, a garden centre which includes a café, Post Office and farm shop, The Plough public house and a large recreation ground. Apart from some old houses close to St Peter’s church, most of the houses are modern, built since the 1950’s, and a mixture of private and social housing. A large area of the adjoining farmland is being developed as Coton Countryside Reserve, an amenity for the city and surrounding area. West Cambridge is developing towards Coton, and the Eddington University site is close by. It is quite a strategic location.
THE CHURCH IN COTON www.stpeterscoton.org.uk www.achurchnearyou.com/church/13750
The medieval St Peter’s Church is at the centre of the village, overlooking the High Street and the village green. It is open during the day.
The church community has been fairly central to the village, but has shrunk recently as a generation has passed. The church is a loving, faithful group of people. Together with the Team Vicar and ministry team they provide seasonal community services, weddings, baptisms and funerals, as well as weekly church services and pastoral care to those who need support. The weekly Sunday services include Communion (Common Worship and Book of Common Prayer), Morning Worship and Messy Church. Attendance at regular Sunday services is about 10-20, with numbers swelled to 50 or more at festivals. The Christingle Service on Christmas Eve is particularly popular. The school is welcomed into the church to hold services at Christmas, Easter and Harvest.
We put on Carols on the Green, Christingle, a Summer Cream Tea event and have other community links like a bereavement group, All Souls Service, pancake race, pollinator group etc. which have a community support of fifty or more. The church is aware that it needs to do more to communicate the Christian faith effectively to the village. Pancake races on the green organised by the church
13 MINISTRY TEAM AND PCC
Messy Church is led by a small team including one of the church wardens, the ALM and the Team Curate. The Team Vicar regularly shares leading other services with two retired clergy and the ALM, with occasional help from members of the wider Lordsbridge Team Chapter.
The PCC meets about six times a year, to consider routine business matters and maintenance of the church. In addition, a local ministry team comprising the Team vicar and curate, the churchwardens and our authorised lay minister, meet every three weeks or so to discuss current plans for worship and church events and the pastoral needs of parishioners.
FACILITIES AND FINANCE
There is a house close to the church, opposite the village green which is currently used for the team curate. It has a pleasant, well-furnished Parish Room, partly used as an administrative and resource hub for the Lordsbridge Team, and partly a meeting venue. It can take twenty or more people around tables and in easy chairs. The kitchen area is well supplied with mugs, plates, cutlery and kettles and is a comfortable place for meetings, both business and church groups. The congregation usually meets there for coffee and Inside the Parish Room chat after services.
The church building needs maintenance; immediate, medium-term and strategic. The church community is open to thinking through how the building can become a much better social space.
The operational expenditure for 2019 was around £18K, £600 below income, including paying our ministry share in full. Income from giving is about £13K per annum. We have £19K in reserves.
OUR HOPES FOR THE FUTURE
The church community here is small and needs development. Points of potential growth include:
1. Messy Church, which is growing a small network of families. 2. The C of E Primary School where links have started opening up recently. 3. Joint community projects such as ‘Coton pollinators’ developing the churchyard for insects. 4. We were considering some village/church discussion events this summer before the Coronavirus lockdown. 5. Eddington, where links could be established, and some visitors to the church are coming from here. Locally, we hope to draw more people into contact with the church, through special events and services and better communicating what we are doing to the whole village. We need to open contacts with more people under 60 and young families and to encourage them to take an active part in services and in the running of the church. We need to share our faith and worship more effectively and with fewer cultural barriers for the young and those outside the Christian faith. We need a vicar who will leads us in this, thoughtfully, faithfully and with social openness.
14 THE CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION, HARLTON
CHURCH LIFE A CHURCH NEAR YOU
The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Harlton is a serenely beautiful medieval Church, providing a tranquil, meditative place to worship. Its dedicated congregation are passionate to keep the Church as a place to celebrate Christian worship, and to share its unique character with other members of the village and wider community.
Life at Harlton Church is lively, given its small band of parishioners, who work well together and bring their unique gifts, including love and time, in the following ways: Organ scholars in the gallery • Maximising use of a magnificent three-manual pipe organ by maintaining an independently funded Harlton Organ Scholarship Trust, enabling young organ scholars to learn to play through Trust-funded tuition. They play at Sunday services, and at concerts organised during the year • Looking after the church and churchyard to maintain an historical and spiritual asset to the Diocese and village • Conveying love and warmth to all who come to worship, including numerous wedding couples • Offering home-made biscuits and treats on coffee morning every 2nd Sunday after Morning Prayer. A new servery installed in the church will enable more refreshments to be offered at events and following services • Opening and closing the church so that others can access it for quiet meditation, private prayer and visits during the day
Our normal Sunday congregations number between 15 and 20, with higher attendance on special occasions. The services follow a middle-of-the-road tradition.
We hold an annual All Souls service, for those who have been bereaved, which attracts some 40 people from Harlton and parishes in the area.
THE MINISTRY TEAM, THE PCC AND FINANCE
Harlton is fortunate to have a Licensed Lay Minister who lives in the village, who assists in meeting the pastoral demands of the parish. The small but dedicated PCC, led by two churchwardens, oversees many aspects of the church and brings a wide range of experience and expertise that facilitates the smooth running of the church.
Parishioners at Harlton are confident in their faith and mission. We value the serenity and history of the church that makes it a special place to worship. We actively created a Development Action Plan to ensure the continuation of such worship involving more people in the future.
15 Our annual expenditure is around £25K, and in 2019 there was a significant surplus of income. Currently regular giving amounts to £11K per annum; our reserves are well over £100K. We were recently able to cover repair to church structure at a significant cost.
CHURCH AND VILLAGE HARLTON VILLAGE WEBSITE
Harlton is a small, rural parish surrounded by farmland, but situated only six miles from Cambridge. Its population of about 300 is roughly comprised of 70 aged under 19 years; 130 working-age adults; and 100 seniors aged 65+. The village is served by an endowed primary school at Haslingfield and a Village College at Comberton.
The interaction between church and village is strong, often hosting events that benefit both. The church’s events committee actively organises a host of events to which village residents are invited. These include:
• Chai and Chats (monthly gatherings) as a way to ease loneliness among many village and community members • Pop-up Nativity followed by carol singing in the Hare & Hounds, the village pub • Illustrated talks to bring village members and others together for fellowship and listen to resident experts on a range of topics • Events tied to Easter, Mothering Sunday, Harvest, Carol Service, Pets’ Service, country walks, musical concerts – and other activities that build on parishioners’ passions, professional endeavours and creative pursuits • Food Bank collection Weddings are regarded as an important part of the church’s outreach and the village has a lovely wedding reception venue a short walk away from the Church. Therefore, couples often choose Harlton church (beautiful as well as convenient) for their wedding service. Couples who do not live within the parish are required to attend services on a regular basis before the wedding, forming a welcome addition to the congregation. Several wedding couples remain in contact and have brought their children to be baptised. A wedding in Harlton church
OUR VISION FOR THE CHURCH AND ITS VICAR
Our church is strongly conscious of its mission to serve the people of the village and beyond. The challenge for the new vicar is to assist the PCC in attracting others to church life in Harlton in sustainable ways, including those from the next generation.
We will continue to look at alternative forms of worship which may attract new worshippers, whilst still meeting the needs of the existing congregation. We look to encourage and support the participation of helpers and church members in all aspects of church and village life and aim to extend our reputation for excellence in church music among the young and old. We look forward to working with a new vicar who has a strong imagination, a can-do attitude, an understanding and appreciation for rural church life, warmth and friendliness, and a respect for traditional forms of Anglican worship.
16 ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH, HASLINGFIELD
Welcome to All Saints’ Church. We are delighted that God has guided you to our door in response to our team vicar vacancy. Our church family work very hard together to create a truly welcoming atmosphere. All Saints’ Church Haslingfield is a grade 1 listed historic building standing in the centre of the village. It was consecrated in 1352 but has been a site of worship since earlier times. It stands open every day during daylight hours providing a calm, contemplative space for visitors and local people.
HASLINGFIELD VILLAGE www.haslingfieldvillage.co.uk
Haslingfield is situated halfway between the city of Cambridge and the Hertfordshire town of Royston, which both have direct rail links to London. The distance takes about 15 mins travel by car. There is a regular weekday bus service, but no evening or Sunday bus service. The village has a thriving population of approximately 700 households, and a primary school of approximately 180 pupils drawn from Haslingfield and the nearest village of Harlton. It is Ofsted rated ‘Good’ and is in the catchment area for Comberton Village College, which is Ofsted rated ‘Outstanding.’ www.haslingfield.cambs.sch.uk Haslingfield is a popular village for families with young children and supports its own pre-school group. There is also a warden scheme for the elderly in the village. The population is a mix of people of all ages. Many are self-employed or work in the nearby science parks, in Addenbrookes Hospital, in commerce or in education. The village supports over thirty different clubs and societies. There is a modern village hall and a modern Methodist Church which, between them, provide all the hire space for clubs and events. There is a general store with Post Office, a delicatessen, a small café and a pub. The village has a well-used recreation ground and children’s playground. The three tennis courts are run by Haslingfield Lawn Tennis Club. A public meadow in the centre of the village is a meeting place for dogwalkers, and the children’s playground is a very successful meeting place for parents and their children. A Connections Youth Bus comes to the village one day a week to serve the teenage population. The village has a reputation for being friendly and family orientated and this is reflected in its popularity within the housing market. Being in the catchment area for Comberton Village College, and highly-rated schools in Cambridge, is a driving factor.
CHURCH LIFE www.allsaintschurchhaslingfield.org
Our ministry is led by our Team Vicar, living in the detached four bedroom modern vicarage next to the church. Currently, the vicar calls on the assistance of a retired Canon, a Licensed Lay Minister and an ordained priest who all live in the village and assist on a voluntary basis. One of our congregation is currently training at Ridley Hall as a Licensed Lay Minister with responsibility for children and families. All Saints’ Church worships each Sunday morning and each Tuesday morning. Our Sunday services at this time consist of two Communion services, one All Age service and one Morning Worship service each month. We offer Morning Prayer on Tuesdays. Our normal Sunday congregation averages 41 adults and 11 children.
17 On the 5th Sunday of any month we join with the Lordsbridge Group for a team service held in one of the 11 churches within the team. There is a good relationship with the village school. The whole school and parents fill the church to overflowing for school services at Harvest, Easter and Christmas. Our Christingle service attracts a congregation of 350 people. The support from our church family is intergenerational. There is a team of volunteers preparing services and maintaining the church building, and the younger families are very active in pioneering work. Members of the congregation assist the leaders of the Children’s Church groups and the All Age services. There are three Children’s Church groups called Little Saints, Super Saints and Café Saintz which cover children aged 3 years to secondary age. Café Saintz, for the oldest group, meets in the village café and is given exclusive use of it one evening a month. There is a creche area inside the main body of the church for babies and toddlers. The church has a popular men’s group which meets Members of Little Saints regularly for a meal together. Two house groups meet regularly for bible study and prayer, and outreach groups are well attended at Lent and Advent. Creative social events are very successful and have great potential for outreach activities. There are good ecumenical links to build on.
We are in a good financial position with reserves of £140K (substantially earmarked for building restoration). Our operational expenditure in 2019 was £33K, £1500 below income, including our parish share of £22.5K. We recently joined the Parish Giving Scheme. One of our greatest challenges is restoration of a large historic building; to reimagine a building which will serve the community in worship and in village life into the future. Our fabric committee is ably led at this time by a retired structural engineer, and we are looking for a vicar who will show interest and support in moving our beautiful and historic church Walkers outside the church building forward.
OUR VISION FOR THE CHURCH AND ITS VICAR
Our church is seeking an incumbent who will minister to the needs and spiritual wellbeing of all our parishioners, who will embrace village life living with us here in Haslingfield, and who can communicate the Good News of Christ Jesus to all members of the congregation, as well as inspire the new generation of worshippers who will sustain our village church. We also want to continue and continue the healthy relationship with our village school and maintain our good ecumenical links Whoever joins us can be assured of the support of a hardworking and dedicated team.
18 5. A VISION FOR THE LORDSBRIDGE TEAM OF CHURCHES
The vision for the Lordsbridge Team was first articulated in this form by the Team Rector in early 2017. It takes the principles and values (section 1) as its foundation and brings together many conversations about context and calling in the light of experience, some of which are still underway. It is deliberately expressed as a narrative and as such identifies a direction of travel in which each parish and each worshipping community can find its place, and where there is also space for new things to emerge. Because, at Team level this is primarily about trajectory and emergence rather than a ‘master plan’ with a fixed end point, the vision is deliberately imprecise about timing, though its horizon is more likely a few years than a few decades.
This is the story of an imagined future for this 9 by 5 mile area west of Cambridge with its villages, hamlets, arable farms, schools, business parks, shops, and meeting places. With recent and continuing edge of village development the 11 villages range in size from 250 to 3500 and are still growing. The Lordsbridge Team is now a supportive network of, say, 22 worshipping communities.
TRADITIONAL FORMS OF CHURCH
Eleven of these worshipping communities are based in the ancient parish churches. Each knows itself to be a community of Jesus’ disciples in that place, varying in size from a half a dozen or so, to 50 or more. Some - the smallest - see their calling as prayer and faithful practice, believing in the promise that where two or three are gathered together God is with them. Others, larger and more diverse, see their calling as hospitality, explorer friendliness and growth. All are Christ-centred and, in the phrase used by Ely2025, they ‘nurture a confident people of God’. Each of the parish church communities is well embedded in its village context, its own mission field. In the words of Ely2025, they are ‘generous and visible’. With cafes, holiday food schemes, involvement in parish councils, events for the seasons, and good quality rites of passage, they are happy to work with others for the common good in that place. In each Eucharist in Hardwick village there are people who say, ‘I am glad that there are Christians living here. It makes this a better place.’ But diversity across the Team is welcomed and each village church is confident in its own sense of calling. Each has found its own points of growth and has a fair idea what it is good at and the gifts God has given it for now. This is mission as kingdom building.
NEW CONGREGATIONS AND FRESH EXPRESSIONS
In this imagined future, a campaign of prayer and mission has created at least one new worshipping congregation in every ancient parish, and some reach across parish boundaries. This is the Lordsbridge response to the Bishop’s call in Ely 2025 to a ‘50:50 blended economy’ of traditional and new congregations by 2025.
19 Each of these new congregations is growing Christian disciples beyond those in touch with traditional church, and each is a vital part of the Lordsbridge network. There is an ecumenical youth community, bringing together young people across the villages and in the secondary school. There are several gatherings of seniors in village halls, for thoughtful conversation, company and prayers. There is a group of young adults who meet in a local café on a Saturday morning and who support each other in following a daily pattern of life in between their get togethers. There is a weekly gathering of under 5s and their carers for a simple Bible story, action song and ‘Tuesday Mornings at St Mary’s’ for under 5s and carers prayer activity. There is a group of people from various villages who suffer from mental illness and who find traditional church difficult to access - they meet in a home for prayer, meditation and Dwelling in the Word. In a couple of local primary schools there are communities of parents, grandparents and children who gather on a weekday afternoon for Messy Church. And somewhat unpredictably as to where they will be is a gathering of people who meet outdoors each month to explore meeting God in worship and prayer in the natural world. In all of these communities, there are people who are coming back to church, people who are being baptised or confirmed as Christians for the first time, and people who are not sure what they believe but connect what is going on. Lay leadership and lay involvement are vital in providing the energy and inspiration for this diversity.
OUR NETWORK
For each of these worshipping and journeying communities, the Lordsbridge Team of Churches is a supportive network of encouragement, resourcing and accountability. Our corporate prayer life is deep and strong and varied. ‘Sacred Space’ now has a long pedigree in providing an oasis for contemplative prayer. An exuberant, contemporary worship gathering provides a place for more energetic praise. There is a simple ‘rule of life’ for people to opt into for personal discipleship and prayer. More traditionally, morning prayer takes place somewhere in the Team’s area every morning of the week. ‘Thy Kingdom ‘Sacred Space’ contemplative worship in Dry Drayton church Come’ has developed beyond the prayer pilgrimage in different ways in different villages. A ‘faith in homes’ blog is supporting the spirituality of families. The Everyday Faith project is helping people think about how to be a Christian in their workplace or wider community. Most of our churches have become eco-congregations and we are grappling with a faithful response to the climate emergency. The School of Theology, both live and as a podcast, is equipping those who want to love God ‘with their minds’.
20 Each church community has developed a small group of mainly lay people, who have been chosen and trained to share leadership as a local team. Self-supporting and retired ordained ministers are involved too. Each congregation has an identifiable lead minister but this is not always the stipended ordained clergy. The role of an incumbent in the Team has evolved to be both more ‘episcopal’ (oversight, envisioning, equipping) and more ‘diaconal’ (managing good working processes and facilitating teamworking) as the ‘presbyteral’ ministry of word and sacrament as well as local pastoral ministry is shared with lay and ordained focal ministers.
The core staff team now includes a wider variety of skills and roles, a mix of paid and voluntary and with different types of funding. But leadership of the Lordsbridge Team as a whole is still shared, with good working relationships and trust between colleagues for whom working collegially is natural and integral.
MEETING CHALLENGES TOGETHER
Yet the Team, like the church as a whole, faces challenges – we have needed the courage to face up to the hard questions of an ageing membership, changing local population, new approaches to clergy deployment and financial difficulties. Some of our communities had to change shape, some had to reach out in different ways to different groups of people, and some had to find again the mission-edge of what they already do. And there are still questions to be answered: how can our buildings be more blessing than burden? How can multi-parish working be life-giving not treadmill? How does diversity enrich not threaten our friendship and our collective experience of God? How do we offer the riches of faith to the spiritually open without being institutional? How do we engage with the ethical and political issues of our day? How do we support the faith of children and young people, or the elderly, or the mentally ill, across small communities? How do we, collectively, incarnate the love of God in this particular time and place? These are things that we are, wherever possible, already addressing together.
COMING BACK TO THE PRESENT DAY
In refining and realising this vision together, we are learning much and need courage to keep going as we address some of the more difficult challenges. We are having some interesting and some hard conversations. We are working on character and calling. We are changing culture. We are engaging with our contemporary context, and all the more so as nation and church emerges from COVID-19. The signs are that we will need to be more nimble, more online, more local, and more ready to engage with those who have been asking big spiritual questions. We are convinced that both continuity and innovation are necessary, as are both faithfulness and creativity. And together we are both telling ‘things from of old, things our ancestors told us’ and ‘singing a new song’ for our time, all in the name of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
21
6. THE NEW TEAM VICAR’S ROLE
THE NEW TEAM VICAR WILL:
• be a member of the Lordsbridge ‘Core Team’ as an incumbent and be the ‘Lead Minister’ (locally referred to as Vicar) for four Lordsbridge parishes and their church communities – Barton, Coton, Harlton and Haslingfield
• share leadership of the Lordsbridge Team with the Team Rector and other members of the Core Team, that is to offer and receive mutual support and accountability, to be generous with resources and skills, and to share communication and decision-making.
• develop mission and ministry in the four parishes, following the C of E’s ‘mixed economy model’ (known as the ‘blended economy’ in Ely diocese), including: o developing the mission and ministry of the teams of lay people and associate clergy o growing a number of Fresh Expressions of Church/new congregations o developing and sustaining church involvement in the three village schools o overseeing the creative renovation of one or more of the church buildings o addressing specific challenges of finance and governance (with the Core Team)
• support mission and ministry in the ‘mixed economy model’ across the Lordsbridge Team as a whole, alongside the other members of the Core Team
• work with ecumenical partners in the four parishes and across the area on joint projects such as study groups, youth work and mission
• take on specific Lordsbridge Team-wide responsibilities, in consultation with the Team Rector and other members of the Core Team and taking into account the appointee’s specific interests and experience. This might include pioneer coaching, developing youthwork or developing online resources after our lockdown experience.
Community-made Remembrance banner
22 7. THE PERSON WE ARE LOOKING FOR
In addition to the prayer life, preaching & teaching, pastoral and communication skills that are essential for any vicar, we feel that there are some things that are distinctive to this post.
So we are looking for someone who will bring their gifts to bless and change us, and be blessed and changed in return and…
… WHO IS COMMITTED TO – • team working and shared leadership (even when it needs effort)
• village life and rural ministry, and who loves working with small communities
• working missionally in and through both ‘inherited’ church and Fresh Expressions of Church
• thinking strategically about structures and governance
… WHO WILL BRING – • the skills to develop lay leadership and involvement, to work collegially and to delegate well so that mixed lay-ordained teams to flourish
• the energy to juggle multiple tasks, across communities, whilst staying organized and calm, and retaining a sense of humour
• the courage to make wise and prayerful decisions about the priorities for now
• a good understanding of the importance of context and the value of contextualising, particularly as the context changes in a post-pandemic world
• a love of variety and the flexibility needed to work with many different people and situations
• creativity and imagination, and a willingness to innovate, alongside an appreciation of the riches of a range of different traditions
• the ability to reflect theologically on both current practice and new ideas
• experience of working relationally and growing community, inside and outside the church
• a desire to grow faith and deepen spirituality
… WHO MIGHT BRING – • experience of pioneering ministry
• experience of effective social media use for discipleship and/or mission
23 8. THE VICARAGE
Haslingfield vicarage is a spacious and secluded home next door to the church and an easy walk from the village primary school and local shops and café. Cambridge is nearby, accessible by bus, and there is an active village community. www.haslingfieldvillage.co.uk
The house has a large gravel driveway and garden on all sides, including lawns and mature trees. It has 5 bedrooms, bathroom, study, downstairs toilet, spacious dual-aspect living room, utility room, and a large open-plan kitchen with further living area (containing wood-burning stove) and French doors opening onto a small patio. The central heating is oil fired and there is an adjoining garage.
Study
Main living room
The front of the house, from the front garden, showing gravel driveway from the right. The study is to the right of the front door, the living room to the left.
24