2020 Annual Report

LOVE JESUS | BUILD COMMUNITY | TRANSFORM LIVES ST JOHN’S HAMPTON WICK ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST DECEMBER 2020

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Full name: St John the Baptist, Hampton Wick Diocese: Diocese of Episcopal Area: Kensington Area Archdeaconry: Middlesex Archdeaconry : Hampton Deanery Location: Church Grove, Hampton Wick, KT1 4AL Website: www.stjohnshamptonwick.org Church Office: 020 8977 7733 / [email protected]

OBJECTIVES & ACTIVITIES

Our Vision is to LOVE JESUS, BUILD COMMUNITY, TRANSFORM LIVES. Everything we do is centred on this vision.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

St John’s was reopened in 2010 as a church plant from Holy Trinity Brompton and St Stephen’s Twickenham by the Bishops of London and Kensington, in consultation with the then Vicar, The Rev’d David Lund, the Hampton Deanery and the Kensington Area Council. The legal and organisational umbrella for this ministry was the charity known as The Mission Community of St John’s Kingston Bridge. On the 1st May 2017 a new Parish was established within the structures of the Church of England, by redividing the Parish between St Mark’s Teddington and St John’s Hampton Wick. This enables us to serve our local community better and support our vision within the new Parish boundaries. The new Parish is called St John the Baptist, Hampton Wick and assets, certain liabilities and employees were transferred legally on 1st January 2019 to the new Parish from The Mission Community of St John’s Kingston Bridge.

The church is managed by the and Parochial Church Council (PCC), under the authority of the of Middlesex and the Bishop of Kensington.

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL & TRUSTEES

Parochial Church Council (PCC): Rev Jerry Field (Vicar) Rev Jon Kissell (Minister) Rev Anna Evans () Steven Bryan (Churchwarden) Andi Sisodia (Churchwarden) Daniel Bates (Treasurer) Robin Bell Ruth Blizzard (from October 2020) Susan Catcheside Nisha George (from October 2020) Rosemary Hobley (until October 2020) Maggie Murphy (until October 2020) Kit Powney (until October 2020) Graham Simpson Shakti Sisodia Nick Stevens (until October 2020) Caroline Oldham Garth Watkins CLERGY & ORDINANDS

Rev Jerry Field (Vicar) Rev Jon Kissell (Minister) Rev Anna Evans (Curate) Lewis Dean (Ordinand) (until July 2020) Tom Simpson (Ordinand)

ADMINISTRATION & STAFF

Penny Miller (Operations Director/ Safeguarding Officer) Philippa Watterson (PA to Rev Jerry Field / Courses Manager/ PCC Secretary) James Hellings (Worship Pastor) Clare Hogan (Student Pastor) Jamie Blake (Youth Pastor) Emma-Jane Stapleton (Youth Pastor) Kamila Stefanik (SJC Coordinator) Prabhath Sumanasekera (Operations Assistant)

CONNECT GROUP LEADERS

Dan & Sarah Bates Chris & Ruth Blizzard Rachel and Carter Brown Hannah Carter Robin Bell & Hope Caton Nisha George Simon & Caroline Groves Matt & Tineke Harris Ruth Hartley Becky Isaacs Andy & Rebecca Lynch (until Oct 2020) Marion Moore Rachel Phillips Rachel Pim Rich & Kit Powney Al & Pip Ramsay Bev Richardson Hugh & Claire Richardson Graham & Claire Simpson Tom & Kayleigh Simpson Andi & Shakti Sisodia Stuart & Juanita Walker Andy Walker-Smith Becci Wright

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

There were 515 adults and 264 children and youth registered as regular members of the church at 31st December 2020.

There were 257 people on the Electoral Roll at that date.

CHURCH WORSHIP & PRAYER

• Sunday Worship in 2020: Weekly in-person services at 9am, 11am & 6pm - from 5th January to 15th March 2020 (Average attendance: 333 adults) Weekly online (recorded) services - from 22nd March to 6th September 2020 Weekly combined (in-person and live streamed) services - from 13th September 2020 (Average attendance: 270 adults) • Occasional Services in 2020: 3 Weddings 6 Baptisms 3 Funerals (on and off-site) • Regular prayer and worship meetings (‘Furnace’) - in-person and remotely during lockdown

CONNECT GROUPS & MIDWEEK GROUPS

Connect Groups are at the heart of our community at St John’s. They are smaller groups that are run in homes by lay members, and typically meet fortnightly for fellowship, to study the Bible, pray and care for one another. Other midweek groups include Men’s, Women’s, Mums Connect and Students Connect.

Despite being in lockdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic for much of the year, groups continued to meet remotely (and in-person when rules permitted) and have been a valuable source of connection and support for their members during this time. Furthermore, new groups were started, including a Connect Group aimed at new believers.

COURSES

• The ran three times online: 33 guests & 21 volunteers • The Marriage Course ran once online: 20 couples & 2 volunteers • The Pre-Marriage Course ran once: 8 couples & 6 volunteers • RENEW: Exploring Anxiety & Depression Course ran once: 54 guests & 12 volunteers • Give Up or Grow Course ran once online: 50 guests & 10 volunteers Due to Covid-19 lockdown, the majority of courses successfully pivoted to run online in the year.

WIDER CONNECTIONS

Hampton Deanery, Kingston Churches Together, Churches Together in Teddington, HTB Network, Kingston University, Twickenham Sea Cadets, Hampton Wick Association, KCAH (Kingston Churches Action on Homelessness), Street Pastors, St John the Baptist Junior School, Hampton Wick Infant and Nursery School

MISSION PARTNERS

Tearfund, Hope Health Action, International Justice Mission (IJM), Justice & Care, Room for Work, St Peter’s West Molesey, Holy Trinity Hounslow, Fusion, Urban Action Trust, Justice Defenders, St Richards Ham, Insight, Fusion, Evangelical Alliance CHILDREN

162 registered children

SJC (St John’s Children) Core Team: Anna Events (Clergy Support) (from March 2020) Lee Herdman (Head of SJC) Kamila Stefanik (SJC Coordinator) Ilse Bredenoord Roseanna Shefford Claire Stevens

Interns: Megan Blake, Amy Blake, Emily Blake and Lucy Catcheside 54 DBS-checked volunteers

Summary Report Prepared by Kamila Stefanik

The vision for SJC is to give every child the opportunity to grow and develop their own faith. We want every child to know how loved they are by God and to choose to have a personal relationship with Him. We are currently on a four-year curriculum, through which the children continue to grow in their faith and are always keen to learn and explore more.

Our highlights of last year were 2 family services in December, the first one was the Christingle service called Living in the Light - very well attended as we saw a further 118 children and their families come through the church. The second service was the Crib service. Both services were fantastic, action packed with worship songs, craft, and Bible teaching. The children were also involved by reading Bible verses and praying.

Back in April we also ran a Children's Interactive Story Online - with almost 200 views and lots of encouraging feedback from the children and their parents.

In January we ran a family course "A Journey of faith for the whole family" to further develop faith together as a family. The course was run by Rachel Phillips and it was a great evening filled with fun, interactive and spiritual activities. Also Rachel and her son, Sam have been posting on Instagram, short film clips every Friday with ideas and resources to help our families to grow closer to God.

From January till March we ran our amazing Junior Connect Believers groups where children enjoy meeting together in a home to study Bible, pray and worship.

From March 2020 we have been providing "SJC Together" materials and plans for our families on a weekly basis.

We met in person at the Warehouse from September till December which was absolutely amazing. The children have been enjoying worshipping Jesus and reconnecting with one another. Our amazing team of interns have been preparing weekly content on our SJC youtube channel which includes our brand new family worship songs, weekly challenges, a Bible story, craft, and prayer.

We recorded 7 brand new action songs with Ezra, James, and the children leading us. We received fantastic feedback from many children and their parents and we are so pleased that those songs had such a huge impact and brought so much joy and fun into our family's households.

Our relationship with both local schools continues to grow. We continue to regularly lead online assemblies at the Hampton Wick Infant School and the Junior School where they are always pleased to see us.

We are excited to see what the next year brings! YOUTH

97 registered youth

St John’s Youth Team: Lewis Dean (Ordinand) (until July 2020) Jamie Blake (Youth Pastor) Emma-Jane Stapleton (Older Youth Pastor) 10 DBS-checked volunteers

Summary Report Prepared by Emma-Jane Stapleton

2020 got off to a great start with a massive Silent Disco Party celebration, Youth Band nights, Sixth Form Student dinner, and a Youth prayer evening. We were also so blessed to have been able to go ahead with our Youth Weekend Away in February - we spent the weekend at Dalesdown looking at the theme 'LEAD'. The wonderful Anna and Ben Evans came along as our guest speakers to help us look at God's heart for us to lead in our world today and the gifts that we have been given to do so. We also had all the usual fun and games, including lots of sports, a movie night and a Mexican themed dinner on the last day! It was only about three weeks after this that the first lockdown was announced and then everything moved online!

During the rest of the year we ran weekly Zoom calls for Younger and Older Youth, filmed Sunday services, ran socials online, and were briefly able to meet in person between restrictions. Some highlights were the Youth Online bake off, the Christmas advent calendar, our St John's Youth Jolly Careful Christmas Party, and the wider Focus Alive network events. In the Autumn term we also ran Youth Alpha for the first time which included some awesome testimonies from our young people. At the end of the year, both Jay and I were trained as Mental Health First Aiders and spent time planning and figuring out our core values as a youth ministry: All-In, Perseverance, Courage, and Honour. We finally want to take this chance to celebrate our Youth Team who have been a great support, and our Youth Boiler Room prayer team who have been faithfully covering everything youth related in prayer.

Most importantly, a massive thank you and well done to every one of our incredible young people, who have shown great resilience, patience and care for one another in what has been a really difficult year for a lot of them.

STUDENTS

St John’s Students’ Team: Tom Simpson (Ordinand) Clare Hogan (Student Pastor)

Summary Report Prepared by Clare Hogan

We've had a very different year at Students! After adapting the ministry to being online, and being unable to go to Freshers Fair, we kicked off September with a socially distant version of 'TryChurch', into which we welcomed several new students into the church family. Due to the nature of the events of this year we decided it was time to invest in restructuring our discipleship in the student ministry, and launched 'Pattern Groups' - putting each of the students into groups of 3 to dig deeper into spiritual disciplines, support each other and develop a healthy 'Rule of Life'. We have seen so much growth through this new structure, students taking on greater responsibility for their faith and engaging more deeply with scripture - to an extent that this model is now being replicated across the wider congregation. We have created our first ever 'Boiler Room' - a team of members from the congregation committed to praying for our students, something that we view as essential to our ministry. This year has also involved Clare meeting up regularly with students one-to-one for walks and Zooms (something that increased as the impact on mental health over the pandemic grew), a student group on the Alpha course and a big Zoom Christmas party to finish the year! We ended the year by giving out 300 Love Christmas boxes to bless the international students who had to stay in halls over the Christmas period. ROOM FOR WORK

Summary Report prepared by Robin Bell

The onset of the pandemic presented many obstacles for most charities, both for funding and programme delivery. However, Room for Work (RFW) grew in both areas: we delivered more courses and improved our revenue. Immediately after lockdown in March, we took the programme online with Zoom, completing three courses in the spring term. Our commissioning partner, Work Match, provided additional funding to deliver more courses. We expanded our reach into five boroughs as part of a South London Community Programme co-funded by the European Social Fund and the UK Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESF/ESFA). This allowed us to grow our team. We hired a very capable part-time Administrator. In September, we started work on a training manual and package to enable online delivery in churches and community groups. Jerry Field provided help with an introduction to the Church Revitalisation Trust (CRT). They agreed to promote RFW as part of the Love Your Neighbour project. To meet the growing need for employability support resulting from Covid we plan to make RFW available to churches in 2021. Here are some key statistics for the year: • 11 courses delivered • 172 participants registered • 154 attended regularly (six or more classes) • 48 people reported finding employment Grant funding was provided by Richmond Parish Lands Charity and ESF/ESFA. Our ongoing commission with Work Match gave us our largest source of funds in the year. We continued to grow in 2020 with ongoing support from St John’s Hampton Wick, which has provided monthly donations to Room for Work since December 2016. Many thanks for blessing Room for Work! FINANCE REPORT Prepared by Dan Bates, Treasurer

SAFEGUARDING REPORT

Prepared by Penny Miller, Safeguarding Officer

The asks that a written safeguarding report is provided to PCCs annually covering:

• Safer Recruitment • Safeguarding Training • Raising awareness and developing a safer culture

SAFER RECRUITMENT

It is our intention that that no one starts a paid or voluntary role with children, youth or adults at risk of neglect or abuse before they have been interviewed, given a role description, their DBS is through, references received, confidential declaration completed and code of conduct and volunteer agreement signed.

Responsibility: Penny Miller (St John’s Safeguarding Office/Operations Director) is responsible for HR and the recruitment process for employees, and if the role requires it, they are taken through a DBS process. For volunteers for SJC and Youth, the job is shared between the Youth Pastor, SJC Co- ordinator and Safeguarding Officer. Potential volunteers are interviewed and given a role description and then taken through the DBS process.

SAFEGUARDING TRAINING

The Church of England has produced a basic level e-learning safeguarding training tool, which we ask all volunteers and staff and PCC to do. Out of 91 volunteers currently on our DBS Register about 10 haven’t done the training but we chase fairly regularly.

RAISING AWARENESS AND DEVELOPING A SAFER CULTURE

It is important for everyone to know what to do in the case of a concern arising. A copy of our safeguarding policy is permanently affixed to the Welcome Desk. We also have posters on the toilet doors in the Warehouse and Church which show who adults and children with concerns should go to.

Awareness of safeguarding is also raised in prayer ministry training, from the point of view of what to do if someone makes a disclosure while asking for prayer.

Most safeguarding concerns are generally brought to a member of staff and they know to come to me or to Jerry so the process works well.

Jamie Klair and Claire Stevens have kindly agreed to be our Children’s Champions this year. FABRIC REPORT

Prepared by Garth Watkins

1. Church

During 2020 there were no major repairs or changes to the building and its fabric. However, with the Covid-19 lockdown and the consequences of not being able to meet in the church, we decided to live stream as much as possible once some people were allowed back into the building. This required an investment in the equipment to enable live streaming of £18,600. The total spend on capital items and maintenance was £25.3K.

2. Warehouse

The Warehouse did not require any major works. However, we did upgrade and replace two of the sound systems, in the Studio and Kings Rooms. These new sound systems cost £6,774. Other routine maintenance cost £842.

The total spend on capital items and maintenance was £7.6K. PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL 2020

Steven Bryan (Churchwarden) adds a depth of church and legal experience to our team. Steve is a Partner at law firm Paul Hastings LLP and has served on the PCC at St Stephen’s Twickenham. Steve also brings experience of ministry with Jackie Pullinger in Hong Kong. Steve is married to Ali and they were part of the original plant team to St John’s. Steve has served on the St John’s PCC since the plant. Steve and Ali have three adult children.

Andi Sisodia (Churchwarden) worked for many years at Hodder Headline publishers as a Commissioning Editor of women’s fiction, before leaving to raise her three girls. She now sits as a Magistrate for West London and volunteers as a befriender for the elderly with Age UK. She joined St John’s in 2013, where she has been involved in leading connect groups and prayer ministry among other things.

Dan Bates (Treasurer) has been a member of St Johns for the last 8 years having joined via the Alpha Course. Dan is the CEO of a start up domestic energy supplier, Rebel Energy. Dan is married to Sarah and they have 3 children.

Robin Bell is the Founder and Programme Leader at Room for Work, a charity Robin set up in partnership with St John’s. The charity delivers an employability skills course for mature people who are struggling to regain employment. Robin is a Connect Group Leader and a member of the Worship Team and the Deanery Synod. He is married to Hope Caton and they have an adult son. Robin and Hope have been active members of St John’s since it re-opened in 2011.

Ruth Blizzard (from October 2020)

Susan Catcheside joined St John’s soon after the church re-opened in 2011. Before then, she and her husband had been members of a Vineyard church for twenty years. Susan works part- time as a solicitor and has two teenage daughters.

Nisha George (from October 2020) was born, brought up and still lives in Kingston. She has a real heart for the local community, particularly children. Nisha joined St John's in 2016 and has served through mentoring one of our university students. She also teaches 4-6 year olds in SJC, serves on cafe, has been involved in preaching and co-leads a new Connect Group. She has been working in Sales and Marketing roles across household brands and the charity sector.

Roz Hobley (until October 2020) works as Media & Communications Manager for the charity Malaria No More. She and her husband Marcus joined St Johns in 2014 from HTB where Roz ran a Pastorate for three years. She and Marcus have two young daughters.

Jamie Klair joined the PCC in 2019. Having studied theology for many years, he now works in Christian fundraising. He is married to Zoe and they have a daughter.

Maggie Murphy (until October 2020) joined St John’s Hampton Wick in 2017. She loves serving with St John’s Children (SJC) and has run a Connect Group. Maggie works as a fundraiser in a local charity and, before that, worked as a community nurse.

Kit Powney (until October 2020) joined St John's in 2017 and works as a digital campaigner in the charity sector. She can often be found exploring the outdoors. Kit is married to Rich and they have young twins.

Graham Simpson joined St John’s in 2012. Graham is a Chartered Engineer working as a Nuclear Safety Inspector within the Office for Nuclear Regulation. Graham is married to Clare and they have two children.

Shakti Sisodia was born into a Hindu/Sikh family but became a Christian over 30 years ago. He is married to Andi and they have three daughters. He was a member of Kensington Temple (an Elim Pentecostal church) for over twenty-five years, working there for seven years as the Manager of the International Bible Institute of London; as Executive Assistant to the Senior Minister; and then heading up its commercial division, Dovewell Communications. He now runs his own recruitment company and brings a wealth of experience in business as well as church leadership.

Nick Stevens (until October 2020) was one of the planting team from HTB and joined with his wife Claire and their three children.

Caroline Oldham has worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) for over 15 years, mainly on conflict related issues and helping British Nationals in difficulty. She’s been posted to Rwanda and Thailand and now works on Somalia, including outreach to the Somali community across the UK. Before joining the FCO, she worked as a fundraiser for a cancer charity.

Garth Watkins adds both church and commercial experience to the PCC. Garth held senior posts in industry before retiring and served on the PCC of Holy Trinity Brompton for 25 years. He is now the lay chair of Hampton Deanery and sits on the Bishop of Kensington’s Area Council. He is a member of the Mission and Pastoral Committee of the Church Commissioners and is on the board of the Bishop of London's Mission Fund. Garth is married to Jane and they have two adult children. Garth is responsible for the maintenance of the church buildings and any renovation projects.

CLERGY & ORDINANDS:

Rev Jerry Field (Vicar) Jerry trained for church leadership at Ridley Hall, Cambridge and was part of the original planting team coming as Curate under Rev Graham Singh. Graham left to plant another church and Jerry took over as Vicar in 2013. Prior to ordination, Jerry studied at Durham University and worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat and for Holy Trinity Brompton, training chaplains to run Alpha in the prisons and armed forces. Jerry is married to Camilla and they have two children.

Rev Jon Kissell (Minister) Jon trained for church leadership at Trinity Hall, Bristol. Before Jon came to St John’s he was Minister-in-Charge of St Catherine's Church, Dublin for six years. On returning to the UK he helped lead and establish a church plant in West London, and then became the Team Vicar at St George’s Tolworth. Jon has a heart to train and equip the church in the ministry of Jesus. Jon is married to Kathryn and they have two children.

Anna Evans (Curate) Before ordination training at St Mellitus Theological College, Anna served as a Community Pastor in Sunbury for several years, working to bring practical love, care and support to those most in need in the community. She then went on to serve at St Paul’s, Hounslow West during training, working in an area of deprivation. Anna has a heart for mission and loves to see lives changed and transformed by Jesus. She is passionate about helping others find their potential in God and discover the amazing purpose he has for their lives. Anna is married to Ben and they have a daughter. Her big loves are music, reading, coffee and walking.

Lewis Dean (Ordinand) (left July 2020)

Tom Simpson (Ordinand) Tom is studying at St Mellitus Theological College alongside working at St John's. Tom is passionate about people experiencing the freedom and joy of a relationship with Jesus. Previously Tom worked on the BHS graduate scheme and then for Holy Trinity Brompton, growing the Social Transformation ministries. He is married to Kayleigh and they have a son.

ST JOHN’S HAMPTON WICK, CHURCH GROVE, HAMPTON WICK, KT1 4AL WWW.STJOHNSHAMPTONWICK.ORG REG CHARITY NUMBER: 1180021