St. Barnabas, Sutton New Town Parish Profile
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St. Barnabas, Sutton New St. BARNABAS CHURCH, SUTTON Town NEW TOWN Sutton New Town St Barnabas Church is situated in the Sutton New Town area of Sutton, a short Parish Profile stroll from the centre of town. Sutton New Town grew up in the second half of the 1800’s when there was a rapid expansion in the size of the town and several leading local residents felt that a church was urgently needed with “a clergyman to care for the moral and spiritual life of the people”. The foundation stone for the church was laid in January 1882. Today, the St. Barnabas parish is home to about 7,500 people, from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds and living in a mix of privately owned houses, rented accommodation and small blocks of flats. There is a good mix of local shops, including a pharmacy, cafes and pubs as well as many small businesses. There are several GP practices and dentists within easy reach. We have formed good links with Gracewell Care Home, the only one in the parish, and have created a new congregation there, holding services twice a month with several members joining our OUR AIM electoral roll. To find a spiritual leader who we can call our The St. Barnabas ‘Estate’ own, who is as passionate as we are in our St. Barnabas sits on a small plot which desire to energize the congregation of St. includes the church itself with a Memorial Barnabas and to make us a positive influence in Garden at the front (where we inter ashes), our neighbouring community, so that we can be two functioning halls which house a pre- a living example of Jesus’s love for his people. school every Monday to Friday during the day in term-time and regular groups in the evening, and two ‘Memorial Halls’ which THANKYOU are currently being refurbished. The Vicarage is adjacent to the church. We thank you for your interest in this post at St Barnabas church. We really look forward to We also own a plot of land in Westmead meeting you so you can find out more about us, Road which has a hall on it, the hall itself and we about you, to see if we could be a ‘fit’! being owned by the St. Barnabas Scout Group. We are currently investigating how St Barnabas Church, Sutton New Town - 1 - 6th November 2018 St. Barnabas and the scout group can make member of clergy was responsible for a the most of this facility to our mutual particular church; all the clergy were to advantage (see under ‘St. Barnabas spend equal amounts of time in each of the Bunnies’ below). three churches. We were very lucky during this time to have a succession of very good Curates and Readers. Following a review of the effectiveness of the Sutton Team Ministry in recent times, it has been decided that the Team itself would be dissolved and each of the three churches would have their own specific incumbent with dedicated pastoral responsibilities (the post that you are applying for). However, it is still proposed that the three churches maintain links as part of a ‘Group’ ministry. Worship We enjoy a traditional, ‘middle of the road’ style of worship at St Barnabas, with the leader of the service usually being robed. Currently, our only formal service is at 10.30 am on a Sunday. These are mostly Eucharistic but with an All Age Service every fourth Sunday. We also enjoy occasional Evensong services, especially for Recent history St Barnabas Day. In the year 2000, the current incumbent retired and we then went into an We have been experimenting with Interregnum for 6 years, during which time different forms of service, and have we managed to keep services going on a recently enjoyed ‘Hymns and Pimms’ on a Sunday morning with a succession of sunny Saturday afternoon. visiting clergy. Several parishioners left us during this period of uncertainty. In recent times, some of the well-loved traditional services have been celebrated For a couple of years, we were ‘adopted’ together as a team including Easter by the vicar of St. Dunstan’s church in Services (reflection services at Christchurch Cheam, which gave us a measure of during Passion week, an Easter Vigil on stability before the ‘Sutton Team Ministry’ Good Friday at St Barnabas and the Easter was created in 2006. Sunrise Service and breakfast at St Nicholas), and Advent and Carol services. The Sutton Team Ministry was comprised of the churches of St. Barnabas, St. We hold our own festival services such as Nicholas and Christchurch from the central St Barnabas Day, Harvest Festival and Sutton area. The constitution of the Team Remembrance Sunday. These are usually was set up in such a way that no one ‘Parade Services’ attended by our affiliated uniformed groups. St Barnabas Church, Sutton New Town - 2 - 6th November 2018 One of our most popular services is the We have 1 (adult) candidate for ‘make-your-own’ Christingle service usually Confirmation this year, the confirmation held at the beginning of Advent. Another service to be held at Southwark Cathedral, popular event is the Wriggly Nativity on and two members of the congregation Christmas Eve which is a well-loved have enrolled this year in the Bishops institution within the local community with Certificate. up to 200 people from all generations attending. Midnight Communion on We have operated an open baptism policy Christmas Eve also brings in many local for many years. At the moment, the only people. For many years we have not had a follow-up to baptism is a card sent on the Christmas Day service at St Barnabas first few anniversaries of the Baptism. (‘Team’ Christmas Day services being held at Christchurch and/or St Nicholas), We welcome everyone who comes into our although this year we do plan to have a church, whether for a service or other Christmas Day service at St. Barnabas. occasion. We try to greet everyone personally as they come in and engage The Congregation with them after the 10.30am service on Sundays over coffee and biscuits. This is often a time when both newcomers and the congregation appreciate the chance to meet informally with a vicar that they know. Music We have a very good and well-maintained organ, a clavinova and a grand piano. We currently rely on a self-taught unpaid volunteer to play for our regular services. When he is not available, we download the music for our service from the internet. Church Parade. Our choir has sadly dwindled to the point The average congregation is 29 (24 adults, that it was disbanded; several members of 5 children under 16) (Statistics for Mission the congregation continue to sing with Returns). The Gracewell congregation is choirs of other churches (specifically Trinity between 9 and 14. The number on the Methodist Church, Sutton) for special Electoral Roll stays around 60 There is a occasions. mix of ages, from young families to people in their 90’s. Elderly folk are picked up and We have a hand-bell group which plays at brought to church by a small group of Christmas and other special services; they volunteer drivers. have also played for the children in the Royal Marsden hospital and for the There is a Sunday Club for children, volunteers at the visitor centre at the local organized by a member of the PCC with a prison. rota of parents to help. There can be anything from 0 to 10 children in Sunday Club. St Barnabas Church, Sutton New Town - 3 - 6th November 2018 Our Financial Situation repairs. By trial and error, we arrived at The majority of the congregation donate the present arrangement and, although we regularly via ‘Planned giving’; we do not have not yet attracted the numbers that normally have a ‘collection’ during the we would like, we do have a group of service. people not connected with St Barnabas who value the welcome they receive and The accounts for the Church and for the are fairly regular in their attendance. We Church halls are kept separate; for many usually provide a simple lunch for anyone years, the church’s accounts hover in the who is there at a very competitive price to red and it is the income from the church cover costs. halls that helps us to break even. We have combined Open Saturdays with We have maintained our Parish Pledge for Christian Aid Big Brekkie and Macmillan 2019 at the same amount as for 2018 Coffee Mornings events in the past, which (£18,132) as our income continues to drop has helped us to support these causes. due to a fall in the number of regular We make sure we are open for the ‘Ride members of the congregation. We hope and Stride’ event in September, organized that this trend will start to be reversed by the Surrey Churches Trust; we have a when we have our own dedicated reputation for a warm welcome and good incumbent. Our current forecast shows refreshments (not to mention the toilets!). that this amount provides a surplus of less than £1000 to put to reserves for any We have invited various people to come future major repairs and maintenance of along to an Open Saturday to reach the all our buildings and any other local community – these include our local emergencies which might arise. pharmacist and the Community Support officers. COMMUNITY OUTREACH On Open Saturdays there is a short morning service which is open to all, Charity of the Month including anyone who is visiting.