Team Rector of the Hitchin and St Paul's Walden with Preston Team
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Team Rector of the Hitchin and St Paul’s Walden with Preston Team, with special responsibility for St Mary’s, Hitchin Opening Letter Hitchin could be said to be a microcosm of life in the south of person who will enable this to continue, as well as encouraging an England today. It’s a place of wealth and opportunity. It’s a ever-deepening relationship with God, which will equip all to share place of challenge and deprivation. It is multicultural, with an the good news of God. increasingly mobile population, yet the town has a sharp sense of As we publish this profile we are praying for God’s wisdom as we its history. To minister in Hitchin is to engage in mission in a place discern the right person to serve as the next Team Rector. As part which reflects much of our country’s current cultural context. of your discernment of God’s call, please feel free to contact either Could you be the person to help us engage with all that’s of us should you require more details or an informal conversation happening here? about the post. The role of Team Rector for the Hitchin and St Paul’s Walden with Yours in Christ Preston Team is an exciting opportunity providing the challenge of bringing seven churches together in new and creative ways. You would be leading and working alongside experienced clergy, Readers, Church Wardens and laity who are fully committed to The Rt Revd Dr Michael Beasley supporting you and working alongside you, as are the deanery Bishop of Hertford and diocese, in offering wider support. The majority of your Opening Letter ministry would be focused on St Mary’s Church, Hitchin, which is the largest church in the Team, and the civic church of Hitchin. Revd Canon Dr Jane Mainwaring We are looking for an experienced priest who is a strong team Rural Dean and Acting Team Rector player and a collaborative leader. During the vacancy the Team and St Mary’s have developed new ways of working, allowing friendships and fellowship to grow. We are looking for the right Contents The Team Holy Saviour 26 Reader and Clergy Team 5 The Hub Church 27 How the Team works 6 St Martin’s 28 Strengths, Challenges and our Vision 7 All Saints’ 29 St Mary’s Hitchin as a Town 30 History 9 Villages in the Benefice 31 Civic Role and Church House 10 Deanery and Diocese 32 Worship 11 Role Description 33 Contents Congregational Involvement 13 Personal Specification 34 Staff 15 Musical Life 16 Children, Young People and Families 17 Preservation Trust and Bells 18 Finance 19 Mission Action Plan 20 Strengths and Challenges 21 Our Vision 22 The Vicarage 23 Other churches in the Team St Mark’s 24 St Faith’s 25 The Team The Hub Church The Team The Team All Saints St Mary’s Holy Saviour St Mark’s St Martin’s St Faith’s Parish of St Paul’s Walden Parish of Hitchin with Preston Benefice of Hitchin & St Paul’s Walden with Preston 4 Reader and Clergy Team Licensed Ministers in the Team who are looking forward to working with you. Revd Canon Dr Jane Mainwaring Mrs Jean Boothby Mr Mike Kershaw Team Vicar of St Mark’s and Reader based at Holy Saviour Reader in Training based at Rural Dean Holy Saviour Revd Ian Todd Mrs Belinda Copson Revd Dan Drew Team Vicar of Holy Saviour Reader based at St Mary’s Hub Church Leader The Team The Team Martha Inch Revd Melanie Crowley Mr Martin Allen Ordinand and Assistant Team Vicar of St Faith’s Reader based at Holy Saviour Hub Church Leader Mrs Dawn Jenkins Revd Fizz Gibbs Reader based at St Paul’s Mr Alec Dickinson Associate Priest at St Mary’s Walden with Preston Reader based at Preston Currently vacant Mr John Richardson Mr Andrew Parr Team Vicar of St Paul’s Walden Reader based at St Mark’s Reader based at St Mark’s with Preston 5 How the Team works The Team is a collaboration of seven different churches. This is a House for Duty Team Vicar, living in a brief explanation of how the basics work! Whitwell. At the time of this profile being The Team consists of two parishes – written this post is vacant. The Parish of Hitchin and The Parish of St Paul’s Walden with The Hub Church is an authorised associate Preston. In addition, the Hub Church, a fresh expression of member of the Team and has a church, is an associate member of the Team. Bishop’s Mission Order. The Hub The Parish of Hitchin consists of four district churches: Holy Church runs its own finances and Saviour, St Faith’s, St Mark’s, and St Mary’s. Each district church employment of staff, but relates to and has a District Church Council/Joint Church Council which runs works closely with the Team. the day to day life of the individual church, and looks after There are two church schools within the individual finances. These councils then feed into the PCC, the Team; St Andrew’s C of E (VA) The Team The Team which is the legal body for the whole parish. Primary School and Nursery, Hitchin and Each of the District Churches is served by a Preston Primary (VC) School, Preston. stipendiary Team Vicar, and the individual The Team Vicar in whose parish or district churches have a designated area of the the school resides takes the lead on the town to care for pastorally. relationship between the church and school, including being the ex-officio foundation governor. For St Andrew’s, the Team Vicar of Holy Saviour takes the lead and for Preston Primary, the Team Vicar at St Paul’s Walden with Preston, takes the lead. The Team Rector is the legal incumbent of both parishes. The Parish of St Paul’s Walden with Preston serves four villages with the Parish Church of All Saints situated in St Paul’s Walden, and a chapel of ease, St Martin’s, located in Preston. There is one PCC, with St Martin’s also having its own committee. The Parish of St Paul’s Walden with Preston is served by 6 Strengths, Challenges and Our Vision The Team of Hitchin and St Paul’s Walden with Preston – Our vision for the Team: Where we see ourselves now and where we’d like to be. l To strengthen all that we do in our mission to share God’s love with our communities Our strengths at the moment l l We have lots of energy and goodwill to move forward To be places of encounter with God together l To be courageous communicators of our faith l We have a good range of tradition and diversity of l To grow spiritually and numerically churchmanship, providing choice which can enrich us all, from l To grow in unity, increasingly working together, sharing time traditional to Fresh Expressions and best practice l We have diversity of rural and suburban contexts l To celebrate the diversity of each church, valuing and l Each church has a strong identity, representing different understanding one another more and more The Team population demographics l To be a place where vocations are nurtured and a training l There is strong support between the team clergy, with hub for lay leaders, Readers, ordinands and curates genuine supportive friendships as well as formal meetings l To be increasingly integrated with the Deanery, Churches Our challenges at the moment Together in Hitchin, and the North Herts Inter-faith Forum l The challenge of communicating faith effectively with a diverse and ever changing population l ‘Ordinary’ members of the congregations don’t really feel part of the Team, with the Team lacking impact in the individual churches l The strong identity of each church makes for a very unconnected Team l The pull of St Mary’s, given its location and visibility in Hitchin, can be disadvantageous to the other team churches l To establish the sharing of best practice and resources between the churches, especially in the areas of communication and administration 7 St Mary’s 8 Photo: Dave Wood History St Mary’s Church is the symbol of Hitchin, its oldest building, The most recent quinquennial inspection belonging very much to the local population, not just to the report (2017) did not reveal the need for worshipping community. major urgent action. A roof alarm system The recorded history of worship on the has been installed to help protect the site by the river stretches back over large areas of lead. a millennium but may date almost to Many of the recommendations and all Roman times; well before the year of the urgent ones in the report have 792AD when Offa, King of Mercia, already been implemented. More of the degraded clunch established a Minster Church here. needs replacing in the next 5-10 years, but it is hoped that this The building we see today is a large can be largely funded by the greatly valued St Mary’s Hitchin and impressive medieval parish Preservation Trust. St Mary’s church from the 14th and 15th Centuries. Surrounded by many interesting old buildings, the area forms A much-loved landmark at the focal point an attractive setting for Hitchin’s historic town centre and is of the town, the author Simon Jenkins popular with both visitors and locals – with St Mary’s church has labelled it “the largest and jolliest receiving a 5 star rating on Trip Advisor! church in Hertfordshire”.