Parish Profile and Statement of Needs Contents

○Bishop’s & Archdeacon’s welcome 3 - 4 ○ From the Rt Revd 3 ○ From the Venerable 4 ○Our Church 5 - 13 ○ Overview 5 ○ Vision & Values 6 ○ Future Direction & Things to Celebrate 7 ○ Particular challenges 8 ○ Services 9 ○ Children, Families & youth 10 ○ Mission 11 ○ Discipleship 12 ○ Cafe, Bookshop & Conferencing 13 ○Our Buildings 14 - 17 ○ Current Church Building 14 ○ Gateway project Vision 15 ○ Gateway progress to date 16 ○ The Vicarage & Orchard Drive 17 ○Governance & Finances 18 ○What are we Looking for? 19 ○ Key attributes of our new vicar 19 ○What Next? 20 ○Appendices 21 ○ A: Our team 21 ○ B: The parish profile mapped to the 12 Goals of Guildford Diocese. 22 ○ C: A Map of the Parish 23 ○ D: Artist’s impressions of the gateway project 24 2 Contents Bishop’s and Archdeacon’s welcome

From the Rt Revd Andrew Watson,

I moved to the in early 2015, and have found it a warm and friendly place to be, with a strong cohort of gifted and passionate laity and clergy, and a growing commitment to building on the old and releasing the new, as we seek to ‘proclaim the Gospel afresh in this generation’.

In the Autumn of 2016 we launched our diocesan vision, Transforming Church, Transforming Lives, encour- aging a deeper dependence on God in prayer, a focused attention to Parish Development planning and 12 Diocesan Goals as a framework for all of our mission here in Guildford. This has been well- owned from the start, not least because around 2000 people fed into the process through a SurveyMonkey and a series of clergy meetings and deanery prayer events; and at the heart of it is a commitment to growing ‘prayerful, con- fi dent disciples in daily life’, as expressed in the fi rst and most important of the Diocesan Goals. Do check out the details at: https://www.cofeguildford.org.uk/about/transforming-Churchtransforming-lives

We recognise and celebrate the diversity of Church traditions in the diocese, and the range of contexts in which the Church is called to serve; and Transforming Church, Transforming Lives has proved remarkably adaptable, from catholic to evangelical, from the poorest communities to the richest, and from the smallest of villages to the largest of conurbations. If you share our excitement for this vision, along with the values that undergird our Diocesan goals, we would love you to apply!

+ Andrew

3 Bishop’s and Archdeacon’s welcome overview

From the Venerable Paul Davies, Archdeacon of & Acting Archdeacon of .

The post of Vicar of Christ Church Woking is one of the most exciting opportunities that the Diocese of Guild- ford has to offer. It becomes vacant on the appointment of the Revd Dr Peter Harwood as the new Director of Mission for the Diocese.

Christ Church is one of our biggest churches in the Diocese of Guildford, located in a strategic position at the heart of a very signifi cant town in Surrey. It has a big heart for Jesus and the people of Woking. Unashamed- ly charismatic evangelical in tradition, its emphasis on welcoming everyone, and seeking to build them up as prayerful, confi dent disciples in daily life is at the heart of its mission and ministry. It does this through power- ful contemporary worship, strong biblical teaching, an emphasis on the Holy Spirit, supportive fellowship and appropriate resourcing for people of all ages – with a particularly strong ministry to children and young peo- ple. Its strength as a church draws people from beyond the town of Woking and its contribution to the Chris- tian mission in Surrey is signifi cant.

That said, its challenge as it stands on the threshold of a new chapter of mission is signifi cant. The town of Woking has an approximate population of 60,000. This is set to grow exponentially in the next few years. The centre of the town feels like a large building site.

The council is expecting that in the next 15 years, at least another 5,500 homes will be built in the town cen- tre, most of them in high rise buildings like the Victoria Square development which is on track for completion in 2020. The combination of a major redevelopment of the town, the beautiful Surrey countryside on its door- step, and a superb train link to London Waterloo in 24 minutes, suggests it is hardly surprising that Woking is an increasing desirable place to live for young people.

Herein lies the challenge and opportunity for Christ Church: to make Jesus known to this community and to serve them in His name. The foundation at Christ Church is strong and God has provided the saints for its mission. They are praying and thinking big for the future. They now need a new leader. If the Spirit is stirring you to explore the possibility of this exciting opportunity, do be in touch. I will be very pleased to have confi - dential and informal conversation with you.

Blessings

Paul Davies & Acting .

4 Bishop’s and Archdeacon’s welcome overview

We are a vibrant charismatic evangelical church based in the centre of Woking on the town square. We are a community of all-ages (approximately 600), known for our contemporary worship, biblical teaching, dynamic children’s ministry and established youth ministry. We are hungry to know Jesus better, to live like Him and lead others to Him.

The town centre is experiencing dramatic development, providing real potential for mission to a new community of predominantly young adults. Our café, bookshop and conferencing businesses are well established and we plan to develop our building to be fi t for purpose into the future.

There are four distinctives about Christ Church:

Word & Spirit: We are committed to the Word and the Spirit together – wanting to give full reign to both the authority of scripture and the power of the Spirit. We believe it important to hear God’s Word explained and applied vividly to everyday life, with the Spirit bringing revelation and empowering us to follow Jesus. Our prayer and worship are open to the gifts and leading of the Spirit. The end of our services allows space to invite the Spirit to come and transform us in response to the sermon, often through prayer ministry.

Community: We are a welcoming and grace-fi lled church, a prayerful and caring community of all ages. We encourage every member to belong to a Pastorate (mid-week group of 15 to 30 people meeting fortnightly) for community, discipleship and development of giftings. These gatherings are centred on food, worship, study of the bible (often related to the sermon series) and prayer for one another in smaller sub-groups. We also encourage everyone to be in a prayer triplet.

Mission: We seek to inspire and equip every member of the church to share their faith wherever they live and work. Our evangelism is primarily through friendship and Alpha. We have a heart for social transformation which has been given particular expression through our CAP centre and Besom.

Town role: We have a 7-day presence in the town centre, with our various ministries and missional businesses. We have a very positive relationship with the Borough Council and executive. This includes leading the town Remembrance Day Service at the memorial in the square, signifi cant involvement in the Churches Together Good Friday Act of Witness and occasionally giving advice on religious matters at a civic level. We hold ‘Lark in the Square’ each year to bless those coming through the town centre. Our location provides a place for spiritual response at times of national disaster, enabling people to seek God at those times. We support interfaith dialogue across Woking especially with the Muslim community.

5 Vision & Values Future Direction

Vision

We can’t think of a better person than Jesus to be led through life by and to model our lives on. He knew how to live well - in service to His Father and empowered by the Spirit in a fallen world. He lived life to the full; He loved truly and was an awe-inspiring person to spend time with. He loved to teach and demonstrate this to His followers.

Church is the community of people who want to Walk in step with Jesus.

Values - As a community we are to be: Valued: loved into the family of God Each of us is adopted into the family of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). This family is the best family in the world, where we are accepted as we are but loved too much to leave us where we are. As his children, we want to express the family likeness of love to each other. Things to Celebrate Restored: to our original design We are all broken and fall short of the people God designed us to be. The Good News is that as we walk in step with Jesus, we are being restored into our true selves; in this life and ultimately when we are resurrected into eternal life.

Gracious: in living together As an outpost of heaven, we are committed to each other in our brokenness, being kind and forgiving as we seek to be real and authentic.

Courageous: to share the Good News Jesus equips us in a lost and broken world to step out boldly and share his invitation to follow him, that people might know the life he offers.

Sent: into the world as Jesus was We know that God is at work in the world. As Jesus looked for what his Father was doing and joined in, so he sends us in the power of his Spirit. 6 Vision & Values Future Direction

In our search for a new Vicar, we sense that God is asking us to focus on the following areas for the next stage of our journey.

○ Strengthening prayer and listening to God to underpin our life and decisions ○ Building confi dence in sharing our faith outside church ○ Building on our youth and young adults ministries in the context of town growth ○ Responding to our rapidly expanding town through developing our building to meet the needs of our community ○ Challenging, resourcing and releasing the congregation to serve both in the church and the wider community.

Things to Celebrate

○ Good at initial welcome to newcomers ○ We have a safe, attractive and spiritually enriching children’s ministry ○ Contemporary style of worship in which people encounter God ○ Raised up and released lay and ordained ministers ○ Range of different preachers and styles ○ Our building and location in a fast-growing town, and our relationship with civic authority and local churches ○ Sense of fun and laughter ○ A good synergy within the staff team ○ People who are hungry for God and his kingdom

7 Particular Challenges Services

○ Whilst many are ‘comfortable’ in their faith, there is a need for more passion and openness to a fresh working of the Spirit ○ Being intentional about building community ○ Congregation with busy lives and limited time to offer to church and wider community ○ Making our community more accessible for the unchurched ○ Growth has plateaued – relatively few of our new members are new Christians ○ 20’s representation is low compared to the demographic of our town and consequently the evening service is being reimagined ○ We recognise that there is a lack of racial and cultural diversity in leadership and governance positions ○ Continuing to grow a young people’s ministry that is relevant, attractive and transformative given contemporary youth culture

8 Particular Challenges Services

The worshipping life of Christ Church centres on three Sunday services and a midweek communion service.

Sunday morning begins with 8 o’clock communion; a small and refl ective gathering including a short homily from the lectionary and Common Worship liturgy. In 2018, this service was attended by an average of 9 adults.

Tea, coffee and pastries are served from 10am, and worship starts at 10:15am. This service is lively and family friendly, with band led worship, teaching and preaching by a variety of speakers with the option to receive prayer in response. The service offers a dynamic kids and youth programme to enable discipleship across generations. In the 2018 parish return (Oct.), on average the 10am services were attended by 184 adults and 74 youth and children.

The SixThirty is open to all but is primarily designed to suit 20s and 30s, with extended time for sung worship and specifi c teaching for this demographic. The community enjoys meeting at the pub afterwards and currently socialises spontaneously throughout the year. In 2018 the average attendance was approximately 75 adults.

In early 2018 we trialled a new congregation meeting at 6pm on a Saturday evening. This was intended to provide a space for those who are unable to attend on Sundays. Whilst there was a strong core of committed members, it was heavily resourced by the staff and therefore we have decided to pause this service in order to review at a later date.

A midweek Communion is celebrated on Tuesday at 11am by a small dedicated number of older church members, with a homily and Common Worship liturgy. This was attended by an average of 10 adults in 2018.

9 Children, Families & youth

Our children’s ministry provides a fun and safe environment for our youngest members to know and worship God in creative ways. We encourage our children to grow in the truth that God has made them and wants to be their friend forever; to listen and hear from God, and to share the joy of Christ through the gifts God has given them.

Our Sunday morning groups are facilitated by an adult volunteer base and junior leaders, with focus on prayer, worship and bible stories often with craft and games. We have around 150 children registered with the Church and, on average, 92 children attended these groups in 2018.

The Tuesday Hub Groups for years 3 - 6 provides kids with more space to receive bible teaching and space to form deep friendships. A monthly parent support group has emerged for those with children who have additional needs.

Sunbeams, our weekly toddler group, meets on a Wednesday morning attracting around 60 church and non- church families, including local Muslims.

Our Youth meets for Hubs on Tuesday evenings, Root:10 on Sunday mornings, and Sunday 5:45 before our evening service. We have approximately 60 Youth registered with the Church and have been seeing an average of 40 engage weekly. Residentials are a core part of the youth ministry with weekends away and summer festivals for all ages; we have seen several of our young people committing and recommitting their lives to Jesus. Young people have also had a wonderful time serving through New Wine, Venture Camps and ‘Lark in the Square’.

10 Children, Families & youth Mission

Lark in the Square is a 5-day community outreach event which interacts with around 5,000 people in the town square each year. Through various activities for children and adults, it enables us to show God’s love to the people of Woking who would otherwise have little engagement with Church. Throughout this week, the church hosts a Kids club, a Ladies’ Pamper Night, Men’s Curry Evening, a Seniors’ Tea and a family fi lm night as well as there being a presence in the square throughout. On Saturday there is a fun day for all ages and on Sunday we hold our morning service in the Square.

We believe that the church should be at the forefront of sharing God’s love in our local town and many of our congregation are involved in outreach projects in our community including: Besom, Street Angels and Healing on the Streets. The Christians Against Poverty (CAP) Woking centre is based at Christ Church offering a Debt Help Service and Job Club. We have fl ourishing relationships with local schools, Woking High School and Maybury Primary School, where our Children’s Pastor is a governor.

We have established links with mission work in other countries including Kenya, India, Nigeria and Malawi. These have all been through personal contacts, often with people who were members of Christ Church before being called to serve overseas. Many members have visited these projects and benefi ted hugely from the experience of understanding God’s work in a different culture. Collections are given to a different mission each month and there is a monthly prayer meeting focused on supporting these organisations.

11 Discipleship Cafe, Bookshop & Conferencing

Pastorates are communities of 15-30 Church members that meet fortnightly on Tuesdays and Thursdays in church and homes across Woking and we believe they are the best way to be part of the big family at Christ Church. We would love everyone to have the opportunity to make authentic friendships, to live life together, whilst exploring and deepening their faith in this environment.

We have offered a wide range of courses enabling us to continually grow in our own discipleship and reach the unchurched, including: Alpha, Hope in Depression, The Marriage Course, Living Free, School of Theology Tracks and a Deanery wide Growing Leaders course.

Our Men’s Ministry is gathering momentum after two well attended events; Comedy and Curry Night, and a Whisky Tasting evening. ‘Who Let the Dads Out’ meets on Saturdays once a month and gives dads and their children a safe space to play and relax. Whilst it provides a space for growing relationships and seeking advice, it has also provided the opportunity to pray with those going through diffi cult situations and to invite families to join our worshipping family on a Sunday.

Flourish, our women’s ministry, meets for breakfast once a term with a speaker and prayer ministry. It aims to build friendships and encourage women to live out their faith in everyday life whether that be at work, at home, or in the neighbourhood. It welcomes women of all ages and stages of faith. As well as encouraging women to get involved with existing ministries such as CAP and Besom, we have groups who go into the York Road Homeless project to chat, provide foot care and pampering. Flourish also hosts a ‘Create for Christmas’ craft evening and the Ladies Pamper Evening during Lark.

Church weekends away (attended by 339 in 2019) and New Wine United (with over 60 families from Christ Church this year) contribute to our whole church discipleship, providing time to relax together, seek God in prayer and worship and receive further teaching in order to continue enthusing and connecting us to the wider Church.

12 Discipleship Cafe, Bookshop & Conferencing

The aim of our Twelve Thirty Café is to glorify God and deconstruct people’s negative perceptions about church by providing a varied choice of nutritional made to order food and great customer service in a comfortable environment. It also facilitates marketing of events like Alpha. Since its refurbishment a few years ago, it has been encouraging to see the Twelve Thirty grow.

Our Origin bookshop is one of the very few Christian bookshops around. The team love the great conversations with people from all walks of life - both Christians and not and the opportunities to pray with people. We have also formed several good partnerships through which we equip other Churches and events. This fulfi ls part of our mission to be a resourcing church.

We aim for both the Twelve Thirty and Origin to run on a self-suffi cient basis (i.e. not making a profi t or loss) and broadly this is being achieved, though in previous years it has, at times, been a struggle.

Our conferencing business has signifi cantly grown over the last few years and continues to provide valuable revenue for the wider mission of the church. We aim to build relationships and encourage clients from local community groups and businesses but also are beginning to attract clients from further afi eld. Income rose 46% between 2017 and 2018 (£70,000 to £102,000) and is likely to exceed this in 2019.

13 Our Buildings

Current Church building

We have been serving the community of Woking for 125 years, and in response to the growing needs of the town and church itself, we are excited about our plans to develop the building further. The current building is a valuable asset for the church and plays an important part in defi ning the character and identity of Woking and in particular, Jubilee Square.

The building is Grade II listed and is one of only two listed structures in Woking. It sits in a prominent location at the heart of the town and provides focus for church activities, our café, bookshop, room hire and conferencing facilities. There is a huge opportunity to attract and serve the thousands of commuters and shoppers who walk past our church every week.

It feels as if the current expansion of Woking is an encouragement to also move ahead with proposals of our own. Our Gateway development proposals respect the heritage of the building and respond to its character, with contemporary architecture, which we hope will secure the future of the building for many years to come.

14 Our Buildings Our Buildings

Gateway project Vision

The project vision is to create a light and modern building equipped for the 21st century whilst at the same time retaining the beautiful architecture which is unique in the town centre. It has the following objectives:

○ To support the Church’s mission as it reaches out to the people of Woking to further God’s kingdom. ○ Opening up the building to be more accessible and visible to the public – attract and draw in passers by and communicate our contemporary approach to worship. ○ To allow the church to grow - providing much needed additional space in the form of additional multi- purpose rooms to house our growing Youth, Children’s and other ministries. ○ An improved conferencing and events offering, refurbished Café and Bookshop. ○ Refresh our ageing heating / cooling and other vital systems to create a more sustainable, comfortable and cost effective environment

15 Our Buildings Our Buildings

Gateway progress to date

The project continues to be overseen by a Gateway Project Board, who meet regularly and have made great progress over the last few years towards achieving the project vision:

○ We have worked in an integrated way with our architects and the Design Team of key consultants to complete RIBA Design Stage 2 and progress through Stage 3. ○ Our congregation was consulted on the new designs in June 2018 and we held a Public Consultation in October 2018, with feedback used to adjust the design. ○ We have consulted regularly with various stakeholders and positive feedback has been given on the designs by Heritage England, The Church Building Council, Guildford Diocesan Advisory Council and Woking Borough Council. ○ Costs relating to the full proposed building extension and refurbishment are currently estimated at around £6m and it is estimated the project will take around 15-18 months to complete. ○ We submitted our designs for planning permission with Woking Borough Council in April 2019 and are awaiting their decision. ○ In the meantime, we are turning our attention to fund raising and grant applications. Our congregation has already pledged around £2m to the development, which testifi es to our commitment to the project, and we are excited about the new possibilities it will create for the years to come. ○ Assuming we are granted planning permission soon and have suffi cient fi nances, we will then need to prepare and submit a faculty application before moving into the detailed technical design stage 4 followed by tendering for contractors to carry out the project. However, we do not intend to make any major commitments until the new incumbent is in post.

16 Our Buildings Our Buildings

The vicarage

The Vicarage is situated in a quiet close in Horsell, the village immediately to the north of the town centre, a 15 minute walk from the Church or 5 minute drive. It is a generously sized detached house, part of a development built in the 1980s.

On the ground fl oor there is a lounge, dining room, eat-in kitchen, a family study, a large offi ce and a cloakroom. The kitchen has recently been refurbished. On the fi rst fl oor there are 5 bedrooms (1 en-suite) and a family bathroom. There is also a detached double garage and off street parking for a number of cars.

The Diocese will inspect the Vicarage and carry out any necessary repairs in due time for the new Vicar. The PCC will organise redecoration of the property in liaison with the new Vicar.

Orchard Drive

The PCC owns a 1950s detached 4 bedroomed house in a leafy street not far from the Vicarage. The house is currently occupied by one of our clergy team.

17 Governance & Finances What are we looking for?

APCM 2019 Figures

The PCC, comprising 18 elected members, is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission and meets around 9 times a year.

We also have a subsidiary company, ‘Origin Books and Media Ltd’, through which the Bookshop and Cafe operate. The Directors of this company are the Vicar, Treasurer and Church Wardens.

Further detail of the PCC income and expenditure is available in the 2018 annual report

Total Income: £1,064,000 Income excludes Gateway donations of £228K

Total Expenditure: £1,055,000

All figures rounded to the nearest £1,000 18 Governance & Finances What are we looking for?

We have much to thank God for in how He has worked through Christ Church over the last 125 years. We are excited by the opportunities created by the arrival of a new Vicar, as we seek to follow God’s plans for the years ahead. Key Attributes of our new vicar We are seeking a leader who can be:

○ A strategic visionary, who is energised by the opportunity of our rapidly expanding town ○ A dynamic leader with a servant heart, able to motivate a large staff and volunteer team across multiple mission activities ○ An enabler, equipping us to be a welcoming church of passionate disciples, inspired and confident in sharing our faith with all ages and in our multicultural context ○ A challenging and stimulating preacher, who is prayerful, Spirit led and biblically based ○ Relational, resourceful and a good listener with a pastoral heart ○ Fun and creates a joyful environment

We recognise that this is a lot to ask of one person and are very open to considering Spirit-fi lled and passionate candidates who don’t yet consider that they have all of these attributes.

19 What next? Appendices

We hope that you are excited about the possibilities at Christ Church. We are praying for you as you seek to discern God’s will.

For more information about the life of the church, please visit the church website: www.ccwoking.org

Further details and an application form are available from:

Frances-Anne Cross Archdeacons’ Department, Church House Guildford, 20 Alan Turing Way, Guildford GU2 2YF

Tel: (01483) 790352 email: [email protected]

20 What next? Appendices

Appendix A: Our Team

Christ Church operates a 7-day ministry and we have a staff and leadership team in place to support this. We believe that every Christian has a calling to serve God and our staff team works with many volunteers to enable the different areas of church life to flourish:

○ Rev. Pippa Ford - Curate (Due to move on in the next 6-9 months) ○ Rev. Thea Smith – Curate (Arrived July 2019. Brief to oversee SixThirty service and build young adult community) ○ Niall Blackburn – Worship and Creative Media Pastor ○ Pete Allen – Youth Pastor ○ Zoe Ferret – Children’s Pastor ○ Hannah Roberts – Assistant Children’s Pastor (part time) ○ Phil Barlow – Ordinand ○ Jane Ashdown – Operations Director (Four days per week) ○ Mark Higginson – Finance and Buildings Manager & Licensed lay minister ○ Phil Perello – Bookshop Manager ○ Sheila Hargreave – Café Manager ○ Sarah Goddard - CAP Centre Manager (Three days per week) ○ Adam Bond – Conferencing and Events Admin (two and a half days per week) ○ Tracey Soper – Church Administrator ○ Walter Coxon and John Wythe – Church Wardens ○ Steve Roberts – PCC Secretary ○ Richard Stone – Treasurer ○ Rev. Martin Smith & Rev. Phil Simpson - Self Supporting Ministers

In addition, the Café, Bookshop, Buildings, Finance and Venue hire have a number of permanent and on call staff.

21 Appendices Appendices

Appendix B: the Parish Profile mapped to the 12 goals of Guildford Diocese ‘Transforming Church, Transforming lives’ strategy

Transformation Goal Current Future Making Disciples We have people who are Would like more to be hungry for God and his growing in their prayer life kingdom but attendance at and confi dence in their walk prayer meetings is low with God. Increasing believers Growth has plateaued. New Would like more to be members are usually already confi dent in sharing our faith established Christians with non-Christians Growing youth and children’s We have a safe, attractive Continue to grow the ministry ministry and spiritually enriching for young people that is children’s ministry and relevant, attractive and growing Youth Ministry. transformational. Developing lay leaders Raised up and released lay More lay members training leaders, many exercising their and taking spiritual leadership leadership skills in ministries roles, e.g. Pastorate Leaders Recruiting more clergy Several lay leaders have Nurture and grow our lay developed in their ministries leaders and preachers, and moved on to ordination encouraging some toward ordination Cultivating more community Many intersections with local Being intentional about community groups building community Reaching beyond borders We support several overseas Continuing to see members mission partners and also called to other mission fi elds intersect locally with multi- both locally, nationally and faith and other groups internationally Nurturing education We have connections into Providing increased local schools outside our support in schools for youth parish through our children’s counselling and mental health ministry support Encouraging generous giving We have many generous More of our congregation givers but not all our committed to generous and members are committed to sacrifi cial giving regular giving Sharing expertise As a resourcing church we We grow in our stance as a support ministry efforts in resourcing church, facilitating other churches & groups more mission in other places Communicating effectively We already use many forms Become more intentional of communications to our and widespread in our members and communities communications and reach those on the fringe Improving church buildings Our location in the middle of a Responding to our rapidly fast-growing town is fantastic, expanding town through but our building is tired developing our building to meet the needs of our community 22 Appendices Appendices

Appendix C: A map of the parish

St Mary’s Horsell St Paul’s Maybury

Christ Church Woking

St Mary of Bethany

23 Appendices

Appendix D: Artist’s Impressions of the gateway project

24