Locks Heath Parish Profile.Pdf
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St John the Baptist Parish Profile A Christian community, seeking to know God and to make God known Foreword Thank you for expressing an interest in the vacancy for an incumbent at St John the Baptist Church, Locks Heath. Searching for a new vicar is an exciting opportunity for us as we are an active Christian community living within a thriving local area that offers many opportunities for mission and outreach. We have a desire to see God’s work flourish and we have grown a variety of worship, social and practical activities that aim to help make God’s love known. This ministry has evolved over the years and we are now ready for a refocusing of our energies. Members of St John’s, aged from 6 to 86, have contributed to this Parish Profile and it presents an insight into how our Christian community lives out its faith in worship, service and mission. At heart we are our mission statement, ‘A Christian community, seeking to know God and to make God known’. We are a church where the congregation appreciates traditional and contemporary liturgy and enjoys a variety of approaches to worship. We are a congregation where laity has the confidence to initiate and lead. Diversity is one of our strengths, but we are probably missing opportunities for using this diversity to enhance the spiritual lives of all. There is a strong sense of church community and a vibrant life that is supported by many creative and talented people who long for growth and opportunities for mission, especially amongst the elderly, families, young people and children. However, in recent years children and young people have become distanced from our Sunday worship. We are looking for a leader to join us, one who is able to minister to the breadth of interests that come together here, and one who can nurture Christian disciples and thereby inspire our vision and purpose and to challenge us as we move forward in the fulfillment of our mission. Throughout our vacancy it has been our prayer that St John’s would deepen as a place where spirituality, authentic love and Christian compassion are exhibited in ways that all are touched by the love of God. We seek to be a community living faithful, prayerful and loving lives where God becomes better known to us so we can in turn make Him known to others. Our prayers at this time are for you in your search for God’s leading. We are delighted to share our Parish Profile with you and if you feel that God is drawing you towards St John’s, we will be pleased to hear from you. 1 St John the Baptist Parish Profile Our Next Incumbent It is our hope that as you read this Parish Profile you will see that St John’s has much to offer with regards to life, mission and ministry. • The local area is thriving and offers the benefits of both town and countryside with a population open to spiritual matters. • Our congregation offers a number of experienced, supportive and willing leaders with enthusiastic volunteers keen to get involved in all areas of church life. • Our church finances are improving. The PCC are willing to explore new initiatives. • We care about each other and recognise and will support your need for a healthy work/life balance. We value the diversity in styles of worship, music and spirituality that are found at St John’s and we are grateful for the mature lay involvement that supports all that we do. We also delight in our strong sense of family and fellowship, but recognise the challenges we have before us in terms of mission and outreach. We are looking for a leader who will enable us to: • Develop faith that leads to deeper discipleship and Christian service • Expand our spiritual vision for mission • Further develop our pattern of worship so that we can better serve the needs of the congregation and the parish. • Grow our work with children, young people and families so that they have a greater presence within our church, bringing all generations together within the love of God. • Maintain our unity as our worship grows more diverse. We are looking for a spiritual leader who has a heart for mission. Someone who is able to see opportunities for God to be present in the wider community and can encourage us to keep looking outwards for opportunities to develop our work with children, young people and families. A person who will be able to refresh our vision and enable us to fully become the people God wants us to be. We are not expecting any single individual to meet all of our requirements but after reflecting on the challenges that lie before us, we are hoping to embrace the future with someone who is: • Secure in their Christian faith, prayerful and able to encourage others to make the best use of their skills and talents in order to help further the church’s mission. • An excellent communicator who is able to preach challenging sermons that encourage us to live the Scriptures. • Personally engaging and confident with all generations in a range of social settings. • An open evangelical; adhering to the tradition of Scripture and church whilst engaging in contemporary application. And someone who can: • Minister to the breadth of interests that come together here, yet who is able to draw us together in vision and purpose. • Demonstrate both leadership and management skills – who knows how to establish a direction and when to delegate to others. We consider consultation and listening to be essential components of leadership. 2 St John the Baptist Parish Profile • Balance the demands of working within a busy church and parish – allocating time for their own personal spiritual refreshment alongside managing the tasks, maintaining the administration, and the pastoral needs of the community. • Develop a vision for harnessing the strengths of all our leaders so that their combined efforts are greater than the sum of their parts. • Be creative with worship and make appropriate use of audio visual technology to enhance impact and effectiveness. • Lead both traditional and informal services for all ages, encouraging both spiritual growth and Christian discipleship. The new vicar should be, approachable, energetic, supportive, open to new ideas, fun, able to relate to all ages and traditions (The thoughts of a mother and her teenage daughter) Locks Heath Our parish, St John the Baptist, Locks Heath is in the suburban Western Wards of the Borough of Fareham, located between Portsmouth and Southampton and close to the popular sailing area based around Warsash on the River Hamble. Communications to the area are good with a local train station at Swanwick and commuter lines to London from Fareham and Southampton. Southampton has an international airport and ferries run to the Isle of Wight. Ferries to the continent also leave from Portsmouth. The M27 affords easy communication along the south coast and connection with main routes to the Midlands and London. In addition to the attractions of the Solent, the area is close to both the South Downs and New Forest National Parks. The parish is in a compact area with a population of 11,700 (2011). It contains a district shopping centre, two pubs, an area of retail superstores and a small number of local shops. Up until the 1970s, market gardening was the major industry growing soft-fruits, especially strawberries, for the London market. An infrastructure of roads and railways grew within the area in order to transport goods but generally the area remained predominantly rural until the housing boom of the 1970s and 1980s. This led to considerable growth of the population and a change in the socio-economic dynamics of the area. With the decline of the agricultural industry, land was turned over to developers to support the need for housing in the burgeoning communities of Southampton, Fareham and Portsmouth. The majority of housing is owner occupied. As there are few opportunities for employment within the immediate area, people tend to work in southern Hampshire or commute to London. There are two primary schools in the parish, St John the Baptist Church of England (Controlled) Primary School and Park Gate Primary School. We have good relationships with the other schools in the area, both primary and secondary. 3 St John the Baptist Parish Profile The Story of St John’s St John’s was built in the 1890s, and was a Mission Church of St Peter’s, Titchfield, in the neighbouring village. The rapidly increasing population in the 1970s and 80s led to a comparable growth within the church. As we have grown in numbers we have searched for ways of supporting the breadth of Christian traditions that come together at St John’s. The concept of family has been strengthened by a commitment to pastoral care, teaching and our work with children and young people. Our spiritual lives have been enhanced with creative liturgies, music and opportunities to worship using different traditions and forms. Over the years, lay leadership has been a key feature of our development to the extent that all aspects of our work, spiritually, pastorally, socially and practically are either led or supported by lay members. There is within the congregation the capacity and confidence to appreciate new opportunities, initiate ideas and execute plans. In 2006 the worship life of St John’s added a fresh strand with the introduction of ‘The Happening’, a café style informal service with worship and discussion that runs in the church hall at the same time as the Eucharistic service in church.