The Benefice of Saint Lawrence's Church Skellingthorpe and Saint
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1 The Benefice of Saint Lawrence’s Church Skellingthorpe and Saint Peter’s Church Doddington Saint Lawrence’s Church Lower Church Road Skellingthorpe Lincoln LN6 5UZ Saint Peter’s Church Doddington Lincolnshire LN6 4RU Sharing the Good News of God’s love for all…… 2 Contents Welcome to Saint Lawrence’s and Saint Peter’s 3 About You 4 Our Mission and Vision at Saint Lawrence’s 5 Saint Lawrence’s church at worship 6 Mid-week groups at Saint Lawrence’s 7 Connecting with the community at Saint Lawrence’s 8 Finance and meetings at Saint Lawrence’s 9 Saint Lawrence’s Church Building 10 The Parish of Skellingthorpe 11 St. Lawrence’s School 12 City of Lincoln 13 The Rectory and Local Amenities 14 Strengths and Challenges 15 The Church Community at Doddington 16 And Whisby The Church Finances at Saint Peter’s 17 Saint Peter’s Church Building 18 The Parish of Doddington & Whisby 19 Supporting Mission 20 Map showing the Benefice of Skellingthorpe and Doddington 2 1 Sharing the Good News of God’s love for all…… 3 Welcome to Saint Lawrence’s and Saint Peter’s Saint Lawrence’s is a small welcoming Evangelical church which is open to the leading and gifts of the Holy Spirit. There is a charismatic feel to the praise and worship with active participation by members of the congregation who come from a wide range of Christian backgrounds (from unchurched to conservative evangelicals, Baptists, free church and Roman Catholics). Our services reflect the importance we place on informal style of worship, bible based teaching and the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives, as well as the role of liturgy in drawing us together. Saint Peter’s Doddington which serves the parish of Doddington and Whisby. This was Members are encouraged to participate in bible created from the Skellingthorpe Parish on 1 May reading, prayers and leading open times of 2002. We are part of the Skellingthorpe benefice worship. Our spiritual journey continues during and share the same Rector, but in population are the week with house groups, prayer meetings one tenth that of Skellingthorpe. As the smallest and fellowship meetings. Parish in our Deanery, it may have been a surprise to some that we not only survived but prospered as a stand-alone Parish. This has been greatly helped by our retiring Rector Richard Billinghurst, who with the help of his very able Curate Frances Clarke has taken a pragmatic approach to the needs of our Parish. This has enabled him to provide the traditional form of services expected at Saint Peter’s as well as the more evangelical approach popular at Saint Lawrence’s in Skellingthorpe. We look forward to giving a warm welcome to a new Rector becoming part of our community. Sharing the Good News of God’s love for all…… 4 About You and how we will support you We are looking and praying for a spirit filled, gifted leader, able to motivate a congregation who: will see the potential of reaching out to a combined population of around 4000 people in two beautiful rural parishes with two schools including a thriving church school; listens to God and whose life and witness is rooted in prayer, thereby developing the spiritual life and outreach of the whole church; through the worship of the church, will move people to experience God’s love and will encourage the people to serve God and one another; will be able to connect the Bible to everyday life in a modern, imaginative and creative way - with an awareness of Fresh Expressions to re-connect with the community; will be ready to listen to, and encourage, those whom he or she meets, both inside and outside the church congregation; will want to grow and build an effective ministry team and encourage all to use their skills and talents in the service of God; is a good communicator who will be comfortable both in a traditional and evangelical church; will encourage and lead a positive link between the church, staff and the young people and parents at our school. We will assist you with good lay support: Hard working Church Wardens in both parishes who help with the worship and provide excellent support managing the fabric of the buildings; Experienced leaders of home groups; Leadership of Church Prayer meetings; Facilitating a weekly coffee morning called ‘Coffee Cup’; Leading a weekly parent and toddler group called ‘Toy Box’. Sharing the Good News of God’s love for all…… 5 Our Mission and Vision at Saint Lawrence’s Parish Mission Statement As those called to be God’s people in this parish, we seek to: Firstly, to express our relationship with God in Worship, Prayer, and Christian Fellowship, seeking to know our Heavenly Father’s blessing; Secondly, to follow our Commission, to bring the Good News of God’s Love for all, through the Saving Death of His Son Jesus on the Cross, to the people we encounter in our lives.” We trust in the Spirit of God to motivate and empower the life and mission of our church, as we seek in turn to follow God’s Word in loving obedience. Sharing the Good News of God’s love for all…… 6 Saint Lawrence’s at Worship Services The Sunday service is at 10.15 am. Until recently, there was also a service at 6.15 pm, but this was attended by only a very small number of 3 – 4 people. The main morning service typically attracts 40 to 50 people, including a small number of children under 15. The age range is from toddlers to 80+ years, the majority of the congregation being 50+ years. Approximately one third of the congregation live outside of the parish. Special services are held at Harvest, Christmas and Mothering Sunday, when children from the local school and Toy Box are invited to participate and attend with parents. There are alternating Holy Communion and Morning Prayer (both Common Worship). The morning service usually lasts 75 – 90 minutes and includes a time of worship and then separate teaching for under 15’s in their own Sunday Club. We use ROOTS Resources for the weekly Lectionary, the children learning through Bible stories, craft activities and singing. At Communion, children are welcome at the communion rail and receive the bread. There are two Bible readings each week from ROOTS Resources and the Word of God is preached from those readings. We sing from Songs of Fellowship, accompanied by piano and a small music group (all volunteers). Lay people lead the opening worship at the beginning of the service, which is a time of “open praise” where the congregation are free to pray between the songs/hymns as the Holy Spirit leads. The readings and the intercessions are led by lay people. Traditionally, the clergy do not robe for Sunday services, although they do for weddings, funeral and baptisms. Usual Clergy Sunday attire is “suit and collar.” Sharing the Good News of God’s love for all…… 7 Mid-week groups at Saint Lawrence’s Prayer groups There is a church prayer meeting on the fourth Thursday of each month which consists of worship, praise and prayer open to the Holy Spirit’s leading. The informal intercessory prayer meeting every Monday evening provides an opportunity for requests from the Sunday service to be prayed for. House Groups St Lawrence’s currently has two house-groups meeting regularly for worship, prayer, Bible study and fellowship, enabling members to deepen and strengthen their spiritual lives and to pray, care for and share with each other. We believe that house-groups are an excellent additional strategic tool, which help in creating and maintaining a healthy church life. They also provide an opportunity to link newcomers easily into the life of the church. We currently meet fortnightly in the evening. We allow plenty of time for relaxed fellowship over light refreshments and this is a great time to catch up. We begin with a short time of worship and prayer around the theme of the Bible passage to be studied and this is followed by shared reading and study of the passage, section by section, with a view to application in our daily lives. We finish with a time of personal pastoral prayer. Folk rarely want to go home! Sharing the Good News of God’s love for all…… 8 Connecting with the community at Saint Lawrence’s As we seek to fulfil our mission of bringing God’s love to all, alongside our Sunday services we hold weekly coffee mornings and a mother and toddler group. Coffee Cup Drinking tea and coffee, chatting over biscuits and cakes in a friendly atmosphere is what we do at ‘Coffee Cup’. This is a weekly chance for church members, neighbours and friends to meet in the church with one another. The clergy join us from time to time. It has become a real support for some of our elderly members and we have been visited by folk from the old people’s home in the village. The children from the pre-school next door have also popped in to try out the biscuits and squash! Toybox Toybox is run by church members and child minders from the village. It is a good opportunity to share the love and grace of Jesus with all who come in. It is a weekly, popular, informal occasion for parents and carers to bring their babies and pre-schoolers. We meet in the church building, where the children have plenty of room to play safely with toys and ride-on vehicles.