Parish Profile St Margaret’S Downham (St John’S Ramsden Heath) St Peter’S South Hanningfield St Mary’S Ramsden Bellhouse
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Parish Profile St Margaret’s Downham (St John’s Ramsden Heath) St Peter’s South Hanningfield St Mary’s Ramsden Bellhouse Contents A message from Bishop Stephen 4 The Benefice 6 The pattern of worship 7 Communications 7 Our Vision 7 About the parishes 8 Downham and Ramsden Heath 8 South Hanningfield 8 Ramsden Bellhouse 8 About the churches, their people and worship 9 St Margaret’s Downham 9 St Peter’s South Hanningfield 11 St Mary’s Ramsden Bellhouse 12 A message from the Area Dean 13 What is the Compass Churches Group? 13 A message from Bishop Stephen In the Chelmsford Diocese we believe that God is calling his church to be a transforming presence. Our vision is that the church - that is the people of God here in Essex and East London - should be a transforming presence in every one of our parishes. These are our priorities: • To inhabit the world distinctively. • To evangelise effectively. • To hold ourselves accountable to one another and to God for the stewardship of the gospel. • To re imagine the way we minister so that each ordained minister and each individual Christian discovers their part in God’s ministry and so that each church flourishes. To this end we are looking for priests who are excited by this vision of becoming a church which is itself transformed, and which is becoming a more visible and effective presence in the huge diversity of communities that make up this most exciting and energetic part of England. There are many challenges ahead of us. • We are a diocese generously subsidised by the national church. We need to become financially self-sufficient. • Leadership often seems distant. We are creating patterns of leadership that are closer to the parishes. And we are looking to develop missionary leadership at all levels of church life. Nearly half our clergy will retire in the next ten years. We need to find out how to minister with fewer stipendiary clergy and with a re-imagining of how stipendiary ministry works. We need to re-organise the way parishes relate to each other in what we are calling Mission and Ministry Units. • Some of our congregations still think ministry is what Vicars do. We have a vision of ministry where the whole people of God are involved in the whole of God’s ministry. We are also experimenting with new forms of authorised lay ministry. • Church must be a safe place. All those in ministry will be expected to undergo training that will equip them to respond well in situations associated with safeguarding. • Levels of church going are below the national average. We need to get evangelism on to the agenda and into the lifeblood of every church. We encourage and train churches to put on weekends of mission and outreach. One of our aspirations is that every benefice should have a trained lay evangelism enabler. • We are developing missionary discipleship, so that every church in the diocese is a place where Christians are formed in order to be sent out in witness and service. Despite planning for a future with fewer stipendiary clergy, we remain as committed as ever to the local church. And what is the local church, but that community of men and women gathered around Christ, and living and sharing the gospel in the networks and neighbourhoods of their lives? But we need priests to lead and to serve. We know we need to change. We can only be a transforming presence when we have allowed God to transform us. Therefore at the heart of all 4 we do is a longing for intimacy with God and a renewed life of prayer. First and foremost a priest is a minister of the word and sacrament. All ministry flows from this. But a priest shares the ministry of the bishop, therefore presbyteral ministry will increasingly be a ministry of oversight, guiding, nurturing and directing the mission of God’s church in the communities we serve. It is an exciting time to be part of God’s missionary movement for the world, and the Diocese of Chelmsford is an exciting place to serve. We have a clear vision and we are looking to appoint clergy who will share this with us. In every parish we long to see each person and each community grow in faithfulness and ministry so that together we may serve in the world and Christ may be made known. +Stephen 5 The Benefice The Benefice includes the four villages of Downham, Ramsden Heath, Ramsden Bellhouse and South Hannngfield, all situated between Chelmsford and Wickford. It is a predominantly rural area. There are limited bus services from each village to Chelmsford and Wickford both of which have fast services to London Liverpool Street station. Most people living locally rely on cars for transport. The new Rector will be responsible for three churches - St Margaret’s Downham, St Mary’s Ramsden Bellhouse and St Peter’s South Hanningfield. In addition Downham is responsible for a worship space in Ramsden Heath Village Hall, although there have been no regular services conducted there since 2010. The Benefice is in the Chelmsford South Deanery and is part of the Compass Churches Mission and Ministry Unit (MMU) covering twelve parishes. 6 The pattern of worship There is currently one service held in each of the three parish churches every Sunday except when there are five Sundays in the month when the congregations of the three churches come together for a joint act of worship. There may be an opportunity to review the pattern of services, but this will be dependent upon the resources available. Communications The Benefice publishes a monthly magazine, The Herald, which is physically distributed to about 400 homes around the Benefice and is also published online. It contains information about what is happening in the three churches as well as contributions from the wider village communities: schools, village halls, horticultural society etc. Downham church has a website which includes a calendar page for all three churches (www.downhamchurchg.org.uk). Both Downham and Ramsden Bellhouse churches have active Facebook pages. St Peter’s has a church/village website (www.southhanningfield.church) Our Vision To grow our three congregations both numerically and spiritually such that we are able to serve the communities of which we are a part as well as the wider MMU. The Challenge we face We are four villages with three worshipping communities. We are seeking • to engage with our village communities and village life • to build relationships with our two schools, the children and families • to grow our worshipping communities. If you feel God is calling you here we believe you will have some of the following qualities: • a leader in mission • an ability to communicate the good news of Christ • lead, challenge and encourage us to be a transforming presence in the service of God in evangelising effectively to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the wider community. • be comfortable leading traditional forms of worship as well as more informal family worship • have experience of ministering in a village context • the ability to engage with our schools including the taking of assemblies and serving as a school governor • the skills to help us to find ways to strengthen our links with our schools • the ability to enable us to creatively engage with young families • a willingness to engage with those seeking marriage or bringing children for baptism We offer our new priest support in ministry through • the current support of two self-supporting ministers and a lay person exploring a sense of call to lay ministry • lay people who are comfortable in taking an active part in the services, including leading Evening Prayer, reading the lessons and assisting at communion • Regular meetings of those in ministry • Benefice meetings of clergy and wardens from time to time 7 About the parishes Downham and Ramsden Heath The parish covers an area of 4.8 square miles with a population around 2,500. It is one of the least deprived parishes in England. Downham is largely rural and has no shops. What used to be a pub is now a restaurant. The Essex Wildlife Trust has a large nature reserve on the banks of Hanningfield Reservoir with the main entrance and visitor centre situated in the village. Adjacent to St Margaret’s is Downham Hall. It presently seeks a licence to conduct weddings and has facilities for receptions and conferences and has available accommodation. They often host receptions after weddings, baptisms and funerals conducted in the church. There is an excellent relationship between the church and the owners. There is an active village hall and a member of the PCC is on the management committee as church representative. Ramsden Heath has several small shops and two pubs. Members of the ministry team conduct a monthly service in The Belfry, a small care home in the village and regularly visit the Ramsden Heath Pre School. There is an independent church, The Christian Growth Centre, which is used to host many village activities. There is a strong community spirit in the village with many active clubs and societies that are well supported. Downham Church of England Voluntary Primary School is in Ramsden Heath and rated Good/ Outstanding by OFSTED. The school has expressed a strong desire to have a closer relationship with the church. South Hanningfield A rural parish covering an area 2.1 square miles, a large proportion of which forms the Hanningfield Reservoir and the Essex Wildlife Trust’s Nature Reserve, with a population of around 250.