Archdeaconry of - Deanery of

Profile for the appointment of a

Team Vicar

for

Bishop’s Hatfield Team Ministry

Bishop’s Hatfield St Michael and Lemsford St John

*****

Population - 21,700 (combined) Electoral Roll - 171 (combined)

This post will give the successful candidate:

• responsibility for two lively and active churches

• active and committed laity

• areas of growth and opportunity

• ministry in a part of the diocese with good rail and road connections to London and Cambridge

A Team Vicar is sought who will:

• have a vision of brief God’s Love for church, school and community

• support, encourage and draw out gifts of the laity

• be a person of prayer with a patient heart

• have a passion for mission and teaching

• lead the churches in spiritual and numerical growth

• help the parishes to engage with the diocesan vision, ‘Living God’s Love’ www.livinggodslove.org)

This appointment is the the Bishops Hatfield Team Ministry. A brief profile of the team is set out below together with executive summaries of the profiles of the two parishes.

The Bishops Hatfield Team Ministry

Team Profile

The team consists of five parishes and six churches centred on the town of Hatfield which was the original benefice. The Bishops Hatfield benefice was divided into three parishes at the beginning of 2013. It comprises: St Etheldreda’s in old Hatfield with St Luke’s adjacent to the town centre, St Michael’s Birchwood to the north and St John’s to the south of the town.

The two parishes of St John’s Lemsford and St Mary’s which lie respectively to the north and south of Hatfield together with the Bishops Hatfield parishes comprise a team ministry under the aegis of a Team Rector.

It is envisaged the team will evolve with the Team Rector, the Reverend Canon Richard Pyke, based at St Etheldreda’s and with responsibility also for St Luke’s church. The Reverend Julia Boothby, team vicar is based at St Mary’s North Mymms. A new team vicar to be based at St John’s Hatfield is shortly to be appointed.

This vacancy is for a team vicar for St Michael’s Birchwood and St John’s Lemsford. As a result of the consultations leading to the advertising of this vacancy it has been recommended that a self supporting minister should be sought to share in the ministry to these congregations.

The team ministry is further supported by the Reverend Susan Stilwell, and four Readers exercising ministry across the team.

Strong ecumenical links are maintained with the University, and the local Methodist minister attends the team meetings and is responsible for taking the leadership of the De Havilland Community project, an Anglican/Methodist joint initiative.

One of the future tasks for the team will be to consider how best to serve the new residential communities which have grown up on the site of the former Hatfield Airfield. It is envisaged that there will be further residential development in Hatfield generally. The draft Local Plan proposes that significant parts of that development will take place within areas adjacent to those served by St Michaels’s and St John’s Lemsford.

Hatfield is a diverse community dating back to Saxon times. It was originally focussed on the Hatfield House estate and the town grew from that. With the coming of the railways the town centre shifted to the west and grew significantly with the opening of the de Havilland aircraft factory prior to the Second World War, and even more when it was designated one of the eight ‘new towns’ to ring London after the war. In the post-war years the aerospace industry grew and became the largest employer in the area.

The closing of the British Aerospace business in the town in 1992 had a serious impact on the area. In recent years the expansion of the University and the establishment of the Hatfield Business Park along with redevelopment of the former airfield site have meant that the town has continued to grow in population and there has been a revival of commercial activity. The nature of the local community is reflected in the town centre where Polish and Chinese supermarkets sit next to Halal butchers near the Asda superstore along with the plethora of fast-food outlets that can be found in many student influenced towns. A proposal to redevelop the town centre foundered in the recent past due to the economic situation. However other, smaller scale, development has continued.

The University of is the UK’s leading business-facing university and consists of a diverse community of staff and students. The student community of over 27,200, including overseas students drawn from more than 85 countries, study on two modern campuses in Hatfield and across the globe in partner institutions and through online study. This global community represents all the major world faiths. With over 2,650 staff, it is one of the region’s largest employers and has been ranked as one of the top 100 universities under 50 years old. There are a range of student faith societies and The University’s multi-faith centre, “The Key”, sees over 1000 visitors each week during term-time serving as a focal point for the spiritual life of this diverse community.

Hatfield Root Group

A project is in course of being set up to appoint up to four pastoral assistants (under 25) to work in the team ministry and the University of Hertfordshire Chaplaincy. This will give them the opportunity to explore vocation while gaining practical parish experience, working in a multi-faith student environment and living in community. They will be part of supportive teams of clergy and lay people in parish and chaplaincy settings, playing a full part in the round of daily prayer and community involvement. They will receive day-to-day supervision from the Team Vicar at St John’s Hatfield and the University Chaplain. It is envisaged that the Root Group would primarily be based at St John’s Hatfield with opportunities to assist in the work there but opportunities could be available for working across the wider Hatfield Team also.

St Michael’s Birchwood - Summary of Profile

St Michael’s district comprises the area to the north and east of Hatfield town centre comprising the district of Birchwood, part of Hatfield Garden Village, the airfield site and an extensive rural area. The church is situated in a small, district shopping area.

Worship at St. Michael and All Angels is the Eucharist (Common Worship). Churchmanship is broadly liberal catholic. Usual Sunday attendance is about 60 adults and 10 children. The pattern of services is Sunday, 9.30 a.m. Sung Eucharist and Tuesday Eucharist at 10.00 a.m. There are also special services and Occasional Offices.

The church has an electoral roll of 117 members.

The PCC meets every other month and in addition there are Action Groups which cover: Children and Young People, Communications, Fund-raising, Mission Action Planning, Pastoral Care, Planning and Property and Social Activities.

Our Mission Action Plan priorities for the next five years are:

1. To provide opportunities for people to deepen their faith 2. To improve communication with people in the locality 3. To build on the church’s involvement with local people

Our five specific goals for the next year or more are:

1. To set up short-term, small groups for deepening people’s faith

2. To make use of email, other electronic communication (website, Twitter) and notice- boards for communication 3. To encourage church members in their contact with schools and care homes 4. To provide a practical way of helping those in economic need (e.g. Foodbank) 5. To maintain and improve the church premises

There is a variety of children’s and social activities.

St John’s Lemsford - Summary of Profile

St John’s Church is situated in Lemsford Village. The parish borders along the A1(M) and comprises the village of Lemsford, the hamlet of Cromer Hyde and the residential area of Stanborough.

The church is adjacent to St John’s Church of school with which we have close ties.

From a small semi-rural parish of about 500 people, the congregation is best described as gathered predominantly from the surrounding towns of Welwyn Garden City (60%), Hatfield, and the new estate in Hatfield Garden Village.

Sunday services comprise a weekly 8.a.m. Communion Service, and monthly Morning Prayer, Communion or Family Service at 11.00. Attendance varies between 60 to 100 depending on the services.

During the week there is a Wednesday morning service.

We offer a range of other special services, regular meetings and services and occasional offices.

In churchmanship we are neither at the high end nor even liberal catholic. We have always considered our ethos to be very much middle-of-the-road. Additional services are detailed in the full profile.

Our electoral roll stands at 121 with about 23% living within the parish.

MAP. Our vision is to be people who worship God enthusiastically; who are growing in faith and numbers by being rooted in the teaching of the Bible and Christian attitudes; who reflect the love of Jesus in our lives and our service; and who are guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit in all we do.

The PCC is supported by the Standing and Finance Committees, while other groups take a lead on ministry, pastoral care, buildings, and social activities.

Community Outreach. We reach out to our community in a variety of ways, some are quite small tasks others carry extensive workload.