St John the Evangelist , Fareham

Parish Profile St John the Evangelist Church, Fareham Pictures Figure 1 Church nave...... 6 Parish Profile, April , 2014 Figure 2 Fareham Creek ...... 7 Contents Figure 3 Parish boundary map ...... 8 1. About us ...... 3 Figure 4 Great Giveaway in hall ...... 12 Figure 5 Church prayer area and entrance hall...... 15 2. Church life ...... 4 Figure 6 Vicarage...... 16 3. Where are we going? ...... 5 Figure 7 Church hall...... 16 4. The person we would like to lead us: ...... 6 Figure 8 South window...... 16 Figure 9 Site layout...... 17 5. Local amenities...... 7 6. The parish...... 8 7. Prayer and worship ...... 9 8. Numbers...... 10 For current information on what is happening at St John’s, please visit: http://www.stjohnsfareham.org.uk/ 9. Ministry to children and families ...... 11 10. Community outreach ...... 12 11. Mission and social justice...... 13 12. Leadership...... 14 13. Finances ...... 15 14. History...... 16 15. Church buildings...... 17

2 1. About us

We are a lively friendly community at St John’s, with an evangelical and open to change and growth.

We are a welcoming and caring church which embraces everyone and encourages people to grow in faith. There is a strong fellowship within the church supported by the ten housegroups that meet weekly or bi- weekly for prayer, Bible Study and discussion.

We consider ourselves to be ‘evangelical lite’ – very serious about the Bible with a focus on what it means to us, but light on formality. We have an informal style of worship and don’t feel bound by tradition.

There is a generous spirit within the church and a ‘can do’ attitude. We are prepared to try new things but happy to change them if they don’t work!

We are active in the community and welcome people from different backgrounds and traditions. We offer loving acceptance to everyone, whatever their history, and recognise and appreciate different points of view.

We believe God is at work through history and the Holy Spirit is active in every aspect of our life. As a member of the church said recently – “Coming here makes me feel better. If I don’t come, I don’t feel complete.”

We play a full part in the life of the Fareham Deanery and the Diocese of Portsmouth. We work with the other Anglican and non-Anglican churches in the area sharing ministry and activities. The church is under the patronage of CPAS and a member of the Evangelical Alliance.

3 2. Church life groups in the church including music appreciation, painting, crafts and slimming. St John’s is a very active church family who have fellowship together and support each other.

We arrange many social activities during the year. Recently they have included shared lunches, barbeques, Harvest supper and barn dance, bowls evening, curry and quiz night and a dinner at a nearby hotel. Food plays an important role in our life together!

An important part of our outreach to young adults and families is a thriving network for people in their 20’s and 30’s, focussed on building relationships in a non-churchy setting.

We have a pastoral care team that coordinates home communions, home visiting, bereavement visiting and the provision of meals for church members in need. Three members of the church are volunteer members of the chaplaincy team at Queen Alexandra hospital in Portsmouth, and in addition a number of other people make hospital visits. We have a pastoral care network, based around the housegroups, which covers all the members of the church.

We care about the wellbeing of our clergy and the pressures that they are under. We would want them to ensure that they take their day off, full allocation of holiday and annual retreat(s).

About every eighteen months, we have a weekend away in a hotel in Bournemouth with other churches in Fareham. We have people who go to Spring Harvest, Greenbelt, Spiritual Health Weekends and Pilgrimages.

We have a cricket team which plays against local Christian teams with mixed results but great enjoyment! There are also a number of active

4 3. Where are we going?

We believe that our church has been richly blessed over the years with faithful worshippers who respond to God’s call for action. With the inclusion of Messy Church, our congregation has doubled in size over the last twelve years and we are looking forward to further growth.

As a church we are keen to expand, develop existing initiatives and explore new opportunities to bring God’s Word to the wider community. We look to an inspiring leader to encourage, equip and guide us as we continue on the path that the Lord has marked out for us.

The key areas for development that we see ahead of us now are:

 To expand and develop our current outreach work to young families living in and around the parish, and to promote new opportunities for outreach in the parish. Chaplaincy Ministry  To further grow our ministry to the significant number of young Our minister will have a new role to lead and develop a chaplaincy families that have recently joined the church. ministry to secondary and tertiary establishments in the Deanery. This is  To inspire and enable members of the congregation to develop expected to take about one-third of their time. This is seen as having their leadership potential in all aspects of church life and to three stages:- nurture discipleship.  To deepen the spiritual life of the church, exploring new and 1. To work with Fareham College, which is in the parish, to establish innovative styles of worship (including the use of new a chaplaincy and create a good relationship with the young adults. technologies), and developing worship patterns that will appeal to 2. To explore the possibility of a chaplaincy at Fareham Academy, the congregation and wider community. where we already have strong links and which is also in our parish. 3. To build on these models and experience to assist other parishes with secondary schools in their area in setting up their own chaplaincy teams.

5 4. The person we would like to lead us: Here is what church members said about the person we need to lead us:

We believe that our next vicar needs to be: Ecumenically Have real  Prayerful and Evangelical. minded world  An energetic and visionary leader. experience On a journey  Welcoming and outward looking, taking every opportunity to with us reach the local community. Should seek  An effective communicator to people of all ages especially with spiritual children and young adults for the new chaplaincy role. refreshment  An experienced leader of formal and informal worship with A mover and a traditional and contemporary songs and comfortable with the use shaker! of technology. A generator  An imaginative preacher and teacher of the Bible. Young people of ideas  Someone who encourages the development of a leadership team and family through collaborative working and who is well organised. orientated Mission  Committed to growing men’s and women’s ministry in leadership minded roles.  Someone who encourages the development of people’s gifts and A people Empowerer talents enabling the church to grow spiritually and numerically. person not controller  Warm, compassionate and approachable with good pastoral skills. A team  A person blessed with a sense of humour, who has the ability to player relax and understands the necessity of taking time off for sufficient recreation. A leader with Has time to confidence listen

Good teacher Creative Figure 1 Church nave and challenger

6 5. Local amenities

St John’s is on the west side of Fareham, a historic market town situated Fareham Health Centre is in the centre of Fareham. The nearest major hospital is a 20-minute drive away. The local crematorium is at on the coast between Southampton and Portsmouth. Portchester which is 3 miles away. There is a convenience store and take-away a 5-minute walk away from the church and vicarage. The parish includes three small shopping areas Buses to Fareham centre and Gosport stop outside the church and Fareham Railway Station is 10 minutes walk away. Southampton Airport is (one of which has recently been remodelled). 30 minutes drive away. In the centre of Fareham is a shopping precinct which includes major Fareham is at the top of Fareham Creek which flows down into retail stores, supermarkets, places to eat, the Ashcroft Arts Centre, a cinema, a weekly market, a museum and many specialist shops. This is a Portsmouth Harbour. Water sport activities are available in many 15-minute walk away. locations nearby.

Other major supermarkets, DIY stores and leisure facilities are a 5-10 minute drive away.

Figure 2 Fareham Creek

7 6. The parish

The parish has a population of about 10,000 people in a mixture of owner-occupier houses, bungalows and low rise flats. There are also a number of sheltered accommodation units (warden controlled) and social housing (both local authority and housing association) and pockets of significant urban deprivation.

Three County primary schools (Wallisdean Infants, Wallisdean Junior, and Redlands Primary), a Roman Catholic primary school (St Jude’s), a secondary school (Fareham Academy) and a tertiary college (Fareham College) are all within the parish.

There is a children’s centre and also a specialist centre for children with cerebral palsy; the parish also has links with Ranvilles Infants and Junior schools, technically in the neighbouring parish of Holy Trinity with St. Columba but ministered to by us with their blessing.

The recreation ground and town football stadium are also nearby. There Figure 3 Parish boundary map is some light industry and a working men’s club but no major industrial units. The parish is on the edge of a large Royal Navy shore-based Within the parish there are Roman Catholic and Baptist churches, and a establishment (H.M.S. Collingwood). Free Church chapel. The ecumenical scene in Fareham is very strong, encompassing the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, United St John’s is in the Fareham Deanery in the Diocese of Portsmouth. There Reformed, Lutheran, Baptist and Community churches. Ministers of the are four churches in the town of Fareham: St Peter and various denominations meet regularly, and Christians Together in St Paul, Holy Trinity, St Columba and St John’s. Fareham is active in mission and service. We encourage church members St Peter and St Paul is the original parish church in the town and has a to join in ecumenical activities. daughter church at St Francis, Funtley. They maintain the catholic tradition of the Church of England and are a member of Forward in Faith.

The churches of Holy Trinity and St Columba are a Team Parish based in the centre and north west areas of the town, with central churchmanship. 8 7. Prayer and worship musicians of various abilities and ages and draws from traditional and contemporary worship songs. Prayer is a key part of our church activity. Using the church prayer diary, church members have the opportunity to pray regularly for everyone in There is also a small gathering of worshippers for a Wednesday morning the church, groups inside and outside the church, and mission work. communion service that takes place in the church lounge. There is an active email and text prayer chain for the daily needs of the On the first Sunday of each month at 10:15am the church holds an church members and their friends and family. Prayer also forms a key additional service in the church hall - Messy Church. This service attracts part of our housegroup meetings. over 40 families from around the parish. Attendance is usually between We have two services on Sunday morning (9am and 10:30am) that are 100 and 150. Messy Church is predominantly organised by a team from linked by a time of coffee at 10am aimed at ensuring that the two the congregation, with support from the clergy during the time of worship. congregations feel part of the same community. The church has recently enhanced its worship facilities with the addition Both services arose in September 2012 from a period of reflection concerning the service pattern. While the 9am service is considered to of TV screens, a new sound desk and SongPro™ software. We use a have established itself, the 10:30am service is still seen as “a work in booklet for the 9am and midweek communion services; otherwise all progress”. Both services are led by clergy and lay ministers (Readers) with liturgy, hymns and songs are projected onto the screens. additional support (reading, prayer, communion assistants) provided by the congregation.

The 9am service is a liturgy-led formal communion service with approximately 60 worshippers. This service tends to appeal (but not exclusively) to the more traditional members of the church. It is topped and tailed with a hymn and/or modern song usually played on a digital piano/keyboard and occasionally the organ.

The 10:30am service is more experimental in its worship with 75 adults and up to 20 children attending. It mixes talks, discussions and multimedia with extended times of singing, prayer and monthly communion. We currently have a number of young families attending this service; as a result it can be noisy but we feel that it is important to encourage everyone to feel welcome. The music is provided by a group of

9 8. Numbers

The church attendance figures in the table reflect the positive effect of 2013 2012 2011 2010 Electoral Roll 158* 156 154 153 the change in service pattern in September 2012. The previous decline in Of which resident 85* 91 87 84 attendance had been reversed during the first half of 2013 although we in the parish are seeing a small decline since our vicar left. Church 133 adults 111 adults 115 adults 125 adults attendance 13 children 9 children 9 children 16 children Messy Church started at St John’s in October 2010. Messy Church 64 adults 71 adults 57 adults - 52 children 59 children 42 children Baptisms 1 6 9 7 Thanksgivings 1 2 6 2 Weddings 5 5 2 0 Funerals in 2 6 9 7 Church †† Funerals at 22 17 19 26 Crematorium †

* New Electoral Roll in April 2013 † Some funerals are taken by lay ministers.

10 services in the church. This year has seen members of the congregation 9. Ministry to children and families continue that relationship by using the ‘Open the Book’ material to bring Bible stories to life. We see the new chaplaincy role creating new links Work with children and families is a key part of the ministry of St John’s. with the older children and young adults in the area. We react positively to social changes and look for fresh and exciting ways to bring the Christian story to children and young people and their The youth work receives money from the William Price Charitable Trust, parents. which supports the Christian education of the under-25s in Fareham. The vicar of St John’s is an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees. During the 10:30am service, children (age 2½ -11) of visitors and church families attend J-Club where they do a variety of activities including art and craft, singing songs, listening to Bible stories and so on. Children too young for J-Club have a ‘Tot Spot’ at the side of the Nave and ‘Wiggly Worship’ which takes place in the church lounge on the 3rd Sunday during the sermon/talk time.

Our older children attend CYFA on Sunday evenings.

We have a long-standing commitment to a Christian sailing holiday for teenagers at Easter called ‘Bitternes Afloat’. This is a week-long adventure style sailing holiday, the main purpose of which is to promote the Christian faith and to nurture young Christians in a challenging environment – the Norfolk Broads. Several members of the congregation are also leaders.

Boys Brigade, a uniformed organisation for boys aged 5 years and over, meets on Friday evenings in the church hall.

Youth Club for children in school years 6 to 8 meets on Monday evenings in the church hall.

We have developed very strong links with four local primary schools, with clergy and other leaders from the church being invited to take fortnightly assemblies, and the schools holding their Harvest, Christmas and leaving

11 10. Community outreach

We believe that it is important for St John’s to be outward-focused and attract people of all ages.

In addition to the schools work, ‘Messy Church’ has put us in touch with many families, of whom most have become regular members and a few are beginning to join in other areas of church life.

We have a weekly mid-week coffee morning that is frequented mainly by older people and some young families.

We have run ‘ Explored’, ‘Alpha’ courses and summer schools when there has been a demand.

We have regular social events which are open to non-church members, and our hall is used by church groups (Junior Church, Youth Club and Boys Brigade), non-church groups including Keep Fit, Blood Donation, dancing and groups for the elderly. Details can be found on the web:- http://www.stjohnsfareham.org.uk/church-hall-calendar/ .

We held a very successful celebration in June 2013 of 50 years since the church was built. Church groups and most of the hirers of the hall put on Figure 4 Great Giveaway in hall exhibitions and demonstrations.

At Pentecost 2013, we held our second ‘Great Giveaway’, when congregation members donated items that were then given away to the local community.

12 11. Mission and social justice In addition, in 2014 we will be supporting Christian mission both at home and overseas through our links with:- The community of St John’s takes an active part in God’s mission in the world, on a local, national and international scale. Our members are  Bitternes Afloat passionately committed to a variety of causes, and we support them in  Church Pastoral Aid Society that through our prayers, through our corporate giving, by running events  Christian Youth Enterprises and by raising awareness.  Hope for Latvia  London City Mission Among the local causes which we regularly support is the Fareham and  Military Ministries International Gosport Basics Bank for which we collect supplies throughout the year,  Mission to Seafarers particularly at Harvest and Easter.  Operation Mobilisation We have personal links with missionaries in Brazil and Kosovo, and with  Time for Marriage an Anglican parish in Ghana. For a number of years the Church has also The church operates several well-supported reuse and recycling schemes supported the Jeel Al Amal Home for Boys in Bethany on the West Bank. including stamps, coins, spectacles, plastic milk bottle tops, aluminium We express our commitment to a more just world through our promotion foil, mobile phones, ink cartridges and second-hand Christian books. of Tear Fund and One World Week. With our ecumenical partners across These encourage our members to protect the environment by making Fareham, we are active in the work of Christian Aid through fundraising good use of waste products, while raising money for the church and other and campaigning. St John’s is a Fairtrade church and members of the good causes. church were a driving force in Fareham becoming a Fairtrade borough; we The church also encourages members who support other charities. In hold a Fairtrade stall on one Sunday every month. 2014, we will be promoting World Development Movement, Fairtrade, Operation Mobilization, Bible Society, New Generation Music & Mission, Open Doors, Tools for Self Reliance, United Christian Broadcasters, One World Week, Boys’ Brigade, Crisis and Naomi House, a local children’s hospice.

13 12. Leadership The church office is open from 9am to 1pm Monday to Friday and 1:30pm to 4pm Tuesday and Wednesday and is staffed by a full-time There is an excellent atmosphere of co-operation, support and fellowship administrator. He deals with all routine church administration, including amongst the members of the leadership team. the weekly notice sheet, administration of SongPro™, special orders of service and much more! He is also a J-Club leader as well as being the During the vacancy, the church is being run by a Local Leadership Team Child Protection and Vulnerable Adults Officer. which would normally be headed by the minister but currently consists of the Church Wardens and other church members nominated by them. St John’s is a strong church with many people prepared to volunteer, as This follows a similar Local Leadership Team pattern established across long as they are well led. the Deanery. We are expecting our new vicar to lead us in developing our worship, lead The PCC and Standing Committee each meet about six times a year on us to grow the church and lead the chaplaincy work in the Deanery. alternate months and there are a number of sub-committees. The PCC currently has 17 members.

There is a monthly staff meeting consisting of the clergy, the six lay ministers (Readers) and Wardens. There is a wardens’ meeting of vicar, wardens and deputies that meets once a month.

The parish has been considered a training parish for many years. In 2013, as well as a full time vicar, we had two curates and one ordinand in training. We wish for this role to continue as we develop leaders to serve in this and neighbouring parishes.

The previous vicar left in September 2013 having been with us for 12 years. One curate also left in September for another parish in the Deanery, and has recently been named with his wife, as joint priests-in- charge of that church. The remaining curate left for a post in New Zealand in April 2014, so this is a time of big change for the church! We are using this time to prepare for our next minister and to plan for growth.

14 13. Finances Summary of 2011-2013 Accounts

2013 2012 2011 The church is in a healthy financial position and our members are very £ £ £ generous. We pay our Parish Share in full each year. In 2011, we Receipts borrowed £40k from the Circus Church Charity Fund administered by Regular giving 80,201.82 79,723.63 78,012.75 CPAS to do some maintenance work on the church tower and other Other voluntary receipts 19,679.71 10,904.58 862.15 improvements. (The Circus Church Charity Fund was used to build the Church activities 6,295.03 5,009.58 3,161.21 Hall Scout hut and 7a receipts 23,012.30 22,815.31 19,063.45 church and provides investment income to the church.) We are paying Bookstall receipts 300.92 235.36 213.98 this loan back over 10 years. The building work should be completed in Prices Charity 2,530.00 3,425.00 3,250.00 2014. Special projects 2,251.76 1,562.50 55,776.52 Total Receipts 134,271.54 123,675.96 160,340.06 We normally give away at least 10% of our gross income each year. However, due to expected financial pressure in 2012, we gave away 10% Payments Church activities 47,877.74 39,433.73 42,380.95 of our net income (i.e. minus parish share). A special gift day resulted in Parish Share 43,186.08 43,859.04 40,020.96 giving which more than exceeded the shortfall that we had expected. In Hall Scout hut and 7a costs 12,782.87 19,307.42 20,207.24 2013, we again gave away 10% of our gross income. Bookstall costs 370.91 60.90 174.04 Prices Charity Disbursement 2,543.49 3,695.95 3,818.40 Special projects 1,121.95 3,438.86 38408.35 107,883.04 109,795.90 145,009.94

Balance at year end: 89,424.48 63,035.98 49,155.92

15 Figure 5 Church prayer area and entrance hall 14. History

In the 1950s, we met in the church hall and the present church building was built in 1963. However, the story of our church really began over 200 years ago in Portsmouth with the creation of a new church utilizing the buildings of ‘Hengler’s Grand Cirque Variété’ in Portsea (Portsmouth). The Circus Church (as it became known) stood for 100 years. Following the closure of the church in 1949 the site was sold and the money used to buy land for a new church in Fareham.

In 1956 work began on building St John’s (taking the name of the original Portsea church). The site was further developed in 1963 with the building of the new church and the original church was then used as a hall for the Figure 6 Vicarage church and community.

Figure 8 South window

16 Figure 7 Church hall 15. Church buildings hall at the rear and small meeting rooms. The Hall has central heating and is double glazed. St John's Church is in the centre of a housing estate, at the junction of Redlands Lane and There is a ‘Scout Hut’ at the rear of the hall used for storage and a ‘Guide St Michael’s Grove. There are six buildings Hut’ used by Brownie and Guide Companies. on the site: the church, the hall, the vicarage Vicarage (3A) and Curate’s house '7A'. There is no The vicarage is next to the church hall; it was built in the 1950s and is churchyard. being refurbished. It has a large kitchen, a large lounge/diner with Figure 9 Site layout The Church partition, a study/reception room, a hall with downstairs toilet, 4 bedrooms and a bathroom. It has gas central heating and is fitted with The main church was built in 1963 in an open modern style. The interior has a simple wooden table altar and a polished wooden floor, and is fitted double glazing. There is a garage adjacent to the vicarage and a garden to mainly with pews with the addition of a number of modern wooden the rear of the property. padded chairs. The font is an upturned ship's bell set in a triangular The Curate’s house - '7A' framework reflecting the triangular style of the east end of the church. On the other side of the church hall from the church is a modern 1960's 3- The nave is fitted with an audio/visual control desk and there are repeater bedroomed house which is available to the Curate and their family. When screens for both the service leader and the congregation. There is an we do not have a curate in post, this house is rented out. induction loop to assist those with hearing aids and the service can be relayed to the church lounge. A pipe organ is installed in the church but is Faculties and improvements rarely used as music is provided by a music group; there is a good digital Faculties have been sought and work completed for maintenance to the piano/keyboard. The back of the nave under the balcony is a coffee area church tower/steeple, improvements to the audio visual facilities and the and is fitted with padded chairs and tables. This facility is popular installation of a CCTV system. Recent improvements to the church hall between services and at the weekly coffee morning, and is also used for have been to the stage and the kitchen. many meetings. There is a vestry, toilets including one for the disabled, and a church office. Hot-air central heating is provided by an oil-fired Quinquennial inspection boiler. The last Quinquennial was held in September 2013 and identified a number of items which we have budgeted to fix over the next couple of The Hall years. The church hall, built in 1955, is across the car park from the church. It comprises a large main hall, with a stage, a kitchen, toilet facilities, a small

17 Diocese of Diocese of St John the Evangelist Church, Fareham

April, 2014