Application Pack
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APPLICATION PACK Priest in Charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St Augustine’s Whitchurch CONTENTS Message from Bishop Viv Page 4 Area Dean’s Letter Page 5 Introduction Page 6 PARISH PROFILE Christ Church Hengrove Page 8 PARISH PROFILE St Augustines Whitchurch Page 15 The Vicarage Page 22 Local Amenities Page 23 Person Specification Page 24 Role Description Page 25 The Diocese of Bristol Page 29 Priest-in-charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St Augustine’s Whitchurch Augustine’s Priest-in-charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St Diocesan Office, First Floor, Hillside House, 1500 Parkway North, Stoke Gifford, Bristol BS34 8YU Page0117 906 3 0100 | www.bristol.anglican.org The Bristol Diocesan Board of Finance Limited | Reg. in England: Charity 248502, Company 156243 FROM THE BISHOP April 2021 Thank you for your interest in the role of Priest-in-Charge of Christ Church Hengrove and St Augustine’s Whitchurch. The two benefices have great potential for local growth in their working together and are looking to make the next steps in mission to their communities. Over the last year and through the pandemic, both benefices have been led by final year curates and have benefitted from their enthusiasm, dedication and commitment. The resilience of church members through the pandemic has been most encouraging pointing to hope for the future. The benefices belong to the Bristol South Deanery and this marks the first incumbent appointment in this deanery for several years. My colleagues, the Archdeacon and Area Dean, and I will accompany you on this journey. For the right person, relying on God’s grace, this role will be immensely rewarding. The Diocese is at an exciting time, using a national grant to develop a new strategy for the next few years. We are planning in confidence and hope for the post-Covid church and are working through Transforming Church Together (www.bristol.anglican.org/transformingchurch). We will be seeking Christ’s leading so we can be a better church for everyone. The appointee will be part of these conversations as soon as they arrive in post. Thank you for taking the time to consider this opportunity. If this is a role that energises you we would very much like to hear from you and look forward to receiving your application. If you would like an informal discussion about the role, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the Area Dean, Becky Waring. Please submit your application on the diocesan application form and ensure you have also read our Applicant Guidance Notes. www.bristol.anglican.org/creatingconnections. Yours in Christ, Rt Revd Vivienne Faull Bishop of Bristol Page 4 AREA DEAN’S LETTER Bristol South Deanery is a great place to work, with a Chapter who are collegiate and supportive. It has its challenges, most of the parishes fall into the top third of the deprivation index, however the people who live in this Deanery are good, hard working people who value community and relationships. This is an exciting opportunity to work with us in the worship and the missional life of Christ Church Hengrove and St Augustine’s Whitchurch. Both parishes are positive about mission opportunities, and are aspirational about their futures. We are seeking a team player, and enabler, who would welcome encouraging two faithful Church Families to be all that they can be. We in turn would encourage the unique gifts that a minister would bring, being guided, but not constrained by what has gone before. The churches have a similar ecclesiology, and they have expressed enthusiasm at being linked together in mission and ministry. They also have their distinct gifts and call to their communities, and we look forward to encouraging the discernment of what could flourish in these two Church Families working together, sharing resources and outreach opportunities, and what is the unique and gifted nature Priest-in-charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St Augustine’s Whitchurch Augustine’s Priest-in-charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St of their separate identities. Both parishes have huge potential, they each have a relatively small electoral roll, but they have a desire to grow, recognising they need the leadership to enable vision and to equip them to respond to the opportunities that exist. As well as significant amount of new housing, both parishes have the potential for schools work. This is an exciting post, with church members who are ready to explore who they are called to be as they emerge from the pandemic, in communities where there is life and growth. With every blessing Becky Waring Area Dean, Bristol South Page 5 INTRODUCTION This new role serving the benefices of Christ Church Hengrove and St Augustine’s Whitchurch comes at a pivotal point in their mission to their parishes. The priorities align well and they are stronger together. CHRIST CHURCH HENGROVE Welcome to Christ Church, Hengrove, a friendly Church family actively seeking to serve our Lord and the Community of Hengrove. ‘Knowing Jesus and making his love known’. ‘As we contemplate a new future joining in common goals and fellowship we are excited to form a joint vision which will help us work together in a close Christian community and as neighbours and friends.‘ ST AUGUSTINE’S WHITCHURCH ‘We are happy to share a minister between our churches, whilst remaining separate parishes and accepting each other’s culture. We look forward to, and will be supportive of working patterns that this new arrangement involves.’ As a church we aim to Priest-in-charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St Augustine’s Whitchurch Augustine’s Priest-in-charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St Love God with all our hearts, and our neighbours as ourselves. Share with others the gifts so freely given to us by God. Meet to worship God and create a church that is welcoming and accessible to all. Between the two parishes we have three Licensed Lay Ministers and three Churchwardens. Both church families are expecting a large number of new houses to be built in the two parishes. Each has a school right next door to the church. SERVICE PATTERN (PRE-PANDEMIC) Sunday of the month Christ Church Hengrove St A’s Whitchurch 10am Holy Communion, 9am Kids Fun Church 1st followed by Prayer Ministry 10.30am Morning Praise 2nd 10am All Age Worship 10.30am Holy Communion 3rd 10am Holy Communion 10.30am Lay Led Morning Praise 4th 10am Morning Worship 10.30am Holy Communion Alternating Family Communion, Alternating Holy Communion, 5th Page 6 and Morning Worship and informal worship Benefice of Christ Church Hengrove BENEFICE OF CHRIST CHURCH HENGROVE Diocese of Bristol | 1:10,000 Digital map from Dotted Eyes. Reproduced by permission of Benefice of St Augustine Whitchurch Ordnance Survey on behalf of HMSO. © Crown copyright and database right 2021. All rights BENEFICE OF ST AUGUSTINE WHITCHURCH reserved. Ordnance Survey licence number 100014383. Priest-in-charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St Augustine’s Whitchurch Augustine’s Priest-in-charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St Page 7 CHRIST CHURCH HENGROVE www.christchurchhengrove.org.uk and on Facebook OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE As we contemplate a new future joining in common goals and fellowship with St Augustine’s we are excited to form a joint vision which will help us work together in a close Christian community and as neighbours and friends. Before Covid and in an interregnum, we were tired and needed help to find our focus and enthusiasm. We have noticed a greater interest in community and volunteers and we would like to work out how we can ‘ harness that interest for the greater good of our community and to spread God’s word in Hengrove. Covid has changed people’s outlook, there appears to be a greater interest in personal spiritual welfare and we want to be the place that people look to when searching. We went into Covid satisfying the needs of regular attenders at Church and worked hard to maintain that fellowship in 2020. We have seen new friends come to church, online and when we held services, and a few Priest-in-charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St Augustine’s Whitchurch Augustine’s Priest-in-charge at Christ Church Hengrove and St worshippers have returned after being away for some years. This is a blessing. We have become aware of various community needs where we might be able to facilitate assistance in terms of meeting place, for example a dementia group and one supporting carers, but we do not have the skills to start up a group from scratch. We do however have a meeting place, we can open the church, pray and offer spiritual support and in this way serve our community and be there for them. We would like to be able to be known as a family church, we do have at least 6 young families who regularly (though not necessarily weekly) attended church pre covid, but we are perceived as an aging congregation and it is fair to say that in the main the work of the church is done by those older members. We would like to change the perception and contribution and as we have a growing population in our parish, we want to show we are open for business. Taking advantage of links with uniformed organisations and building on the relationship with our local schools. Page 8 Churches all over the UK have had an opportunity during lockdown to think about how they do church, and we are no exception, the vision for the future we may have had in mind in 2019 is very different to where we are today.