Parish Profile for: The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, North Marston, Buckinghamshire and St John the Baptist, Granborough, Buckinghamshire The Schorne Team of Parishes House for Duty Team Minister The Schorne Team of Parishes is seeking a House for Duty Team Minister based in North Marston to work flexibly with colleagues in the Team. The successful candidate will be a team player who is able to demonstrate a good understanding of the particular needs and nuances of rural communities. It is expected that the new Team Minister will work for the equivalent of two days a week plus Sundays and will have pastoral responsibility for the two parishes of North Marston and Granborough. The new Team Minister will enjoy being a member of a highly supportive lay and clergy team. PARISH PROFILE FOR North Marston and Granborough 1. Team overview 2. About us 3. Our vision 4. Our needs 5. Our communities in more detail 6. Services 7. The vicarage 8. Schorne team of parishes 9. The Diocese of Oxford 1 Parishes Overview Each Church is seeking to build God’s Kingdom by engaging with and reaching out into the communities in which we live. The two parishes currently have worshipping congregations totalling around 80. Our two parishes are part of the Schorne Team (http://www.schorneteam.c o.uk), which embraces some 14 villages and hamlets in the beautiful rolling countryside of the Vale of Aylesbury. Although distinctly rural, the area is centrally placed for access by road to Oxford, Milton Keynes and beyond. There is a good train service to London from Aylesbury. 2 Our new Team Minister will reside in a beautiful, modern, 4 bedroomed vicarage in North Marston, which is near to St Mary’s Church (http://www.northmarstonchurch.com ). Local schools have excellent reputations. There is a CofE Primary School in North Marston, which serves both North Marston and Granborough, and a Combined school in Whitchurch. Buckinghamshire operates a selective secondary system. The Church of England Secondary School at Waddesdon (http://www.waddesdonschool.com ) is rated outstanding by Ofsted. The combined village populations of around 1050 comprise mostly professional people who may be retired, commute to work, work from home or are employed in local farming. Unemployment is not a significant issue but support is offered to those in difficulty by a number of relatively small local trusts. The villages have a greater than average population of young families and have thriving activities, such as Sunday schools, youth clubs and mother and baby clubs, all of which are led or supported by the church. There are activities for older people in the two parishes. There is a strong sense of local community in the two villages, with each having its own character and identity. 2 How We See Our Future Our two parishes have a commitment to growth and offer huge potential – there is a real excitement about the next steps of our spiritual journey. We welcome constructive change. There is a strong desire to work collaboratively and not to accept the status quo. The outgoing incumbent was the parishes’ first Methodist minister. The LEP applies at present to the parish of North Marston only and establishing our Anglican/Methodist Ecumenical Partnership has presented legislative challenges, some of which may persist. In particular: We enjoy strong lay leadership and need to grow more leaders to help turn our vision into reality. There is a full youth work programme ministering to over 70 children and young people in the two parishes. We also offer good pastoral care and look for guidance and leadership to develop this ministry. In addition we offer: An excellent quality of life in rural Buckinghamshire. Two pro-active congregations, both with highly supportive Churchwardens, waiting to welcome, support and work alongside you. Clergy colleagues who enjoy working together and who are able to offer a variety of expertise. 3 3 Our vision We recognise that the two parishes are not the same. We have, however, enjoyed talking and praying together about what our shared vision might be. Both congregations want to be outward looking – constantly seeking ways in which we can serve God by better serving our communities. Please see individual parish profiles on pages 5-8 below. Of course we would like to grow but not just in numbers. We want to grow also in spiritual maturity, bringing all into a closer relationship with God. We are looking for more confident lay leadership and recognise that this will require more commitment from the congregations and training and support from the clergy across the Team. North Marston wants to further develop our Ecumenical Partnership between the Anglican and Methodist Churches. 4 The Person We Seek To achieve our vision our new Team Minister will need to: Be a team player. Have the potential to empower our congregations to implement constructive change to promote spirituality within our churches and villages through discipleship, teaching, prayer and pro-active involvement in the promotion of God’s Mission in our communities. Have leadership and management skills. Be able to lead and further develop existing pastoral care patterns to offer support in the community. Be prepared to work with teaching staff to promote religious education in North Marston’s CofE Primary School. Understand the nuances of rural life. Own a car and a current driving licence. 4 5 Our communities in more detail North Marston: Church of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary (St. Mary’s): St. Mary’s Church is an ancient monument, which is deeply treasured and supported by the village population. The Church Community prides itself on pro-actively developing the Mission of the Church, in order to promote spirituality and Godliness in our village. The earliest parts of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary date from around 1150. The Grade 1 listed building owes much of its colourful history to John Schorne who was Rector from 1282–1314. He is alleged to have worked miracles both in the Church and at the Holy Well. This later led to St Mary’s being the third most popular site for pilgrims to visit after Canterbury Cathedral and Walsingham Abbey. John Camden Neild, a local landowner, left his estate to Queen Victoria, with which she purchased Balmoral Castle. In return, the Queen restored the chancel of St Mary’s in 1854 and donated the stained glass window and reredos in his memory. St Mary’s Church is currently in an excellent state of repair and the requirements of the most recent (2015) Quinquennial Inspection have been completed. In addition, within the last five years, we have installed a working kitchen in the Vestry to facilitate coffee after services, we have completed extensive external masonry repairs, replaced a major oak beam in the nave roof, repaired the lead roof linings above the South Door and reconstructed an internal South Door arch which had begun to subside. This entire recent and ongoing Church husbandry has not gone un-noticed in the village community at large; the Church is now recognized as one of, if not the principle organisation in the village in terms of outreach. The Ecumenical Church Council (ECC), historically chaired and led by the Team Minister, has recently taken the lead on a major restoration project of the Methodist Church, which had been closed for services since the formation of the LEP, had been neglected and was deteriorating badly. The renovated building, the “Wesley Centre” (http://wesleycentre.org ), is now a 5 combined centre for satellite services from St Mary’s Church, a heritage centre for the very active Village History Club and a prime venue for village activities to extend the mission of the Church, such as Café Church, Bible Study groups, “Wesley Flics”, weekly coffee mornings, monthly lunches and private hire occasions. The cost of this renovation exceeded £200K and, in addition to procuring multiple loans and grants, it was necessary for the ECC to take out a significant loan. At the time of writing, the total owed amounted to approximately £25K. The ECC is confident that this loan will be paid off certainly within the agreed period of 10 years but hopefully much sooner than that. The North Marston congregation is very active with multiple fund-raising activities to service this loan and its associated interest payments. However, the Church is on a stable financial footing, fulfils its Parish Share, Methodist Circuit Assessment and Schorne Team obligations and other running expenses, as well as making regular donations to local and wider charities and to the local Food Bank. There are 57 people on the electoral roll with an average congregation of 40. Weekly services are routinely conducted flexibly in forms that reflect the Anglican or Methodist traditions and licences have been issued to permit Anglican or Methodist weddings in St Mary’s. Bible Study Groups flourish during Lent and Advent. Highlights of the Church Calendar are a Church Fete, a Harvest Festival Bring & Share Lunch, a Remembrance Day Service at the Village Hall, a ‘Living Nativity’ play conducted around the village and a very well-attended Christmas Eve Carol Service. The village has a strong sense of community and an active Parish Council. We have a shared North Marston and Granborough Community Sports Field, trim track and wildlife education facility that is well used as the venue for village cricket and football matches, as well as “Forest School” for the local school and an active Scout Group. We have a village shop, a local pub, The Pilgrim, and a village hall, both of which support many activities.