St Laurence, Appleton with Besselsleigh Worshipping, Sharing, Caring in the name and love of God Parish Profile "1 Contents Foreword by the Bishop of Dorchester 3 Could you be our new Rector? 4 Welcome to St Laurence 6 Church Life 7 Our Vision 9 Worship and our Worshipping Community 11 Appleton with Besselsleigh 13 Organisation and Finance 14 The Church and Churchyard 16 Our Work in the Community 17 Working Together 19 Where will you live? 20 Appendix 1 Role Description 23 Appendix 2 Person Specification 28 Appendix 3 An Introduction to Appleton School 29 "2 Foreword by the Bishop! of Dorchester Appleton is a wonderfully ‘buzzy’ village and whoever goes there as its next Rector needs to be someone who thoroughly enjoys an active village life as well as a lively church one. I was aware when I read this profile that it could leave would-be applicants thinking that what is being looked for by the PCC is someone who will be working there full-time rather than on a House for Duty basis. However, I think they are realistic about the latter and what they are looking for is someone who will do the core job (in church, school and community) and who will also delight to delegate the plethora of other opportunities (as well as routine tasks in such fields as administration and finance) to a group of very committed active and capable lay people. The previous incumbent has left some very good foundations to build on both evangelistically and in terms of deepening discipleship and there will be lots of opportunities to take these further. Also now that the saga of making Besselsleigh’s Church Building into one that is cared for by a Trust (with the PCC remaining responsible for the open churchyard), there will be interesting opportunities to see how this can best be used for the community, not least with some new housing coming into the village. As you can tell this is a post I am very enthusiastic about and I warmly commend it to you. The Rt Revd Colin Fletcher OBE Bishop of Dorchester "3 Could! you be our new Rector? We’re looking for a - Compassionate, and comprehending of Rector with a strong welcoming to our inclusive and Christian faith who everyone, and broad-church loves people and committed to pastoral approach, maintaining enjoys parish care, with a heart for balance and being ministry in a vibrant, those who are sensitive to the needs all-age context. We suffering, providing of the whole church spiritual support and and wider community. pray that our new comfort to those in Rector will be: special need and fostering Christian - Someone with a discipleship. warmth of humanity - An inspiring, and a sense of stimulating bible humour, with a proven teacher and role - Approachable, a ability to delegate to model with a visible good listener, and work with a team commitment to prayer, experienced and of volunteers, and an willing to share their skilled in ability to get along with own ideas and our communicating with many different people. wish to develop our children, young approach to praise, people, families, and prayer and worship. working & retired Passionate for adults and willing to church growth engage with the local - Passionate for and a personal heart for church growth and a primary school, and missional gospel personal heart for who loves teaching about Jesus. ministry. missional gospel ministry, looking for further opportunities to - Forward-looking, take the church out respecting of the into the community traditions of the with Christ-centred Church of England, love. "4 ! We are a village with a strong sense of community "5 Welcome! to St Laurence Worshipping, Our electoral roll is We are currently caring and sharing approximately 100, thinking, for instance, in the name and about 50-60 of whom to seek some love of God. typically attend at consistent least one of our administrative help Sunday services. for a new incumbent. Who are we? We have a thriving We are therefore We are a welcoming volunteer base who praying that the right and active church lead a variety of candidate will family with strong aspects of ministry. present themselves to us, so that ties to our We have been together we can work ‘outstanding’ Church blessed over the to grow the House of England Aided years by being able for Duty post into a Primary school which to have, or effectively full-time role. sits next door. have, a full time Our church Rector in our Parish. welcomes and When the position includes a wide became a house for The church range of people, Duty Post in 2007 family including a number the incumbent had a reflects a of young families, husband who was range of and Sunday able to support her Christian congregations and when the backgrounds include the very position became and traditions. young up to those vacant again the over 90 years old! PCC were able to The church family find means to enable reflects a range of the candidate to work Christian full time in the backgrounds and Parish. traditions. "6 Church Life We sustain a varied with many staying for biweekly basis to and active a chat. study God’s word and support each Church life There is a sung other in prayer. What do we do? Evensong two Currently we hold a Sundays a month There are monthly mixture of ‘All-Age’, (BCP liturgy). midweek and weekly Communion and Thursday morning We hold festival ‘Service of the Word’ prayer meetings, and services at key 10am service in recent times, points in the church’s formats on Sunday we’ve added year that attract wide morning. We also ‘Christianity support from the have twice monthly Explored’ and ‘Just village community. 6pm sung Evensong for Starters’ courses, Some of these are and monthly 8am as well as occasional held in village Communion guest services and locations other than services. an outreach wreath- the church building. making event in Our Sunday Club, We’ve also enjoyed comprising about 10 Advent. hosting school pupils children of primary We provide a and parents in school age, meets in church for services monthly parish the school buildings newsletter and and refreshments on during the middle other days. maintain our own part of the 10am website Sunday service and We lead weekly (www.stlaurenceappleton.org) is led by assemblies in School We are involved in a congregation and end of term members. services and range of community maintain close links work. Sung worship on with school life Latterly, we held a Sunday mornings throughout the year. comprises a mixture 24-hour prayer event of traditional and Over the past four during which church members prayed for contemporary hymns years, four home and songs. There is groups of 8 – 10 the church, including during and after the Wealways want coffee after to supportmembers have our been vacancy, and for the the 10am services, meeting on a appointment itself. community "7 Involvement in the day to day life of our Primary School is important to us"8 Our Vision We are excited by the how we can expand This part of our future God has in store and grow our congregation has for our Church Christian fellowship. grown significantly in We are enthusiastic the last 2 – 3 years. What is valued at and want to share the The ongoing St. Laurence? gospel amongst our strengthening of our We value our place as village community. relationship with an integral part of a We are receptive to families through strong and caring ideas which enable us school is also central, local community. Our to reach out more as is continuing to Church is open every through community prepare candidates day and is often used events, and to build and their families for for quiet prayer and on the heartening baptism, confirmation contemplation by attendance at and marriage. members of the Festivals and other community. The many older special services, and members of our We value our time success of the church family are also together on Sundays Women’s Breakfasts, of great importance to to read and hear ‘Tea and Chat’ and us. God’s word preached, community café. pray, sing His praises, A wish to maintain If possible, we want to share in Holy and support continue to offer Communion, as well discipleship through courses and groups as support and home groups is also a such as ‘Just for encourage each other. key priority. Starters’ and We look for ‘Christianity Explored’ We would like to seek opportunities to show to provide a next step to facilitate and God’s love and share for those learning encourage greater His word with those more about Jesus biblical understanding, around us. Christ. personal prayer and practical involvement Our ministry to What is our vision in our worshipping families and young for the future? community and people is very Mindful of the time church family. important to us. available, we are open to new ideas as to "9 We are excited by the future but realistic about what can be achieved "10 Worship! and our Worshipping Community We aim to provide We have a one Average attendances for and be manual chamber for regular services welcoming to all organ and an throughout 2019 and parishioners. electronic piano, and attendances for a rota of four festivals and one-off organists. services in 2019 can How are our be seen in Appendix We have a strong services 6 Other. structured? tradition of bellringing Services are led by with bells rung for 10am and Evensong ordained clergy, lay Our services and other ministers or by Worshipping members of the PCC special events.