Silsoe, Pulloxhill and Flitton Benefice Profile St John the Baptist, Flitton St James the Apostle, Pulloxhill St James the Great, Silsoe Deanery of Ampthill and Shefford Patrons: The Bishop of St Albans and Balliol College Oxford www.3churches.co.uk 1 Contents Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 1 Mission Action Planning .......................................................................................................................... 1 We are looking for an incumbent who: .................................................................................................. 2 We will offer you ..................................................................................................................................... 2 The Vicarage ........................................................................................................................................ 2 The Benefice ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Location ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Worship ............................................................................................................................................... 3 Community .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Education ............................................................................................................................................ 4 How we work together ....................................................................................................................... 5 Ministerial team .................................................................................................................................. 5 Electoral roll ........................................................................................................................................ 5 Expenses of Office ............................................................................................................................... 5 The Deanery ............................................................................................................................................ 5 St James the Great Silsoe ........................................................................................................................ 6 St John the Baptist, Flitton ...................................................................................................................... 9 St James the Apostle, Pulloxhill ............................................................................................................ 11 Our vision Our vision is for a benefice which is growing the church community in the three parishes by: Being welcoming and loving; Engaging in community outreach; Respecting tradition and embracing differences; Exploring a range of worship; Sharing God’s love. Mission Action Planning Each parish has a separate Mission Action Plan which is presented in the individual parish pages. The priorities and goals below reflect those that are common across the benefice. Our Priorities Church growth Community engagement Deepening faith 1 Our goals Appointing and welcoming a new incumbent who can help us achieve our priorities; Making our worship more enjoyable and accessible to everyone; To work together more effectively as a benefice. We are looking for an incumbent who: Is a spiritual leader with vision, drive, energy, humour and creativity with a strong calling to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ; Is a good communicator and can establish a rapport with all sections of the community; Can foster the contribution of lay members in leading aspects of church life, including some parts of worship; Is confident to offer spiritual and moral guidance to the school community, is part of the school family and can inspire young people throughout the benefice; Is willing to develop cohesion within and between the parishes, ensuring equity between them and a shared vision for the benefice; Can demonstrate strong leadership in all aspects of their work; Can understand and respond to the particular challenges of rural benefices; Will be sensitive to what the three churches have already achieved, and able to inspire further initiatives; Is willing to develop the pastoral care and outreach work of our churches; Is able to maintain a good work-life balance. We will offer you A warm welcome! The spiritual and secular support and encouragement of a committed and caring benefice; An opportunity to work with three PCCs that are looking for change and are already actively pursuing new initiatives; An attractive rural environment in which to live and work, with excellent recreational and educational facilities and good transport links The Vicarage This is located in a residential area about a quarter of a mile from the church in the centre of Silsoe, about 1.5 miles from Flitton and 2 miles from Pulloxhill. It is a two storey detached house, built in 1998, of about 208m2 (2,240sq.ft.), brick under a reconstituted slate roof, with a detached double garage. The ground floor includes sitting room, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room, cloakroom and well-equipped study large enough to accommodate meetings. There are four bedrooms on the first floor, with a bathroom/WC and a shower room/WC. The property has mains gas central heating. The garden of approximately 0.33 acre (0.13 ha) is a level plot laid primarily to lawn. 2 The Benefice Location The Benefice is composed of three parishes, Silsoe, Flitton and Pulloxhill, which are adjacent to each other and located in lovely countryside in central Bedfordshire, about halfway between Luton and Bedford. There are excellent transport links, being close to both the M1 and A1 roads and rail services from nearby Flitwick to London St Pancras, for Eurostar, as well as for Gatwick and Luton Airports. Worship Silsoe Flitton Pulloxhill 1st Sunday 9:30 All age communion 10:30 Family Service 6 pm Evensong 6pm Parish 2nd Sunday 10:00 Family service 9:30 Choral Communion communion 3rd Sunday 9:30 Parish communion 11 am Matins 6 pm Evensong 8.30 am BCP said 11 am parish 4th Sunday 9:30 Parish communion communion communion 5th Sunday 10 am United Benefice at each parish in turn 1st & 4th 11 am Benefice Wednesday Communion Community Although a predominantly agricultural area, there is continual residential development in all villages. This, combined with the lack of a major employer in the benefice, means that only a small proportion of residents work locally, the majority commuting to work, many to London. Silsoe has a small selection of shops, including a post office, village shop and hairdressers. A range of facilities, including supermarkets, health care and professional services are available in nearby towns. Silsoe is the largest parish in terms of numbers of residents, and is growing rapidly due to new developments. Pulloxhill and Flitton & Greenfield have smaller populations. Local buses are relatively scarce, although there is a regular service between Luton and Bedford which stops in Silsoe and there is a volunteer bus service, Flittabus. It would, however, be difficult to live in the benefice without access to a car. 3 Local government is provided by a Parish Council for each parish while Central Bedfordshire Council provides major services. There are no other churches or chapels in the benefice. Leisure and recreation Currently there is a sports centre with swimming pool at Flitwick, with a new one to be built over the next two years. There are sports fields in Silsoe and Flitton, the latter with a multi-use games area with floodlights. A new sports hall is being built at Silsoe. There is a network of footpaths and bridleways joining the three parishes which are well used by dog walkers, joggers, cyclists and horse riders. Flitwick Moor and Flitton Moor, Centenary Wood and Barton Hills are all valuable recreational areas and wildlife havens in or near the benefice. Education Central Bedfordshire operates a 3-tier education system, with lower, middle and upper schools. All three parishes have lower schools that are Ofsted-rated ‘Outstanding’. At age 9, children move to a middle school – the catchment schools are Arnold Academy in Barton- Le-Clay, school, rated ‘Good’, which also has a specialist unit for children with autism and then, at 13 to Harlington Upper School, with specialist facilities for hearing-impaired students, also rated ‘Good’. All these catchment schools have converted to Academy status. A bus service takes the children to the middle and upper catchment schools. There is also a range of private schools – in particular the Harpur Trust Schools in Bedford - which many children attend, particularly from the age of 9. There are bus services available from locations within the benefice to these schools. Silsoe VC Lower School Silsoe Lower School is a voluntary controlled lower school and is very proud of its church school status. The close partnership between the school, the incumbent and the church community is a major reason why the school retained its “Outstanding” status in the recent SIAMS Inspection in June 2014. The strong links between the school, incumbent