House for Duty Team Vicar for the Parish of Lacey Green, Loosley Row and Speen PARISH PROFILE MAY 2014 House for Duty Team Vicar for the Parish of Lacey Green, Loosley Row and Speen In the Risborough Team Parish Profile MAY 2014 Contents 1 Cover 2 Parish Map 3 Introductions re: from the Team Rector and the Parish 4 Mission of our Church and Worship 5 The Church 6 Church Finances and Person Specification and Support 7 The Vicarage and Parish details 8 The Risborough Team 9 The Parish of Princes Risborough and The Parish of Monks Risborough 10 The Parish of Bledlow and useful websites 11 The Aylesbury Deanery 12 Location of Churches in the Aylesbury Deanery and The Diocese of Oxford 13 Appendix 1: Section One: Role Description and Section Two: Role purpose and key responsibilities 14 Section Three: Parish Summary and Relevant documentation Parish Map Profile / May 2014 Page 2 SECTION 1 Introduction from the Team Rector Thank you for your interest in this role. As the Team Rector, I am looking forward to welcoming someone wanting to join a team and be a prayerful ‘team player’; someone who’s primary focus will naturally need to be on the work of their parish, but will also want to work with, and find support from, the rest of the team clergy; someone who will contribute to and complement the strengths of the others within the Risborough Team Ministry, thereby enabling us all to grow and develop in new ways. Whilst recognising the challenges of a house for duty post, and realizing that there will be only limited time available beyond immediate parish priorities, a new house-for-duty colleague, who is based in Lacey Green, will be warmly welcomed to bring their particular gifts and play their part in helping this Team. Together we shall look forward to exploring the 3 ‘C’s’ of our calling, competence and chemistry, as we seek to serve God and the people of this area. Please do not hesitate to contact me for an informal conversation about the role (07919263377 / [email protected] ). David Introduction The Parish of Lacey Green, Loosley Row and Speen, as part of the Risborough Team, is seeking a House- for-Duty Team Vicar, following the retirement of the previous post-holder. Lacey Green, Loosley Row and Speen are three separate but nearby villages with a population of approximately 3,043 persons set in the beautiful Buckinghamshire countryside. Lacey Green and Loosley Row are immediately adjacent to each other about 600 feet up on the edge of the Chiltern Hills. Speen is about two miles further east into the Chilterns and the Parish also contains part of the village of Walters Ash, the RAF Headquarters at Strike Command. The parish became part of the Risborough Team (Princes Risborough, Monks Risborough, Lacey Green and Bledlow with Saunderton and Horsenden) in 1998. We have two Church schools; a combined school in Lacey Green and a first school in Speen. The parish is well placed for good communications, with London 35 miles to the south-east and Oxford 16 miles to the west. There is an excellent train service from Princes Risborough to London Marylebone and Birmingham Snow Hill. The journey to London takes approximately 45 minutes. Access to the motorway network is good, with junction 4 on the M40 just 8 miles away. Following a re-appraisal by the Aylesbury Deanery and Team Rector, it has been agreed to appoint a House for Duty priest, working the equivalent of two days a week and Sundays, to replace a fulltime post in the Parish. This will strengthen the team dimension of the post, and a sharing of responsibilities for all the parishes in the team amongst two full-time and two house for duty priests. The Team Vicar therefore will also play an important part in encouraging further outreach to the wider community and share their skills and gifts, within the limited time available, across the whole Team, contributing to the complementary strengths of the Team. Team Clergy The Revd David Williams (appointed in 2009 - stipendiary post) Team Rector of St Mary’s, Princes Risborough and St Peter’s, Ilmer The Revd James Tomkins (appointed in 2008 - stipendiary post) Team Vicar of St Dunstan’s, Monks Risborough, with St Peter’s Chapel, Owlswick with additional responsibilities across the Risborough Team. Profile / May 2014 Page 3 Vacant (to be appointed – (House-for-Duty post) Team Vicar of St John the Evangelist, Lacey Green The Revd Jennifer Locke (appointed in 2011 – House-for-Duty post) Team Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bledlow with St Mary & St Nicholas, Saunderton and St Michael & All Angels, Horsenden SECTION 2 The Mission of our Church We see our House-for-Duty priest as providing the essential continuity for the spiritual and pastoral care of the people of our parish. We wish to build on the achievements of the past, taking forward the strengths of our traditional forms of worship, while seeking to reach out to all generations through dedicated mission and pastoral care. Like most rural communities, a call to serve our parish will mean being willing to become involved in the life of the church and the three villages, enabling the church to play its part at the heart of village life. Our strong desire is that the new House-for-Duty priest should give leadership to enable St John’s to grow, drawing in new and returning members into regular members of the congregation. We believe that our relationship with our two local Church schools could be key to this vision. Historically, the Vicar has had active involvement with the two schools, taking assemblies and termly church services and establishing good relationships with the Head Teachers. It is appreciated that time constraints will dictate availability but there are skilled people in the congregation who could be encouraged to be involved. Our monthly All Age Communion service is well attended (approximately 42 adults and 16 children), and we want to continue and further develop this. Our Junior Church group (approximately 12 children), attended by children of reception age until around age 11 is well attended and well lead. We have very few members of secondary school age and this is an area we would particularly like to develop, perhaps by reinstating our Youth Bible Study and Youth Fellowship groups. Good pastoral care has always been a hallmark of St John’s and in the past has been shared by the Team Vicar and the Home Groups. With a growing elderly population, we are committed to continuing this quality of care, but realise that will require the formation of some form of pastoral care team which we hope the new House for Duty priest will help us to grow and train. Anyone who is considering applying for this vacancy is warmly invited to come for an informal visit to the church and the area. The Worshipping Community The Church Electoral Roll stands at 92. There is no other staff but some Parish Office work is done by the senior Churchwarden. Profile / May 2014 Page 4 The Church The Parish Church of St John the Evangelist, is situated in Lacey Green, at the southern end of the Main Road. Established and consecrated in 1825, the Church celebrated its 125th birthday on the 2nd July 2000. Described in the Church history as a Chapel of Ease, it was built for the three growing eastern villages to accommodate their needs out of the Parish of St Mary’s, Princes Risborough: hence the patronage. The Church has a seating capacity of about 250. It comprises a central nave, with two small side aisles; one is a Lady Chapel with about 16 seats. The Chancel contains the choir stalls, a rare Samuel Green organ built in 1792 and the High Altar capable of accommodating about 12 communicants across. There is also an Upper Room created from a balcony at the back of the Church, which is used for meetings, crèches, Sunday Schools and other functions such as meetings of the PCC. It also has a number of storage cupboards. At the rear of the Church downstairs there is a Choir Vestry and a Vicar’s Vestry. There is a wooden building in the Churchyard, which has been fitted out with mains drainage to a toilet and hand basin and some heating. There is no Church Hall but the School Hall is available for larger functions. The Church is in good order and decorative repair. The majority of the repairs highlighted in the last quinquennial report (2011) have been addressed. Four teams from the congregation clean the Church on a weekly basis and the Church is always well decorated with flowers. The Churchyard which is open consists of two sections; one with the very old graves and a newer section which has approximately 7 grave spaces remaining. There is also an area of Remembrance. The Churchyard is largely maintained by working parties of parishioners and currently is in good condition. Worship 8:00am Holy Communion, BCP said, on the 1st,2nd and 4th Sundays; attendance 6-12 10:00am *Holy Communion on 2nd, 3rd,4th and 5th Sundays sung by Choir accompanied by organ; attendance 40-50 1st Sunday only, All Age Communion as above 6:00pm Evensong BCP on major festivals, sung by Choir accompanied by organ 9:30am on Tuesdays there is a *Holy Communion service. *The Order 1 form of the Holy Communion Services from Common Worship is used at these services. At Christmas there are a series of major Services; Crib Service [2013: 136, 2012: 111], Midnight Mass [2013: 100, 2012: 63], Christmas Day [2013: 62, 2012: 59].