Diocese of Coventry Training Post for Deacon who expects to be ordained Priest Title Post at St Mary Magdalen, Chapelfields, Coventry Parish Website: http://stmarymagdalenchurch.wordpress.com The Training Minister The Rev’d Stella Bailey 63 Broad Lane Coventry CV5 7AH [email protected] I was ordained in July 2009, and began work in St Mary Magdalen, Chapelfields in 2011. The church was in decline but had a new vision: We wish to combine our value of Catholic worship with specific outreach to 20s-30s, young people and children, with the intention of inspiring a new generation of visionary and dynamic Christian leaders (including future male and female priests) in the Catholic tradition. I was appointed as the first curate in the Diocese to undergo an extended placement in a church other than my title post (St Mary Walsgrave), to help turn this vision into reality, revitalizing the church and encouraging growth. Following good signs of growth as we implemented the vision (including two people now in training for ordination), I was appointed incumbent of St Mary Magdalen in 2013. The Diocese is now starting to use this extended placement model of curacy to re-invigorate other churches in the Diocese. I’m also an Emergency Chaplain for West Midlands Police (Coventry), a Vocational Discernment Adviser in the diocese and on the Diocesan Worship Committee (to help enable worship to be ‘Inspiring’ across the Diocese) Before training for ordination at Cuddesdon I worked in the West Midlands Police Service. The Parish St Mary Magdalen, Chapelfields, is an urban Parish of around 10,500 people in a small geographical area of 0.9 miles by 0.6 miles, south-west of Coventry City Centre. The parish includes a large proportion of residents in their 20s-30s, a group which is a Diocesan priority in mission. 1 With additional help we believe that the parish could move from being a resourced church to becoming a resourcing church in the Diocese. It is this potential that has enabled us to be considered for a curate according to the Diocesan strategy for placing curates in 2015. Most of the housing was built around 1920 as the city started to expand and consists of street after street of small terraced housing. The watch-making industry, along with the development of bicycle and car industries fueled this growth. Today in Chapelfields you will find a diversity of living situations behind the doors of these terraced houses. The housing in the parish divides into three main types: • Privately rented multi-occupancy student and other accommodation. The high level of landlord owned property in the area, and the proximity (by bus) to Warwick University means that there are many student houses in the parish. There are also other types of multi- occupancy, such as those who cannot afford to live alone or people within the immigration system as well as former students who have stayed in the area. • Young professional couples or individuals. This group mainly works in teaching, nursing or middle management, though some work in industry or manual labour. There are also some families with young children, but very few houses with older teenagers. Often these families are renting and many of the houses are of poor quality with large families living in a small space. • Older people who have lived in the area for a long time. A substantial number of families moved to Chapelfields, to work in the local car industry in the 50s and 60s, mainly from Ireland. This is reflected in the high level of attendance at the local Roman Catholic church which sees around 400 people over a weekend attend Mass. This gives Chapelfields a feel of mixed economy with either young professionals living well or families and students struggling in the current economic climate. We have one local authority primary school in the parish with whom we have an excellent working relationship. There are no old people’s care homes or residential homes and no centre of the community. Corner shops are scattered around the parish. We have 11 pubs in the parish (7 in the streets directly round the corner from church) but many of these attract people from outside of the parish. Due to the poor quality of some of the multi-occupancy housing, Chapelfields has for many years had the highest crime rate in the city for burglary and vehicle crime. Despite this, areas of the parish have an excellent community feel and active residents associations but the area is very transient, with a different feel throughout the calendar year and a high turn-over of residents. 2 The Church St Mary Magdalen is now an exciting and vibrant place to be! Over the past three years we have been on an amazing journey of growth and development, from an inherited small and elderly congregation with questions about its sustainability as a worshipping community, to a place of mission and worship reaching out and including people from a diversity of backgrounds and ages. It’s been a real success story so far! Together we have discerned and listened to where God is already at work in our community and joined in this work. We are still in the early stages of this growth and development which has been supported, encouraged praised and acknowledged by all levels of the diocesan structure from the deanery through to our Bishop. We all rejoice in a liberal Anglo-Catholic approach that is vibrant! We have one Worship centre at St Mary Magdalen’s, (known city wide as ‘the church with the blue roof’ – for obvious reasons when you see it!). We have 5 distinct congregations with only a small number who cross over from one to the other. Our tradition is liberal Anglo-Catholic in worship and theology with a heart for social justice. There were 86 on the Electoral Roll when it was last revised in February 2013, but this number has since increased to 98. Pattern of Worship and congregations Inspiring Worship is one of the 8 essential qualities for growing healthy churches which form the diocesan strategy. We will welcome help to enhance and grow our worship experiences, including developing new forms of service as appropriate. Currently there are five main styles of service: Sundays • 8am said Common Worship Holy Communion, East facing, vestments. Usual attendance around 12. • 10am Common Worship sung Eucharist, hymns, choir, fully serving team, incense, east facing, sermon, a service where the whole family of God gather, children are encouraged to participate and engage with worship whilst still being allowed to be children. Usual attendance around 50 adults 10 children. A Sunday School has recently been started to run alongside this service and children are also encouraged to be part of the serving team. 3 • 6.30pm currently said evening prayer with around 5 people. This is a service that needs developing further. • Once a month we have Messy Church on a Sunday between 4 – 6pm where the whole family explores a biblical theme through craft, discussion and games before we have a short worship service and then eat together. This sees about 60 people of all ages in attendance. Tuesday • 7.30pm said Common Worship Holy Communion, east facing, where we will see around 12 people from a group of about 25 who attend this service. Vestments, small homily and extensive use of silence. Thursday • 11.30am East facing common worship Eucharist, where we will see around 12 people from a group of about 25 who attend this service, vestments, small homily, a service designed for those with restricted mobility with no expectations of standing and communion is taken to people. ‘Red letter days’ and Festivals are usually celebrated in full with Sung Eucharist. Due to the limited availability of Catholic worship in the city and transient nature of the area, our congregation is mainly gathered. Over a month we will see about 140 different people of all ages worship at St Mary Magdalen’s. We have undergone a radical rebirth of vision and growth in past 3 years which means the numbers of those who identify St Mary Magdalen as their spiritual home is constantly developing. The joy of this growth has been accompanied by some sadness as a number of older members of the congregation have died in recent years. Occasional Offices Each year we have around 15 baptisms, 4 weddings, and 15 funerals. 4 Pattern of daily offices Morning prayer is said daily in church by a small congregation at 9am and Evening prayer is said with a small congregation at 7pm. The curate would be expected to join in with this pattern, on an agreed basis and in accordance with family requirements. Staff or team members An associate minister (the Archdeacon Pastor, who worships with us 2 Sundays a month), a part-time volunteer pastoral assistant, two readers and a part time administrator. Lay involvement As part of the Empowering Leadership essential quality, we strive to create an environment of learning and encouragement that seeks to develop lay leadership with opportunities of growth and discovery for those exploring their vocation towards ordination or other forms of accredited lay ministry. Having been nurtured and developed through the vocations process, in September 2013 two members of our congregation started training towards ordination at Mirfield. We also have a further 3 people at different stages of the discernment process exploring a possible call towards ordained ministry. All of these people are given opportunities to develop in their skills of leading worship and preaching as well as holding leadership opportunities in other areas of church life such as PCC, small groups, confirmation classes, leading choirs, serving at the altar, pastoral care and developing new projects such as a toddler group, Sunday School or Work Club.