Church of the Good Shepherd, Aylesbury Parish Profile ‘To Know God and to Make Him Known’ August 2016 – Final edition Welcome to our parish profile. The Church of the Good Shepherd is 60 years old. A lot has happened in that time and we thank God for His faithfulness and provision. We are looking forward to working with our new minister as he or she joins with us to help build up our mission initiatives for the people of Southcourt and Walton Court. We hope this information will help you in making decisions for the future – please do call or visit us if you want to know more! Wes Atkinson, Pastoral Assistant (with wife, Jackie) The Good Shepherd Church family is a mixed bunch of people, some of us well grounded in the Christian faith, all keen to develop our faith and knowledge of the Bible. Over the years we have shared joys and shed many tears. The congregation has a particular welcome for vulnerable people. From the 1950s to the 1970s a pioneer generation built and established a thriving congregation with the support of Holy Trinity, Aylesbury. There is still a handful of worshippers from this time and the essential spirit for mission remains. Through the 1980s and on into the early part of this century, a second generation of worshippers grounded themselves in the church, raised families and got on with living out their faith. There were singing groups, parish weekends, visits to Spring Harvest, a church drama group and many other community activities. In particular CGS found a calling as a ‘mustard tree’ church to welcome vulnerable people. CGS has a special heart for community building and the belief that all have gifts and talents. We aim to nurture and encourage everyone, whatever their circumstances, to further God’s work and grow as His servants and leaders. In the last chapter of ministry, led by Revd Dave Lawton, we recognised that our congregation was aging and children were moving on. We began to invest significant time and resources in youth work especially in a partnership with Aylesbury Vale Youth for Christ and in new community outreach initiatives. However, with Dave’s sudden death in 2015 we have struggled to follow these through. We know that without attracting families and a skewed congregation age profile there is the threat of CGS going into long-term decline. But many of us sense that a new chapter of mission is coming, building on our roots. We have a sense of urgency to seek God’s direction in reaching our community and especially families and younger people. ‘Having been through a painful period of loss we now look forward to moving on to the next phase with our new minister. We can offer you a strong core of loyal and dedicated people that will provide you with understanding, practical and spiritual support, and friendship. We also understand the need and space for personal development and support. We will encourage our new minister to take good amounts of time off, to share with other ministers and receive the benefits and wisdom of spiritual advisors.’ Bev Stratford, Lyn Butterworth, Wardens. 2 Our Vision To know God and to make Him known Key Actions By making disciples (our special focus in 2015) Being welcoming to all (our special focus in 2016) Creating a vibrant Christian community (planned special focus for 2017) Making a difference in the local community (planned special focus in 2018) Key Bible Reference Mark 6:30-43: It may seem like an impossible task but Jesus feeds the crowd with the help of the disciples and a packed lunch! Key Themes: Offering openly what we have to God Receiving back from God, that which he wants to give us Sharing generously with others Accepting we will be changed through the process Our Strengths and Weaknesses In November 2015 we asked the congregation to reflect on CGS and the future. Strengths: Good diversity – membership, styles of worship and community life, attracting people from across the town Welcoming – we are an inclusive community and look out for each other Able to reach out to older members of the community Bible based teaching A strong group of people serving at the centre who work together, support each other and have continued to grow since Dave Lawton’s death Weaknesses A need for new challenge and stretching in our teaching. Timidity and a lack of confidence – we need to get out of our comfort zone No real engagement with young people in our services Lack of young families, marriage and baptism follow up. Not attracting many newcomers to the church and encouraging local people to step over the threshold Failure to bring those attending church based community events into church life 3 Our mission context The Church of the Good Shepherd is located on a large tree-planted green in the middle of the Southhcourt and Walton Court communities. Southcourt is a post-war council estate of mainly semi-detached houses with generous gardens. Walton Court is a 1970s social housing estate of smaller brick houses at a higher density. Nearby Hawkslade is a 1980s estate of smaller private houses. Southcourt and Walton Court have been altered through the government’s ‘right to buy’ policy resulting in a more diverse demographic profile. There is increasing ethnic diversity too with a large Pakistani community. Others have arrived from places as far apart as Zimbabwe and the Phillipines, often to work at the nearby Stoke Mandeville hospital. Our parish IMD rank is 9233 out of 12660 and we offer all the challenges and opportunities for church community and mission this suggests. For example, our local secondary school has only recently come out of special measures but there is also a strong desire locally to make community ‘work’. Throughout its history the Church has played a central role in the life of the community and there are many organisations and agencies who want to partner with us in new ways. Our church building is sound and the substantial facilities are very adaptable. It is already a key hub for a range of community activities. In our wider town context there are many challenges and opportunities coming as a result of the rapid growth of Aylesbury with new housing developments. In the future we hope to build on our existing links with adjoining parishes to develop a number of closer mission partnerships, including the possibility of forming a formal group ministry with Holy Trinity. Could you be called to share in our next chapter? Our confidence is fragile and our talents modest but we are open to where God will now lead us and are willing to join with our new minister in meeting the opportunities ahead. We know our shared challenge will be to build up the church, reach out to the community, and over time bring a new generation into the church. We are hoping for: A Leader: someone like Moses would do – but, also like Moses, you don’t have to be the finished article! A Motivator: to encourage us to be what God wants us to be. At times we have heard God’s call but not always understood. A Mixer: a people-loving person at ease with young and old but especially families. A Builder: a person that can continue to build links with schools and other local churches and organisations. A Listener: someone who will discern God’s calling and respond. In the past we felt the Spirit’s calling and then nothing has happened. A Teacher: encouraging prayer, reading of the Bible and at home with a healing ministry 4 The Life of the Church The Church of the Good Shepherd was originally in the Walton Team Ministry but became the Parish of Southcourt in 2009 when the team ministry came to a close. Led by the Incumbent, the life of the church is organised with the help of a small lay leadership team, a part-time paid Pastoral Assistant and a part-time paid Administrator. The main weekly service is at 11am on Sunday and is very informal. Attendance averages 45 adults and 16 children. Liturgy is followed from the Book of Common Worship on a laminated sheet but we also use a variety of other worship styles. News sheets are distributed and contain information for the week ahead, notices and contacts. Family communion is once a month as is an all-age service. Prayer ministry is offered after all our services. During the interregnum services are being led mostly by either our Licensed Lay Minister Alan Foster or our Pastoral Assistant Wes Atkinson. ‘I was 24 years in the RAF and towards the end of this time I felt I was being called by God to do something more. LLM was the route I took. After leaving the RAF I worked at the Post Office for almost 19 years. I have been an LLM now for 22 years. I lead services, both traditional and with more open expressions of worship, preaching once a month on average. For the past 2 years I have also added the responsibility for taking funerals.’ Alan Foster, Licensed Lay Minister During the family services there is a crèche for the under 4s run by volunteers. The 429 club is for younger children aged 4 to 9 and averages 5 a week. There has been a monthly said Holy Communion at Thistle Court (a warden controlled home). The church holds special services at Easter and Christmas including a Maundy Thursday agape meal. Good Friday devotional service, Christmas Eve crafts, carols and puppets for the young at heart.