The Parish Profile of St John the Evangelist Walmley I have learnt such a lot through St John's has a attending my group, which has given positive atmosphere me great thought and also and sense of encouraged me to read more and fellowship. gain more understanding of Jesus' life and what he has done for all of us. The group has certainly brought me closer to God and to St John's. There is good sound Biblical teaching with teaching and preaching There is great at a variety of services community spirit that cater for different within the needs. congregation There is very positive children's Very few churches have the same number of and young people's young people as St John's work. A prayerful church of Consistent faithful people. A good team of gospel-based experienced leaders preaching and a history of excellent teaching Welcome to our Parish Profile Thank you for expressing an interest in the post of Vicar at St John the Evangelist, Walmley. As a church family we are excited and expectant as we enter this new chapter as a church and in our local community. We pray that this Profile will give you a taste of the life of the church community and encourage you to seek God's will as you consider applying for the position. We will be working with Church Pastoral Aid Society, our WELCOME patrons, as well as Church of England Birmingham in the appointment process - but above all we seek the person God is leading to us. Maybe you are that person! AND Contents Page Welcome and Contents 1 About our Church 2 CONTENTS Our Values and Vision 3 What is Working Well 4 What Needs Improving 5 Our New Vicar 6 Our Leadership and Staff 7 Church Gathering 10 Children and Young People 15 Community Engagement and Outreach 17 Praying and Caring 23 Our Buildings 24 Our Finances 26 The Parish and Local Area 27 1 About our Church The vast majority of the congregation live within the parish. The next few St John's is situated in a suburb of years will see a large new residential Sutton Coldfield to the North of development at Langley within our Birmingham and on the edge of parish, which will provide a wonderful countryside. Our church was founded opportunity for future outreach and in 1845 and for the last 100 years has growth. been part of Church of England Birmingham, in the Sutton Deanery. With this in mind we have recently planted a new afternoon congregation Since the start we have been fully under the leadership of our Associate rooted in an orthodox, evangelical Vicar on the edge of the new tradition which continues to this day. development. Our passion is to grow and build community in and beyond the church We have an excellent staff team who all based on the life-changing good news work together from the church building, of Jesus. We are an evangelical which enables them to be engaged in all church with a charismatic leaning, aspects of church life and to work with an emphasis on the ministry of collaboratively. We hope and pray that the Holy Spirit, and are particularly the new Vicar will also wish to work nourished by clear, thoughtful Bible mainly from the church building as part teaching. Church members have a of this supportive team. broad range of Christian experience and conviction from conservative to We have strong links to the local charismatic and we seek to respect Deanery Primary School, where the each other's views, working for unity, Vicar of St John's is an ex-officio evangelism and outreach based on governor. Many families come to the authority of the Scripture. church initially as a result of this relationship. Over the last few years we Our congregation includes people of have built stronger links with the other OUR CHURCH all ages, including many families with local schools too. young children, right through to strong numbers at the more mature end of At St John's we have a heart for the spectrum. Our vision is for evangelism and the community; we are continued growth across all ages and a very active church with a large number stages of faith. of groups and activities to encourage our members to become better disciples ABOUT Some 30 years ago we built a new of Christ. The interregnum has allowed church building on the side of the us time for further reflection and self- Victorian building and converted the evaluation and we see some key areas latter so that it enabled us to better for development, as well as some meet the needs of the growing specific opportunities which are congregation and population of highlighted in this Profile. We are Walmley. This part of the church now expectantly looking forward to the includes a central lounge area, appointment of the person of God's kitchen, meeting rooms and offices. choosing to be our new Vicar - to We have several older buildings that lovingly lead, teach, challenge and care may have a greater role to play as we for us and to take us forward in mission develop as a church in the future. We as we begin a new and exciting chapter have around 300 members on our in the life of St John's. electoral roll and, although the majority are White British, a significant number of members are from other cultural ethnic backgrounds. 2 Our Vision Our vision was developed a few years ago and is that we seek to be: "God's Community, in the Community, for the Community" OUR V Our vision connects strongly with that of the Bishop of Birmingham to see "more and more confident Christians" across Church of England Birmingham. Across the life of St John's we are glad to work out the ministry and mission priorities of the Transforming Church Programme ALUES expressed in our own ways and emphasis. We share the Bishop's passion to see churches grow in every way and have been glad for the Bishop's support for our vision and partnership in future ministry. We are passionate that all that we do as a church supports and reinforces this vision and, out of this vision, we have developed our Double and AND V Plant initiative. This initiative reflects our vision, values and our commitment to outreach and growth and has two key foci: To increase the size and maturity of the congregations worshipping at St John's Walmley. I S To establish a congregation at St John's in Minworth in anticipation ION of the development of 6,000 new homes, largely in our parish. 3 What is Working Well As a church, we asked our members what they think is working well in our church. The main areas identified were: Youth and Children's work is thriving at St John's. The children and youth are very much part of the congregation and are involved in services and events, such as serving the congregation breakfast in between the services at Walmley once a month, being part of the Welcome Team and assisting with Communion. There is a large Sunday School ministry and Youth ministry, a good team of experienced leaders as well as Youth Minister and part-time Children's and Families' Missioner. For many years and particularly under the incumbency of the former Vicar, there has been good sound Biblical teaching and preaching. The teaching series is put together by the Ministry Team led by the Vicar. WELL St John's is a friendly, welcoming Church with a positive atmosphere of fellowship and friendship. The weekly lunches provided by St John's Pantry and the Saturday Coffee Shop are a thriving outreach to the community. The Pantry is well attended and enjoyed by all. It provides time and space for conversation and fellowship and is an effective outreach to the elderly and disabled. WORKING The Alpha Course is seen as a really positive outreach and is usually well attended. More recently Youth Alpha has been very successful, with all ages sharing a meal together before dividing into the different groups. The Staff Team work together well and are experienced leaders. They are approachable, hard-working and well-loved by the WHAT IS congregation. The whole team is based in offices within the church building, which adds to the sense of presence and availability during the whole week. The Minworth Congregational Plant has been an encouragement to the whole church and, even though it is in its early stages, holds much promise. Communication with the church is good. St John's has a weekly bulletin and uses ChurchSuite to communicate with the congregation, as well as overhead screens and announcements within the services. A wide range of social events attracts many friends, family and neighbours from outside the church and provides a way into church life. 4 What Needs Improving We also asked about areas that needed improving and some key themes emerged, which are as follows: Community Involvement As the new development at Langley is established we have a role to play in helping to build a sense of community and God's place within that area. The church recently conducted research in the Walmley community, taking in the view of a range of local people, including businesses, external users and local councillors. The result of this also shows that WHAT NEEDS IMPROV WHAT NEEDS we need to improve outreach to our community. Discipleship We need to develop better ways of growing disciples, establishing people in their faith and helping them to belong and grow.