Parish Profile – Spring 2021 Saint Laurence is a church in Reading with a vision to reach non-churched young people and build new forms of church with them. We seek to be a multi-generational community which lives out the good news of the kingdom with and among young people of the town. https://www.stlreading.org 1 Table of Contents Parish Profile – Spring 2021 ............................................................................................................... 1 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 4 The Vacancy .................................................................................................................................. 4 Saint Laurence Community ............................................................................................................ 4 Safeguarding ................................................................................................................................. 4 Our location .................................................................................................................................. 5 Forward from the Bishop of Reading.............................................................................................. 6 Deanery perspective ...................................................................................................................... 7 2. The Mission of Our Church......................................................................................................... 8 Priority 1: Inclusive family .............................................................................................................. 8 Priority 2: Creating spaces ............................................................................................................. 8 Priority 3: Loving and serving young people in Reading .................................................................. 8 Priority 4: Sharing learning............................................................................................................. 8 Survey insights............................................................................................................................... 8 What we value about Saint Laurence ......................................................................................... 8 Where we want to grow ............................................................................................................ 9 The Team at Saint Laurence ......................................................................................................... 10 Looking to the Future .................................................................................................................. 10 What are we looking for in our new Vicar? .................................................................................. 11 3. Support our community will give you ....................................................................................... 12 How our community support each other ..................................................................................... 12 4. The Vicarage/Rectory: ............................................................................................................. 13 5. Detailed description of the Benefice / Parish ........................................................................... 14 General Description of the Parish/Benefice ................................................................................. 14 The Worshipping Community ...................................................................................................... 14 Organisation and Finance ............................................................................................................ 15 Giving and money ........................................................................................................................ 15 Local Trusts ................................................................................................................................. 16 St Laurence Ecclesiastical Charities .......................................................................................... 16 St Laurence Relief in Need Trust .............................................................................................. 16 Churchland’s and John Johnson’s Estate Charities .................................................................... 16 6. A week in the life of Saint Laurence ......................................................................................... 17 Service Zero ................................................................................................................................. 17 Children’s Work ........................................................................................................................... 18 Morning prayer ........................................................................................................................... 18 Fuel ............................................................................................................................................. 19 2 Youth Small groups ...................................................................................................................... 19 Monday Club ............................................................................................................................... 19 Monday Night Extra ..................................................................................................................... 20 Homework club ........................................................................................................................... 21 Little Saint Laurence .................................................................................................................... 21 Small groups ................................................................................................................................ 22 Wednesday Workshops ............................................................................................................... 22 Park life ....................................................................................................................................... 22 Soak ............................................................................................................................................ 23 Saint Laurence Arms .................................................................................................................... 24 That’s a glimpse of our standard week. Our other activities include: ............................................ 24 Weekends away .......................................................................................................................... 24 Youth Weekend Away at Home ................................................................................................... 26 Soul Survivor ............................................................................................................................... 26 The Noise .................................................................................................................................... 27 Social activities ............................................................................................................................ 28 Bed for the night ......................................................................................................................... 29 Christmas wreath making ............................................................................................................ 29 Coffee workshops ........................................................................................................................ 30 Churches in Reading Drop in Centre ............................................................................................. 30 Schools work ............................................................................................................................... 30 Appendix 1 - Role description .......................................................................................................... 31 Section One: Details of Post ......................................................................................................... 31 Section Two: Context ................................................................................................................... 32 Wider Context ......................................................................................................................... 32 Section Three: Role purpose and key responsibilities ................................................................... 33 General: ................................................................................................................................... 33 Key responsibilities specific to the local situation ..................................................................... 33 Other responsibilities ............................................................................................................... 34 Section Four: Benefice Summary ................................................................................................. 35 Section Five: Key Contacts for the role ......................................................................................... 36 Generic and specific to the role...............................................................................................