PARISH PROFILE Looking for an open door? Read on…. 1 BISHOP’S INTRODUCTION If you are looking for an opportunity to work with an ‘open’ group of people and churches, the Arden Marches group, located around the large ‘village’ (more like a small town with its 6,000 residents) of Studley in the west of the Diocese, has long been an example of positive creativity and spiritual life, with excellent relationships among them and with the Diocese as a whole. They are a great group of people! This post provides a large population base in Studley, with smaller but equally valued communities around it. Like other posts emerging in the Diocese at this time, the Rector of Studley and the Arden Marches will be ministering in the context of the wider Diocesan commitment to think imaginatively and creatively about how best to approach mission and ministry in village contexts. I hope the new priest-leader of this Group will have a key contribution to these consultations and the actions that will follow, as the Arden Marches Group have much to offer from which others can learn, with their track record of working together for many years and their well-developed lay ministry. Indeed, they have in the interregnum already decided to start the process towards creating only one PCC for the group. That perhaps gives an indication of their commitment and quality of relationships in working together. The Diocese of Coventry is a forward-thinking Diocese, which encourages innovation and imagination. We welcome applicants who are ready to join in this creative engagement in opening doors for the gospel, and in seeking to grow healthy church communities that worship God more fully, make more new disciples and transform their communities more effectively. We hope that the combination of ministering in both large and small village contexts, with good lay people, will be an attractive prospect, and I commend the post to you. With my prayers Page 2 of 23 2 DEANERY SUMMARY Our Deanery is situated in rural Warwickshire and has a vision for ministry built upon the diocesan priorities to worship God, make new disciples and transform communities. The Deanery has over 20 churches, mostly rural. Alcester, Studley, Bidford and Henley are the largest population centres. We currently have a planned deployment of 6 full- time clergy, and 3 House for Duty priests, supported by many helpful and valued retired clergy who have retired to this area. Of these, we are currently recruiting for 1 full-time (Studley and Arden Marches) and 1 House-for-Duty (Heart of England Group/Salford Priors). The Parishes cover almost all Anglican traditions (except Ebbsfleet), and the Chapter as a whole is broadly Central and/or Evangelical. The Chapter is supportive and helpful, with good relationships, and provides valuable opportunities for sharing faith, prayer and fellowship as well as growing a common heart for mission and learning. A very warm welcome awaits from the Alcester Deanery for the person God sends to join us as Rector of Studley and the Arden Marches group! The Right Reverend Christopher Morgan (Retired) Acting Area Dean Alcester Deanery Page 3 of 23 3 BACKGROUND TO POST We would like the opportunity for a new priest, who may or may not already have incumbency experience, to have an ‘open door’. We are a friendly and welcoming group of people, who are open to new ideas and change, and open and keen to do God’s will. We do not want to just ‘stay open’, but to be open…..in the fullest sense of that word: open to God, open to our communities, open to the new changes and challenges which face us if we want to grow, open to differences in ages and backgrounds of people who wish to worship with us, open to different styles of worship, wanting people to open the doors of their hearts and lives to Jesus, and open to working with new ideas brought by new leadership. We like to think that people are ‘free to fail’ here, as they try new things, and are supported by a loving and humorous community. We would hope that we would apply the same principle to our next Rector, which is why this post may be suitable for first- time as well as experienced incumbent applicants. This vacancy arose as our previous Rector, after a period of ill-health, sadly took early retirement in February 2017. We have however picked ourselves up, and are moving forwards. Indeed, the Arden Marches group of 2 parishes and 4 churches have been working so well together that we have just initiated conversations with the Diocese to investigate the benefits of a Pastoral Scheme that would bring both parishes into one single parish with one PCC. The Arden Marches group is effectively a very large village (Studley is more like a town but is still referred to as a village) with smaller (and more affluent) rural communities around it. Studley grew through the needle industry, and other light industries. It has much more of a mixed residential community than many Warwickshire villages. This includes the need for some social action projects. The outlying villages feel much more rural, (with one church still having no electricity or water!) but all of which receive strong support from the small residential communities around them, as well as favourable comments from visitors to the area who love the peace and tranquillity and ‘thin space’ to God that they find within them. We hope that if you are drawn to an ‘open door’ ministry, and have a sense of fun, that God will open the door to this opportunity for you! Page 4 of 23 4 ROLE SPECIFICATION The role of this post is to lead the churches in fulfilling the Diocesan Mission Purpose of: Worshipping God Making New Disciples Transforming Communities. This will be achieved by developing 8 essential qualities in the life of the church: Empowering Leadership Gift-oriented Ministry Passionate Spirituality Inspiring Worship Holistic Small Groups Need-oriented Outreach Loving Relationships Functional Structures 5 PERSON SPECIFICATION We are looking for an innovative, open evangelical, with a sense of fun, who can: Open doors! Open doors to God. Open the doors of people’s hearts to Jesus. Open doors to the communities we serve. Inspire us in our relationship with Jesus, and help us to inspire others in our communities who do not yet know Him into a relationship with Him too, including young people and children. Lead our already friendly parishes into a unifying and exciting vision, which will include innovative approaches to mission and ministry. This includes creative solutions to the governance , mission and ministry strategy for the whole group. Value and develop: Lay leadership. Differing approaches to worship, which include the modern and traditional. Community engagement and social action. Page 5 of 23 6 ARDEN MARCHES CHURCHES: THE DIOCESAN MISSION PURPOSE AND 8 ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF HEALTHY CHURCHES As stated above, the Mission Purpose of the Diocese of Coventry is: Worshipping God Making New Disciples Transforming Communities. Arden Marches is fully committed to fulfilling these three purposes. We believe that we will achieve this by developing 8 Essential Qualities in the life of the churches. This section gives a summary of our strengths and weaknesses across the 8 Essential Qualities in relation to all of our churches. The last survey was taken in February 2017. 6.1 EMPOWERING LEADERSHIP We have good lay leadership. The number of people for example who share in the organisation of the church in leading services and preaching, and in running various groups and initiatives, is impressive for a church of our size. We think we probably ‘punch above our weight’. As well as six Lay Readers, well over 20 other people take a regular and active part in preparing and delivering services across our four churches. We need to develop the lay leadership life of the church beyond services though, and also provide more support and training for leaders generally. Our governance leadership could also be better at explaining things to the congregations. We are exploring the steps towards becoming one PCC to enable a clearer leadership platform for future vision and ministry. Although there is much lay leadership, we are actually feeling a bit weary now! It’s been a long time without ordained leadership and it is starting to impact on our energy and enthusiasm! Lay-led CentrePoint Service Page 6 of 23 6.2 GIFT-ORIENTED MINISTRY This is another one of our strengths, as we continue to encourage all church members to share and make use of their individual gifts for the benefit of the whole church. A Healing Prayer Course at Mappleborough brought more people into the team, and we are planning to run a training course to identify and encourage those who may wish to lead services or intercessions, or to preach. 6.3 PASSIONATE SPIRITUALITY This is one of our weaker qualities. On the whole, it looks as if people do not read the Bible on their own, and also need their faith generally building up, including expecting God to do more in our churches in the future. We also find that ‘keeping the show on the road’ in terms of finances, safeguarding requirements, insurances, buildings etc can sap spiritual energy. We have a Prayer Ministry team at each of the two main churches, but prayer and prayer ministry generally does not yet form an integrated part of the life of the congregation or of the small groups. There is scope for development here. 'The Ascension' Sculpture, MG 6.4 INSPIRING WORSHIP The length of illness of the previous incumbent, followed by our interregnum, has stretched us across our four churches, but we have managed to keep all but a few services going.