Holy Trinity Long Itchington and St Esprit Marton PARISH PROFILE Page 1 of 26 BISHOP’S INTRODUCTION We’ve recently conducted a Diocesan-wide consultation on rural ministry here in the Diocese of Coventry and I am really encouraged by the number of our rural benefices picking up the challenge to adapt and change for more effective ministry and mission in the 21st century. The Feldon Group, as it was previously named, showed particular imagination and tenacity in this process, and their combined creative, forward looking approach to ministry in their contexts is very impressive. Long Itchington (the largest village, with its own Church school) and Marton have continued their historical link to create an excellent opportunity for 0.5 stipendiary, self-supporting or House for Duty incumbency. The other 4 churches have merged together to form a single PCC (The Offchurch Group). This has all been achieved in a friendly manner with minimum fuss! The parishes have some excellent disciples of Jesus Christ who contribute effectively in their parishes and are really looking forward to their new spiritual leader. The parishes lie in a beautiful part of rural Warwickshire, with Royal Leamington Spa and Rugby in close proximity, and Coventry and other towns in easy travelling distance. I warmly commend the post to you. With my prayers Page 2 of 26 DEANERY SUMMARY The Southam deanery is the smallest deanery in the Coventry diocese, currently made up of 18 parishes within a six mile radius of the market town of Southam. Recent structural discussions for our Deanery Plan have resulted in the creating of the new Offchurch Group which combines four of our small rural parishes into one single entity. As a deanery we have a strong focus on mission and collaborative ministry. We have a deanery mission team that organizes evangelistic events under the national Hope banner, that provide high quality occasions we can be confident in inviting non- Christian friends to. We have a deanery prayer meeting in the heart of the deanery, Kingdom Come, where people gather from across the deanery, though in small numbers, to pray for the work of God in our parishes and our deanery focus. There are also a number of deanery Christian exploration and nurture courses that continue to be run, which include Just Looking, Alpha, Discipleship Explored, Lost for Words, and currently Table Talk. We have also streamed lectures from the School of Theology based at St Mellitus College in London, which have been both well-received and stretching! We use one of our local pubs for many of these courses. With only a small number of clergy in the deanery, we try to work together, especially with mission and training, and new clergy appointments to the deanery would be encouraged to add their gifts to this creative mix. As a clergy team, we would not be able to function without strong lay teams around us, and we are looking for ways to develop and strengthen these teams both within individual parishes and deanery- wide. HS2 will have a significant effect on the deanery as a whole, as we lie directly in the path of the planned route. We are also experiencing huge changes with new housing developments in a number of villages and Southam town itself, so working together and supporting each other, as well as developing new leaders and exciting new ideas for growth will become even more important. As a deanery, we have often come up with forward-thinking plans, as the plans for Long Itchington and Marton show, and so it's a creative and stimulating deanery to be a part of. Rev’d Martin Green Area Dean, Southam Deanery Page 3 of 26 BACKGROUND TO POST This post will make an excellent 0.5 Stipendiary, Self-supporting or House for Duty incumbency, being responsible for a medium-sized village with its own Church of England school, and a small additional village. Disciples in both villages are committed and involved. Holy Trinity and St Esprit have been part of the Feldon Group of 6 parishes for 13 years under our previous vicar, the Reverend Tim Britton. For a while, he was assisted by a part-time House for Duty Assistant Priest, who retired in 2012. This post was not replaced. An OLM was also helping but has not been well lately. As the vicar approached retirement, discussions began about succession planning, and there was a growing feeling that the existing configuration of the post (6 separate parishes with 6 PCCs) would not be an attractive proposition for a future incumbent. These discussions were not finalised by the time the vicar retired in March 2015 and discussions have continued since. These discussions began to indicate that 4 of the 6 parishes would prefer to work together rather than in a group of 6. It would be fair to say that Holy Trinity and St Esprit were initially saddened by this approach, as they had felt the group was beginning to work together well. However, as all 6 parishes have separate PCCs with the churches held in plurality, we had no legal recourse to prevent the others following their preference and so eventually, and at first reluctantly, accepted the ‘writing on the wall’. As we have come to terms with this new landscape, we have come to realise more of the positives, as we are indeed lovely village communities and can see the sense of having one person with a priority focus in Long Itchington and Marton without being stretched across 6 villages. The remaining four parishes have formed the Offchurch Group, with one PCC, one ‘main’ church and 3 Chapels of Ease. As both posts will be advertised closely together, we wish it to be known that the initial opposition to this scheme has subsided and we are looking forward to our new future. Relationships with the Offchurch Group are good. Our congregations are increasing. Holy Trinity is gradually growing a small but regular children’s group on a Sunday and a thriving quarterly Messy Church. It has a large Church school with which there are good links but which could be much further improved. Brownies, Guides, and more recently Page 4 of 26 Scouts, Cubs and Beaver packs are in the village, so opportunities to reach younger families are increasing. St Esprit has been developing its All Age service and are delighted that families are regularly attending this service. Over 2012/13 Holy Trinity had to raise £125,000 to repair the church tower. We are privileged and proud to report that within 18 months the village community had raised the total sum and the work has been completed. Similarly in 2013 St Esprit raised £18,000 to put water, toilets and a small kitchen into the church. These are examples of the high regard the church is held within our communities. Members of the congregations are actively involved in a large range of activities and events throughout the villages. We have all felt a little isolated by and through the vacancy but we look forward to a new future with a new priest. Page 5 of 26 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 PERSON SPECIFICATION We welcome candidates who: Have an infectious passion for sharing their Christian faith with people of all ages in our community (and can help us as a congregation get infected too!), with a track record of growth in Christian disciples. Are empowering leaders with experience of developing and training lay leaders and disciples to use their gifts and skills well, in and beyond the life of the church, including within the development of small groups. Have successful experience of linking church with schools in a way which is mutually positive. Wish to be a full and active member of our wider village communities, helping us to deepen our relationships with all aspects of village life. Will love and support us, with all our idiosyncrasies, and be able to laugh with us as we enjoy the future journey together. Page 6 of 26 HOLY TRINITY AND ST ESPRIT IN RELATION TO THE 8 ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF HEALTHY CHURCHES HOLY TRINITY We conducted our Natural Church Development (NCD) survey in the parish in July 2016. Empowering Leadership During the vacancy our congregation have taken on a considerable amount of parish responsibilities, far in excess of what they thought they were capable of! We have increased the number of lay members leading our worship to include at least two services per month when Non-Eucharistic services take place, and this has been enthusiastically received by the congregation. Our Reader has been invaluable in helping with this process. We are now wishing to develop and extend this approach to leadership into all areas of our church life. We have enjoyed this increase in leadership participation, and whilst welcoming a new priest to help give spiritual direction, we do not want to lose the empowering and training of disciples in the church. We would therefore welcome a priest with a track record in empowering and equipping laity in leadership. Gift-Oriented Ministry We try to make use of people’s gifts but we do need to be more intentional about this, including our involvement with the wider village community. Identifying and developing people’s gifts with appropriate processes to help this is not an area we are experienced in, so we will need help with this.