Sherington, Chicheley, Astwood and North Crawley Parish Profile The Best of Country Living, with the Attractions of a Market Town 2016 1 Foreword by The Reverend Claire Wood Area Dean “This post forms part of an exciting wider approach within our deanery to grow and share our faith and ministry in our evolving and expanding communities. As an initial three year appointment this post provides the opportunity for the parish and the priest to work with the local communities to develop and take forward our mission focused hopes and priorities. With a strong sense of common purpose the churches of SCAN parish have continued to develop and grow, building on very strong links with their local communities, and their members provide the mainstay of many public groups and parish councils. New opportunities are now presented by the expansion and development of the local area and its link with the market town of Newport Pagnell. The priest will be required to develop new ministries with families, children and young people, particularly in the new housing developments and opportunities recently created. The priest joining this parish must hold the balance of existing events, services and groups alongside the opportunity to develop and grow the existing and new members of the church family in deeper faith. Located on the fringe of the Borough of Milton Keynes, SCAN parish provides a wonderful combination of idyllic village communal life with ready access to the bustle of a larger town and its wider facilities. I commend this opportunity to you.” 2 Who We Are SCAN The SCAN Parish lies within the Newport Deanery, at the Northern tip of the Oxford Diocese. Our vision is to be a growing church, which, by God’s grace, serves the whole community You can read our active Parish website at “www.scanparish.org.uk/” With three active churches, our parish serves the attractive villages of Sherington, Chicheley, Astwood, North Crawley and the hamlet of Hardmead. The parish has a strong rural foundation, with much of its land providing homes to thriving farms. The parish is located within easy reach of the towns of Milton Keynes, Northampton and Bedford, with major rail networks from all of them. The nearby M1 provides good links to major road networks, the Oxford/Cambridge express bus route passes through the parish. Wider community links and shared areas of ministry with the local market town of Newport Pagnell form part of the SCAN parish activities, including that of schools. 3 We are praying for someone who can Help encourage and lead us in our vision, and believe that God will provide someone with the gifts required, including the ability to: • Enjoy and embrace the life of the parish by developing and deepening the relationship between church and the whole community • Strengthen and develop the work of the young people in our churches and communities • Lead pioneering mission across the parishes of SCAN and Newport Pagnell, focusing on ministry to all ages, particularly to families, children and youth. • Be a visible presence in all our villages • Lead and share a broad range of acts of worship. • Be flexible, imaginative and capable of challenging our thinking, whilst being sensitive to established local traditions. • Empower growth in the existing lay participation in ministry. The SCAN Priest in Charge will work closely with The Reverend Nick Evans, Rector of Newport Pagnell, on a peer-to-peer basis for 1.5 days per week. The focus of which will be to pioneer and develop new links and communities with the families and children in the Newport Pagnell Benefice. We are seeking someone with imagination, creativity, a sense of fun, a heart for families and the “unchurched”. They will be part of a leadership team which helps people to see that God and the church are relevant in their lives. Increasing the pastoral links between SCAN and Newport Pagnell will increase ministry opportunities as part of our wider mission. More details are shown in the person specification shown in Appendix 1. 4 Meet the team MINISTERIAL COLLEAGUES The Reverend Pam Fielding is a former language teacher, and has gifts for pastoral care and amateur dramatics! She was a Licensed Lay Minister for some 10 years, before her call to ordination. She was ordained Deacon in 2010 and Priest in 2011. Following a bewildering change of titles she now has a licence as self-supporting, part-time associate Priest. Professor John Fielding, is married to Pam, and has been a Licensed Lay Minister for almost 30 years. He is an Emeritus Professor in Aeronautical Engineering at nearby Cranfield University, and lectures there, part-time. His principal ministry is preaching and co-leading the Something Different Services and the Soup Lunch fellowship group. The Reverend Robert Penman is a former Army Chaplain and Vicar, who has ‘Permission to Officiate’. He and his wife are active members of the congregation, and he undertakes Occasional Offices, as well as occasional regular services, both in the parish, and the Deanery. The Reverend Nick Evans is Rector of Newport Pagnell and says: “I have been here since the summer 2015 and have previously ministered in the Hereford, London, Guildford and Birmingham Dioceses. I also spent time as a full time army chaplain, am married and have two dogs. I enjoy working with people who have a good sense of humour and I am a keen Aston Villa football fan!” 5 What we offer FURTHER SUPPORT: •An active ministry team, including the ministers and active and engaged laity •Administrative support •A PCC fees administrator •3 part-time organists (the main one being a volunteer) SUPPORTIVE RESOURCES: •Encouragement to maintain a sustainable ministry, including days off, holidays, retreats, opportunities for learning and development, adequate time for family life, friendship and recreation. •Financial support for ministerial development. •Shared commitment to meeting the challenges identified. •Prayer, friendship and fellowship. THE RECTORY The five bedroom rectory is next to Sherington C of E School (infants), around 400m from St Laud’s Church. It is a 1960s building with a 1970s extension, and includes a large, sunny sitting room, with windows on three sides and an open fire, a separate dining room, kitchen with separate utility room, a good sized study, with plenty of shelving, a downstairs cloakroom and single garage. Upstairs, there are five bedrooms, a family bathroom, additional separate bathroom, and an extra toilet. Heating is by gas fired boiler. The large garden wraps around the house, and is mainly laid to lawn. Previous incumbents have found it gave them lots of space to grow fruit and vegetables, and there are several mature fruit trees and herbaceous borders. 6 Our community HOW WE SERVE OUR COMMUNITIES Our church members are firmly embedded in all our village communities. Many were born here, or have lived here for decades. Strong relationships exist with the village church schools, with members acting as Governors. We lead or participate in and support the many active clubs and societies and provide facilities for our villagers, as shown in appendix 2. In Chicheley there is a strong correlation between the membership of both the Parish Meeting and the District Church Council. Our church buildings also fulfil a critical role in hosting key community events throughout the year. OUR SCHOOLS Sherington CE School (Infants) has recently been assessed by SIAMS as “Outstanding” and by OFSTED as “Good” with outstanding behaviour and safeguarding. It is currently attended by some 32 children, and is federated with St. Andrew’s C of E School in Great Linford. There is a thriving, independently run pre-school. There have been several joint school/church services held over the last few years. North Crawley CE School (Infants) has 35 pupils. Both recent SIAMS and Ofsted inspections rated the school as “Outstanding”. It is federated with the C of E school in Stoke Goldington (Infants), and they share a head teacher. Our children move up to very good junior schools in Newport Pagnell, Olney and Bedford 7 OUR BLESSINGS We are a strongly united Parish, sharing love, resources and each other villages’ services and activities. Our volunteers do church cleaning, bell-ringing, open churches, provide flowers and help with minor maintenance, alongside supporting and leading worship. The dedicated Sherington church team is keeping services running in the absence of Church Wardens. The new Songs of Praise services are lay-led. Our robed choir of some eight adults sing at all Communion services, in our three active churches. We are witnessing a growing demand for baptism, weddings and our youth group, and family services reflect this. Our “ Something Different" services have healthy all-age membership. COMMUNITY FINANCIAL SUPPORT Our beautiful and accessible church buildings act as sanctuaries in challenging times, and we have the responsibility for the upkeep of these ancient buildings. North Crawley and Chicheley churches both appear in “England’s thousand best churches”, by Simon Jenkins. Recent initiatives are greatly reducing the burden of maintaining our beautiful buildings. The Friends of St Firmin’s is now up and running in North Crawley and has already raised more than £9000 for fabric improvements (not all ‘friends’ are church members). A Friends of St. Laud’s group is being formed in Sherington and the Easson Trust charity supports St.Lawrence’s church in Chicheley. 8 MISSION AND GROWTH It is expected that SCAN Parish Priest-in-charge will be a full time priest living in the Rectory at Sherington, with the remaining ¼ of their time in Newport Pagnell. For this part of the week you will have the exciting opportunity to minister in the busy town of Newport Pagnell, because many people in the area use this town centre for work and shopping.