The Parish of Cramlington St Nicholas. in the Diocese of Newcastle. Parish Profile

Transcription

1 The Parish of Cramlington St Nicholas in the Diocese of Newcastle Parish Profile Spring 2016

2 Introduction Cramlington is a vibrant parish, open to both male and female leadership, with extensive active lay involvement in services and mission. Regular services, and Fresh Expressions, thrive in our three worship centres, and we have also seen growth in new, non-traditional church settings. All our recent initiatives are lay led. We see this development of lay leadership as a model for growth. We work extensively in the local schools, including our own church school, Cragside Primary School. Our Food Bank supports about a dozen families each week and we see partnership with the town council and business community as crucial to deeper engagement in the life of the town. We are seeking a Rector who will: lead a team of ordained and lay leaders lead us in growing the Kingdom of God in Cramlington develop and support lay leaders in the parish be comfortable with, and supportive of, the wide range of styles of worship work with our team to facilitate and enable a wide range of activity. For more information on the Team Rector vacancy, and to view this document on line, go to: 1

3 The Town Cramlington is a town of about 30,000 people with a demographic younger than the county average. Its location in south east Northumberland puts it ten miles from the busy city of Newcastle, 20 minutes from Newcastle airport, a fourmile cycle ride from the coast, and easy access by road to rural Northumberland. The county is steeped in Christian heritage, has more castles than any other English county, Hadrian s Wall, Kielder Water (the largest man-made lake in Europe), Kielder Forest and the Cheviot Hills. It has to be one of the best parts of the country and a great place for families to thrive. The town has a wide range of amenities: a shopping centre with supermarkets and large national retailers, a cinema, and a recently refurbished leisure centre. There are good local schools, a newly-built emergency hospital, and an excellent cycle path network. For more general information on Cramlington go to: For a detailed statistical description of the town, go to The Parish Cramlington St. Nicholas is an Anglican parish offering a wide variety of worship in three centres: St. Nicholas Church in the old village, St. Andrew s in the Beaconhill Community Centre and St. Peter s in Northburn School. There is Sunday morning worship in all three centres of worship, and a midweek Wednesday service at St. Nicholas ; St. Peter s and St. Andrew s are lay led. There are many other opportunities for worship, including: Little Fishes - a pre-school church that meets each week Prayer and Praise meets monthly Morning Prayer Messy Church - for families meets monthly On Your Marks - for young people - meets monthly, at Beaconhill Community Centre Four o clock Church - meets twice a month Café Church monthly at St Peter s For more information about our expressions of worship, go to: 2

4 The Team Team Vicar: This is a full time stipendiary post, based at St. Nicholas but working across the parish. OLM: We have an experienced OLM, who works across the parish. Curate: Until recently we had a stipendiary Curate. When the new Rector is in post we would intend to provide the opportunity to train another, taking advantage of the wide variety of expressions of church available in the parish. Readers: There are two licensed Readers active in the parish. We have one Reader in training and a Reader Emeritus who is willing to assist as necessary. Youth Worker: We are in the process of recruiting our next paid Youth Worker who will work with our groups and in schools. Lay Leaders: We are blessed with a great team of lay leaders, who lead St. Peter s Church, St Andrew s Church, Messy Church, On Your Marks, Four o clock Church, Little Fishes and our ministries to care homes and schools. PCC, Wardens and Standing Committee: The clergy team meet with the Wardens regularly and as a part of the Standing Committee before each PCC meeting. Prayer Ministry Team: There is a trained team of people offering prayer ministry during the St Nicholas Church family service and at other times by arrangement with the clergy. Music: There are organists, pianists, instrumentalists, singers, and skilled and experienced worship leaders throughout the parish. There is a rich mix of contemporary and traditional worship music. St Nicholas Church has an active bell tower, and a team of bell ringers.. An army of volunteers! Home Group Leaders and their Co-ordinator, Weddings Co-ordinator, Baptism Visitors and their Co-ordinator, Bereavement Support Team, Hospitality Team, Pastoral Visitors, Administrative Support, Children s and Youth Workers, Schools Ministry Team, Lesson Readers, Intercessors, Eucharistic Assistants and many, many more. Buildings In 2018, St. Nicholas Church will be 150 years old. It has been extensively reordered over the last five years with new heating, flooring, seating, and sound systems installed. A substantial legacy helps to keep the fabric of the traditional building maintained and there are minor ongoing areas of work. It is a noteworthy example of Victorian architecture, with some stained glass windows of historical interest. 3

5 The parish centre, which is connected to St Nicholas church, is used extensively during the week by church and non-church groups, the latter generating some income, and extending our engagement with the local community. St. Andrew s meets in Beaconhill Community Centre. A rent is paid which gives us the whole centre on a Sunday morning and it is warm, well-lit and has plenty of space. The church plays a strong role in the Community Association and has church members on the Association s committee. St. Peter s rents Northburn School hall for Sunday mornings; the Church has a very strong and positive relationship with the school community. As well as the Parish Centre, there are two further parish meeting rooms, Twyford which is next to the Rectory and Cateran which is attached to the Vicarage. The Rectory, at 33 Twyford Close, NE23 1PH, is a brickbuilt detached house with four bedrooms, about ten minutes walk from St Nicholas church. It has a large study with its own storage room, a detached garage and a manageable garden. 4

6 Mission In late 2012 the PCC spent a day of prayer and reflection on the future structure of mission in the parish. This resulted in a number of actions, some questions for us to continue to reflect on, and a structure for growing the Kingdom of God in our town. The key actions were: to develop the parish as a network of worshipping communities to identify and nurture group leaders to develop church in the community and ensure that our faith is outward looking. We challenged ourselves to reflect on how we encourage young people and families, how to improve communication across the parish, and finally to try and understand what church is, and how we see fresh expressions of church. Since then the PCC has been working towards growing a network of worshipping communities, and all clearly see themselves as being a part of the parish. To develop this further, the PCC worked with the Diocesan Missioner to produce a mission strategy; a copy of it can be found at: Several years on, we have achieved many of the aims of our strategy for mission, yet much work remains to be done. We are in the process of re-writing our parish mission statement and our search for God s vision for the Parish is rooted in prayer and worship. We look forward to our new Team Rector joining us on this journey of faith. In the meantime our aim is to make new friends for Jesus by taking the Good News of hope, freedom and healing into every part of Cramlington. We re going to do this by encouraging every member of the church to be a daily visible witness to God s saving love through action and care within the community, to be prepared to give it a go and be willing to try out new ventures. 5

7 Community Engagement Our Food Bank and hospitality team are at the forefront of our service to the community. The hospitality team runs our monthly café, Heavenly Delights, which serves inexpensive food; and is not only entirely self-sustaining, but also raises money for charities. The hospitality team also caters for other church functions and events such as Messy Church. Our Food Bank operates entirely from donations of food and money. The parish has developed a good relationship with our local Costa Coffee, and has begun to run meetings and study groups in it. There is an active men s fellowship group that meets in a local pub. During the week there are many other church groups meeting including youth groups, book, knitting and craft clubs, and flower arranging. For several years the church has run a holiday club during one week of the school summer holidays. Children and Young People Each Sunday there is children s ministry available, and on the first Sunday of each month St. Peter s runs a Café Church. Each month we have a Messy Church at St. Nicholas, with around 70 people participating on a Saturday morning. Once a month On Your Marks, a youth group for primary aged children from across the Parish based around Bible teaching, sports and crafts, meets in Beaconhill Community Centre. Every Sunday evening there is a relaxed home group for teenagers, and on alternate Monday evenings there is a youth group for pre-teens. Little Fishes is a pre-school church that meets in St. Nicholas on Monday mornings in term time, and introduces children to Jesus through play, songs, stories, and craft activities. 6

8 Average numbers for services St. Nicholas Church 0800 Sunday Sunday Wednesday 17 Messy Church 70 Little Fishes 26 Prayer & Praise 30 Four o clock Church 44 St. Peter s Church 1030 Sunday 22 Café Church 37 St. Andrew s Church 1030 Sunday 26 Challenges and Opportunities The town is growing rapidly and a further 1600 homes are planned for the next couple of years. We have a much younger population than the county average, and a lot of families with young children. We need to make Christ relevant to the people of Cramlington. For our Team Rector, we need a person who. is personally guided by a deep faith in Christ shows integrity and a commitment to both personal and corporate prayer is comfortable leading worship across the very varied Anglican traditions of our parish is a pastor who is caring, compassionate and able to relate to people at every stage of their personal faith journey is gifted at preaching and teaching the Scriptures is a leader with vision, who will inspire us. Cramlington, Spring