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Churches
Together in Norton –
Sue Matthews
Churches Together in Norton Group is formed from representatives of
the following churches:
Baptist Church (Norton)
Christ Church Mission
International
City Church at the Destiny Centre
Religious Society of Friends
Saint Joseph’s
Saint Mary’s
Methodist Church (Norton)
Saint Michael’s
The group meets about six times a
year and since the death of Tom Parkin, was chaired until May 2007
by Nina Gwilliam from the Religious Society of Friends, who also
acted as group secretary for a number of years. It had been
difficult to find a replacement for Tom so Nina managed both roles
until she retired after the A.G.M. in May 2007.After Nina’s
retirement it was agreed that the chair responsibility would rotate
around the various representatives on a per meeting basis. Claire
Graham from the Religious Society of Friends has adopted the role of
secretary to the group.
One
purpose of the group is to provide an interchange for information
and activities for the member churches; it also provides a channel
for greater understanding of the different denominations and their
ethos and enables co-operation in the organisation of joint services
and celebrations of the Christian calendar. The data and minutes
gathered by the representatives is fed back to individual churches
through their governing bodies e.g. St.Mary`s P.C.C.
Some of
the work undertaken by the group during the last year is as follows.
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The
production of a joint Christmas card and timetable of Christmas
services.
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Carols on The Green, organised in 2007 by the International City
Church at the Destiny Centre
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One
World week services.
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Lent programmes
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Good Friday and Easter services
-
Guest Speakers at different churches.
It is
important that the role of representative from St.Mary`s to C.T.I.N.
is maintained and anyone who is interested in fulfilling this
position should speak to Norman.
Locality –
Charles Porter
The
Locality of the Epiphany embraces St Chad, St James, St John, St
Mary and St Michael. A Locality Council, comprised of all clergy
plus lay representatives of all the various churches, acts in an
organisational and co-ordinating capacity. It also undertakes the
arrangements for locality events.
During
2007 the council met on 5 occasions. At the first meeting of the
year, held during February at St Michael’s, note was taken of the
arrangements for Holy Week in each of the parishes of the locality.
There was discussion about shared ministry with agreement to carry
out further exploration of the subject and dates were agreed for
shared worship. Information was given about the plans for St
James’s, Hardwick to re-locate to St Andrew’s Methodist Church if,
as came to pass, the English Martyrs Roman Catholic Church, which
accommodated the congregation of St James, was closed.
There
was discussion about the arrangements to provide clergy support for
St John and St James during their vacancies.
The
April meeting was held at St Chad’s and members were notified of the
appointment of the Reverend Jane Bell as priest in charge of St
John’s and St James. The first shared worship event was confirmed
for 10th June at St Michael’s to be followed by a picnic
and an evening karaoke to raise funds for the St Michael’s Youth
Pilgrimage to Walsingham.
Consideration of shared ministry continued with a consensus that
local ordained ministers should work across the entire locality. The
forthcoming sabbatical of Elizabeth Walker, in the autumn, was
noted. The meeting also reviewed the development and the potential
for use of church buildings by the community. St Michael’s had begun
the process of planning for a new building, whilst St Chad’s was
providing a meeting place for a variety of community groups. Its
parish community gave information about the use of St Mary’s Parish
Hall.
In July
the Council met at St Mary’s. The meeting was informed of the parish
development review at St Mary’s and that Barbara Sherlock was to
move south. Other churches reported on their activities. St Chad’s
felt that its Youth Café was going well whilst St John’s and St
James were pleased to have Jane Bell as their priest in charge. St
Michael’s reported that a member of its congregation had been
appointed as an authorised pastoral assistant as had a member of St
John’s. Arrangements for the next locality service, on 21st
October, with Bishop Tom present were discussed and a group
comprising members of each church was formed to co-ordinate the
event. It was noted that Chris Pearson would be authorised at the
service with the title of Locality Missioner. The meeting also
discussed the shortfall in Stockton Deanery in parish share. Whilst
recognising that very often meeting the share means that a parish
must forgo something else that is seen as essential it was
emphasised that the share pays for ministry and clergy which will be
reduced if funds are not available to pay for them. The meeting
discussed how to make the most effective use of clergy across the
locality.
The
subject was raised again at the meeting of Locality Council in
September, held at St John’s. With Barbara Sherlock gone and
Elizabeth Walker on sabbatical leave there was recognition that, if
clergy were to be able to be available across the locality, it would
be necessary to look at service times and avoid clashes. St
Michael’s was consulting on the concept of altering its Sunday
morning service time so that Father Damon could be available to
another parish during the morning.
Chris
Pearson described the role of Locality Missioner and the concepts of
Pioneer Ministry. Part of the role was to look for “Fresh
Expressions of Church” and to develop and nurture them.
Thee
meeting returned to the issue of the share and explored ways in
which the locality could reach its overall total.
Arrangements for the locality service were concluded.
The
final meeting of 2007 was in November at St Mary’s.
St
Michael’s reported that following its consultation the Sunday
morning service time had been changed whilst St Mary’s gave details
of its “Darkness to Light” Advent theme. The locality share was
discussed and several of the member churches promised an increase
beyond that already committed, as a contribution to eliminating the
locality deficit. Although that reduced the deficit it did not
entirely eliminate it.
Looking
over the year as a whole it seems to be one in which the locality
gained strength and purpose. Individuals within the Council are
becoming used to working together and are looking increasingly at
facilities, opportunities, talents and potentials on a locality
basis. There is a vast difference in resources between the various
churches of the locality but the smaller churches offer much in
terms of commitment and talents. In particular, the locality acted
in co-ordination to support and enable the clergy during a year when
there was much change in clergy with periods of vacancy in parishes,
the completion of the curacy of Barbara Sherlock and her moving away
plus the sabbatical of the Reverend Elizabeth Walker.
Pioneer Ministry - Chris Pearson
The
church is looking for new ways of expressing its life and ministry
in a changing world. Some are trying new styles of service, such as
St Mary’s is doing with 1@11. Others are
working, for example, with café style of church, church in pubs or
shops, or contemporary contemplatives engaging with what has been
called “new monasticism”. A common feature of many of these very
diverse initiatives is a sense of the vital importance of mission.
That means finding ways of living and communicating the gospel that
not only fit with the likes and dislikes of members but crucially
connect effectively with others in society outside the traditional
boundaries of church.
The
Church of England has joined together with the Methodist Church to
recognise and support this kind of work under the banner “Fresh
Expressions”. As part of its support the church is recognising some
of its ministers as having a particular emphasis on “Pioneer
Ministry” in helping Fresh Expressions to develop.
I am one of the first ordinands in the Church of
England to have been selected to train with a particular view to
becoming an Ordained Pioneer Minister. It is a very exciting, if
challenging, initiative which has the backing of the Archbishop of
Canterbury. In October 2007 I was invited to Lambeth Palace along
with the others in this first group of Pioneer Ministers to meet
Archbishop Rowan and compare experiences.
I have been licensed to
work across the Epiphany Locality and I am currently engaged on a
lengthy exercise of looking at just how any Fresh Expression might
be effective in Norton and North Stockton. It is vitally important
that there is no fixed blueprint for that. A huge element of the
work is about exploring culture and finding out what people find
helpful. It is five parts listening to every one part thinking and
planning. I hope to keep the St Mary’s congregation up to date as
ideas develop. Meanwhile I am really grateful for all the
encouragement and support I have received.
Missionary Giving - Chris Pearson
The
group was constituted to make proposals as to how best the church
could support mission with the initial emphasis on financial
support. I was asked to chair the group and Ken Baker volunteered to
serve on it. The initial proposals have been produced by the two of
us although it would be good if others were willing to serve on the
group as it develops its work further. Taking the St Mary’s vision
statement as our inspiration we considered mission under four
headings: Welcome, Hospitality, Participation and Care. For each
area we looked at how that could be expressed towards local people
and also towards the wider world. We also set out seven principles
that could be applied to deciding how each area of mission could be
supported. This work now needs to be carried on to the next stage of
proposing specific actions.
Meanwhile, decisions were made by PCC on how to
direct missionary giving out of the 2007 budget based on principles
that had been applied earlier. A number of commitments were ongoing
in any case. The following support was given on this basis in 2007:
USPG
for work in Malawi £1,000
Durham
Family Welfare £500
Durham-Lesotho Link £500
Just
10 £500
Stockton Hope £500
A copy
of the initial documents are available from me on request.
Deanery Synod – Val
Swansbury
We have
met five times during the year. Below are brief notes on the
meetings and the items discussed in what has been a thought
provoking year for the deanery synod when parishes had to make some
hard decisions.
Deanery Synod 25 June 2007 at St. Chad’s, Roseworth
The
future of youth workers in the deanery was discussed together with
the links with other churches and the work done by them. The initial
planning for the Just 10 event that was taking place in April for
ten weeks in the grounds of Preston Park was discussed. Pioneer
Ministry was discussed following Chris Pearson’s appointment to work
in the north of the deanery after completion of his training.
Deanery Synod 24 September 2007 at Bishopton/Redmarshall C of E
School
There
was a presentation by Archdeacon Nick Barker giving an overview of
“Growing the Kingdom”. The Pastoral Committee’s plans for a
“dreaming day” together with Standing Committee were discussed.
Plans were made for the January visit to the deanery by a group of
young people from Lesotho.
Deanery Synod 26 November 2007 at St Mary Magdalene, Billingham
Mission
– Shaped Spirituality for a Mission-shaped church – Rod Allon-Smith
spoke on this topic. Deanery plan four strands – Mission, Finance,
Building and Ministry. He talked about Growing the Kingdom and
Fresh Expressions. He said that he was available to come to talk
and help parishes. Wynyard Hall Chapel is now taking bookings for
weddings and reception available in the hall. Derek Rosamund’s
report on his work done since his appointment in September 2004 was
discussed. Diocesan Report from Alison Borer discussed, in
particular “Sowing the Seed” and leaflets concerning the Urban Aid
Fund distributed.
A service to celebrate St James
moving into St Andrews was held on 16 December.
Due to
internal issues it was reported that Stockton Parish PCC except for
one member (churchwarden) had resigned. However, they were still
being supportive and helpful for any events planned at the church.
A PCC
rural parish’s workshop was held to discuss the way forward for St
Mary Magdalene, Billingham.
Deanery
Planning Process – Dreaming Day 10/11/07 looked to the future of
Stockton in 2020 – many ideas were discussed.
Finance
& Parish Share – Eric Hall had nothing further to report except that
there should be 100% pledge for the share to be paid by each parish.
Deanery
Synod 21 January 2008 at Stockton Parish Church
The
licensing of Alan Farish took place at Stockton Parish Church on 14
January.
This
was a very emotional meeting with Meg Gilley from St. Mark’s
describing the financial difficulties faced by her church which
meant that it would be closing in April and the congregation would
be uniting with Holy Trinity. In groups we discussed how we imagined
what the deanery would be like in the year 2020. Due to the
population changes and other trends the planning would need to start
now to discuss the way forward for parishes.
Deanery
Planning Day 1 March 2008 at All Saints
A whole
day was spent discussing the possibilities available to the deanery
to survive in 2020 representatives attended from all parishes in the
deanery together with the Bishop of Jarrow.
Next
meeting
31
March at St Mark’s School which will commemorate the closure of St
Mark’s Church and the new beginning with the congregation preparing
for the future as they join with Holy Trinity.
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