450 Beehive Lane. Chelmsford CM2 8RN. 11 December Dear Deanery Synod Member or PCC Secretary,

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1 450 Beehive Lane Chelmsford CM2 8RN December 2010 Dear Deanery Synod Member or PCC Secretary, The process of forming pastoral communities to replace our present pastoral units continues. We have great pleasure in attaching the mini-profiles sent to us so far. Based on the information in them, each PCC may wish to make contact with other PCCs to explore the possibility of an alliance that helps each church build on their strengths and get help with their weaknesses. Other mini-profiles will be forwarded to you as they are ready; of course, you could still contact PCCs even without their mini-profiles in front of you. And if your parish chooses to approach a parish or parishes outside the deanery, you can count on us to be supportive of yourselves in the negotiations. By mid-late February 2011, we hope this process will be complete, and our summer synod will be a commissioning and celebration of our newly-formed pastoral communities. With best wishes, Andy Griffiths, Rural Dean, on behalf of the leadership team.

2 Chelmsford South Deanery: Responses to Toolkit for Parishes Building Pastoral Communities At the Deanery Synod held on 7 October 2010, it was agreed to form new flat pastoral communities in place of our present pastoral units. This tool-kit is aimed - at helping your parish make decisions as to whether it is a pastoral community on its own, or whether it needs to join with others. - at providing a mini-profile to assist other PCCs to see whether they should ally themselves with you. Of course, there is no reason why existing pastoral units should not simply become pastoral communities if each parish so chooses. This is why, in section A below, we have listed for your information the other parishes you are presently linked with. Based on the information below, each PCC may wish to make contact with other PCCs to explore the possibility of an alliance. By mid-late February 2011, we hope this process will be complete, and our summer synod will be a commissioning and celebration of our newly-formed pastoral communities. Section A: Your present pastoral unit: St. John the Evangelist Moulsham St. Michael and All Angels Galleywood St. Luke Moulsham St. Mary Great Baddow St. Mary Widford St. Paul Great Baddow St. John Baptist Danbury Meadgate Great Baddow All Saints East St. Margaret Downham Holy Trinity South Woodham Ferrers St. Peter South St. Mary and St. Andrew Woodham Ferrers and Bicknacre All Saints Stock Harvard St. Andrew Boreham St. Mary & St. Edward West St. Mary Virgin Little Baddow St. Mary the Virgin Ramsden Bellhouse St. Andrew Sandon

3 Section B: Strengths and needs. Parish St. John, Danbury All Saints, East Holy Trinity, South Woodham Ferrers St. Andrew, Boreham St. Mary Virgin, Little Baddow St. Andrew, Sandon Yes Part No Yes Part No Yes Part No Part No Yes Partial No Yes Part No 1. Regular public worship X Yes Y X Xxxxxxxxxxx Y 2. Evangelism as a clear priority 3. Collaborative ministry uniting visionary leaders, speaking prophetic truth to power, evangelists, pastoral carers, and teachers. 4. Teaching, preaching, training, nurture, growth, and lifelong learning for adult disciples 5. Teaching, training, nurture, and growth for children and young people 6. Involvement in and service to the local community, with a particular care expressed for the poor, after the example of Jesus Christ 7. Effective pastoral care available to all 8. Being partners in mission with other groups/churches inside & outside the Diocese 9. The provision of appropriate and realistically sustainable buildings 10. The necessary administration to support this work X yes Y X x Xxxxxxxxx x Y We believe we have collaborative ministry, but we do not recognise all the terms used here yes Y X x xxxxxx??? X yes Y X xxxx Xxxxxxx Y Yes to Collaborative ministry X yes Y X xxxxxxx Xxxx Y X yes Y X xxxx xxxxx x Y X yes Y X xxxx xxxxxxx? Y X yes Y X xxxxxxxxx x x Y X yes Y X xxxxxxxx xxx Y X yes Y X xxxxxxxxx xx Y

4 Parish St. John, Moulsham St. Luke, Moulsham St. Mary, Widford St. Peter, South All Saints, Stock Harvard Yes Part No Yes Partial No Yes Partial No Yes Partial No Yes Partial No 1. Regular public worship X Yes Weekdays & Sundays 2. Evangelism as a clear priority X Yes One of several priorities 3. Collaborative ministry uniting visionary leaders, speaking prophetic truth to power, evangelists, pastoral carers, and teachers. 4. Teaching, preaching, training, nurture, growth, and lifelong learning for adult disciples 5. Teaching, training, nurture, and growth for children and young people 6. Involvement in and service to the local community, with a particular care expressed for the poor, after the example of Jesus Christ X but not sure what red section means Yes We have 2 retired clergy & 1 retired Reader, Sunday School teachers and Pastoral Assistants X Yes See above X Yes X Yes 7. Effective pastoral care available to all X Yes 8. Being partners in mission with other groups/churches inside & outside the Diocese 9. The provision of appropriate and realistically sustainable buildings 10. The necessary administration to support this work X Yes X Yes See above. Sunday School, Creche and School Visits Stock Cares provides transport, Stock Press provides ecumenical news, Over 60 s for whole community We follow up Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals, sick communion and give 10% of our income to charities including local ones such as CHESS. Unity Covenant with Free Church & RC s. Share pulpits and jointly sponsor village events Rectory Hall free for Church, hired to other groups, church available for concerts and events X Yes Good team functioning well in interregnum St. Mary & St. Edward, West Please see West s profile at the end

5 St. Michael and All St. Mary, Great St Paul, Great Angels, Galleywood Baddow Baddow Meadgate, Great Baddow Parish Yes Yes Yes we we Yes we offer Partial No Partial No Partial No offer offer we offer this this this this Partial No 1. Regular public worship X Yes Y 2. Evangelism as a clear priority X Yes Y 3. Collaborative ministry uniting visionary leaders, speaking prophetic truth to power, evangelists, pastoral carers, and X Yes Y teachers. 4. Teaching, preaching, training, nurture, growth, and lifelong learning for adult disciples X Yes Y 5. Teaching, training, nurture, and growth for children and young people X Yes Y 6. Involvement in and service to the local community, with a particular care expressed for the poor, after the example of Jesus Christ X Yes Y in between two headings 7. Effective pastoral care available to all N Our focus was on the X Yes words effective and pastoral 8. Being partners in mission with other groups/churches inside & outside the Diocese X Yes Y 9. The provision of appropriate and realistically sustainable buildings X Yes 10. The necessary administration to support this work Y due to size of the building X Yes Y

6 Section C: Membership and Finance. St John, Danbury All Saints, East Holy Trinity, South Woodham Ferrers St. Andrew, Boreham St. Mary Virgin, Little Baddow St. Andrew, Sandon St. John, Moulsham St. Luke, Moulsham St. Mary, Widford St. Peter, South All Saints, Stock Harvard St. Michael and All Angels, Galleywood St. Mary, Great Baddow St Paul, Great Baddow Meadgate, Great Baddow 1. Do you have active members? 2. Are you meeting your parish share obligations? No No No No No No No No No No Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes

7 Section D: Values In a paragraph how would you describe your values to other churches that might wish to join with you in a pastoral community? St John, Danbury Our mission statement is: Since we have received God s reconciling love through Jesus Christ as Lord, we seek to reach out into the community in love, welcoming all without discrimination into God s family; to proclaim the Gospel faithfully in word and deed; to nurture all in faith and understanding; and to encourage each one to recognise their gifts, to the praise and glory of God and in the power of the Holy Spirit. All Saints, East Our PCC does not wish to join with a pastoral communit y at present Holy Trinity, South Woodham Ferrers OUR VISION: * EVANGELISTIC ~ We set out to meet people where they are and as they are, to bring them good news that is of real and lasting value. Our worship and outreach programme is planned to address what we believe to be the needs of those outside our group as well as those already in membership. * PASTORAL ~We seek to provide support and encouragement for individuals, for families, and for organisations - especially those facing challenge and change. We are always ready to meet with people at individual moments of crisis and we welcome the opportunity to share in public recognition of major personal events: birth, marriage and death being amongst the most significant of these. * ECUMENICAL ~ As members of an LEP, a Group Ministry and a local Christian Council, we are committed to work together with other Christians and with all people of goodwill, both locally and internationally. We want to engage in active pursuit of justice and peace for the whole of creation. * SOCIAL ~ We believe that the common things of life may be expected to disclose spiritual realities; that human beings are social creatures who reach their full potential only when working in co-operation; and that the well-being of the local community is vitally dependent upon the functionality of individuals, families, and associations. St. John, Moulsham St. Luke, Moulsham St. Mary, Widford To be a demonstration of the love of Christ to one another and to express that love in the wider community of Moulsham We are a welcoming and ecumenical church, are integrated in the community and have an active overseas mission link. We seek to be fully committed disciples led by the Holy Spirit. We aim to seek God s will for the parish & how to serve the local community, using natural and spiritual gifts to do this. St. Andrew, Boreham We are a welcoming, inclusive church that seeks to serve everyone in our community. We are a church with fuzzy edges, which people can join on their own terms but with many opportunities for them to become more involved as they are led to do so by the Holy Spirit. The wider community sees the church as being at its heart, and we seek to live up to that vocation by being a praying presence that witnesses, in word and deed, to the love of Christ for all in Boreham and, in so doing, hope to bring people into an ever deeper relationship with God. St. Peter, South We have a small but active PCC, a small congregation but we do enjoy the support of an ad-hoc group of friends who are not regular churchgoers. St. Mary Virgin, Little Baddow Community based church active in village life in a wide range of ways. Good at Fund Raising. Organised. Inclusive for all ages. Traditional C of E. Provide a variety of services. Friendship and support for the community. Sharing Christ s love and sharing support such as with the URC. Scriptural. St. Andrew, Sandon Biblical All Saints, Stock Harvard Catholic values but not exclusive. We have preaching and teaching resources, admin resources and buildings in good condition

8 St. Michael and All Angels, Galleywood Our Mission Statement is God calls us to show the love of Jesus, share His word with everyone, grow together as his family. Recently we have been putting this into action by integrating our Church Activities into one place on Sundays, and by developing our Church as a window to the world, but more especially to our parish. We are looking to live ordinary lives gloriously in the service of God, and of our own community - both congregation and parish. Bible based teaching forms the central part of our approach to all ages, and to all matters. St. Mary, Great Baddow St Mary s is a Church whose purpose is to glorify and worship God; to follow Jesus, and, through his Holy Spirit, grow to be like him; sharing his transforming love ; and is also a Church where:- - everyone is welcome; people of all ages are valued, respected and encouraged to join in; - people are encouraged, as individuals and with other people, to grow spiritually through prayer, using the Bible and by putting their faith into practical action: - we generously offer our time, money, talents and spiritual gifts for God s work in our local area and world-wide. We do this through practical service, taking care of others and evangelism; - we are especially committed to serve the welfare of Great Baddow; - we are led collaboratively to be the local Body of Christ and part of the world-wide family of Anglican Churches; - we offer healing prayer, mutual support and encouragement to everyone; - everyone is helped to live out their Christian faith in daily life; - we are unafraid of creativity, change and growth as we follow the Holy Spirit s leadership; - we enjoy a variety of approaches to worship and spirituality; and - our building is offered as a visible, peaceful, attractive and well-used centre for spiritual, caring and social activity. St Paul, Great Baddow Our mission statement is to love Christ and make his love known. This is worked out at St Paul s through our Charismatic evangelical churchmanship. We take seriously the need to worship God as a lifestyle, uphold orthodox Biblical teaching. Our corporate worship is informal and creative using contemporary music. We take seriously the need to be transformed to become more Christ-like and encouraging every member ministry to build a caring fellowship. We seek to find ways to share our faith and serve our local community. We are a church that welcomes and encourages growth in faith of all ages and highly value the inclusion of children in all we do. Meadgate, Great Baddow Bible-based, community church, evangelistic, low, evangelical, charismatic, ecumenical project.

9 Section E: Parson Who is the parson the primary public face of the parish be they ordained or lay, stipendiary or self supporting? Their role will not be in any way diminished by entering into a pastoral community. How do you see their role? St John, Danbury The primary public face of the parish is the Rector, supported by the Curate. We see the Rector s role as Leader (both spiritual and otherwise), figurehead, president and chairman. All Saints, East St. John, Moulsham Celebrate the sacraments, teach and lead, focus for prayer, pastoral care, encourage and support others, involvement with schools and other local organisations, public face of the church in the wider parish. St. Michael and All Angels, Galleywood Rev Andy Griffiths has taken the lead role, with messages in newspapers, on the Radio, activity in the Schools, and leads our presence in the community. He is assisted by other members, such as our Curate, Stephanie Gillingham, our Evangelist, Sue Kitson, and our Youth and Community Worker, Caroline Speed. Holy Trinity, South Woodham Ferrers PARISH PRIEST - whose role is:- * to articulate the Sacraments of the Church ~ agent (for Christ and His Kingdom); * to focus the prayers of the faithful and the aspirations of the community ~ representative (of the People); * to offer a resource of individual counsel informed by Christian values ~ pastor / shepherd; * to facilitate the discovery of 'good news' within the life of the world, the nation and the parish ~ animateur / evangelist; * * to challenge accepted norms, refresh human understanding and dignify every creature ~ provocateur / prophet St. Luke, Moulsham Revd Carol Smith. Her role is the provision of sacramental ministry and to encourage, enable and resource the laity to be full active disciples. St. Andrew, Boreham Revd Lee Batson Priest in Charge, working alongside (principally) Revd Ann Kosla and Christine Horton. The PCC regards Lee s role as being to lead a collaborative team in realising the vision of the church. He provides a consistency of leadership which is exercised in such a way that identifies the talents of others and releases them into God s service whilst encouraging and supporting them at every stage. With the assistance of the ministry team, Lee s role is also to be the one to continually ask questions and then help the congregation to find the answer that is most appropriate for them. He is also the primary public face of the church, and the key interface between the congregation and other groups and people within the village e.g. school, doctor s surgery, parish council. This is a key part of his role as the church seeks to serve the whole community within which it is placed. St. Mary, Widford Dave Robbins is our spiritual leader; he recognises, encourages and directs us in using our God-given gifts and is keen to place those with relevant gifts in leadership roles. Dave is there to hold the leaders teams together and to provide support. St. Mary, Great Baddow Team Rector, in collaboration with the Team Vicars, Associate Minister and others to prayerfully facilitate mission & ministry in the parish; to lead the prayer and pastoral work in St Mary s, overseeing the discipling of new Christians, discerning and encouraging the gifts of church members in order that children s and youth work, homegroups and outreach areas to the community are facilitated with vision and love; performing the occasional offices as well as leading and enabling Sunday & weekday worship, and being the public face of the Church in the community. St Peter, South Rev Steven Robertson is rector or priest in charge of the three churches in our United Benefice. St Paul, Great Baddow Our parson is an ordained stipendiary priest. Their role is to be the spiritual and pastoral leader of the church. They are the public face of the church and first point of contact for many in the community especially in our strong links with 2 local schools. They fulfil an important role of beginning to enable and equip the laity to work together as a team in ministry and grow some initial leadership skills. They are the one to facilitate the mission of the church St. Mary Virgin, Little Baddow Rev Clive Ashley encouraging and leading us inspiring us. In a role that the priest is comfortable with. As an arbitrator as well as a priestly leader. Does CA have the time to spread himself around more parishes? St. Andrew, Sandon PARISH PRIEST Clive Ashley All Saints, Stock Harvard Vacant at the moment. Fr Barry Hall, Fr Ron Goodwin and Ken Bandy are holding the fort. The Churchwardens are the front men for buildings and admin. Meadgate, Great Baddow The Team Vicar to disciple the members, to empower each to reach their full potential within the Church and their ministries. To lead others to faith in Jesus Christ by reaching out into the community.

10 What to do now. If you were able to answer yes to all the questions in sections B and C, you would appear to be a viable pastoral community in your own right. How many stipendiary priests does your ministry require? (A parish considering itself a 2- or 3- stipendiary pc in its own right would usually have approx 400 or 600 active members). Would you be willing to join with one or more other parishes to share ministry gifts? If you were able to answer yes to most of the questions in sections B and C, you may wish nevertheless to argue that you are a viable pastoral community and should have a full-time stipendiary priest particularly where there is a very high population. What kind of support would you need from others? If you were unable to answer yes to these questions, what kind of relationship with other parishes are you looking for, so that a viable pastoral community can be formed? St John, Danbury We are a viable pastoral community, offering 4 services a week (including 1 mid-week). We feel this justifies a full-time priest because of the variety of our ministries and our record as a training parish. The context of the Group gives us the opportunity to support each other as a 'microdeanery', learning from other parishes and offering our own resources. Our Clergy, Readers and lay people will work together to plan and renew our call to shared mission. All Saints, East We do not need a full time priest - stipendiary or non stipendiary - but a high level of commitment to the village is essential. We are looking to God for our direction and following this in the best way we can. At present we understand our focus to be on building up the children's work. One of the reasons we were led to this decision is because we have been given the resources to do this i.e. a group of people who are willing to engage in organising various activities for children and to improve our welcome to children in church. The children's work includes Edward Bear Club, craft mornings, plays at major festivals, as well as All Age services and greater involvement of the church community in our school. We are therefore currently focussing our energies and thinking clearly in this particular direction and will wait until later to see what further direction we may be led to take. This means that, for us, a viable pastoral community is not needed as a resource for us at present. However, if any other church would like to see how a part-time priest and children-focussed work is working in a small village context, they would be more than welcome to join us. Holy Trinity, South Woodham Ferrers More than 20% of the Deanery population is found in our parish, which also has substantial educational, commercial and industrial components. We believe this justifies our claim to be a viable pastoral community provided that we are adequately resourced. In order to address the challenges we face, we are looking to deploy one full-time ordained minister plus a halftime recognised ministry focused on the encouragement of evangelism in the workplace and in the public domain. We place a high value on collaborative ministry and are always happy to work with other Christian bodies on projects that are of mutual benefit. St. Andrew, Boreham We would argue that we are a viable pastoral community despite not having a full-time priest. Although we have not met parish share payments in recent years, this situation is improving and we have also made considerable advances in many other areas of church life. We would also like to note that the amount we have been able to pay more than covers the cost of the stipendiary ministry we receive. Whilst we consider ourselves a viable unit, we are willing to work with other parishes, regardless of whether they are part of whichever pastoral unit we ultimately join. We reject, however, the principles underlying the way in which the Deanery Standing Committee wants to deploy stipendiary clergy and would prefer that such decisions continue to be made on the basis of the number of people the stipendiary priest is expected to serve. We believe such a model is more in keeping with our vocation to be the Church of England and are not convinced by the arguments suggesting we should deploy clergy on the basis of congregation size or ability to pay for the clergy. We will, therefore, be looking to formally partner with other congregations on a case by case basis as we, and they, identify particular projects and areas of ministry where collaboration would be mutually beneficial for the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We do not wish to be confined to working with those churches perceived to have similar values to ourselves as we believe that our common faith in Christ is sufficient basis for us to partner with anyone. St. Mary Virgin, Little Baddow We already share our priest with Sandon and we have links to the URC. Yes we already are a viable pastoral community. I like the idea of a similar group with one stipendiary and at least one non stipendiary per church. St. Andrew, Sandon A complementary one

11 St. John, Moulsham Co-operation and liaison with other churches. Learn from other churches that have answered Yes St. Luke, Moulsham Yes we consider we are a viable pastoral community and should have a full-time stipendiary priest. We have a high population with five schools within the parish. We would welcome support with our work with local schools and perceive our most urgent need at the moment to be the provision of some form of ministry for children on a Sunday. St. Mary, Widford We do not at present have the numbers to make a viable pastoral community, however our stipendiary priest will be with us for the next two years and we feel that we will be viable during that period. In two years time we feel we should be given a stipendiary priest but failing that, we would need help for baptisms, weddings and providing Holy Communion. St Peter, South We are already part of a United Benefice. We already have mix with one church* in our Pastoral Unit, but not in the United Benefice. The present United Benefice does not have enough heads to be a viable Flat Pastoral Community and we feel there may be other smaller churches in other Pastoral Units who might consider joining this United Benefice to form a strong Flat Pastoral Community. *St Mary and St Edmund, West. South and West were a United Benefice from 1785 to 1976, so there was a long association. All Saints, Stock Harvard This question can only be answered by our next priest. We argued this (having a full-time stipendiary priest)and lost. Sharing skills and resources as and when required. St. Michael and All Angels, Galleywood For our current congregation we would need a minimum of one stipendiary minister. Joining with one or more parishes would certainly be considered. At the moment, our minister, Andy Griffiths, is also the Rural Dean, and is responsible for training a curate. This means that, in terms of resources devoted entirely to the parish, we have less than one minister. Given the size of the congregation, and the parish population, if we were to join with one or more smaller parishes, more than one stipendiary priest would be required. However, it would not be impossible to include Galleywood and two smaller parishes, with two ministers. An example - for illustration only -might be to match Galleywood, West and Widford, and employ two ministers. The above still applies, and we are making progress in all the areas marked as partial. We do not need to relate to other parishes in connection with those areas where our progress to date is only partial. However, we would be happy to relate to and learn from other parishes. In particular, we might wish to share administrative resources and use resources for the assistance of the wider community. With the right number of parishes joined together it might be possible to employ a shared parish clerk to remove some of the administrative functions from the ministry team. St. Mary, Great Baddow At St Mary s: 1 stipendiary minister and we would also be willing to train a title curate. St Paul, Great Baddow Being that in the majority of questions we were able to answer yes we would argue that we are nearly a viable pastoral community. Our Sunday attendance is growing especially with young families. We feel strongly that we should have a full-time stipendiary priest because the mission and growth of the church would be seriously jeopardised at present if we didn t. The make-up of those in the church able to serve comprises of either young mothers, who also work, are already involved in many areas of church life and have a family to care for so time is often limited to being able to do more or we have members who are retired and energy levels to keep up high levels of ministry are limited. A full-time priest enables the 2 groups of people to be able to still serve by supporting them and filling in the gaps and so the mission and growth of the church continues. We are also aware that there have been significant amounts of new housing being built in our district of the Parish, approx 500 new households in past 5 years. These people are barely reached at present, so to lose a priest would completely hinder this opportunity for outreach and pastoral care. Support from others that is needed is in preaching and sharing of training of laity and mission events. Meadgate, Great Baddow At Meadgate to sustain the work we are doing already we need at least one ordained leader. To grow the work beyond where we are now, we need one more. Yes - we will be willing to join one or more other parish as long as we do not dilute the work and values of the kingdom. Though we entered some of our responses as partial and one as No, we have done so because we believe that though we could have easily answered Yes to those questions, we took note of the full phraseology of the question asked or statement made, which made us look deeper into the response requested. Therefore we would argue for at least one stipendiary minister for Meadgate church.

12 PARISH PROFILE November 2010 STATEMENT FOR St. MARY & St. EDWARD, WEST HANNINGFIELD The Church of St Mary and St Edward serves the Parish Of West which is a small rural village of approximately 600 people placed only 5 miles from the major urban areas of Chelmsford and Billericay. There are a couple of pubs and a Church of England aided Primary School, serving both South and West, in the village. The wider parish includes a small estate of mobile homes and several outlying hamlets, 2 to 3 miles from the village centre. We have 20 to 25 regular worshippers at the weekly Eucharistic services and some 70 at special festival celebrations. We have tried to introduce a monthly family service and this is something that still needs continued commitment and work and we would support innovative forms of worship to encourage the younger generation to attend the Church on a regular basis. The Church maintains close links with the village school and our Parish Priest regularly leads the weekly assembly and is a member of the Board of Governors. The school uses the Church for its regular religious celebrations and also supports the Church and makes regular contributions to our worship at Harvest time and at Christmas. There is also a thriving Brownie Pack based in the village who attend the Church on various occasions and who assist with decorating the Church at Easter and Harvest time. Five years ago a toilet facility with disabled access was installed in the Belfry Tower and has extended the use of the Church building. For several years now, we have been organising a rota to keep the Church open during the day. This has given people the opportunity to use the Church for quiet reflection and to see and absorb its beauty and peace. Again we would support any endeavour to introduce innovative ideas to extend the use of our Church to involve the wider community. People already attending regular services in the Church come from different ecclesiastical backgrounds reflecting all shades and forms of Anglican worship. Some come from outlying parishes and we all make sincere efforts to be sensitive to each other, offering an inclusive and understanding welcome to everyone. While recognising that our existing congregation is used to a service of common worship, and not wishing to alienate our existing regular communicants, we would support any effort to extend the mission of this Church to the wider public, particularly the younger generation. Our present incumbent has introduced a simpler service form for the monthly Family Eucharist. The families who attend are happy with this service but we are still not attracting many younger members to the congregation. The Church dates from the 12 th Century and it is a continuous challenge to maintain its fabric. Regular fundraising activities are organised each year to raise the necessary funds to allow this. We have the support of the wider parish in this endeavour and people are very supportive in maintaining the Church building. Although many do not attend Church services on a regular basis, they contribute generously on fund raising occasions, and join the rotas for flower arranging and Church cleaning. Others maintain the Churchyard and take an active part in its conservation and preservation. The Parochial Church Council supports an environmentally friendly policy and is committed to the use of Fair Traded materials and goods. The Village Magazine is circulated to about 230 households for 10 months of the year and features many articles concerning the Church and village. The Parish Priest writes on behalf of the Church each month on matters which are interesting and informative. So far we have managed pay our Parish Share in full. However this has often been at the expense of our desire to redecorate and renew the church fabric, and if we are advised in the future that work on the roof is absolutely necessary to maintain the safety and integrity of the building, we may have to make difficult decisions. We have been fortunate in the recent past to have enjoyed the services of our own self-supporting priest. However we recognise that in the future we may become part of a larger parish structure. St Mary and St Edward s Church has the potential to be at the centre of the village community. We have begun the process of extending the Church s mission and would appreciate the opportunity to continue to work with an enthusiastic and committed parish priest to achieve this goal.

13 Great Baddow parish Parish response to Deanery Synod ref Toolkit for Pastoral Communities Great Baddow PCC recognises that its Team Ministry is a single parish, with three component churches, which support one another but do operate as separate worship centres and each ministers to their own community. Our feeling is that it is not appropriate to submit a single response rather it is preferable to submit three separate ones; however these do need to be read together. The Team Ministry is considered to be a viable Pastoral Community in its own right, even though one or other of the 10 questions have not been answered with an unequivocal Yes as regards St Paul s and Meadgate. The present staffing is 3 stipendiary ministers and 1 self-supporting minister (plus 2 honorary-curates employed full-time by the diocese). As explained in the separate responses, 3 stipendiaries are considered to be justified and the SSM provides an essential boost to the Team. A Title Curate post would be welcome were the Area Bishop to appoint one in the future. We have also given consideration to extensive lay ministry within the Team. The value of this is fully recognised in each of our Team churches. However, as highlighted in the response by St Paul s, we would suggest to the Bishop and the diocese that it should not be assumed that this can easily expand to take up work which can no longer be handled by clergy. We would draw attention to the reality that there are largely two groups from which volunteer laity is drawn: a) young mothers, many of whom are also in employment and this combination of commitments to their family and employer means that they are under great pressure and the time which they have available for volunteer church-work is restricted.. b) the retired. With the forecast increase in the age of retirement more people will have a need to seek part-time employment to boost income and the result will be a reduction of both time and energy for volunteer church-work. Harry Marsh PCC Secretary Great Baddow Team Ministry 1 December 2010