St Joseph of Arimathea Coalway Road Merry Hill Wolverhampton WV3 7NP. Profile of St Joe s

Transcription

1 District Church of St Joseph of Arimathea Coalway Road Merry Hill Wolverhampton WV3 7NP Profile of St Joe s Resident Minister post

2 Contents Welcome 3 A word from the Bishop 4 Our new Resident Minister 6/7 Passionate worship 8 Our Church Family 9 Our Church 10 Down with the kids! 11 Our children would love you to 12 A walk through our week 13 Connecting with our community 14 All involved 15 Fearless Generosity 15/16 The Parish Vicar Peter Smith, writes 17 Our parish churches 18 Parish Life 19/20/21 Your new home 22 Living in Wolverhampton 23 Appendices 24/25/26 2

3 Welcome Jesus said, I have come to give life and life in all its fullness. (John 10:10) At St Joseph s Church (St Joe s) we believe that people who seek Jesus find that he has been looking for them too and wants to offer his life in all its fullness. We pray that this will be true for you as our next Resident Minister as you come to lead us, inspire us and challenge us to unite around Jesus and grow God s Kingdom in our community. The role of Resident Minister sits within the mission across the Parish of Penn Fields, where there are 3 Churches, each with their own Minister. He/she will lead the ministry at St Joe s, having day-to-day oversight and care of souls there (with a team) whilst also contributing to, and benefitting from, a wider partnership across the parish. Becoming like Jesus Bringing good news All Involved Becoming Disciples Creating Community Doing Evangelism Encountering God Fearless Generosity We are committed to our vision: For God. For You. For All. The Lord says, I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. Psalm 32:8 Our Parish patron is CPAS 3

4 St Joe s is one of the churches within my Episcopal Area which puts a smile on my face when I think of it, and a spring in my step when I visit it. If only there were more St Joe s. A Word from the Bishop It is a church where faith is real and runs deep, where commitment is sacrificially and joyfully given. It is a community of people hungry to learn more about their faith and to find new ways of sharing it within the wider community of the parish. It is a fellowship with a genuine family feel, where the spiritual and social needs of young people are taken very seriously but not to the exclusion of those of riper years. The welcome offered to the stranger or seeker is authentically warm. It is a Church which has a rooted culture of identifying and developing gifts and ministries, where individuals from diverse backgrounds find the confidence to grow and flourish in their discipleship. St Joe s is not an island unto itself, it is part of the greater whole of Penn Fields parish, and in the long standing partnership between the three churches there has always been support, enrichment and encouragement. Please read on and prayerfully discern whether God may be calling you to explore this exciting opportunity to minister with us in Wolverhampton. If appointed, I assure you that you will be well supported within the parish and within our Diocese. +Clive (Area Bishop of Wolverhampton) 4

5 Our new Resident Minister the person We are praying for a person of prayer who has God at the centre of their ministry and who will continue to grow in their personal faith and discipleship, together with encouraging St Joe s in its prayer life. For someone who: Loves God s word and is someone who s teaching and preaching is Bible-based. Is sensitive to the guiding and enabling of the Holy Spirit. Has a passion for families, children and youth. Has a pastoral heart and will work with St Joe s towards meeting pastoral needs. Has good interpersonal skills and can empathise with people. Discerns, encourages and enables peoples spiritual gifts and ministries. Has imagination, vision and enthusiasm to take the church forward and grow the church family. Is flexible and has a sense of humour. 5

6 Our new Resident Minister the role Our new Resident Minister should be someone who has: A keenness for people to know the good news of Jesus Christ. Organisation in the management of people, information and time and has the ability to delegate and be a team player. The ability to work with the DCC to ensure that decisions are properly made and acted upon. The ability to ensure policies and procedures in relation to health & safety, safeguarding, finance etc. meet Diocesan and legal requirements. A sense of the awesomeness of God and the ability to lead worship that lifts, inspires and takes people into the Heart of God. A heart for working with all ages and lifestyles within the Church and wider community. Ability to lead the Church in Mission Action Planning (see Appendix 2), There are challenges ahead; St Joe s needs to serve the close community in a way that brings more people through our doors. We need to sustain and develop the groups we offer. We need someone who can energise our church, bring out our spiritual gifts and breathe life into our church family. We are praying that this could be you! For God, For you, For all 6

7 Passionate Worship Everyone knows us as St Joe s. It s an affectionate name by which we can show local people that we are a loving, friendly, evangelical church with a big heart for God and where you are sure to receive a warm welcome. Our week begins with our Sunday services which start with a 9.00 am Common Worship service attended by a more mature congregation with music provided by a pianist. Then we follow this service at am with a more lively family-orientated service, supported by a gifted worship band playing guitars, keyboards, drums and wind instruments. Once a month we enjoy a relaxed Sunday evening service called Presence, a service of passionate contemporary worship. A number of all-age family services are held throughout the year where our youth are encouraged to take part in the service by reading, leading prayers or being part of the youth band. We have children s groups on a Sunday morning, currently catering for about 26 children in different age groups and a crèche. We are blessed with a Parish Warden and two other wardens who together oversee the day-to-day running of the church and its fabric. Numerous members of the congregation contribute to our worship and other activities beyond our Sunday services. We also have a paid church cleaner and two administrators who look after hall bookings, which bring in much-needed income. There are several teams with special responsibilities, including DCC, Leadership Team, pro-active Prayer Team, Treasurer, Kids Church leaders, Children and Families Worker, Parish-wide Youth and Mission Enabler, Music & Worship Co-ordinator, Worship Teams, Audio Visual, Focus Groups, Pastoral Care, Mission Team, Social Affairs Committee and the Café team. 7

8 Our Church Family 8

9 Our Church We have a proactive District Church Council (DCC) and congregational support that oversaw the Church being redecorated last year. It is in a good state of repair overall, while still needing some attention in places. A Quinquennial Inspection has been completed and looking ahead there will be development opportunities to update and modernise the building. St Joe s has a baptistery used by all the churches in the parish and those of other denominations. 9

10 Down with the kids! We asked our young people what they would like to see in their new Resident Minister. Here are their words: Free thinker of earthly influence, does what God says Strong Outgoing Approachable Friendly Decisive Get stuck in Close to God Stand up for our Knows their stuff Down with the Church kids Understand issues and lives of kids today 10

11 Be delightful Have lots of energy Our children would love you to: Be smiley Be funny & make us laugh To share Be shiny like the sun Love God Say nice Be playful Be a friend To read the Be wise like prayers Bible the Wise Men 11

12 A large part of the congregation are in Focus Groups which meet on a weekly basis, offering a pastoral role, and going further into the word of the Lord as preached on the previous Sunday. A reflective Communion Service runs on a Wednesday morning every other week. Communion is also provided in a care home and homes of individuals who are housebound. Start and Alpha courses are available to introduce people to the Christian faith. A pro-active prayer group is in existence together with a WhatsApp messaging group of members who share messages and photos and offer prayer and support to each other. We also have a monthly contemplative prayer group. For children, we have our Adventurers group on Wednesdays, playgroup on Tuesdays and Thursdays, a new Stay and Play group on Wednesdays and Totally Kids Church on the first Sunday of every month. A walk through our week Activities for families take place at various times during the year and an annual holiday club is held. There is also a healthy relationship between the church and local schools. Assemblies are regularly delivered by the Resident Minister and a new team go in to deliver Open the Book interactive Bible stories to connect us with our community. We support a number of mission partners in the UK, Asia and South Africa. 12

13 St Joe s has a busy Saturday morning café run by church volunteers from within the local community which offers a range of breakfasts and excellent fellowship. Our Social Affairs Committee organises quiz nights, a summer garden party, visiting singing groups, coffee mornings and charity events. 5 Ways Lunch club runs a lunch and chat session every second Wednesday in the month with a regular attendance of 30 people or more. A flourishing Indoor Bowls Club meets every Friday and is growing in numbers with people attending from both church and community. And our Wednesday Circle group welcomes members to its fellowship providing pastoral care and offering a varied programme of activities and speakers. In September 2015 A Place of Welcome was started, every Tuesday afternoon, to reach out to and offer an opportunity for a hot drink, some cake and fellowship, to the local community. The Church Hall is used by a number of groups, and on occasions is hired out, as well as being a home to Guides and Brownies. Members of the congregation are heavily involved with the local food bank. Connecting with our community 13

14 All involved 14

15 Fearless Generosity Each of the three Churches within the Parish has its own Treasurer, who helps to manage their Church s finance. St Joe s congregation has been keen to support the nurturing of our young people and to engage with the youth beyond our Church doors. To that end the necessary financial backing is in place to fund, for at least the next three years, our Children and Families Worker and a Parish Youth and Mission Enabler. This is an exciting time to further our work in this vital area. The financial breakdown of income v expenditure for 2017 is illustrated in the pie charts below: 15

16 Fearless Generosity The Parish Share for 2017 stood at 56,364 and this is met through general giving and the unrestricted income of the Church. Whilst the share is being met, this remains a challenge as we move forward. Average monthly giving stands at 5, ,000 was collected for the year from the hiring of the Church Hall. We gave 7,740 to our mission partners and charities. The Youth account balance is 17,867 and the Development Fund balance is 9,332. Heating and remedial work amounted to 12,700. Running costs such as cleaners, cleaning materials and communion wine amount to 9,536. Separate accounts exist for St Joe s Café and Five Ways and these remain profitable. These both provide further illustration of the fearless generosity of our congregation in providing time, talent and financial resources to the Glory of our Lord. We are keen to develop this aspect of our work still further. 16

17 The Parish Vicar Peter Smith, writes... Thank you for considering this role, we are praying for Jesus to lead the right person to take forward his ministry at St Joe s. As a parish we have recently adopted some parish vision filters which we are aiming to apply appropriately to our different mission contexts across the parish. VISION FOCUS: VISION FILTERS: PRAYER PRIORITY Rooted in Prayer REACHING WIDER with the compassion of Jesus REACHING DEEPER...into the heart of God We have begun to work as a PCC at applying these across the parish. We are very clear that we are distinct Churches yet committed to moving in partnership in the same direction. Each Church Committee is to apply these principles in appropriate local ways, as well Parish partnerships. There some areas where we already work closely delivering ministry together like Youth ministry and Alpha courses, and we are exploring further areas of partnership. The Parish Team (Leaders from each church and parish staff) meet on Monday mornings first for Parish Prayers, that any can join us for, and then a Team Meeting, identifying areas of working together and supporting one another. I would also seek to have regular one to one time with the Resident Minister. Personally I am an Evangelical Charismatic, who is passionately seeking to do what I see the Father doing in the power of His Holy Spirit. I trust this is something we will be able to share with fellow team members here. I like to work collaboratively in teams wherever possible, and would aim for this sort of partnership with the new Resident Minister and the rest of the wider team across the parish. Yours in Jesus Peter 17

18 Our parish churches St. Philip s St Philip s is a friendly, loving, evangelical church family that is growing across its three congregations. We have two services on a Sunday morning at 9:00am a more traditional service, following Common Worship with music provided by a team of organists and a small singing group. Nine o clock as we call it is attended by a slightly older cross section of the church family. Holy Communion is held twice a month. At 10.30am our service is more informal and flexible although still based around the simple Service of the Word model of Common Worship. Music is led by our enthusiastic music teams which includes many of our talented youth and is shared monthly. Prayer takes place each week day morning at 9.15am and seasons of prayer weekly for half an hour are held on Monday evening. St Aidan s St Aidan s is a small, but generous and loving community with a real family feel and an evangelical outlook. We are an older congregation but very young at heart!. We believe our church to be a friendly and welcoming place and our hearts desire is to make ourselves more and more accessible to the people we serve in our patch of Penn Fields. 18

19 Parish life...youth The Parish youth ministry is coordinated by the recently appointed Parish Youth Missioner and Enabler (YME) who is building a team to deliver youth ministry in the parish and beyond. Youth coordinators at each church form the heart of this team, and oversee Sunday morning groups in their churches. All the team are involved in the parish wide groups below Dangerous by name, dangerous by nature (in a fully risk-assessed way!), School Years 7-9 an evening of great banter with great friends about our great God. Includes games and hot chocolate; led by a team of parish volunteers. Social evenings, including cinema nights and visits to Laser Quest and the like, take place termly. Having evolved over many years, Youth Cell is the longest-running parish group. For school Years 9-13 Youth Cell provides a space and opportunity for exploring personal faith and putting it into action. The Youth plan and lead their own worship, as part of weekly meetings, and together look at what the Bible has to say about topics such as mission, relationships and study specific books. Soul Survivor is regularly attended by a large proportion of the group and many members have chosen to work alongside Pulse Ministries running summer holiday clubs. Some of the group have completed the Growing Young Leaders course, led by one of their number. The rest of their time is spent comparing real Jaffa Cakes and fake ones! Some young people meet midweek for fellowship. How Youth cell works in the future is evolving under the YME team, its future shape is developing For God 19

20 Parish life Parish Morning Prayer takes place each day for half an hour either at St Phil s or St Joe s and on Mondays is for an extended time for sharing reflections on scripture and encouragements. Parish Vision prayer is held on Monday evenings. Penn Fields PCC A committed group from across the parish, who this year discussed setting up and supporting the YME post, adopting Parish Vision Filters, Penn Wynn Schools project. The PCC continue to acknowledge that God is good, all the time. At regular intervals throughout the year Alpha courses take place. Each church takes it in turn to host and various members of the 3 churches have taken part in leading and supporting. Opportunities for attendees to go on exploring have been provided in different ways by each church The LIFE Exhibition is a multi-media experience which focuses on the life of Jesus and aims to: Help visitors understand what Christians believe about Jesus. Enable questioning and exploration of the life of Jesus. Encourage visitors to consider his impact in today s world. Allow visitors to think for themselves about the teachings of Jesus. Build on existing links between schools and local churches. We have booked to host the LIFE Exhibition again for For God, For you, For all 20

21 100 Bellencroft Gardens The Resident Minister s house is a well maintained four-bedroomed detached house built in the 1970s and located in a quiet residential road situated five minutes walk away from St Joe s. The house has been much extended and provides spacious living and working accommodation. Your New Home Bellencroft Gardens is a quiet, yet friendly place to live. There are excellent neighbours and many church families live along the road. The South West of Wolverhampton is blessed with many excellent schools. There are a number of primary schools within walking distance of the house. There is a highly regarded and oversubscribed Church Secondary School, St Peter s. There are also a good number of medical and dental services situated nearby as well as good local shops. 21

22 Living and Serving in Wolverhampton For more than 1,000 years, Wolverhampton has been a city of trade and an economic hub within the Midlands. Our city s location means it has extensive rail, road and tram links to the whole of the country, making it an ideal base. We live in a lively and vibrant city which offers good quality shopping, theatre, cinemas, museums, parks and an art gallery. Our football team, Wolverhampton Wanderers (the Wolves), has just been promoted to the Premier League and the benefits of their promotion is sure to be felt throughout the city. We are not far from Birmingham too and all that the country s second city has to offer. We are proud of our university, college and schools which include two highly respected Church of England comprehensive schools. Our city has a wide variety of faiths and ethnic backgrounds amongst its population of almost 250,000 people. In recent years, we have seen a great deal of regeneration happening to improve the city, particularly with a new bus station and rail interchange. Not far away is the beautiful countryside of Shropshire and Staffordshire. 22

23 Contact details Revd Peter Smith, Vicar of Penn Fields Parish E: Revd Graham Hartnell Associate Minister E: Christopher Strange Warden E: Steve Perry Warden Brenda Swatman Assistant Warden Jenny Green Assistant Warden Address for church post: Penn Fields Parish Office, Church Road, Bradmore, Wolverhampton WV3 7EN Penn Fields Parish Office, based at St Philip s Church office@pennfieldsparish.co.uk A website for St Joe s is currently being re-developed For God, For you, For all 23

24 Appendix: 1 Maps For God, For you, For all 24

25 Appendix 2: Mission Action Plan summary Progress / Completed All Involved Freedom and confidence to pray for A1 each other. Enduring Enduring A2 Gifts. No In Progress A3 Celebrate 30 Years. On Hold On Hold A4 Living Our Values. Enduring A5 Time. In Progress In Progress Listen to people, be a listening A6 Church. No Yes A7 Everyone involved in church life. Yes Yes A8 Grow more people into focus groups. In Progress In Progress A9 More ownership of focus groups. Yes Yes Progress / Completed Creating Community C1 Redesign web pages. On Hold In Progress C2 Open every day. In Progress Yes C3 Mezzanine floor. On Hold On Hold C4 Modern Facilites. On Hold On Hold C5 Natural Light. On Hold Yes C6 Reglazing. On Hold On Hold C7 More storage. On Hold In Progress To reach out to the community C8 and the flats. Enduring In Progress C9 Growing, but united in faith. Yes In Progress A10 Exchange ideas within focus groups. In Progress Yes A11 Focus Group Leaders New 2018 Progress / Completed Becoming Disciples B1 Youth worker. Yes New 2018 B2 Childrens & Family Worker. Yes Enduring A vibrant Church community wanting B3 to seek God. In Progress No B4 Spiritual life. In Progress Yes B5 Prayer Development New 2018 B6 Where is God Tommorrow New 2018 For God, For you, For all 25

26 Appendix 2: Mission Action Plan summary Progress / Completed Doing Evangelism Progress / Completed Fearless Generosity D1 Greater publicity. Enduring Enduring D2 Not an empty seat in Church. No In Progress D3 9am tea and toast. On Hold On Hold A centre of support for local commu- D4 nity. Yes Yes Representing the community it is in D5 and serves. In Progress On Hold Be more organised, more infor- D6 mation in advance. Yes Yes D7 New people, new gifts. Yes Yes D8 Messy' Church. Yes Yes D9 Family Worker. Yes Yes F1 Refurbish Church centre. No Yes F2 Extension / conservatory. On Hold On Hold F3 New toilets. On Hold On Hold F4 Opportunites to serve Yes Enduring F4.1 Childrens groups. No No F4.2 Creche. Yes Yes F4.3 Counting. Yes Yes Progress / Completed Encountering God Return of evening services meeting E1 different needs. No On Hold E2 Your will be done listening to God. Yes Yes E3 A full Sunday School. Enduring E4 Spiritual Life. Yes E5 Open The Book New 2018 Create new ways to engage with E6 God New 2018 For God, For you, For all 26