CURATE PROFILE THE HEART OF WESTMORLAND MISSION COMMUNITY Communities supporting one another to grow and flourish in God s love www.ksaandtcircuit.org.uk www.northwestmorlandchurches.org.uk www.carlislediocese.org.uk www.godforall.org.uk www.carlislediocese.org.uk/benefice/the-heart-of-eden
Contents Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 About us Where are we? Who are we? About us (cont d) Meet some of the team Mission Challenges and rewards Outreach Pioneer ministry Outreach Network Youth Church Community Making an impact Challenges Equipped for rural ministry Your ministry Changing times Calling, gifts and skills Meet the rest of the team A shared ministry What is on offer? What we will offer you What we hope you will offer us Interested? 2
About us Where are we? We are located in the Eden Valley between the Lake District and the Pennines in the heart of Cumbria. This is a very rural Mission Community, incorporating a large number of villages and the Market Town of Appleby. Ecumenical links across the Mission Community are strong. Who are we? The Mission Community brings together the Appleby Section of the Kirkby Stephen, Appleby and Tebay Methodist Circuit with two Anglican benefices: Heart of Eden; and North Westmorland Mission Communities (MC) are part of the countywide ecumenical God for All strategy which aims to share the Christian faith with all who live in Cumbria or visit the county by 2020. We are a ministry team that has been committed to collaborative working for many years, with a focus on enabling the ministry of all Christians. Collaborative working occurs at all levels: between stipendiary and self-supporting clergy, between clergy and laity and across congregations. Churchmanship is varied, but is largely central Anglican, but there are other traditions on offer from Charismatic worship to Solemn Eucharist. Ecumenical links across the Mission Community are strong. The local Methodist circuit is a full part of they Mission Community, but we also work closely with other denominations. By 2020 every person in Cumbria of all ages and backgrounds will have had an opportunity to discover more of God and God s purpose for their lives, so that they will discover more of Jesus and the Good News and become followers of Jesus within a Christian community. 3
About us (cont d) Meet some of the team Our Mission Community Leader, Stewart Fyfe, will be your Training Minister. He has extensive expertise in Rural Ministry. He has been incumbent of the North Westmorland Parishes for eight years, having previously completed a rural curacy in this Diocese and trained two previous curates. He sits on the Church of England s Rural Affairs Group, completed his Masters dissertation on Rural Ministry and has undertaken the Germinate leadership programme for creative leadership in the rural church. He is a visiting lecturer on Rural Ministry at St Mellitus College and is also an assistant DDO, passionate about encouraging vocations. We are committed to a radical and creative approach to rural ministry. We are highly collaborative across parish and denominational boundaries with lay ministry valued particularly highly. As part of that, we have diverted part of our ministerial budget to deploy an Office Manager. Joyce Keetley, based in Appleby, is an important part of the team, leading the administrative side of Mission Community life. Part of your training will be learning to work effectively with her, and with all our colleagues. Meet some of the members of our Youth Group (Eden Live) We are committed to a radical and creative 4 approach to rural ministry.
Mission Challenges and rewards Mission will be a key part of your developing ministry. Although undoubtedly rural ministry is challenging, we also believe it is wonderfully rewarding and full of missional opportunities. Despite our large geography, the overall population is relatively small, which makes it possible to get to know our communities deeply and intimately, giving an opportunity to be creative in finding new ways to communicate the Gospel in the language of the people.... get to know our communities deeply and intimately. Outreach Pioneer Ministry Dan & Kristy Pattimore moved to the area three years ago to engage in self -supporting pioneer ministry. They have been working on a variety of initiatives including Family Church, Messy Church and Men s Brewing Club and are also involved in promoting other initiatives across the Deanery. 5 Outreach NYC We find that our youth are very open to the Christian faith and we have close links with our youngsters through our schools, with whom we have excellent relationships. However, youth groups often require a critical mass that is beyond the scope of the village church. With the help of our bubbly, energetic, Network Youth Church Leader, Kristy Pattimore, we have developed a networked group of small youth cells that come together regularly into a larger group for discipleship, outreach and fun (we even appeared recently on BBC Songs of Praise). We also club together to help us get to big events like Soul Survivor.
Community Making an impact The church is still held in high esteem and our reach into our communities is extensive. One of the joys of rural ministry is that, although we are always working small scale, we have the opportunity to impact whole communities. Your first task as a would-be leader in mission? Learn the language. However, Cumbria is also a very distinctive culture. We believe that, as on the Day of Pentecost, to preach the Gospel effectively, we need to speak in the language of the people. So the first task for you - and for any would-be leader in mission - is to learn the language: get to know the people, their mindset, the way they do community, the way they do family, their attitude to God and their needs, concerns and passions. And, of course, you need to love them (though we find that Cumbrians are very easy to love!) 6 Knock Christian Youth Centre is in our Mission Community and our Network Youth Church often gathers here.
Challenges Equipped for rural ministry We will also equip you to deal with the challenges of Rural Ministry. The most obvious in this area is the administrative complexity of managing so many parishes. Rotas, meetings, occasional offices, churchyards, parish magazines and pastoral care all become more complicated when conducted across such a wide area and when conducted collaboratively between so many ministers. We are developing good practice in all of Helping people catch the vision of ministry of the whole people of God. 7 these areas and we think we can give you some excellent experience. This will be a rare opportunity to work collaboratively with a dedicated administrative expert in a rural context, as well as with other colleagues across denominational and parish boundaries. Our biggest challenge is to help people to catch the vision of the ministry of the whole people of God. Although we have made big strides, there is still a great deal to do. We hope you will have a passion for encouraging this work.
Your ministry Changing times... Calling, gifts and skills Regular prayer with other members of the team (currently we meet for Morning Office every Tuesday morning); Establishing a daily rhythm of personal prayer; Weekly team meetings and regular one-to-one supervisions with your training minister (bi-weekly to begin with); The Mission Community is evolving all the time and we would expect your ministry to evolve with it as God unfolds your calling, gifts and skills. However, you could expect your regular ministry to involve: We re evolving all the time; we d expect your ministry to do so too. Regular ministry in our local schools; Your ministry will shadow the training minister to begin with, but we hope you will come to take on specific pastoral responsibility for a particular part of the Mission Community s life; You will play a part in encouraging the ministry of others; You will play a part in the administrative life of the Mission Community and the Deanery, including monthly Chapter meetings and Deanery Synod; The curate s house is currently under review. We are exploring which of the houses would be the best location and a decision will be taken shortly. 8
Meet the rest of the team A shared ministry Rev d Peter Boyles is a full-time stipendiary Anglican priest living in Appleby; Rev d Andrew Sterling is a Methodist probationer minister living in Appleby; Rev d Sheila Clark is a non-stipendiary curate living in Morland; We have a strong team of willing clergy and laity who are committed to growing God s Kingdom across our Mission Community. Here s an opportunity to meet the team. A host of enthusiastic lay people and retired clergy... Rev d Janet Cox is a non-stipendiary priest living in Long Marton; Rev ds Kirsty & Dan Pattimore are house-for-duty pioneer ministers; Rev d Kristy Pattimore is the Network Youth Church leader; Joyce Keetley is our Mission Community Office Manager. We are currently appointing a new Rector of the Heart of Eden group of parishes. And we have a host of enthusiastic lay people and retired clergy looking forward to sharing ministry with you. 9
What is on offer? What we will offer you We have genuine expertise to offer to help you to learn: Effective mission in a rural context; Effective leadership in a rural context; Theological insight into the nature of rural ministry; Effective management of complex systems (and how to make them simpler!) An innovative approach to rural ministry; Experience of genuinely collaborative ministry with some wonderful colleagues; A beautiful place to live and minister, including a well appointed modern four-bedroom estate house in the market town of Appleby; Lots of fun. Our previous curate has just moved on to be a Mission Community leader in Penrith Deanery and we are confident that we could equip you to be a creative leader of mission in any rural parish in England. Effective mission in a rural context. What we hope you will offer us To thrive here, we think you need: A love of people; An ability to listen well; A heart for mission; A strong, centred prayer life; A desire and aptitude to work collaboratively; Ability to share power and encourage others; A love of rural matters (even if your knowledge is still developing); A willingness to learn more; and A belief that small matters in the sight of God. Interested? If you would like to explore this curacy formally please contact our Diocesan Director of Ordinands: The Rev d Canon Peter Clement peter.clement@carlislediocese.org.uk 01768 807777 / 07823 415815 10