St Philip s Westbrook Local Ecumenical Centre Diocese of Liverpool Parish Profile Growing, Knowing, Going St Philip s Westbrook Tel no: 01925 725967 www.stphilipswestbrook.co.uk
Summary The parish of St.Philip, Westbrook,(Old Hall and Callands.) was created in 1981 at a time when the population of the parish was 100, rather than its current apx. 17 000. It was created by the Regional Sponsoring Body, as a Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP), to serve the needs of all Christians and others in this new-town area. Constitutionally over 20% of the lay representatives on the Joint Church Council (JCC) may be neither Church of England nor Methodist members. The LEP is strong and holds the building and finances in common through the JCC. The JCC takes all decisions regarding the life and witness of St.Philip s that a PCC and or MCC would normally take. Any act of Sunday Worship may be led by Church of England or Methodist ministers (lay or ordained) and these are planned quarterly in advance. St.Philip s is part of a strong and mission-active Churches Together group in Warrington West, part of the West Warrington Partnership of Sankey Valley Circuit and the West Warrington Deanery Cluster. Our minister, is expected to play a full part in the life of the Circuit, as an Authorised Methodist Minister, a Church of England Priest in charge and engage fully with other church communities. The House for Duty Priest we are looking for We would like a minister to lead a very able, energetic and young at heart congregation to explore their spiritual gifts and to give spiritual guidance. We need someone who embraces the warmth of the church and encapsulates the loving care of St Philip s which is remarked on by all who enter the church. We need someone with experience of dynamic mission to guide and support all who are seeking to move out into the community with Christ s love. Our minister should be able to embrace the ecumenical role which they will need to be fully comfortable with. We need someone who can work with our Church Family worker to meet the needs of young families who come into the church each year. However, we also need to someone who can work with a percentage of the church who are still enthusiastic but are getting older. We need an empowering leader who encourages the laity in their ministry. We need a prayerful leader who inspires passionate spirituality. They should also enable the congregation to learn and explore the bible.
The Church in Westbrook Westbrook is a pleasant residential area, which has been rapidly developed in the past 20 years. It has been sympathetically landscaped with ponds, walkways and cycle tracks. The original estate (area around Westbrook Crescent and Cromwell Avenue) has an out of town shopping area. The shopping centre is known as the "Westbrook Centre", and has a large Asda supermarket as well as many smaller specialist stores. Westbrook also has Warrrington's only cinema adjacent to the shopping centre. Adjacent to the church and primary school is Westbrook Medical Centre. The local library is housed across the road from the church. There are two primary schools in Westbrook, St Phillips COE and Old Hall, the nearest high schools are St. Gregory's Catholic School and Great Sankey High School. The church worship centre was built at one end of the Church of England school of St Philip and is a flexible space with folding partitions which can be opened up to create a large space for services with the school, which are held for Harvest, Education Sunday and a service in the summer months, before the Year 6 children leave. This larger area is also used for Remembrance Sunday and parade Sundays with the Scouts, Cubs, Rainbows, Brownies and Guides; for Confirmation services and for Easter and Christmas services. We are fortunate to have a group of parishioners who keep the worship centre clean and tidy and the grounds looking attractive. The church was recently painted under the direction of one of the parishioners.
JCC Chair: Ray Hodges (Methodist circuit rep), June Dunning (church warden) Chris Ralston (churchwarden),jon D Arcy (Deanery synod), Anne Vaillant (Steward) Stuart Molyneux, Darren Blackshaw ( steward), Keith Bretherton (secretary), Claire Stranack (Deanery Synod), Ken Morris, George Oliver, Kate Strickland Wright (treasurer) Our Joint church council meets six times a year and is the decision-making arm of the church. SC Chair: Ray Hodges (Methodist circuit rep), June Dunning (church warden) Keith Bretherton (secretary), Ian Stranack (Reader), Anne Vaillant (Steward), Darren Blackshaw (steward), Kate Strickland Wright (treasurer) The Standing committee meet monthly.
The Shared Ministry Team Back row: Martin Thorpe (previous minister), Gail Bretherton, Anne Vaillant, Leroy James Front row: Chris Ralston, Ian Stranack, June Dunning The church has a newly commissioned Shared Ministry team, who started their training at the House of Prayer, Blundel Sands and completed their training with a commissioning service led by the Archdeacon Peter Bradley on July 10 th.this is the second SMT, with two of the original team remaining in the second team. The teams are committed to fulfilling the church s vision. St Philip s Church, Westbrook (growing, knowing, going) Building on God s love for us all, we are committed through effective and enabling leadership to be growing disciples of Jesus Christ be nurturing passionate spirituality through prayer and worship infused by the Holy Spirit be God our Father s representatives bringing love and joy and wholeness to our families, our neighbourhood, our places of work, and the wider world Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; the new life has begun. (The Bible: 2 Corinthians 5:17) What people say about us All are given a warm welcome from the first visit and encouraged to become involved in a variety of church and social activities. We are particularly good at celebrating anything that we can. We are a church that embraces variety in styles of worship. Sunday services 9.00 Holy Communion 10.30 1st of the month- Family Communion Service of the Word or Holy Communion (dependent on celebrant) 12.15 Baptism service
After the service, refreshments are offered every Sunday in the Community room which is between the Worship centre and the school. On special occasions we are a church who believe in offering cake to refresh at the end of a celebration! There is a strong emphasis on young families and children because entry to the school is favoured by attendance at church. Crèche facilities are always available at the 10.30 service and JAM (Jesus and Me) activities are held on 2 nd,3 rd and 4 th Sundays, unless there is a special service. Children and their Leaders attend the beginning of the service for the singing of a child-friendly hymn and a short children s talk and then they leave for their own activities in the school hall behind the worship centre, they later return to unite with their parents and be given a blessing. At Christmas time, the children act a Nativity play with appropriate songs as part of a Service of the Word. Two Christingle Services are held closer to Christmas and are very popular. On Christmas Eve there is also a short Crib service for the under 5 s, at 4pm, which is also well-attended. The school help to lead services four times a year and the attendance at these services are in the hundreds. There is a strong link between the school and the church with two members of the church acting as school/church liaison. The school holds a community service each Wednesday morning and a Eucharist service is also held on Wednesday morning four times a year, with the incumbent leading these services. Church Family Worker In October 2011, St Philip s excitingly appointed a Church family worker for a five year term. Once again this is an ecumenical appointment jointly funds by the Methodists and the Church of England. Ian Stranack, who is also our Reader, is the Family worker appointed to engage with the young families who come to church to complete a school passport for entry into the school. We have large numbers of families who each year regularly attend church and it is Ian s intention to help new families to make friends in the church, explore their
faith and to, hopefully, lead these families to become active members of the church community. In addition, Ian has made links with the local schools, offering assemblies, School Eucharist (licensed by the Bishop) and talking to parents bringing and leaving school during the week. He is also encouraging parents to bring their children to church-based holiday schemes and is organising a Diamond Jubilee event on the weekend of the celebrations to invite all the church to a party. A children s evangelist, Paul Cain, leads regular assemblies in the school and also offers a weekly lunch-time Good News club which is well attended by the children ad has members of the church supporting and acting as welcomers and chaperones. Confirmation classes are held both in school time and as an after school activity for those children whose parents have asked for their children to be confirmed. In the past, the incumbent and a member of the Methodist church held these classes but this year, our Reader and Worship leader will lead these classes, along with the Methodist minister. The confirmation service, to be held this year on 3 rd June, is an ecumenical service, led by the Bishop of Warrington or his representative and a Methodist minister. Adults are also confirmed at this service having undertaken a Journeys course in preparation for their confirmation and we usually have around six adults confirmed a year.
Music We currently have two organists who alternate at the 10.30 service; music at the 9.00 service is usually from a CD. The choir, at present all women, although in the past we did have a group of men as well, meet weekly and lead the singing of hymns from Mission Praise ( new extended version). The choir also plans and leads three carol services a year: Christmas, Easter and Harvest. They also sing at Social evenings, the latest being a Scottish evening in aid of the victims of the earthquake in New Zealand. The choir are constantly looking for new music to bring to worship but also maintain their traditional roots. They have tackled more challenging pieces by John Rutter and have even sung the Vicar of Dibley theme tune! Lay Participation A number of members of the congregation have been licensed to administer the chalice at Eucharist service. Our strong Pastoral team take communion to the sick and housebound and two members of the 9.00 service regularly lead services with Communion for the local Care home. The Reader, Worship leader and SMT have all led services during the vacancy which have met with enthusiasm from the congregation. We have teams of members of the congregation who lead intercessions and bible reading. We also have a baptism team who visit those seeking baptism and prepare the families for this service. At present, two members are undergoing worship leader training which will add to their skills and enable them to engage more fully with lay led worship. Outside the church is a delightful garden area, called the rainbow garden created by members of the church and funded by the Eden project. This is a quiet area for anyone to sit and reflect either before or after the service when the weather allows. It is also an area, when the weather is fine, where locals sit for a time of peace away from the business of the local area. We are fortunate at St Philip s to have a number of greenfingered men who continue to maintain and up-date this garden and we are all thankful for that.
Community outreach These members are also involved with the Love your Neighbour, Love Your Area, which engages with the local community, caring for the environment and creating a sense of community. An outdoor Carol service was held by the group at Christmas and was wellreceived by all who attended. Each year at for two weeks during Advent, for the last 20 years, a number of members of the congregation go out with the Church Float, which is a Crib scene, mounted on a trailer and pulled by car around the parish, playing Carols. At the same time, members call at each house to give a card with notice of all the church services being held over the Christmas period and collect for a local charity (this year, it was Room at the Inn a local homeless charity). This also gives the opportunity to talk to the lonely, those seeking a local church or simply the curious. In addition, members of the church are involved with door to door collection for Christian Aid and charity boxes for Action for Children and Children s Society are collected. We are also involved with Honduras Trust, holding a Toy Service each year to collect various articles for children in this poor region of the world.
Vicarage St Philip s Vicarage, 89,Westbrrok Crescent, lies across the road from the cinema and within walking distance of the church and, therefore, handily placed for shopping from Asda. It is a fourbedroomed detached house with large lounge, separate dining room and kitchen and utility room, as well as an office space at the front of the property, a down-stairs toilet and garage. Upstairs the bedrooms are all of a good size with a family bathroom and separate toilet. The gardens are mature with lawns, shrubs and fruit trees; there is also a greenhouse at the side of the property. The gardens are being maintained by a gardener during the vacancy.
Statistics There are currently 115 on the electoral roll There are currently 45 on the Methodist membership A significant number are on both rolls There on average 20 attending 9.00 service and 70 attending 10.30 On at least 15 Sundays during the year the church and school hall are filled to capacity (200+) for special celebrations, involving the community and school e.g. Remembrance Sunday, Education Sunday, Parade Service Each academic year the passport brings in 15 new families There are an average of 20 children and 3-6 adults presenting themselves for confirmation each year There are 18 baptisms each year Because of the location of the church, we have very few weddings and funerals; although there are a number of couples living in the parish who come to have their banns read. Finance The parish operates a stewardship envelope and covenant scheme, with a large proportion of the congregation gig by Standing order. We pay our Quota and Methodist Share and our accounts are in good order. We have made Giving in Grace presentations to the congregation which have led to members being added to our giving scheme.
Our Vision for the Future To be a congregation who pray and read their bible and are empowered and changed by the experience, who value the scriptures and prayer To be the soul-centre for the parish of St Philip To be recognised as a people who value relationships with God and the community To be a church which goes out into the community and offers hope of salvation and fills the emptiness of many people s lives with the good news of God and His love To be a jubilant happy community who others want to learn from To be a growing church which looks to extend the physical constraints of the building To be able to build a community prayer room To be able to reconnect people with each other and with the environment Your ministry with us The Diocese of Liverpool is an exciting, challenging and stimulating place to be. We serve a wide mix of communities in urban, rural and town parishes. We are innovative, seeking new ways to further God s mission while respecting cherished traditions. Pick up a copy of our profile or visit the website for more information. www.liverpool.anglican.org facebook.com/liverpooldiocese twitter.com/livdiocese