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Parish Profile

for

BRACKNELL TEAM MINISTRY

“Called Together to Make Christ Known”

www.bracknell-parish.org

Parish Office, The Ring, Bracknell, RG12 1HD Telephone: 01344 867 383

Email: [email protected]

Facebook: Holy Trinity Church Bracknell

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Anglican Congregation at St. Paul’s URC, Harmans Water

Holy Trinity Church

Bracknell

Mosaic Fresh Expressions Congregation in Town Centre

Content

Foreword from The Bishop of Reading 3

Vision, Context for Our Post 4

Person Specification 5

Our Challenges as a Parish 6

Who BTM are 7Our Congregations 8Our Strengths 9-10

Buildings 11

Support we will Offer 12The Vicarage

Detailed description of the Parish 13

Parish Organisation and Finance 14-15Key Internal & External relationshipsFinancial Overview

Deanery Perspective 16

Note from the Area Dean

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Foreword from the Bishop of ReadingThis vacancy for an interim minister presents an opportunity for someone to make a real difference at a time of radical change.

Bracknell Town Centre is undergoing a major re-development and, since last year, when St. Andrew’s Priestwood was transferred to the parish of Warfield, the Bracknell Team Ministry [BTM] itself is in need of a major re-think.

We are looking for a priest with the right combination of experience and personal skills to seize this opportunity to help us discover new ways to engage with God’s mission in Bracknell.

In the Oxford Diocese, our purpose is to create a caring, sustainable and growing Christian presence in every community. This requires our clergy to have faith, creativity, flexibility, vision and a real desire to work in partnership with all God’s people.

What is needed here is someone with a real heart for mission who can not only see possibilities, but is able to articulate a compelling vision. We are looking for someone who is creative and not afraid to innovate, but will not just go-it-alone; we would like someone who enjoys seeing others flourish and will value the lay people and small ministry team. She or he will probably have experience of community engagement and will be comfortable working with local authorities. They will also need to value the traditional and the contemporary in worship: to be as comfortable in a Fresh Expression as they are with choral tradition.

The congregation here is committed, energetic and full of ideas and are waiting to be encouraged, equipped, enabled and led.

This post has been time-limited, initially for a period of three years, and will be reviewed after 2 years, to assess progress and to identify the next steps.

Please pray with us as we take this exciting step of shaping something new and beautiful for God and for the people of Bracknell.

+Andrew

16/4/15

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Vision, Context for our Post

Vision

Called Together to Make Christ Known

Why we are appointing an Interim Minister

The Bracknell Team Ministry PCC have chosen to appoint an Interim Minister to help us create an engaging forward focused vision which embraces the current changing face of Bracknell. These changes include:

Parish boundary changes o This included the transfer of a church (congregation and building) to a

neighbouring parish in April 2014. o http://www.achurchnearyou.com/parishfinder.php

Changes in congregation worship centreso BTM moved the Anglican Sunday congregation of St. Paul’s, Harmans

Water to Holy Trinity Church in January 2014.o Mosaic fresh expressions congregation had to leave the decaying British

Legion building in the town centre and took up residence in a local pub while they wait to move to a more permanent home in a new community hall in The Parks, a recent housing development. This move is imminent.

Redevelopment of the town centre that we serve o Holy Trinity is the civic church on the edge of the town centre. Within all the

redevelopment there is an opportunity to redefine this civic role.

Extensive new housing developments

o There is a housing plan for more new homes in Bracknell, many being within our Parish Boundary. With this will come the challenge on infrastructure: roads, schools, services and resources. It will also provide an opportunity for outreach and mission.

Renewed Deanery Mission to work collaboratively across Deanery parishes to deliver four priorities:

o Youth and Children’s Work o Worship, Leadership and Discipleship o Community Engagement and Social Action o Church Growth and Church Planting

Change has been a defining feature of our Parish over recent years. Some change has been painful for some, e.g. redefining of the Parish boundaries. We now recognise lots of

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the ‘good’ change has come from the ‘bad’, e.g. after the ‘bereavement’ of St. Paul’s Sunday service there is positive ‘new life’ at Holy Trinity, especially in the children’s work.

We wish to work with an imaginative individual who can help us create a vision in the midst of change in a defined period of time so that we will be in a better position to recruit a leader to help us to develop God’s congregation in Bracknell, both in numbers and spiritually.

Person Specification

Interim Minister, Bracknell Team Ministry

Essential: A prayerful sense of calling to this post

A man or woman in Holy Orders in good standing

Personal resilience founded on a commitment to prayer

Ability to work collaboratively to develop a vision for the next phase in the life of

BTM in a rapidly changing urban context

A strong strategic thinker who will actively engage the community in partnership

Confidence and facility in engaging with Local Authority Structures and officers,

and with community based organisations

Experience of urban ministry

Good manager with sensitivity when making change

Ability to negotiate and mediate in difficult situations

A good eye for opportunities and possibilities

A proven ability to lead a team successfully in a church or secular context

Familiarity with a broad range of church traditions; liturgical ability and flexibility;

able to maintain traditional structure and encourage fresh expressions of church

Ability to communicate in different forums

Ability to discern gifts and ministry in others, and experience in nurturing such

gifts. Willing to encourage more lay involvement in worship

Confidence in matters of parish finance and organisation

Commitment to the Diocesan Vision of Living Faith and to the Bracknell Deanery

Plan

Strong IT skills, including the ability to use standard office applications

competently

A sense of humour

Desirable

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Experience of encouraging good stewardship and Christian giving

Our Challenges as a Parish

The BTM PCC wish to work with a leader who can both nurture the current talent in the Parish and sustain the current congregations whilst embracing the challenges that we feel constrain us today.

Clarity of Purpose – with all the changes described earlier and the change in leadership, we need to renew our vision, hopes and sense of direction.

Sense of Identity – drawing on our purpose, we wish to define the character of the Parish to deliver that and fit within the bigger Deanery plans. We want help to grow in confidence in this.

Encouraging wider involvement in Parish life – we need to engage the untapped gifts available, so that it is not the same people on every committee, and change the perception of what it means to be involved.

Lots of fairly new people – we want to follow on from welcoming people through the door to the next level and nurture them so that they become more involved.

Communication – ensure a flow of appropriate information so that people understand and support our mission.

Gathered congregation – 54% of our electoral roll come from outside the Parish. People may only meet once a week within their congregation. This makes it difficult to ‘know’ people and is a challenge to ensuring pastoral care.

Pastoral care – We need to improve our pastoral support, including for elderly people in our congregations.

Buildings – Holy Trinity is over 150 years old; we have completed the first phase of our roof project but more funds are needed to complete this. The Parish hall is a 1970’s flat roof building that struggles to adapt to the demands of the 21st century.

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Who BTM are:

We recently asked everyone in our 6 congregations to share one word that described our Parish – this is the resulting Wordle where the dominance of the word indicates the frequency of the word. The PCC feel that this is good reflection of who we are.

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Style of Worship of the Various Congregations

HOLY TRINITY: Regular Congregations are:Sunday Style of Worship Ave Weekly

Attendance *8.00 am Said Communion: BCP (1st and 3rd), CW (2nd, 4th, 5th) 149.15 am Morning Praise (2nd, 4th), All age Communion (3rd) or

Holy Communion (1st, 5th)(Worship band led music)

Children's Club during 9.15am; Children’s Church 1st Sunday.Youth Breakfast 2nd and last Sunday of the month

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10 - 11am Coffee & fellowship11.00 am Sung Morning Prayer (1st), otherwise Sung Eucharist

(Choir and Organ)29

Regular Midweek services:Th-Fri 9amSat 8.30

Morning Prayer 4

Thur 10am Holy Communion, followed by coffee & Bible study 13Friday Let’s Go 25* All average weekly attendance from Dec 14 – Feb 15 statistics

St. Paul’s Harmans Water: An active congregation meet at 10am on a Wednesday (*average attendance 20).

Mosaic: A typical Mosaic Sunday morning service includes children’s activities, videos, prayers, a talk and worship and also plenty of time for people to eat, drink coffee and chat. (*Average attendance 31)

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Snapshot of Attendance: Christmas Services 2014Nativity Service – 121Nine Lessons and Carols – 60Children’s crib service - 117Midnight Mass – 115Christmas Day, Holy Communion – 64

Easter Services 2015Palm Sunday:(8am) 11,(9.15am) 137,(11am) 40Maundy Thursday: (10am) 13, (8pm) 25Good Friday Children’s activities - 33Good Friday Reflective time with music -13Good Friday Service with choir - 50.Easter Day:(8am) 25, (9.15am) 135, (11am) 62,Mosaic - 40

Other Services in 2014Baptism – 35, 4 of which were adultsWeddings – 3Funerals - 24

The Parish electoral roll has 366 members (March 2015).

Making a difference in the world – our Strengths

The Parish is divided into three ‘departments’ – Discipleship, Mission and Evangelism, and Community (this being matters such as volunteering, stewardship, finance, buildings). The Stipendiary clergy team take responsibility for leading one of the departments. Here are examples of our work in these areas:

Discipleship:

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Bible study: After midweek service & evening home study. Bible reading notes.

Life (Home) groups - well established small groups who meet fortnightly in a home for bible study and reflection.

Celebrating first communion

Children ministry from tots to teens: Children’s Church, Children’s Club and Youth Breakfast

Mission and Evangelism

Community: working together on volunteering, stewardship, finance, buildings etc.

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Parent / carer toddler groupOutreach in the Community:Mosaic Drinks Give Away in town;Songs of Praise at Farningham House sheltered accommodation

BUILDINGS

Holy Trinity Church

The Parish Church. It was built in 1851 and is a Grade 2 listed building. The Church has a capacity of around 350 people seated in pews and chairs. The South and North Aisle have been cleared of pews to create space for the music group, children’s play area and providing hospitality. It is located in the town centre and plays the role of a civic church for the town.

A full history of the church is on our website.

Langley Hall

Named after Frederick Langley, a previous verger, the Hall is used for a variety of meetings and lettings. There is an administration office, where the Parish and Finance Administrators work. There are two additional offices, enabling clergy and lay ministers to hold meetings, work remotely and conduct pastoral and business meetings (including a Saturday morning Clergy Surgery). The hall is adjacent to Holy Trinity in the town centre. Built in 1975, the main hall can seat 100 people. The kitchen was fully refitted in 2006, and the toilets, lighting and general décor upgraded in 2008.

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Support we will offer

Encouragement to maintain a sustainable ministry, including days off, holidays, retreats, opportunities for learning and development, adequate time for family life, friendship and recreation.

Shared commitment to meeting the challenges identified Prayer, friendship, fellowship

The Vicarage: Old Lands Hill. Bracknell.

The Vicarage is a four bedroomed detached house with lounge, dining room with doors to back garden, new fitted kitchen and utility room leading off the kitchen and doors to back garden, downstairs cloakroom and study off the entrance hall. 1st floor has 4 bedrooms (Master with en suite and fitted storage, 3 further bedrooms all with fitted wardrobes), family bathroom. There is an enclosed rear garden with side entrance and small front garden. Double garage and off road parking for two cars.

While the Vicarage is geographically outside the Parish, it is 1 mile from Holy Trinity Church which can be reached in 5 minutes by road or a comfortable 15 minutes walk on main footpaths.

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Detailed description of the Parish

Bracknell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire. The town (Parish) itself has a population of 52,696.

In 1949 Bracknell was designated a Post War New Town and in the 1960s major developments led to a new town centre being built along with a large increase offices and housing. It was around this time that many IT companies moved into Bracknell and the Thames Valley. Today, IT companies continue to be one of the major employers in Bracknell and the surrounding area. In 2014, a major part of the 1960’s town centre was demolished to make way for a major re-building project, to build the new shopping centre, restaurants, town square and many other amenities. The project began in March 2015 and is expected to be completed in Spring 2017.

Bracknell Parish currently has 6 schools and the local college: Crown Wood Primary Holly Spring Infant & Nursery Holly Spring Junior Harmans Water Primary St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary Ranelagh Church of England Academy (Secondary) Bracknell and Wokingham College

In addition to these schools within the Parish there are several other local primary and secondary schools in the immediate vicinity, including St Michael’s CE Aided Primary close that has the whole of Bracknell as its catchment area.

Bracknell has the usual range of facilities including doctors’ surgeries, dentists and an Urgent Care Centre for those not needing A&E. There is a library, cinema, several hotels and health & fitness clubs. There are a range of indoor and outdoor leisure facilities: sports centre, skiing and skating centre, Coral Reef pool, Look Out Centre and local art centre and theatre (South Hill Park). Bracknell railway station provides good access to London (60 mins) and Reading (20 mins).

The unitary local authority is Bracknell Forest Borough Council: http://www.bracknell-forest.gov.uk/home

Issues and concernsBracknell and the surrounding area continues to expand with many vacant office blocks in the town being converted to flats and major house building starting in the adjacent Parish of Warfield. House prices in Bracknell are well above the national average which makes it difficult for young couples and people new to the area to find somewhere to live.

The Worshipping CommunityWithin Bracknell Parish there is a thriving Catholic Church (St Joseph’s) in the town centre and also the Kerith Community Church, a large independent church with its own building and facilities on a site just north of Holy Trinity. St Paul’s, in Harmans Water, is a United Reformed Church.

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Parish Organisation and Finance

INTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS:

MINISTRY TEAMClergy team and lay ministers meet regularly and pray together. A full clergy team currently consists of one Team Vicar, a Priest holding an Archdeaconry post, and a Retired Priest with Permission to Officiate. Lay ministers preach, lead worship, undertake pastoral ministry and lay funeral ministry. There are 10 people with permission to preach and lead services of the word (7 at Mosaic and 3 at Holy Trinity) and 17 lay ministers of Holy Communion. There is one person training for Communion by extension at public worship. PCCBracknell has a single PCC which meets on average six times a year. An active Standing Committee meets in the intervening months and various PCC sub committees – Finance and Administration, Fund Raising and Buildings Committee meet regularly to focus on those areas of PCC business.

Office staffThere are two paid part-time administrators dealing with Parish and financial matters respectively.

EXTERNAL RELATIONSHIPS:There are a number of key contacts the Interim Minister would be expected to interface with:

Council leaders

Regeneration Partnership

Faith forum

College Principal

Head teachers

Healthcare providers

Deanery + Bracknell cluster

Financial Overview 2014

Our total income for the 2014 period was £347k – a large part of this - £200k – was due to the income from a one off legacy received in the later months of 2014. If this is removed for a true performance insight then our actual income was around £147k versus a budget of £121k which was still an excellent performance. There is still work to be done in building sustainable income from income donations and the PCC have plans in this area, particularly in maximising donations by standing order and ensuring we fully utilise the benefit of Gift Aid.

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Expenditure for 2014 was a total of £119k versus a budget of £135k which means we spent circa £16k less than we planned, much of this was realised from the excellent work the wardens and finance admin teams have put in controlling costs, particularly within the administration and buildings costs. Note there are some medium size projects that will require attention in 2015/16 that should be considered.

Our reduced committed Parish share responsibility was fully recognised for the period with a total contribution of £55k being paid. We are on a negotiated glide path to reach our target parish share contribution.

Langley Hall had an income of £12.2k and total expenditure of £11k thus posting a profit of £1.2k.

The net result shown in the final accounts including the legacy payments shows a total profit on the year of £230k with a carried forward funds balance of £438k. £240k of this is restricted funding.

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Deanery Perspective

The Bracknell Deanery comprises nine parishes from Sunningdale to Binfield.  They fall into two informal clusters (Bracknell and Ascot) based on geographical area - Bracknell Team Ministry is in the ‘Bracknell Cluster’ with Binfield, Easthampstead and Warfield.

The Bracknell Deanery Synod holds five meetings annually, all of them now in the pleasant and convenient venue of Ascot Priory. Two of these meetings are now Deanery Gatherings, recently addressed by Bishop Andrew and Archdeacon Olivia; their talks were followed by discussion groups on topical matters including one on the redevelopment of Bracknell Town Centre and the opportunities and challenges thus presented.  The Synod has this as part of its strategic review. With the completion of the Deanery Mission Plan, the Synod’s aim is now to take forward some of the issues highlighted in this. 

The next Deanery Gathering, on Saturday June 6th has the theme of Outreach, with Bishop Andrew as the speaker. Discussion groups on Growth, Community, Children’s Work, Youth Work, Discipleship, Music and Leadership will follow. 

A note From: The Revd H David Uffindell (Area Dean)

As Area Dean, the Bishop of Reading has invited me to take the role of Priest-in-Charge until a permanent priest is appointed in Bracknell.

It has been a great pleasure to get to know both members of the PCC and members of the congregations (both at Harmans Water and at Holy Trinity). It has also been a pleasure to work with the two serving clergy, Les Jesudason and Alan Bradford and with the Churchwardens, Shirley Taylor and Russell Goodburn.

Our pattern has been to meet together once a month to keep in touch, to monitor and to review the day to day ministry and mission in the Parish together.

It is my sense that there is much to be pleased about and much to be thankful for – even in a time when there is no obvious senior leader in play. People are taking their responsibilities very seriously and some have stepped up to new levels.

At the same time, there are challenges to face: the mission imperative is being taken seriously knowing that finance, worship and outreach are key factors in the growth agenda.

The recent PCC decision to begin to look for a transitional minister seems to me to be a very sensible one. This will allow the reviewing of ministry and mission in Bracknell to take place at the same time as plans are drawn up for next steps both in the church and in the community.

This is therefore a very exciting time for Bracknell town, for the Deanery and for ecumenical colleagues, as together we can begin to imagine and create a future built on shared vision and practical partnerships.

I feel certain that the post of transitional minister will be a critically important element in this equation and look forward to working closely with the man or woman of God’s choosing to fulfil this demanding role.

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