“children at the heart of the church”
Are you the new
children’s discipleship leader
for All Saints Marlow?
www.4u-team.org
Table of Contents
Page
1
Welcome to All Saints Marlow!................................................................................................................ 3
2
Our vision and priorities ........................................................................................................................... 4
3
The Opportunity ....................................................................................................................................... 5
4
Meet the team ......................................................................................................................................... 6
5
All Saints Church....................................................................................................................................... 7
6
Our Church Schools .................................................................................................................................. 8
7
Churches Together ................................................................................................................................... 9
8
Summary ................................................................................................................................................10
1
Welcome to All Saints Marlow!
Our church is at an exciting moment of its life. We are emerging from a difficult period in the life of the church
and are seeing encouraging signs of growth. This journey (like most journeys) is full of highs and lows. We
have moments that feel like a huge leap forward. We have also experienced some great pain – such as the
deaths of 3 young parents in our church family in the past year. We are a group of ordinary people. But we
sense that our extraordinary God is leading us on a remarkable journey and we are inviting you to consider
joining us on it.
We have regular contact with around 600 children (primarily through our two church schools) but despite this
our church historically struggled to attract children and families. In 2012 we established a new contemporary
Sunday service (called @1059), which now welcomes an average of 30 children every week and nearly 50 at
our monthly all-age service. In addition to this, we are seeing new families come to our 9.15 service (Holy
Communion with choir) and have recently had to start a second children’s group at that service. A third area
of growth is our choir. Under the leadership of Martin
(our Director of Music), our boys and girls choirs have
doubled in membership since 2011. We now have 58
boys and girls who come from more than a dozen local
schools.
All our children’s work is currently resourced by our
amazing team of volunteers, so the time has come for
us to appoint for the first time a staff member to work
with the children in our church and town.
We are not looking simply for someone to babysit these
children who are joining our church. We are looking for
someone who will get to know our children and will love and cherish them. We are looking for someone
who will nurture them in their discipleship – teaching them to pray and to read the bible, to know the love
of God for themselves and discover and use their gifts. We are looking for the person who reads these pages
and senses God’s call to join our team and join in with what God is doing here. If you feel it might be you,
please get in touch and explore the possibility further.
As you read these pages, I pray that you will be encouraged in your search for where God is calling you next
and that he will make his will for your life unmistakably clear. May you know God’s peace as you wait to
discover it.
Yours in Christ,
Dave
Team Rector
(PS: I’m the one on the right)
2
Our vision and priorities
At All Saints Marlow we believe God is calling us and empowering us to return our church to the centre of its
community. We are part of a team of four churches (“the 4U team”) who all share the same vision.
We developed this vision in 2012 and you can see it depicted in the infographic below. As we follow Jesus
together, we sense he is calling us to take new risks to reach those whom he is drawing into his kingdom. This
has already led us to make some significant changes.
One of our central priorities is to bring children back to the heart of the church, by focussing on families and
young people. We believe that God is raising up the current generation of children to lead in our church – not
at some point in the distant future when they become adults, but here and now. This vision is already
becoming a reality, but we need someone to come and shape this growth, someone who can lead and work
alongside our children, parents and volunteer teams.
3
The Opportunity
This is an opportunity for a gifted and enthusiastic leader to join a high-potential team at the early stages of its
development.
The person we are looking for is:
•
An appealing and vibrant disciple of Jesus
Christ who is a good team player and
passionate about seeing children grow in
faith.
•
Gifted and experienced at inspiring
children and helping to make them into
disciples of Jesus.
Children’s work
qualifications and musical ability are
desirable but not essential.
•
Able to lead and inspire volunteer teams.
•
Able to build relationships with a wide group of people, including children, parents, schools and
church staff.
•
Of Christian faith (not necessarily an Anglican), and willing to become a fully committed member
of All Saints Marlow.
The role we are asking you to play is:
•
•
•
Leading the making of disciples among the children of Marlow
Serving as a member of the leadership team for All Saints (“The Church Leadership Team”)
Key responsibilities:
1. Developing and implementing a strategy for making disciples of the children in the
Marlow area.
2. Leading and expanding the discipleship of children in our 9.15 congregation (Holy
Communion with choir - currently a self-service crèche plus two groups of 5-15
children with a team of 12 volunteers)
3. Leading and expanding the discipleship of children in our 10.59 congregation
(informal contemporary service – currently a self-service crèche plus three groups
of 5-20 each with a team of 15 volunteers)
4. (alongside clergy and volunteer team) Engaging with children at our two church
schools (Sandygate Infants School and Holy Trinity Junior School), both in school
and through church-based activities
5. (alongside clergy and director of music) Engaging with the 50-60 children in our
boys’ and girls’ choirs, and welcoming them into the broader life of the church.
6. Relaunching our toddler club (formerly called ‘Little Angels’, which met on
Tuesday mornings in the church).
7. Every summer, a secondment to the ‘Lighthouse’ holiday club, plus attendance at
planning meetings throughout the year.
8. Safeguarding children and volunteers, working with our Parish Safeguarding
Officer.
The successful candidate will also be expected to liaise with the other three churches within the 4U team, and
to share resources with them (e.g. training volunteers), but will only be responsible for the children’s work at
All Saints Marlow.
Working arrangements, hours and conditions
• Reporting to the Team Rector, accountable
with him to the Church Council
• 40 hours per week, including Sunday
mornings and some evening work
• Pattern of work to be flexible by agreement,
and to include at least two 24 hour periods of
rest per week
• Working from home, although office facilities
are available
• Fortnightly progress meeting; monthly team meeting
• 6 weeks holiday per annum, to include 6 Sundays
• 1 week of paid retreat per annum (can be taken as one week or spread across the year)
• All working expenses reimbursed
• Ring-fenced children’s work budget
• 6 month trial period; Annual appraisal (February)
• Salary: £24,000 p.a. + expenses
Accommodation:
Rent-free accommodation is available for the first 6 months of the post.
Occupational Requirement:
Due to the nature of this role it is a genuine occupational
requirement that the successful candidate be a committed Christian.
4
Meet the team
You would be joining our diverse team, who like having fun together! As you can read, most of us are
fairly new to Marlow. We are looking forward to welcoming our new team member!
Revd Dave Bull - Team Rector
Dave (appointed Jan 2012) oversees all elements of the 4U Team as its main leader. He is
married to Helen and has 3 children at primary school. He loves mountain biking and seeing
God at work in unexpected places. Dave takes particular responsibility for leading All Saints
Marlow.
Revd Sarah Fitzgerald - Team Vicar
Sarah (appointed October 2012) oversees the churches in Bisham and Little Marlow. She is
married to Richard and has two children aged 18 and 21. She loves going to art galleries .
Sarah also takes particular responsibility for discipleship across all four churches.
Revds Graham and Sami Watts - Team Vicars (job share)
Graham and Sami (appointed October 2014) live in Marlow Bottom and lead St Mary’s
church. They are also leading a new church plant in Marlow Bottom. They have 3 children in
primary school. Graham and Sami love theatre and sport. Graham takes particular
responsibility for leading evangelism across all four churches.
Revd Wendy Bull - curate
Wendy (who arrived in July 2013 and is not related to our Rector!) was a vicar’s wife for 18
years before getting ordained. She loves films and hill walking and is particularly involved
with our Alpha course and the 1059 service.
Stewart Grenyer – Community youth worker
Stewart is employed jointly with the Methodist church and leads the Marlow Community
Youth Project (www.cryptcafe.co.uk). He has 3 grown-up children and is also a worship leader
in the 1059 congregation.
Revd Gabrielle Smith - Vicar
Gabrielle has been at All Saints since 1998 and is married with one adult daughter. She has a
particular focus on pastoral care and bereavement ministry. She leads our monthly Healing
Service.
John Bustin - Reader
John is married to Anne and has been at the church since 1991. A retired accountant, he has a
particular focus on choral worship and pub ministry at All Saints Marlow.
Martin Seymour – Director of music
Martin (appointed 2010) is married to Sarah (also a church organist!) and oversees the choral
music at All Saints Marlow. This now comprises 5 choirs (including 58 children) and is a
vibrant and growing community. A choir tour to Budapest is planned for autumn 2015.
Glynis Simons – Parish administrator
Glynis is our part-time Parish Office Administrator, and works from the small parish office in the corner of the
churchyard.
This team tries to provide a model of collaborative ministry, working together with their diversity of gifts and
emphases. Team meetings include bible study, prayer, discussion and the opportunity to share problems and
explore new ideas in their shared working. About twice each year we have an extended time away on a daylong retreat or conference.
5
All Saints Church
Who are we?
We are a friendly, welcoming church with a wide range of ages and experiences. Some of us have worshipped
here for decades. Others are right at the beginning of our spiritual journeys. We enjoy varied worship styles
and try to generate a warm, friendly place in which to worship. We are committed to worshipping in a variety
of styles. Our four Sunday services are:
8am
Spoken, traditional Holy Communion
9.15am
Liturgical service of Holy Communion with
robed choir and 2 children’s groups
10.59am
Informal contemporary worship service,
with 3 children’s groups (all-age monthly)
6.30pm
Choral evensong with robed choir
We have eight discipleship groups that meet during the week. We run Alpha courses twice per year, Marriage
Preparation (over 30 couples will be married here during 2015), about 35 infant baptisms per year, a men’s
ministry, a “Beer and Philosophy” course in a local pub and we support a local food bank. We are linked with a
church in South Africa and are keen to explore links with their children’s groups.
In 2011 our average attendance across all our Sunday services was 223 (including 43 children). In 2014 it was
310 (including 63 children). We are excited about welcoming the new people who are joining our church
community.
We welcome people wherever they are on their Christian
journey; we are looking for ways to go deeper in our faith
and to support each other in understanding what
discipleship means for each of us. At Christmas time we
are bursting to the seams for our Christingle and Crib
services. We have a beautiful building and we are eager to
share it with our community; this includes the use of the
crypt under the church for a community youth club. We
are thrilled to see what God is doing in Marlow and we are
full of anticipation and prayer for what He has in store for
us in the years ahead.
Our children
We have over 100 children registered on our database. Children under 2 currently use our crèche corner, but
we have plans to build an enclosed crèche in one corner of the church by the end of 2015. Older children
leave the service for groups led by volunteer teams. In addition to the crèche space, we currently have 5 other
rooms: a vestry in the church, a crypt (which has been converted into a youth cafe) and 3 rooms in our church
hall (a 2 minute walk away). In addition to our children’s groups, we have 58 boys and girls aged between 6
and 18 (mostly under 12) in our choirs.
Almost all of our children come from families who are relatively new to church. Perhaps a dozen families in
total have an historic established habit of weekly church attendance, but the rest are new to faith. This makes
working with them very exciting, but it also means that most children have little or no depth of understanding
of the Christian faith. Having said that, those who attend our church schools have visibly benefitted from the
outstanding and faith-filled input from the staff there.
Many of the children are taking genuine steps along the road of faith. Our longing is to see them grow –
learning to pray, to know the love of God for themselves, to identify their own giftings, to begin to live as
disciples of Jesus. We are beginning to involve children more in our Sunday services, not just taking the
collection or doing readings but praying, joining the worship band and helping to lead services. All this work is
currently undertaken by volunteers. There is a huge opportunity for the right person to come and lead us in
what the Spirit is doing here. We believe God is preparing someone to join us and look forward to welcoming
them and to following their lead.
6
Our Church Schools
We enjoy very strong links with our two church schools: Marlow CE Infant School (180 children; known locally
as ‘Sandygate’) and Holy Trinity CE Junior School (320 children). The headteachers and staff at both schools
are exceptionally supportive of links with the church and there
are very frequent opportunities for church members to go into
the school and vice versa.
Growing numbers of families from these schools are joining our
9.15 and 10.59 congregations. We have ‘School Sunday
services’ for both schools at least once per term, plus other
regular services at Christmas, end of term etc. Both schools
also regularly visit the church for other purposes.
Every summer, the schools organise a ‘Praise in
the Park’ event in the park opposite the church,
involving all the church schools in the locality.
Over 1,000 children worship together in the open
air at this amazing event, which is led by the vicars
from our team.
Several members of the school staff are regular
worshipping members of our church as well, and
sometimes take part in leading all-age worship.
Clergy regularly take assemblies and Sandygate is
about to begin a lunchtime “God Club”. Both
schools are eager to forge even closer links and are
looking forward to welcoming the new Childrens
Discipleship Leader as an integral part of their
school communities. You can find out more about our schools at
www.marlow.eschools.co.uk
and
www.holytrinity.bucks.sch.uk.
7
Churches Together
Churches Together in Marlow is very active, involving 6 of the 7 denominations in the town (Anglican,
Catholic, Methodist, URC, River Church and the independent Community Church). The leaders meet to pray
together weekly, have a monthly lunch together and have recently started going on retreats together. There is
a close spirit of co-operation and strong relationship between the leaders, who share a vision for the growth of
God’s kingdom in the area. Examples of the churches working together include:
Youth work: our Crypt project, begun in 2009, is a joint project between
the Anglican and Methodist churches. Together we employ Stewart
Grenyer as our Youth and Community Worker, see www.cryptcafe.co.uk
Messy Church: a monthly Messy Church started in 2014 and meets in the
URC building.
Love Marlow: an annual town-wide festival planned to start in 2015, see
www.lovemarlow.co.uk . All Saints is hoping to hold a Teddy Bears Picnic in
the park during Love Marlow, to which we plan to invite all the children of
the town.
The biggest event in the Churches Together calendar is Lighthouse - a children's holiday club, using a brand
and formula derived from Great Missenden and used in towns and villages around Buckinghamshire. It is now
in its 11th year in Marlow and serves over 400 children between the ages of 4 and 11.
www.lighthousemarlow.com .
This role involves a secondment to Lighthouse for 20 days each year. Of these, 9 will be for the holiday camp
itself in August. The other 11 will be spread across the year (one day per month) to help plan and organise the
event.
8
Summary
We believe that God is doing something extraordinary in the lives of the children in Marlow. We are looking
for someone who can lead them into the fullness of life that comes from following Jesus. Marlow is a
wonderful place to live and our church community is waiting to welcome our new Children’s Discipleship
Leader.
If, as you have read these pages, you believe this might be where God is calling you then we would love to
hear from you. We are praying for you.
Please download an application form from our website or email Glynis on [email protected].
The deadline for applications is 17th April.
If you would like to know more
before making a formal application
please contact the Revd Dave Bull, Team Rector
on (01628) 471650.