Tenpenny Villages Benefice Profile

The Tenpenny Villages
Benefice Profile 2019

St Andrew’s, St Anne & St Mary
Alresford St Laurence, Magdalen,
Thorrington
Elmstead

tenpennyvillages.uk

Members of the Priory Parishes Mission & Ministry Partnership
of the Diocese of Chelmsford

Contents Page 3

1. Introduction and Vision

2. Setting the scene Page 5

• The Tenpenny Villages Benefice Page 18
• The four villages and the three Page 27
Page 29
worshipping communities
• New housing in the area
• Colchester and the surrounding area
• The Diocese of Chelmsford and the

St Osyth Deanery
• The Priory Parishes Mission and Ministry

Partnership
• Benefice Statistics

3. What goes on now

• Children’s and youth work
• What is happening in our communities?
• Pastoral care and overseas mission
• Prayer and discipleship
• Worship

4. Finance and buildings

5. Our new Rector

• What are we looking for?
• What we can offer
• The Rectory

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1. Introduction and vision

Our three PCCs have met together to seek God’s vision for our
churches and communities and regular prayer meetings for the
Vacancy are taking place in the Benefice. We believe that the
following statement reflects where we find ourselves at the
moment and how God is challenging us to move forward:

We are three churches joined by a brook and a common faith. Each church
has a long history, standing for the faith we all share in our communities. St
Andrew’s was born again from fire; St Anne & St Laurence and St Mary
Magdalen have stood witness for centuries.

We are passionate that we will continue to bring Christ to our communities
for centuries to come. We do not want to see the worshipping communities
die on our watch. We see our churches as central to our villages and we
want to serve our communities with love, reaching those of faith or none
and to serve all. We want to see lives changed and the broken restored. We
want to serve the young, the old, families and those on their own. We
welcome everyone, however they come, whatever their needs. We know
we don’t have it all sorted yet we want to be family together with all of the
joys and challenges that brings.

We are on a journey of faith, like the brook constantly moving, and we want
to journey with our saviour wherever that may take us. We believe that
Jesus changes lives and we accept that change is part of our journey
together. Although at times we may find it difficult, we accept that change is
a necessary part of a life of faith.

We celebrate our differences and embrace a variety of worship styles. We
recognise that there is no right way to do it and that we can find God in
many ways, both in formal worship and also in service. We know that God
is with us at the communion table and at the washing up bowl.

We understand that if we are going to thrive and grow we need to work
with the young and reach out to families. We are committed to supporting
our local primary schools and our secondary school.

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Introduction and vision continued

We recognise that life is often complicated and confusing for our young
people. We want to stand beside them as they mature and navigate the
challenges thrown at them by this world.

We know that our churches’ primary purpose is not to serve the needs of
the congregations but to reach out to those outside of our worshipping
communities. We recognise that we have multiple congregations, not just
on Sundays but wherever we gather. God is present in all our activities. We
want to be seen as a force for good in our communities and that they see
the churches as theirs. We want to be seen as welcoming and a place of
love and acceptance. We know we don’t always get this right but we are
committed to learning how we can do this better.

We are all disciples and know that there is always more to learn; teaching
and discipleship is how we grow in faith and love. We believe in the power
of prayer and we have seen prayer answered - God is working in our
churches and communities. We believe in the word of God and this forms
the basis of our teaching. We have a common understanding of our faith
and whilst we may have minor differences, what joins us is far greater.

We have been blessed with talent and resources and we celebrate every
member’s ministry. We have seen our congregations grow in faith and
many have gone on to serve other communities. We are keen we continue
to be a resource for the wider church.

We are looking for a leader who will keep us moving forward; challenge us
to reach out to our communities and help us grow in faith. We are
committed to supporting our future leader and do not expect them to do it
all for us. We know we are Jesus’ hands and feet and it is our responsibility
to serve and bring Jesus to our communities. We are positive about the
future. We believe God has so much more for us and our communities. We
look forward to working out together how we can know Him more, and
serve them better!

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2. Setting the Scene

The Tenpenny Villages Benefice

While our Benefice is relatively new our four villages have many historical
links and much in common demographically, socially and economically

Our villages are surrounded by arable farmland but also areas of woodland,
meadows and tidal marshes and areas of natural beauty. The majority of
the housing was built in the 1960’s and 70’s and this impacts on the
demographics.

There is little local employment, therefore commuting out of the villages for
work is common. Road and rail communications are good with a railway
station in Alresford .

There are significant new housing developments in each village and the
Local Plan includes the possibility of more. These have caused some
division in our existing communities but also provide opportunities.

Plans for a major Garden Community Development between Elmstead
Market and Colchester are being developed. The area for development
crosses Parish, Mission and Ministry Partnership and Deanery and Local
Authority boundaries but the largest part falls within Elmstead Parish.
Local clergy are meeting to work with the proposed development
corporation to foster the development of good communities and also
explore the possibility of one or more places for worship.

There are Primary schools in Elmstead and Alresford. Most of the secondary
school children attend Colne Community School and College in nearby
Brightlingsea; some attend schools in Colchester - the Royal Grammar
School, County High School or St Benedict’s Catholic College. Further
Education is provided by sixth forms at some of the schools, the Colchester
Sixth Form College or at Colchester Institute.

Deprivation levels are around or
just above the national average.

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St Andrew’s, Alresford

Our village

The village of Alresford is located approximately 6 miles to the east of
Colchester in North East Essex. It has a population of around 2500 people
and 850 homes. This is going to increase substantially as over 300 new
homes are being built in the village with a strong likelihood of further
homes in the near future.
Most people work outside the village and it has good road and rail links to
Colchester, Clacton, Chelmsford and London.
Alresford has a primary school and pre-school, with the local secondary
school located in the nearby town of Brightlingsea. We also have a Village
Hall hosting many local groups and events and a popular pub. The village
has a small number of shops.
Large areas of farmland surround the village and it is a lovely area for
walking.
There is a strong sense of community in the village which won ’Essex Village
of the Year’ in 2012. There is a new sense of the church being part of the
village community, partly due to the improvement in the relationship
between the church and the village community in recent years, and there
has been a significant amount of joint work including organising the Village
Summer fete and a Christmas tea for over 75’s.

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Our church

St Andrew’s Church is a modern building situated in the centre of the
village which was opened on Palm Sunday 1976 following a major fire
which destroyed the previous 14th century parish church of St Peter’s.

The church is an A frame style building, resembling an Essex barn from the
outside. Inside it has a spacious worship area with a polished wooden floor
and high ceiling. The seating arrangements are flexible with chairs for up to
200 people.

A £400,000 extension was built in 2013 in response to a vision to reach out
to the community. This consists of a prayer space (the Sanctuary), a large
function room (the Hub) which provides much needed additional space for
the many groups that meet at the church during the week, a church office,
a spectacular new entrance, and additional toilet facilities, including a
wheelchair accessible toilet. Most of the funding came from the sacrificial
generosity of church members.

The church is in a good state of repair and is low maintenance. It stands on
a site with a substantial grassed area to the rear, enclosed by fences and
hedges. This area is frequently used by the children and youth groups and
for social functions. There is a car park at the front of the church with
additional parking facilities at the nearby Village Hall. The old church ruin of
St Peter’s is situated half a mile outside the village and is now under the
care of Essex County Council. Occasional open air services are held at St
Peter’s.

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St Anne & St Laurence, Elmstead Market

Our village

Elmstead Market is a friendly and supportive community which has a
variety of organisations, developed over time. Church members are active
in many of these, our focus having been involvement in the community at
large, rather than the development of our own organisations. An example
of this is the "Upmarket" community magazine which the Church
developed from its own Parish Magazine more than 30 years ago,
distributed monthly, free to every home in the ecclesiastical and local
government parish by an army of volunteers. The church is actively
involved, and priority is given to the Christian message at Christmas and
Easter. Even in this digital age, the magazine, supported by advertising, is
regarded as an effective means of communication. In the village, there is a
residue of good will towards the Church, even if few are part of the
worshipping congregation.

Elmstead has a popular primary school rated good by Ofsted and an
attached nursery school that has been rated outstanding. For the past four
years, some of the congregation, together with members of Trinity
Methodists, go in to the school fortnightly with ‘Open the Book’ to
familiarise the children with stories from the Bible. The team occasionally
lead assemblies. The children greatly enjoy these sessions and receive
invitations to attend any major festival services.
The outstanding Market Field School for children with special needs is also
based in the village and they hold their annual Carol Service in the church,
and the ministry team visit the school.

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Our church

Elmstead has the joy of worshipping in a beautiful, but ancient, building,
slightly disadvantaged by being a mile from the village centre. The
congregation are prayerful and questioning. We are welcoming to everyone.
We are flexible and full of fun and laughter – very much a family that is ready
to grow.

We would probably best be described as middle-of-the-road, vestments are
used at services and the Eucharist is partly sung, although we do not have a
choir.

We have good relations with Trinity Methodist Church and share three or
four services every year with them including a Palm Sunday Procession and
‘Church on The Green’ in the summer.

The additional joy of our building is a Meeting Room with kitchen, toilets and
vestry added in 1983 which is used for a variety of events – from coffee after
the service to regular parish lunches; from Quiet Days to receptions after
baptisms; from Rainbows, Brownies and Guides meeting midweek to
refreshments after funerals. The friends of Elmstead church hold many
events to raise money for the upkeep for the church and has been
established since the 1980s

Socially we are active, much
of it food centred! Parish
lunches are held regularly
and these are attended by
40-50 people, some from the
regular congregation and
others from the village. We
have music evenings, (the
acoustics in the church are
particularly good); an annual
Memorabilia Evening, a
Christmas Tree Festival etc. to
encourage those from the
village to come and see what
we do.

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St Mary Magdalen, Frating with Thorrington

Our villages

The villages of Frating and Thorrington lie south of Colchester, in what the
tourist authorities call the Tendring Peninsula of North Essex. They are
attractive settlements on the road to the coastal resorts of Clacton, Frinton
and Walton.
The original parishes were joined in 1763 and St. John’s College, Cambridge,
became patron of the united living. The medieval church of St. Mary
Magdalen is the only church for the two parishes. It stands beside the listed
Thorrington Hall less than a mile to the east of Thorrington Village, amid
fields, farmland and ancient Bluebell Woods. Hence our references, ‘God’s
House in the Countryside ‘.
There is no school in either village, but there is a busy pre-school group in
Thorrington. The primary and secondary schools are located in nearby
towns. Both villages have small community halls and children’s playing
areas. Thorrington Village Hall is used for regular keep fit and children’s
dance classes, and Council and other meetings, and many social functions
and events. Both villages have welcoming pubs, willing to accommodate
our Christmas Carol singing and Plough Sunday worship.
Thorrington Village amenities include a thriving Village Store and Post
Office. Other amenities include a large, well maintained playing field area,
with some sport and play equipment. There are tennis courts available for
public use. It hosts the annual Village Day event, for community fund-
raising projects. Allotments are also available, and are in great demand.
Thorrington has a very active and popular bowls club and green.
The villages of Frating and Thorrington are growing and currently
expanding with new housing developments.

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Our church

Although of medieval construction over the past 10 years the congregation
has worked to reduce the burden of repairs. The top third of the tower has
been refurbished, all the plaster ceilings have been replaced and a toilet has
been fitted. Along with a coffee area and child corner for use during
services. Our latest project was to replace the ancient heaters, which was
completed in November 2018.
The church yard is kept pristine by a very devoted member of the
congregation. He also is bell captain and maintains the bells. Music is played
on a traditional organ which is played and maintained by a member of the
congregation.

The Church Family
The church congregation is mainly elderly and includes people who have
served the church for many years. At the present time we attract between
20 and 25 to our 9.30 am service.
Our outreach is to the two care homes in Thorrington, and to the whole
community, by our programme of events. A more personal prayer meeting
on a Wednesday morning and a bible study period is available.
Our church life is fairly relaxed but we do like a more formal type of service
and individuals are prepared to take part in the service, either reading,
leading intercessions, cup for communion. We have a robed choir. We are
quite at ease with the system of worship leaders being part of the overall
benefice team and can see the merit of allowing the overall leader time to
be in the community on our behalf.

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New Housing

Our villages will be changing as significant new houses are being built
locally.

Approximately 400 are under construction or recently completed in
Alresford, 220 in Elmstead and 75 in Frating and Thorrington. This means
that are villages are potentially growing by 25-50%.

We would love to see church attendance and membership grow by at least
this much! We see this as an opportunity and seek to welcome new
households by visiting with a leaflet about the benefice, details of the
relevant church and sometimes even a cake!! We do seek to work with the
parish councils on this. We are aware that new people joining our churches
will impact on the way we worship and that this could be challenging to
existing congregations.

In addition a new “Garden Community” of up to 9,000 homes is proposed
for land between Elmstead Market and Colchester. The site crosses
benefice, MMP and deanery boundaries and local clergy and others are
working together to influence the development along Kingdom principles of
life, liberation, love and learning to those that live and work within it and if
possible secure spaces for new worshipping communities to grow and
flourish.

The group has met with the managing director of the North Essex Gardens
Community Ltd, the development corporation set up to take the plans
forward and has received a very positive reception and further meetings are
planned. The new incumbent would be part of this group.

Obviously much of the development in our villages and the new Garden
Community has incurred significant local opposition and our new
incumbent will need to lead the churches as peacemakers and reconcilers
into the pain felt by some in our communities.

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Colchester

Colchester in north Essex is
Britain's oldest recorded town
and was the first city and
capital in Roman Britain. Its
rich history dates back over
2000 years.
But it's not just the history. 21st Century Colchester is a thriving, modern
town with first class visitor attractions, including the family favourites
Colchester Zoo and Colchester Castle, as well as fantastic places to eat,
drink and shop. It is also the home of the University of Essex
Poised at the gateway to East Anglia with picturesque villages and only
minutes from the coast, the Colchester area is a perfect place to live and is
also within easy commuting distance of London and many other towns and
cities in East Anglia.

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The Diocese of Chelmsford

A message from Bishop Stephen:

In the Chelmsford Diocese we believe that God is calling his church to be a
transforming presence. Our vision is that the church - that is the people of God
here in Essex and East London - should be a transforming presence in every one
of our parishes.

These are our priorities –
• To inhabit the world distinctively
• To evangelise effectively
• To hold ourselves accountable to one another and to God for the stewardship

of the gospel
• To re imagine the way we minister so that each ordained minister and each

individual Christian discovers their part in God's ministry and so that each
church flourishes.

To this end we are looking for priests who are excited by this vision of becoming a
church which is itself transformed, and which is becoming a more visible and
effective presence in the huge diversity of communities that make up this most
exciting and energetic part of England. There are many challenges ahead of us.

• We are a diocese generously subsidised by the national church. We need to
become financially self-sufficient.

• Leadership often seems distant. We are creating patterns of leadership that
are closer to the parishes. And we are looking to develop missionary leadership
at all levels of church life. Nearly half our clergy will retire in the next ten
years. We need to find out how to minister with fewer stipendiary clergy and
with a re-imagining of how stipendiary ministry works. We need to re-organise
the way parishes relate to each other and we are calling Mission and Ministry
Units.

• Some of our congregations still think ministry is what Vicars do. We have a
vision of ministry where the whole people of God are involved in the whole of
God's ministry. We are also experimenting with new forms of authorised lay
ministry.

• Levels of church going are below the national average. We need to get
evangelism into the agenda and into the lifeblood of every church. Each year
we are inviting every benefice to put on a weekend of mission and outreach,
and we are training people in every church for this ministry. One of our
aspirations is that every benefice should have a trained lay evangelism enabler.

• We are developing missionary discipleship, so that every church in the diocese
is a place where Christians are formed in order to be sent out in witness and
service.

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Despite planning for a future with fewer stipendiary clergy, we remain as
committed as ever to the local church. And what is the local church, but
that community of men and women gathered around Christ, and living and
sharing the gospel in the networks and neighbourhoods of their lives? But
we need priests to lead and to serve.

We know we need to change. We can only be a transforming presence
when we have allowed God to transform us. Therefore at the heart of all we
do is a longing for intimacy with God and a renewed life of prayer. First and
foremost a priest is a minister of the word and sacrament. All ministry flows
from this. But a priest shares the ministry of the bishop, therefore
presbyteral ministry will increasingly be a ministry of oversight, guiding,
nurturing and directing the mission of God's church in the communities we
serve.

It is an exciting time to be part of God's missionary movement for the
world, and the Diocese of Chelmsford is an exciting place to serve. We have
a clear vision and we are looking to appoint clergy who will share this with
us. In every parish we long to see each person and each community grow in
faithfulness and ministry so that together we may serve in the world and
Christ may be made known.
+ Stephen

The St Osyth Deanery

St Osyth Deanery covers the southern part of the Tendring Peninsula,
running from Alresford and Elmstead in the West to Walton and Frinton in
the East. Chapter meets bi-monthly and is usually well attended – we meet
for prayers and lunch, sharing news of our parishes and discussing different
topics and, although we are from different churchmanships and traditions,
we get on well and are supportive of one another.

In April 2018 we launched a new Christians Against Poverty Clacton Debt
Centre financed by the churches of the deanery and helped, for the first
three years, by the Diocesan Unit Development Fund. This project is being
spear-headed by three of the Deanery churches – Great Clacton, Frinton
and Alresford.

We have recently formed into Mission and Ministry Units (MMUs) and the
Tenpenny Villages are in the Priory Parishes Mission and Ministry
Partnership that was commissioned in September 2018.

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The Priory Parishes
Mission and Ministry Partnership

The Priory Parishes is a Mission and Ministry Partnership (MMP) comprising
ten churches within the St Osyth Deanery:

• The Tenpenny Benefice (St Andrew’s, Alresford; St Anne and St
Laurence, Elmstead; St Mary Magdalen, Thorrington with Frating)

• All Saints and St James’ Brightlingsea
• St Andrew’s, Weeley
• St Peter and St Paul, St Osyth
• St Mary the Virgin, Great Bentley
• St Michael’s Parish Church, Thorpe Le Soken
• St James Church, Little Clacton.

The purpose of the Priory Parishes is to develop a deeper connection
between our worshipping communities, share resources and extend the
opportunities for mission and outreach. Representatives from each parish
meet regularly to discuss opportunities for outreach within new housing
developments throughout each village and how to engage and welcome
new members into our communities. Discipleship is also a key area of
consideration, to assist new Christians to deepen their faith and to help
those who have been Christians for many years not to grow weary in their
faith.

The main focus in these meetings is children’s and youth ministry. The
Tenpenny Villages Benefice is the only benefice within the Priory Parishes
who has a full-time youth worker and they are keen to share resources to
enable growth and outreach for young people within the other churches.
There is a proposal for a youth event to take place in the MMP, inviting
young people from all the parishes. The Tenpenny Villages Benefice has also
had the privilege of sharing their resources and assisting in establishing an
All Age Worship service in another of The Priory Parish Churches as well as
offering ideas and suggestions and speaking at monthly services.

The MMP is still in its infancy but already there have been many positive
outcomes from this joint initiative. We pray that God will continue to bless
each church within The Priory Parishes MMP as we seek his guidance in
working together.

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Benefice Statistics

Alresford Frating w Elmstead Total
Thorrington
5650
Demographics 2010 1830 1810 66
Population 64 67 67
% Christian

Age 100 (5%) 50 (3%) 100 (5%) 250 (4%)
0-4 250 (12%) 200 (11%) 250 (13%) 700 (12%)
Age 5-16 1200 (59%) 1100 (61%) 1100 (58%) 3400 (60%)
16-64 500 (24%) 450 (25%) 450 (24%) 1400 (24%)
64+

Ethnicity 96% 95% 97% 96%
White British

Tenure

Owner occupier 700 650 600 1950

Private rented sector 100 50 100 250

Social housing < 50 < 50 50 <150

Social/Economic Issues

Lone parent 16 8 14 38

One person households 23 22 27 72

2018 Electoral Roll Alresford Frating w Elmstead Total
136 Thorrington
70 235
Sunday Church Attendance 29
1 (3%) 17 (11%)
0-14 15 (16%) 1 (4%) 0 (0%) 9 (6%)
0 (0%) 6 (18%)
15-29 9 (10%) 1 (4%) 6 (18%) 19 (13%)
4 (16%) 14 (42%) 27 (18%)
30-44 12 (13%) 13 (52%) 7 (21%)
6 (24%) 53 (35%)
45-59 17 (18%) 34 28 (18%)
25
60-74 26 (28%) 153

75+ 15 (16%)

Total 94

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3. What goes on now

Children’s and youth work

In the Benefice

We are blessed to have so many links with families, children and young
people in our benefice. We have a large number of children and youth at
our outreach groups and have identified real potential for spiritual growth
and wider engagement. In July 2016, after a lot of hard-work and planning,
we were able to employ our first youth-worker. Charley has been able to
continue growing and adapting our outreach, while planning and
developing new areas. Some of our activities with children and youth are
outlined below:

Pre-school – Bumps ‘n’ Babies is the younger of

our two pre-school groups and is for expectant and
new parents and carers. We then move on to
Scramblers for the under 5s. The children enjoy a
variety of activities including messy play, crafts,
simple Bible stories and singing while the adults
enjoy the opportunity to meet and make friends.
Both groups are also providing a bridge between the
community and the church with several children and
families moving on to attend Messy church,
Razzmatazz and special family services.

Razmatazz - Our after-school club for children at primary school. This has

seen significant growth through the years. We have a brilliant team of
volunteers who help to run the weekly session and engage really well with
the children. As with all of our activities, our team are safeguarding trained.
Sessions involve lots of games, toys, sport, creativity
and stories. We look at a variety of different themes
using a range of resources. The children engage really
well at Razmatazz, building on our links with the local
primary schools and assemblies, ‘Open the Book’, etc.
There is a large cross-over with our annual Summer
Holiday Clubs too, for which we use mostly Scripture
Union resources.

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Hangout@TheHub - is our weekly youth-group

for Year 6+, providing a space for young people to
be themselves, catch up with friends and try new
activities. This group has grown hugely in the past
few years, resulting in our volunteer team needing
to grow quite quickly! We have people from
churches in the Benefice, or from the local area,
come in to talk on a theme and run an activity – the
idea being that young people see how the church is
a community of people who express their faith
through their passions and life choices.

We also have excellent links with our local PCSO, who drops in from time to
time to chat to the young people and make positive connections. We see a
lot of our young people come through Razmatazz and then to Hangout, and
there have also been some excellent links made from our work at the local
secondary school. We have also identified through Hangout that our Year 9+
want somewhere different to ask their questions and explore faith, which
has led to us starting a Youth Alpha.

Messy Church – This is a key part of the

church’s ministry and is also a church community
of its own. Meeting one Friday a month, Messy
Church connects with families and individuals of
all ages in the community and beyond. With a
committed and hard-working team, we engage
with adults and children alike through a range of
messy crafts, games, and worship. Our prayer is
to continue seeing Messy Church grow, especially
as well with the new housing developments in
the area, and to continue building links between
different areas of the Tenpenny Benefice
ministry.

St Andrew’s - Powerpack/Distinctive

These are our Sunday morning programmes for ages 3+. Powerpack is

aimed at ages 3 – 8, and Distinctive is aimed at School Years 5 – 9. We use

Scripture Union’s resources which provide great engagement with scripture

and are age-relevant. P.T.O.

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Recently we’ve been looking at creation and in
particular, space! We have a group of around 6-
10 children and up to 6 or 7 young people. Some
of our older youth have recently gone to
universities, which is another area in which we
support our young people! Even when they fly
the nest, we still keep connected!

Chaplaincy at The Colne

There are a lot of exciting connections being
made with our local secondary school and sixth
form. It is a large school with students from all
over the area. Since July 2016, Charley has been
the school Chaplain, building links, getting to
know staff and students, running projects and
developing a mentoring programme.

The need for mentoring is great and we have three mentors going into the
school a morning each week. This work is made possible through our links
with Christian Youth Outreach (CYO), who support Charley and the church
in their work by providing help for projects, resources and interaction with
the school.

Charley has run a Remembrance Project in the
school alongside CYO, ‘Beloved’, ‘Sanctum’,
and also helped to lead some work in the RE
department. She is also involved in different
activities across the school, and there are
many more exciting opportunities coming up.

Youth Project

In July 2016 we received a grant from the Diocesan Mission Opportunity
Fund which enabled us to employ our first full time youth worker. The
funding provides 80% our youth workers salary and associated costs but
comes to an end in July 2019. The Youth Project was formed to support and
develop our work with Children and Young people and is actively seeking to
build up the funding to allow this essential outreach to continue. At present
we have the funds employ Charley until July 2020.

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What is happening in our communities?

As a benefice we try to reach out and be ‘Christ in our communities’
through a range of groups and events. These include :-

Internet and Book Café - The café was started in April 2011 following an

initiative for church to try different ways of reaching the community with
God’s love and care. People can swap books, jigsaws and CD/DVDs whilst
enjoying coffee and cake. The people who come are mostly elderly and the
majority are not regular churchgoers but many come to special services.
Café provides a forum for the church to draw attention to any special events
planned but generally provides a listening ear and a relaxed atmosphere.
These cafés are held in both Alresford and Thorrington.

Parish Lunches - Regular parishes lunches are held in the Meetings Room

after church at St Anne & St Laurence for fellowship and food!

Memories Group - The memories group meets on the first Thursday of

the month to offer support to people with memory loss and their carers.
This is in St Andrew’s Hub from 2pm - 4pm and is co run by Jeanette
Downing. We reminisce and at times sing-a-long to familiar songs.

Friendship Circle - The friendship circle meets, in St Andrew’s Hub, on

the second Monday of each month for people who are lonely, or suffering
from losing a loved one.

Relax and Renew - This is a free group open to all, held monthly, in St

Andrew’s Hub, on the second Friday afternoon of each month for an hour
and a half. The aim of the group is to help people to take time out from the
anxieties and stresses of everyday life. A variety of gentle relaxation
techniques are taught and practised.
Some comments from those who attend regularly as to what the sessions
offer them :- ‘Peace’, ‘Time away from the world’, ‘I learn so much that I can
apply at home’, ‘rest’, ‘relaxed’, ‘I never want to go home’.

Knit and Natter - The group meets fortnightly, in St Andrew’s Hub, to

have a chat and a cup of coffee and, of course, do some knitting. ‘Bears for
Baptisms’ and ‘Knitted Nativity’ are just some of the projects that the group
has undertaken.

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Pastoral Care and Overseas Mission

Pastoral Care

Pastoral care is an important area of ministry across the Benefice. All three
churches have pastoral support teams and work closely with the Rector and
our Associate Priest Pauline Hart. The teams support church members who
are unwell or going through difficult times by visiting, praying and offering
practical support where appropriate. The Rector is notified of any church
member in hospital and recent community bereavements. Authorised
members of the Pastoral team also take Home Communion to those who
are unable to attend the church through illness or infirmity.

Overseas Mission

Overseas Missionary Fellowship

Alex and Marguerite McCann serve in Phnom Phen, Cambodia. Marguerite
has been a member of St Andrews since her teens, and church as well as
individuals contribute to them financially. Alex teaches at a Bible school and
is on the board of SONOKO, a Cambodian Christian student organisation.
Marguerite is the coordinator for all short term volunteers and assesses the
suitability for long term OMFers in Cambodia.

Wycliffe Bible Translators

Tim and Maggie Gaved initially served in Senegal where they were involved
in translating the Bible into Mankanya. They are now UK based but both
travel regularly to French speaking Africa to support Bible Translation there.
Tim was an active member of St Andrews from 1983-1989; they now live in
Ipswich but come to speak at a service at least once a year. The church gives
them some financial support and we are in receipt of their updates about
their ministry.

Gifts for Romania

We have been supporting George and Maria Tulbure both in prayer and
financially for many years. The churches which George has established are
located in the very isolated Carpathian mountains and the village
communities have received the Gospel message. Many have come forward
for baptism and have become full members of the new churches which have
been established over the years.

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Prayer and Discipleship

Discipleship in the Tenpenny Villages

In our life together we seek to grow as disciples of Jesus so that we can be
Christ in our communities. Foundational to this are our small groups. We
have 7 groups with a total membership of xx. They meet on a weekly or
fortnightly basis at different times and days either in homes or in the
Sanctuary/Hub. Some of the groups have members from across the three
churches.
Some groups have grown from Alpha groups and others are more
longstanding. Each group’s meeting will include times of worship and
prayer and study. The groups also provide a space for mutual support and
friendship and are an ideal setting for people to develop their gifting and
ministries. During the vacancy the groups are being encouraged to take on
wider responsibilities.
The groups study a range of material, some thematic and some based on
biblical books.
The groups each have a co-ordinator/s whose role is to facilitate rather than
lead all of the sessions. (This role shared by the Quiet Hour Group that
meets in Elmstead). They also seek to encourage new leaders to emerge so
that new groups can be set up as existing ones grow or new groups come
from Alpha courses.
The groups are supported by our Associate Priest and the group facilitators
have had an Away day together and more are planned.
During Lent we break from the normal pattern, sometimes holding a central
Lent course in the Hub and sometimes small groups which are deliberately
opened up for the season. There is a joint lent course with the Methodist
Church in Elmstead.
Alpha Courses are offered at least once a year.

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Prayer in the Tenpenny Villages

Outside our main worship and our discipleship groups, prayer is a vital part
of life in our churches and we have a number of different meetings for
prayer.

Benefice Prayer Meetings

The Church Wardens have called the churches to pray for issues around the
vacancy, and the needs of the three churches. We meet fortnightly, rotating
around our churches, with members from all three churches participating.

Small Prayer Groups

We have a number of small groups and prayer triplets meeting regularly to
pray together. We also have members of the Lydia Fellowship meeting for
intercession.

Prayer Ministry Team

St Andrew’s has a long history of making prayer available for individuals at
the end of the main services. All three churches offer prayer for wholeness
and healing at our Healing Services. We use Acorn Christian Healing
Foundation material for training members of the team, who also undertake
safeguarding training. Some members of the team are available to meet
with individuals for a longer session of prayer. The team is currently led by a
former Acorn trainer.

Teach us to Pray

At the request of members of the congregations, we hold quiet mornings
focussing on different aspects of prayer, which are attended by members of
all three churches.

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Worship

As a benefice we celebrate the diversity of worship styles across our
churches. From BCP Communion to Taizé; service sheets to PowerPoint;
formal communions to café style; worship bands to organs. We enjoy
silence and drums! While we don’t all enjoy all of it, we seek God in every
style and hope that everyone can meet God in a way that helps them and
glorifies Him.

Worship is co-ordinated by the preaching team lead by the Incumbent. The
team consists of the ordained and licensed ministers (A reader and a
number of authorised local preachers), plus others who preach and lead
worship on occasions.

We have a mix of sermon series to address the discipleship needs of our
congregations and the Lectionary. In the last few years we have looked at
Culture, Whole Life Worship, The Exile (as a lens to look at the sweep of the
Old Testament narrative), Tom Wright’s book ‘The Day the Revolution
Began’, Philippians. In our teaching we seek to encourage people to think
through their faith for themselves and consider the implications for the
whole of their life.

We appreciate having the variety of worship styles and people do attend
services at other churches when the timing or style that day suits them
better.

Sunday Worship

St Andrew’s – The main Sunday morning worship is held at 11.00 am. It is
liturgical but relaxed and has been described by our Area Bishop as ‘joyful
chaos’. Normal attendance is between 60-80 adults plus 4-12 children. We
generally have Holy Communion twice a month and All Age Worship and
Morning worship once a month. We do have worship in the evenings
ranging from Breathing Space (a time of quiet to catch up with ourselves),
Food For thought (an opportunity to discuss difficult issue facing our world),
Taizé and others. Music is generally provided by one of our worship bands.

We have a Declaration of Ecumenical Welcome in place and occasionally
hold Methodist Communions lead by a retired Methodist Minister.

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Sunday Worship continued

St Anne and St Laurence – The Eucharist is the focus of our worship and we
celebrate Holy Communion every Sunday except for the 2nd Sunday of the
month where we have a more informal Morning Worship/All Age service.
We have an organ but no full time organist, so sometimes use an iPad for
recorded music. Normal attendance is 25-35 adults.

St Mary Magdalen – We enjoy our traditional worship services with the
singing lead by our small but enthusiastic robed choir. We have a full time
organist. Normal attendance is 20-25 adults.

BCP Said Communion – is held on the first Sunday of the month at 8.00 am
at St Andrew’s attended by a small but faithful congregation. Normal
attendance is 8-12 adults.

Fifth Sunday Joint Worship – We hold joint services around the three
churches if there is a fifth Sunday with mixed results.

Youth worship – We have held regular Sunday evening worship at St
Andrew’s aimed at young people. We plan to re-launch this in the New
Year.

The timings of our Sunday services mean that the Incumbent and the
Associate Priest, with the support of the rest of the team can comfortably
cover the services. However if, as we hope our congregations grow we
know we may need to have more services and timings would then need to
change.

Midweek Worship
A variety of Morning prayer services occur throughout the week at the
three churches, with a short communion at St Andrew’s on a Thursday.

We have recently started a regular once a week service of Evening Prayer at
St Anne and St Laurence.

Messy Church – is held at 4.30 pm on Friday once a month at St Andrew’s.
Normal attendance is between 20 and 40 from a total membership of 55.

Care Homes – Services are held regularly at our two main care homes in
Thorrington.

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4. Admin, finance and buildings

Formation of the Benefice
The Benefice was effectively formed in January 2016 when the existing
Rector, Curate and Lay Reader of Alresford and Frating with Thorrington
were licensed to Elmstead. The formation of the new Benefice was
celebrated a year late. As part of bringing us together it was agreed to have
a name rather than list the parishes and the Tenpenny brook which acts as
the boundary between the parishes was identified as a unifying factor. We
worked together to devise a logo and strapline. More work is needed
however to bring our congregations closer together while maintaining the
distinctiveness of worship and mission in each parish.

Admin
Many common policies and procedures have been agreed by the three
PCCS.

Safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults is a priority for us. It is
administered separately by each PCC but within a common policy. We are
largely up to date with all training and checks and the PCCs receive reports
at each meeting on overall progress.

GDPR processes are in place and are co-ordinated across the benefice. We
are learning the best ways of collecting and maintaining and making use of
the data held.

The Admin Team at St Andrew’s provides some admin support for the other
two churches including purchase of supplies.

Rev Pauline Hart is a Locally Deployed Self Supporting Minister. She has
been part of St Andrew’s for 25 years, St Marys for 6 years and STAL for 3
years. She currently offers Sundays and six ‘sessions’ per week to the
Benefice. Her main areas of ministry are worship, prayer and discipleship
across the Tenpenny Villages Benefice.

Parish Share and Expenses
The parish share, which is paid in full, is split between the churches on a
55%:27%:18% split as are clergy expenses and other common expenses
(Alresford : Elmstead : Frating with Thorrington. Fees are administered by
the treasurers in each church. Each parish supports it’s own day-to-day and
fabric expenses through members giving.

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Financial Overview

St Andrew’s
The majority of our income is from planned giving from members and
associated tax refunds. About 85% of our income is from giving, with the
remainder coming from fees, lettings and our fortnightly internet and book
café. There is also regular giving to our Youth fund which pays for our full
time youth worker.
Our photocopier, computer, projector and mower have all been replaced in
the last few years and we are starting to save in the Fabric Fund for future
replacements. Our Parish Share is paid in full yearly.

St Anne & St Laurence

St Anne and St Laurence currently has reasonable financial reserves, which
are needed to maintain the church environment (for example to purchase
new church chairs in 2018) and adapt to our changing congregational needs.
The Friends of Elmstead Church have been very active and generous in
underwriting part or all of the costs of maintaining our exceptional ancient
church fabric. Day-to-day financial management is now all managed online,
and we have paid our full financial share since joining the Benefice.

St Mary Magdalen
Over the past five years the PCC has been financially challenged by a chain
of events that culminated in the ceiling of the church being replaced and
work done on the tower this has all been paid for. This set back a time scale
to have a toilet fitted, which was completed in 2018 at the same time a
decision was made to replace the heaters these two items have also been
paid for. We offer a new incumbent a sixteenth century church that is fit for
purpose going forward. We regularly pay our Parish Share every year to
date.

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.

5. Our new Rector

What we are looking for in a new incumbent

We are fairly large and complex benefice which we see as much more than
the traditional Sunday congregations. See the table below.

St Andrew’s Worshipping Membership Fringe Population
St Anne and St Laurence Community of parish
St Mary Magdalen 136 40-50
Messy Church 70-90 62 20 2009
Care Homes 25-35 32 15 1440
Youth and schools work 20-25 40 1310
25-30 40 250-500
30-40 60-70 430
6-15 385
215

We seek someone who will grow with us on our shared journey of faith and
lead us into ways of mission beyond our comfort zone. We are united in a
vision of mission and ministry in a mutually respected partnership of
Christians, Lay and Ordained, committed to serving God in our communities.

We are diverse congregations with a wealth of experience and expertise. As
such, you will need to value and embrace our varied traditions and to regard
them as opportunities. Some of us have been Christians a long time, some of
us are new. Some of us are probably set in our ways and need challenging!
We offer our commitment, our love and a warm welcome. We believe that
we all have something to offer. We will present ideas as well as being open to
new ones, and understand that differences of opinion can be creative. We
would not expect changes to be imposed unexplained but we like to be
challenged and would want you to feel the same.

We are looking for someone who is:

• Open to the leading of the Holy Spirit and faithful in prayer
• Excited about working with different traditions of worship.
• Able to engage with all ages
• Keen to strengthen links between our churches and their communities
• Able to understand the tensions and joys of leading a fairly complex

benefice with numerous congregation – not just the Sunday ones!

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.

• Can see possibilities and potential and help us to grow in size and depth
• Help us grow together as a benefice supporting each other
• Committed to outreach to the new communities developing in our

villages.
• Committed to outreach to the young and families and to supporting our

local Primary Schools and our Secondary school.
• Open to use of new technology (i.e. social media etc) and also new

expressions of church (not just on Sundays).

Our young people were also asked what they would look for in a
new Rector. They replied:

• Good sense of humour and able to take a joke
• Kind & friendly
• Helpful
• Normal (Whatever that means!)
• A parent also replied and said 'family-friendly’

What we can offer a new Rector

• A chance to grow in your ministry in a supportive and exciting benefice.
• Three attractive rural parishes with good links to Colchester, London and

the coast.
• A modern four bedroom Rectory in Alresford.
• Three supportive PCCs who have a desire to reach out to their

communities with the love of God.
• A commitment to prayer in the life of the churches and openness to the

work of the Holy Spirit in quiet, in worship and in our day to day lives.
• A varied preaching team including Associate Priest, lay Reader, five

authorised local preachers, a retired Methodist minister and others that
lead worship and/or preach.
• Pastoral support teams in each parish.
• Diverse styles of worship but each focused on bringing glory to God and
exploring what the life of faith means.
• A number of worship leaders and musicians with experience in leading
bands and choirs.
• Ground work in forming us together as a benefice has taken place.
• Common Safeguarding and GDPR systems and other policies are in place.

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.

What we can offer a new Rector continued

• Three well maintained and flexible church buildings and well administered
churchyards.

• A locally deployed self supporting Associate Priest who currently offers six
sessions per week plus Sundays.

• A full time Youth and School worker.

Challenges for our new Rector

• Leading a diverse group of congregations (not just the Sunday ones!) with
different needs and expectations of the role of an incumbent in today’s
church.

• Helping the congregations to grow closer together, learning how we can
give to, and receive, support from each other and grow our role in the
Priory Parishes Mission and Ministry Partnership.

• Helping us to accept the changes that we know need to take place but
that some will find difficult.

The Rectory

The Rectory is situated in St. Andrew’s Close opposite the church and is a
spacious four bedroomed house. It has a reasonably sized, well kept garden
and a double garage with extensive additional parking. The Rectory has a
study just inside the front door which is used for a study and for pastoral
work. The fourth bedroom, however, would also be suitable as a study.

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