A Profile of the Glen Group of Parishes
Pinchbeck, West Pinchbeck, Surfleet
in the Elloe West
Deanery
Diocese of Lincoln
In preparation for the Bishop of Grantham’s Episcopal
Visit
February 2005
Together with some plans and
hopes for the future
Significant Changes and develoments
in recent years
Givers and Giving in the Glen
Group 2004
The Glen Group of Parishes was formed in 2002. It is staffed by one stipendiary priest, two Lay Readers and one retired Lay Reader with Permission to Officiate. The Rev’d John Bruce has been on placement in the benefice since January 2004. There are three Local Ministry Teams with a total of 12 authorised ministers and one in training. There has been assistance various clergy in recent years, in particular the Rev’d David Hewlett until Spring 2004 and various retired clergy.
Population figures indicate that Pinchbeck is the largest village but its population is fairly stable whereas West Pinchbeck and Surfleet are growing, with many new houses being built every year. In many cases however the villages are used as dormitory villages, with residents relating more to Spalding, Boston and Peterborough than their local village for shopping, work, entertainment, schooling, worship and recreation. Reference to the statistics in Table 1 indicates that the three churches nevertheless draw in significant percentages of the population at festival times, with Pinchbeck doing a little better possibly because of Uniformed Groups, Sunday School and a very large Church School. The village of Pinchbeck is increasingly becoming continuous with the urban sprawl of Spalding. It is also characterised by the growing commercial and industrial estate that is expanding into the area between the main part of the village and the A16. This area includes a Morrisons Superstore which draws large numbers of people from around the district. Surfleet and West Pinchbeck are significantly more rural. The popular local Spalding golf Club is located at Surfleet.
Each of the three parishes is very active. Highlights of current and recent ministries are set out below.
Highlights in the Glen Group generally:
Quiet Days at Edenham in 2003 & 2004
Benefice Prayer Diary
Benefice Weekend Away at Launde Abbey Oct. 2004
The Glen Group Web Site: www.glengroup.org.uk
The Benefice Steering Group
Regular Benefice Services
Youth at the Vicarage
The Alpha Course
Three active Local Ministry Teams
Flower Festivals in all three churches
Appointment of the Vicar’s PA
State of the art office equipment
Highlights at West Pinchbeck:
Seasonal Children’s Events (eg Good News Birthday Party on Christmas Eve)
Thirsty on a Thursday Ministry
Close relationships with church school, Chuckle Club and Playgroup
Successful Church Funding Programme 2004
Church Ladies Group
Active choir for festivals and special occassions
Highlights at Surfleet:
Mini Market
Mothers Union
Close relationships with RBL
Church Tourism Award
Seasonal Childrens Events
Close relationship with Community School
Two recent successful Christmas Tree Festivals
Taize Prayer Services
National 12 Bell Striking Competition
Active team of bellringers
Church Magazine goes monthly to every house in the village
Popular Sea Sunday Service is growing
Annual service for Baptism families introduced in 2004
Highlights at Pinchbeck:
Expanding Sunday School ministry now has five teachers
Pram and Toddler Service
Housegroups
Successful Church Funding Programme late 2003
Parish Mission October 2004
Opening the Church for visitors and tourism
Regular Parade Services and growing relationship with Uniformed Groups
Year Level Services for School held in Church
Active team of Bellringers with 3 new ringers joining the team in 2004
St Mary’s Church Choir grew in 2004 with 6 new members during the year
St Mary’s Music Group formed 2003
Regular Evensong which is well attended
Mothers Union
On the downside, the Surfleet Youth Group closed down in 2004 as did the Pinchbeck Youth Praise service. Youth ministry efforts are now focused in the Youth at the Vicarage ministry, which continues to be popular.
Each of the three parishes paid their Parish Share in full in 2004, which in total amounted to £46,993. Considerable sums have also been spent on church buildings in the past two years. Each parish has had a Quinquiennial Inspection during this period, and currently a considerable amount of effort is going in to works arising from these reports. At Pinchbeck, gutterings and downpipes were replaced, garden shed extended and gas pipes repaired, with a total cost of well in excess of £20,000, which was met from general and reserve funds. At West Pinchbeck, the church was rewired and a disabled access ramp to the main door provided at a cost of over £15,000, met from appeal monies, reserve funds and a small grant. At Surfleet, the church was rewired and the boiler replaced, at a cost of over £20,000, met from an appeal, grant monies and general funds.
The following points were formulated at a meeting of
Churchwardens, licensed ministers and members of the Benefice Steering Group.
Age
Profile of the Communities
Please see Appendix A (not attached to the electronic version)
The limits on new housing in Pinchbeck has meant that this village is not getting any bigger. The reduction in the number of new enrolments at school reflects this. Surfleet and West Pinchbeck on the other hand are growing. This is evidenced by an increase in enrolments at Surfleet School of around 25% in the past few years.
Social Mix
Most homes are owner occupied
A predominantly middle class population
There is Council Housing in all three villages.
18-30s leave the area for jobs and university
Many professionals commute to Peterborough and further (e.g., London)
A significant number of people have retired to the area from the South
Incoming professionals and other workers moving into the area for work in food industry
A growing number of migrant workers
There is also a significant number of people formerly employed in the agricultural industry, some living as tenants in Tied Cottages
Typical Attitudes
This is a diverse community and so it is difficult to talk about typical attitudes
The community is needing to become less insular because of the increasing variety of cultural backgrounds
A comfortable community, relatively conservative in voting and outlook, but not aristrocratic nor feudal
Economic Profile
Socio economic indicator (SES) for the villages is: Pinchbeck: 1.12; West Pinchbeck: 1.06; Surfleet 1.08.
Locally there is an innovative food industry
A lot of jobs but few careers
In the food industry many are earning minimum wages
The cost of living in comparatively low
Unemployment is very low
House prices are comparatively low but rising
There is poverty but it’s not obvious
There is a variety of European workers in the food industry
Inherited Assumptions
Some perceptions in the general community:
Civic pride
Incomers are less interested in the local village community and treat it like a dormitory
There are differences in perceptions and outlook between incomers and long term residents
Country lifestyle is better than city or town
Tend to wait for something to happen
Indians and not chiefs
Perceptions about the opportunities for youth vary
Some perceptions in the church community:
It’s not like it used to be
The Diocese doesn’t understand the south of the county
The Vicar is central to ministry
Eucharistic worship is central to our liturgical life
A slowness in embracing non Eucharistic forms of worship
It is the responsibility of the diocese to provide clergy
Current Concerns
In the general community:
Lack of public transport
Traffic congestion
With housing costs rising it is less affordable for locals (especially first home buyers) to buy locally
Crime especially amongst the young
How to respond effectively to the issues facing migrant workers
Rural issues
A lack of infrastructure (e.g., doctors, dentists, teachers)
In the church community:
The financial strain of maintaining of ancient buildings
Slowness of support for non Eucharistic services on the part of some
At Surfleet there is a concern about the age of the congregation
The size of the benefice in terms of population
Staffing of the benefice
Gaining of necessary permissions for proposed reordering of church interiors (Pinchbeck and West Pinchbeck)
Hopes and Fears for the Future
We have moved forward tremendously in the past few years
Recent developments and ministries are evidence of clear hopes being realised for growing and developing communities in all three churches
Fears surrounding further reorganisation in the Deanery
At Pinchbeck there is a hope and a developing plan for carpark and extended plant on the east side of the main road
At West Pinchbeck there are plans for reordering the interior of the church
Can the OLM route be less demanding and therefore more attractive?
Extent to which Church Membership mirrors, or runs counter to, the community profile
Reference to Tables 1, 2 and 3 will be helpful
While the 30 to 60 age group is the most prevalent in the population, this group is the least well represented group in our congregations
We mainly have children and then people aged from mid 40’s upwards
Significant changes / developments in the benefice in recent years
Funding
campaigns
Parish
Mission
Thinking
together as a benefice
Local
Ministry Teams
Vicar’s
PA
How has local ministry been
explored / implemented?
It
has been implemented. There are 12 LMT members plus one in training
There
is a concern about the supervision and nurturing of the local ministers (this
concern is partly responsible for some of the proposals below)
What
local ministers do is growing on people
How are we situated in terms
of the Mission Area Plan (MAP)?
A quotation from the
Deanery Mission Area Plan:
The Glen Group is a
heavy load for one stipendiary priest, even with the support of three local
ministry teams. Ways need to be found of offering priestly support in the
benefice. Consideration could be given to how one or more Spalding clergy could
have a pastoral relationship with the Glen Group of parishes (or part of it) in
order to assist with the provision of ministry. As staffing reduces, the
Mission Area Planning group considers that the current provision of Eucharistic
services is quite simply unsustainable. Alternative service patterns or
groupings of services will have to be considered.
The Mission Area Planning Group considers that Surfleet
could possibly become part of the Gosberton Group at some stage in the future.
Proposals for Consideration
The following proposals are for consideration by the
whole benefice. They are proposals put forward by the Benefice Steering Group
after much careful thought, prayer and deliberation.
Decision making is a crucial component of our life together as three active parishes. Parochial Church Councils, the Benefice Steering Group, Churchwardens meetings, Standing Committees, Readers Meetings and Local Ministry Team meetings have all been part of life in the Glen Group of Parishes in the past three years. The decision making process and the follow through of decisions made has sometimes been unclear and confusing. Set out below is a proposal for how these meetings can be restructured so that the decision making process is clearer, enabling us to more efficiently plan ministry provision across the benefice and to respond to challenges and new opportunities more effectively. It also seeks to ensure that the consideration of issues of importance are the responsibility of a particular group or meeting.
Reference to Table 4 will suggest when these meetings should take place.
Parochial Administration and Buildings: Parochial Church Councils
The
role and responsibilities of PCCs is clearly set out in church regulations and
so will not be detailed here.
It
is expected that PCC meetings will occur every other month (Jan, Mar, May,
July, Sept, Nov) or more often if required and will be chaired by the Vicar in
most cases.
If
the provision of ministry is going to be sustainable, PCCs must recognise the
important role of the Benefice Steering Group and Staff Meeting in planning and
organising ministry across the benefice.
Vision and Planning: The Benefice Council
Members
of PCCs are welcome to attend
To
be held twice a year.
The
aim is to discuss matters of common concern with a view to coming to a common
mind to develop the life, work and witness of the group.
This
would be a consultative body not a decision making one.
Vision and Planning: The Benefice Steering Group
Composed
of Licensed Ministers and the Churchwardens of each parish.
Meetings
will occur every other month (alternate months to the PCCs). Therefore Feb,
April, June, Aug, Oct, Dec.
Responsibilities:
To
plan the worship schedule across the benefice.
To
make recommendations to PCCs about finances to resource specific ministry
issues or projects.
To
gather dates of parish events and formulate into a calendar that can be
published in the three parishes.
To
discuss other ministries and matters relevant to all three parishes (e.g., the
Glen Group Web Site, the Prayer Diary, Quiet Day, Weekend Away, Alpha Course
etc).
Members
will be expected to take responsibility to feed back information to PCCs and
others, and to follow up and promote the ministry planned by the Benefice
Steering Group. Information exchange is crucial.
Ministry and Pastoral Care: Staff Meeting
Composed
of the Licensed Ministers of the Benefice
To
meet on alternate months to the Benefice Steering Group
Responsibilities:
To
discuss, and make recommendations to the Benefice Steering Group about,
ministry across the benefice, including the service rota for the following
quarter.
To
discuss Continuing Ministerial Education of its members.
To
plan preaching series when appropriate.
To
evaluate the preaching of its members.
To
provide peer support and mutual supervision for licensed ministers.
To
share the oversight of housegroups and study groups with the Vicar.
To
share oversight of Combined Local Ministry sessions with the Vicar.
To
discuss pastoral care issues including, where appropriate, particular cases.
Ministry and Pastoral Care: Local
Ministry Team Meetings (Combined)
Meetings
will take place every other month.
The
Vicar or other licensed or authorised ministers will facilitate sessions.
Usually
sessions will commence with a brief Bible Study on the scripture readings for
the forthcoming Sunday.
There
will be time set aside to discuss relevant matters raised by those present.
Ministry and Pastoral Care: Local
Ministry Team Meetings (Parish)
Monthly
or other frequency as decided by the team.
These
meetings will normally be run and led by the LMT members themselves.
To
plan / discuss LMT led worship.
To
discuss pastoral care needs in the parish and the ministry that has been set in
place to meet the needs.
To
discuss other ministries in which the LMT participate.
Where
possible, a Local Minister (or other suitable person in the parish) could be
the named Pastoral Care Coordinator for that parish or team. This person could
then feed back to the Vicar any pastoral care needs that he or the Licensed
Ministers need to be aware of.
Ministry and Pastoral Care: Supervision
/ Mentoring of Local Ministers
Once
a year the Vicar will meet individually with each LMT member to discuss and
review their ministry and discuss their ministry involvement / goals for the
coming twelve months.
Table 4. Proposed schedule of meetings
|
|
ADMINISTRATION & BUILDINGS |
VISION & PLANNING
|
MINISTRY & PASTORAL CARE |
|
January |
PCCs for each
parish |
Benefice
Council |
Staff meeting
(licensed ministers) LMT meetings in
each parish |
|
February |
|
Benefice Steering
Group |
Joint LMT meeting
|
|
March |
PCCs for each
parish PARISH
AGMs
|
|
Staff meeting. LMT meetings in
each parish. |
|
April |
|
Benefice Steering
Group. |
Joint LMT Meeting |
|
May |
PCCs for each
parish |
|
Staff meeting. LMT meetings in
each parish. |
June
|
|
Benefice Steering
Group. |
Joint LMT meeting |
|
July |
PCCs for each
parish |
Benefice
Council
|
Staff meeting. LMT meetings in
each parish. |
|
Aug |
|
Benefice Steering
Group. |
Joint LMT
Meeting |
|
Sept |
PCCs for each
parish |
|
Staff meeting. LMT meetings in
each parish. |
|
Oct |
|
Benefice Steering
Group. |
Joint LMT Meeting |
|
Nov |
PCCs for each
parish |
|
Staff meeting. LMT meetings in
each parish. |
|
Dec |
|
Benefice Steering Group
|
Joint LMT Meeting |
|
|||||||||
Parish
|
Local Electoral Roll |
Church Electoral Roll |
Normal Sunday Attendance Adults (2003 in
brackets) |
Normal Sunday Attendance Children (Under 16) |
Normal
Sunday Attendance (adults + children) expressed
as a percentage of local population* |
|
|||
|
Attendance at other festivals as a percentage of the
total population |
|||||||||
|
Christmas Eve & Day inc. Carol Services |
Easter Day |
Remem brance |
|||||||
|
Pinchbeck |
3124 |
168 |
69 (67) |
10 |
2.07 |
(652)17% |
(112) 3% |
(291) 7.6% |
|
|
West Pinchbeck |
1073 |
57 |
23 (20) |
3 |
1.94 |
(191)14% |
(22) 1.6% |
(19) 1.4% |
|
|
Surfleet |
1082 |
87 |
39 (39) | ||||||