Every few years, the Diocese (ie the Senior Staff of the Diocese) reviews parishes and clergy. Several weeks ago it was St Saviour's turn and the report from the Archdeacon as a result of her meeting with the parish priest, Church Wardens and Treasurer is offered below. Happy Reading...
Dear Dean and Parish Officers,
Roath, St Saviour’s – Parish Review Report
Thank you for arranging the meeting last Monday (24th), for me to meet you all. As promised, here is my summary of the matters that we covered together.
Community Context
We spoke of the considerable changes in Splott in recent years, especially with new office and housing developments on the old industrial sites, and more still to come. You thought the parish population was now about 13,000, and increasingly diverse in nature: there are a lot of young families, asylum-seekers, some young professionals, and a lot of special needs housing of various types, including a number of sheltered accommodation units. Other faiths are well represented, and have worship centres here. There is one state primary school in the parish, where Fr Dean is a governor, and one primary and one secondary in Tremorfa, just across the parish boundary, with whom there are good relationships.
St Saviour’s Church
The congregation of St Saviour’s is drawn mostly (two thirds) from within the parish, and has embraced much of the diversity of the developing community. The remaining one third are former residents, who have moved away, but continued to attend. You spoke very positively of the “relaxed and happy spirit” within the congregation now, for which you gave considerable credit to Dean. You praised his preaching ministry and particularly the attention given to developing of children’s work in the parish, and greater participation of young people on special occasions and in the regular Mass. I was struck by your optimism about the future, and encouraged by the various opportunities for local outreach, which you want to explore. You described this as feeling that the congregation had now been stabilised after a period of disruption, and was ready to “kick on with the new”.
Mission Action Planning
We recognised a degree of uncertainty about the future structuring of ministry in the parish, particularly in relation to the Deanery Plan, and possible closer relationship with the Parish of St German’s (see below). For this reason, it was difficult for you to finalise a new Mission Action Plan. A key element, however, will be your continued emphasis on outreach to the community, eg more volunteers to assist at the senior citizens’ day centre, and the development of teams of lay people to build on relationships begun through the occasional offices, such as baptisms or funerals. Additional memorial services, to enhance ministry to the bereaved, could be planned, and you would seek for a better use of the building, both the church and the hall. You are actively investigating the possibilities of enlarging the kitchen, improving the lighting and installing a separate heating system for the hall, so that more outside lettings can be sought at economical rates.
I was impressed by your parish website, for which Dean has done much of the design work. It gives the sense of a parish very much alive, and offering a real welcome to enquirers about faith – with explanatory sections eg on marriage or baptism, presented clearly and in straightforward language. There are signs that it has already begun to bear fruit, with some approaches being made to Dean, by people who have read and been attracted by the website. This work, and your aspirations for the future are most commendable; I look forward to seeing how the congregation, with Dean, are able to put some of them into practice in the coming months.
Finances
Your Accounts for 2009 showed a deficit for the year of approx. £3,500 on the unrestricted fund, and your present overdraft (which you confirmed is within permitted borrowing limits) is approx. £3,200. Direct giving in 2009 showed an encouragingly higher proportion derived from planned giving, but the overall figure remained similar to that for 2008. You spoke of a recent stewardship drive, initiated by Dean and reflected in preaching over three weeks, which has been effective, and will result in increases during 2010. This, together with a saving of £1,000 per annum from changing gas supplier, and an increase in hall income, you hoped would enable the books to be balanced this year. We agreed that this should be a significant aim for the congregation, and I encouraged you to maintain close contact with Richard Jones, the Parish Resources Adviser for the diocese, with a view to his coming to lead a further stewardship drive, if needed, in 2011.
We noted that the parish holds two funds (£7,858 and £3,782 as at 31st December 2009) restricted to maintenance of the church fabric. These you will be using for repair to the sanctuary steps (approx £8k) and external window guards. Faculty applications will be needed in due course for both of these. I also encouraged you to continue investigating sources of grant funding, to enable the plans for kitchen and hall to be developed. Richard Jones could advise here, but additional information can be found via the GrantNet and GrantFinder online resources.
Follow-up to Parish Visitation Report, April 2008
Following up comments made in the previous parish visitation report, you confirmed that the Log Book, Terrier and Inventory had now been brought up to date, apart from the insertion of photographs of key items, and all property had been safeguarded with SmartWater. Mission giving beyond the parish had increased, and in the last year had included donations to Christian Aid and Haiti Appeal, Water Aid, and Forest Schools.
The Future / Cardiff Deanery Plan
We shared an understanding as to the current Cardiff Deanery Plan, which provides that, following the retirement of Canon Roy Doxsey, the incumbencies of both St German’s and St Saviour’s should thereafter be held by just one full-time cleric. This would not involve any reduction in clerical hours for the parish of St Saviour’s, which is already allocated as a 50% parochial post, and you considered it, if anything, an advantage, that the other 50% should become a parochial responsibility, rather than Dean’s existing wide diocesan role. You confirmed that the majority of St Saviour’s congregation held similar views and churchmanship to those represented by St German’s, and mentioned that, as both were formerly part of the original Parish of Roath, it might be possible to draw on that older shared tradition at some level, as a basis for collaboration in future. You anticipated the possibility, under such a grouping, of a helpful sharing of resources and ideas, such as eg a shared parish office, Toddler group, Mothers’ Union activities etc. You were hopeful that discussions could be opened soon with St German’s Parish about this prospect, because you felt ready for St Saviour’s to begin to planning effectively for this change.
I undertook to broach the subject in my forthcoming Parish Review meeting at St German’s, and to let you know the outcome. In the event, I had a thoughtful and constructive meeting with the key officers there, and following it, agreed that I would summarise the situation as I see it, for the officers of both parishes.
Finally, may I thank you all for a most enjoyable evening and stimulating conversation, as we engaged with the Review at St Saviour’s. I had the sense as we talked, of a lively faith at work here, and plenty of energy bringing forth good fruits, for a new and exciting phase of the parish’s life. I want to assure you of the prayerful support of the diocese, and appreciation for all that you have been doing so far, as you approach this period of transition.
In the meantime, my own very best wishes,
the Ven) Peggy Jackson
Archdeacon of Llandaff
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment