Parish ministry and the qualities listed in the Bishop’s Statement of Need indicate that there is an expectation that the incumbent will have a high profile within the wider community of the town.
The incumbent is the Church of England chaplain to the local hospital, working in conjunction with both ordained and lay colleagues of different denominations. A regular eucharistic ministry is provided to local nursing and residential homes. The clergy and Reader team are always available to administer the Eucharist to those who are housebound.
Many of Cirencester’s educational establishments have direct connections with the churches. There are two Church of England primary schools (one voluntary aided and one voluntary controlled). The clergy team and members of the laity are invited to take weekly assemblies, host and participate in end-of-term services and attend other events. The PCC approves the appointments of the foundation governors. Two other County schools, an infant and a junior, visit Holy Trinity, another maintained school has links with St Lawrence.
It is planned that the two 11-16 foundation schools, Cirencester Kingshill and Cirencester Deer Park, will be part of the remit of the youth minister hopefully to be appointed in the foreseeable future. Both schools use the Parish Church for major services and concerts.
Sixth-form education is provided at Cirencester College, which also offers a wide range of adult education courses. The re-establishment of the chaplaincy is the aim of the parish as is the affiliation of both secondary schools to the diocese.
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The management of the parish has many facets. The PCC meets monthly to consider both pastoral and strategic matters and parish business. On occasions, the first hour is devoted to a particular topic and this part of the meeting is open to anyone who would like to attend. The finance and personnel sub-committees meet quarterly or as required.
There is a weekly meeting for the clergy, Readers, churchwardens and parish administrator at which the practicalities of the programme of parish events for the following two weeks are considered and potential bookings for future diary dates are reviewed.
The parish office (left) occupies part of the Parish Centre just off Gosditch Street. The PCC employ a parish administrator and a bookkeeper. In addition, a number of able volunteers deal with the considerable volume of clerical work. |
The annual budget, excluding endowed and restricted funds, is around £250,000. On a quarterly basis, income and expenditure are monitored carefully against the annual budget by the finance sub-committee which reports to the PCC. The planned giving scheme (with almost 100% gift aid support) is used extensively. Pledged amounts have increased noticeably since our TRIO campaign last autumn. Ten per cent of this income is given to missions and charities.
In 2007, we achieved a surplus over expenditure after three successive deficits despite having contributed additional funds to the diocesan quota over and above the amount assessed under the new parish share arrangement. It is too early to know whether income from visitors will drop during the £6 million reordering of St John Baptist. The work has been given a flying start with £2 million from our own restricted and other designated funds. The appeal committee is optimistic about its task. |
