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St Mary s, Maidenhead PARISH PROFILE 2015

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St Mary’s, Maidenhead

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Introduction

Maidenhead is in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, within the county of Berkshire.

St. Mary’s Church is located in St. Mary's Close, just off the High Street in the town centre.

Church Family

St. Mary’s is a town centre Anglican Church with a wide variety of members from differing backgrounds, bringing different needs and expectations. The aim has been to build the church as a family where no single group dominates. The church family is made up of committed and active Christians as well as less active and new Christians. The membership

is wide and diverse across age and social groups, including many young families. Our children’s and youth work is an exciting and growing area of church life. Singles, married couples and the elderly find a welcome in the church, as do members of the local residential home for those with learning disabilities.

Sunday Congregations

The style and tradition of our Sunday worship as a whole is ordered informality and evangelical. There are Anglican norms and guidelines for our services but these provide a framework and allow flexibility.

Having reached capacity in the 9:15am congregation, in the autumn of 2011 we launched a Sunday afternoon service at 4.00pm. This resulted in there now being four main congregations each Sunday, at 9.15am, 11.00am, 4.00pm and 6.30pm, as well as a smaller one that meets at 8am which follows a more traditional Holy Communion service.

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We have an average of about 320 adults and 100 children spread over the two main morning congregations. Once a month this service takes the form of Holy Communion.

After Family Focus (a slot aimed at the children but with a message for all) the children and young people leave to go to their groups, led by dedicated teams. The groups of children and young people are Crèche (0 – 1½),

Scramblers (1½ – 3), Treasure Seekers (3 – 4), Climbers (school years 1 - 2), Explorers (school years 3 - 6), Pathfinders (school years 7 - 9).

The afternoon congregation is a slightly more informal family service (approx. 75 adults and 75 children) which also provides groups for those aged 0-14, but differs in that the children start in their groups, before joining with everyone else for the end of the service, and then meeting in the church hall for a picnic tea for the children, and cake and refreshments for the

adults. Once a month this service takes the form of Holy Communion. Evening services tend to follow a more informal style, with more

contemporary music. Attendance at this service is usually about 120. Once a month this service takes the form of Holy Communion.

Thursday Fellowship meets on Thursday afternoons and is attended by 40 or so more elderly members of the congregation and members of other churches who find it difficult to get to church on Sundays. For them it is the equivalent of the Sunday morning service.

All-age services are held 3 times a year, with the aim for them to be a family-orientated service but one that meets the needs of all members of the church. As the borough church we have three major formal services each year – the Civic Service, Battle of Britain and Remembrance Day, when we invite the Mayor and the Councillors and Armed Forces to share our worship.

As well as Christmas and Easter, we sometimes have Guest Services as well special services where we focus on World mission and our life as a

congregation.

There is active participation by church members in our services, with folk leading, sidesmen, a Welcome Team, audio-visual operators, instrumentalists and singers giving support at different times.

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A typical service would involve organ, piano and other instruments

including drums. There is also a pool of singers and instrumentalists willing to take part in special items such as anthems or festival services. Our teenage music group, Minor Key, complements the main musical input with its own style. Both the old familiar hymns and new fresh songs are skillfully mixed in different services. As we print service sheets for each service, we are not restricted to any particular songbooks.

To prepare the church visually, a team arrange flowers for the church each week, and another group have created banners for almost every occasion in the church calendar.

Staff & Personnel

The vicar is supported by a full-time curate, and two associate ministers. The church also employs a part-time children’s worker to energise, promote and support our children’s work, as well as a full-time youth worker who is responsible for all our youth work in the 11-18 age-range, whilst studying part-time on the Cornhill Training Course in London. We also employ a Pastoral Care Co-ordinator to work with the congregational teams, Thursday Fellowship and Growth Groups to encourage members to be looking out for one another. The coordinator also seeks to facilitate spiritual encouragement and nurture as needed, and regularly visits those who are housebound or in local care homes.

On the operations side of things we employ an Operations Manager, a Site Manager and an Administration Manager to oversee the running of the church site, service preparation and site maintenance. Their skill and experience are important for the smooth running of the church. The Administration Manager also acts as PA to the Vicar, to help with organisation and administration work.

In addition to paid staff, a large number of church family members are involved in leadership of a large range of diverse activities, even though the high cost of living locally puts pressure on would-be volunteers to take on paid work to balance family budgets.

For many years we have also run an apprenticeship scheme, and currently have one apprentice on the staff team. This is an arrangement that allows

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young adults to receive training and experience, and explore the possibility of full-time paid Christian ministry.

The PCC is active, meeting most months. It is made up of 25 members, which includes Deanery Synod members, lay ministers and co-opted members. It has established several main committees to help discharge its various duties and responsibilities. These are Standing Committee, Finance, Missionary, and Sunday Review.

Mission

St. Mary’s has a strong tradition for supporting home and foreign mission, both in prayer and financially. We support mission partners close to home (like Slough) and overseas (notably Peru, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, Malaysia, Rwanda). Our planned giving to mission for this coming year is set at £76 695, which equates to 13% of our total annual budget. Over the years we have seen many of our young people following the Great

Commission to “go”. Details of our Mission society and mission partner links can be found in the 'Groups' section of the church website.

Increasingly, the church feels led to reach out to the local people, users of the town centre, including the 9,000 or so people who work in Maidenhead town centre each day.

We believe that it is in meeting and sharing in the community, and in

developing these relationships, that we can show the love and care of Jesus in a practical and personal way.

To this end, one of the initiatives recently started is a “Workers’ lunch” which meets each Tuesday and consists of a lunch and a Bible talk.

The opportunities that arise from the church's role as the Borough Church of Windsor and Maidenhead, together with the vicar’s close links with the Borough Council in his role as their chaplain, are further examples of the importance of relationship building, as are our involvement in local schools. Coffee Break is a long-standing activity, which one morning per week draws a regular clientele to a hospitable, non-threatening Christian social

environment.

Three Toddler sessions each week bring in many young mums and

grandparents, the occasional dad, child minders and nannies to the caring Christian environment of the church site. As its name suggests, Stepping

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Stones, run weekly for mums and toddlers, acts as the bridge between no faith and a gentle introduction to Christian belief, incorporating a brief visit to the church.

7Up, held weekly on Wednesday evenings, is a children’s club for fun and games, where there is also an engaging Bible talk to provide relevant

teaching to these young lives. X.Focus and Shift.Focus, catering for secondary school young people, is run weekly on Friday evenings to enable these

teenagers to build friendships and to learn about the Lord Jesus.

We have a website (www.stmarysmaidenhead.org) and are delighted that people have visited us as a result of viewing the website.

We join with other churches for some activities – such as joint youth and schools work, Churches Together in Maidenhead, and via the Deanery synod.

Prayer & Discipleship

To encourage our key relationship to God through prayer, we hold a monthly prayer meeting. This is seen as an important date in the church diary and around 80 people gather to pray each month.

Growth Groups are a key component of church family life and discipleship. There are currently nineteen evening groups which meet in homes and involve approximately 200 people. There are five daytime groups involving up to 60 people. These groups reflect the diversity of the church family and each follows a different style and programme in response to the needs of the members. However, all have a pastoral care emphasis.

Every term we run a Christianity Explored course where enquirers can investigate the Christian faith in a non-threatening environment.. After

which those on the course are encouraged to attend the Discipleship Course, another new venture intended to help nurture and integrate new Christians. The Christianity Explored also runs intermittently alongside the Monday toddler group, as well as a youth version on a Friday night.

Regular Men’s Breakfasts and Women’s Breakfasts are held, when somebody is invited to speak about their faith and life experiences.

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Workshops, bookstall, media library and biblical teaching from the pulpit each week bring old and new believers closer to God.

Finance

The work of the church is funded by voluntary, mostly regular donations by church members. A majority of church members see giving as an integral part of discipleship and they also respond readily to local, national or international needs, when they arise. Though the vicar and curate are paid through the diocese via the Parish Share, the other church employees are paid directly by the church. Our budget of expenditure for this year is £584 485.

Church buildings

Main Church building built in 1965. It has a sloping floor and open design

for improved visibility, is light and airy, with a good two-console organ.

St Andrew’s chapel built in 1984 – open all day, accessible to passers by for

private prayer. The chapel is used for small services such as the 8am communion each Sunday

St. Andrew’s House – a three-story block of offices, flats and church

accommodation. St. Mary’s owns the freehold and retains for its own use two flats (one currently occupied by the youth worker ,the other used as offices), one flat let out, church office, staff offices, and the lower lounge (used for a variety of meetings).

Church halls – a large one built in 1959 and a smaller hall, the Nash Room

built in 1907, and various small rooms. These were extensively refurbished in 2006. On Sundays these are mainly used for children’s activities. During the week they are used for many different activities.

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Old Vic – built in the 1960’s as the vicarage. In 1994, when a more suitable

home was purchased for the vicar’s use in a residential area of the town, St. Mary’s purchased the Old Vic, and its garden, from the diocese. This was extensively refurbished alongside the work done on the Church Halls. On Sundays it is mainly used for youth activities. During the week it is hired out during the day to external organisations from the local community, and used for a variety of St. Mary’s functions in the evenings.

Garden – The lovely, large garden is used for parties, barbecues, general fun

References

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