Team Letter, June 2024

by | Jun 27, 2024 | Team Letter

Dear Friends,

I’m writing on what I think is our hottest day of the year so far. It’s sweltering in my study which acts like a greenhouse on such occasions! I’m reminded that our climate is changing – wetter and colder at times, increasingly hot at others – and of our responsibility as Christians to take action to negate the effects of climate change not only for ourselves but also of course for those in poorer parts of the world who are suffering the most due to something which they did the least to cause.

At this time of year, Petertide as it is known (due to the festival of St.Peter on 29 June), we remember those who are being ordained as deacons and priests into God’s church. I can still vividly recall my own ordination as a deacon 25 years ago in Chester Cathedral. What a momentous occasion it felt. I imagine that Martin, who was ordained 30 years ago, will have had some similar memories too, as will Sarah and Rebecca as well. Amongst those recently ordained at Liverpool Cathedral were nine deacons including Emma Stonier who will serve within our Fit for Mission Team here in Warrington. Do keep them in your prayers.

The Fit for Mission process continues in our deanery with weekly meetings of the navigation team (lead by Sarah), monthly meetings of the treasurers, and the recent audit of all church buildings lead by the Right Buildings Team. We have also been thinking about names for the new parish – thank you if you contributed to that process – and we hope to announce a new name soon. The Cultivate course is currently being run in a number of churches across the deanery as we think about the gifts, skills and experience that God has given each one of us to be used in His service, and this autumn we will be running two deanery wide Cultivate courses. The Cultivate course is a 6 week course designed to equip lay leaders for developing or running new forms of church which will help us reach out to others and so grow as a deanery. There will be a midweek course running on Wednesdays starting on September 11th at Holy Trinity Church in the town centre between 2-4 p.m. There will also be a weekend course running on Sunday nights at St.Ann’s in Orford between 6.30-8.30 p.m. beginning on September 15th. Do speak to me of one of your clergy if you would like to attend.

Within our team, St. Mary’s is hopefully about to start work on its extension on Monday 8 July. We are very grateful for all the money which has been raised to allow us to do this. St.Paul’s continues to have its flourishing midweek ‘Lifetime’ congregation, its Sunday Lunch congregation (which it was a pleasure to visit last month) and also its midweek Dementia Café. St.Philip’s have started a Sunday evening quiet service at 7pm on the fourth Sunday of the month and St. James have recently launched their Sunday Supper Club at 5pm on Sundays. All of these are really encouraging developments which we can thank God for.

And finally, I want to end by thanking God for Martin Thorpe’s ministry amongst us, firstly at St.Philip’s and latterly at St.James’, as he approaches his retirement next month. Martin’s ministry has been appreciated by many across the team, with his concern for both pastoral care and for mission. We too will have the opportunity to say thankyou to Martin and to say farewell to him and his wife Polly at his last service in the parish at St.James school on Sunday 21st July at 10.30 a.m. They leave not only with our thanks but with our love and prayers for their new life together in Southport. Please pray too for all those at St.James as they begin a period of time without a Vicar.

Best wishes

Jeremy Tear
Pioneer Team Rector

Parish Magazine, June/ July 2024

by | Jun 27, 2024 | Magazine Letter

Dear Friends,

At the end of May, we will have celebrated Trinity Sunday, the annual reminder to us that the God we believe in is one yet three – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Trinity paints a powerful picture of unity in diversity and isn’t that one we need in the Church and in the world today? That it is possible to be united whilst holding onto our differences. We need that as the Church of England as we wrestle with our differences over same sex relationships. We need that as a world in which there is endless conflict, especially in Gaza and Ukraine at present. We need to be reminded that what unites us as human beings is stronger and more powerful than what divides us.

One of the ways in which we as a church at St.Mary’s have been uniting together in recent months is around the raising of funds for our extension. The Gift Day on Easter Sunday brought in nearly £18,000 (including Gift Aid to be reclaimed) – a very encouraging response. We have now had two successful fundraising events – the pie and quiz night in April, and the Boy Band and Bingo evening in May – which have between them raised nearly £1,700. (Our next event is on Saturday June 8th – see elsewhere in the magazine for details). And we have so far been fortunate to secure two grants worth £24,000. Please do join with me in praying that the remaining grant applications will bring in the necessary £20,000 by the end of June to enable us to give notice to our contractor to start work at the end of July.

Whilst we have been busy raising funds for the extension, our regular giving to and fundraising for the church remains important. And hence on Saturday 20 July, we shall hold our annual summer fair between 12 noon-4 pm to raise funds for the church. Please do come and join us, and lend a helping hand if you can, to make this a successful afternoon.

Looking ahead to Fit for Mission and the creation of one new larger single parish for the Deanery of Warrington, we are invited to submit our ideas for a name for the new parish by Sunday 16 June. Please do fill out one of the response slips available at the back of church and put it in the box provided. From week beginning Monday 3 June, our small groups will also be running the SHAPE course, which is designed to help us to discern the gifts God has given us for mission. If you have not yet been to your small group and would like to join it for this course, please let your small group leader or myself know.

With best wishes

Jeremy Tear
Pioneer Team Rector

Parish Magazine, April/ May 2024

by | Mar 26, 2024 | Magazine Letter

Dear Friends

By the time this magazine comes out, we will have had our Gift Day for the church extension. We are hoping that this will have raised £20,000 and so have made a significant contribution to the £67,000 we need to raise in order to begin the work. I am also hopeful that our fundraiser, who is working hard on our behalf, will have started to bring in some of the £45,000 we are looking for from applications to local and national charities, and companies. Give that such applications will take time to be processed, we are therefore hoping to have raised the necessary money by the end of June in order to give 4 weeks’ notice to our contractor to start at the end of July. The work is expected to take 20 weeks, so we are still hoping that it can be completed by the end of the year.

One of the other ways we are hoping to raise money towards the extension is through a series of fundraising events and the first of these will be a pie and quiz evening on Saturday 13 April at 7.00 p.m. Tickets priced £12.50 are available from Joan Rotheram and Margaret Emsley and include an excellent pie supper including mash, mushy pies and gravy from Warrington’s very own To-pie-for – Pies, Catering Pie & Mash. I can recommend them! Do bring your own drinks and glasses, and why not invite some friends? It should be a great evening.

Thinking of new beginnings, it was wonderful to have had three adult members of our congregation confirmed by the Bishop of Liverpool recently at St. Philip’s school. Margaret Emsley, Carl Taylor, and Debbie Horley were confirmed alongside 14 children from the school, and Margaret spoke well about her faith journey and desire to be confirmed. Please pray for Margaret, Carl, and Debbie as they continue on their journeys.

As part of the confirmation, all present were asked by Bishop John to affirm our diocesan ‘Rule of Life’. Namely, we are called to pray, to read our bibles and to learn. We are also sent to tell others about Jesus, to serve God, and to give generously of our money, time, and talents. Linked to this, we shall be running the Talking Jesus Course on Tuesday evenings in April and May, to give us confidence to share our faith with others. Do sign up on the notice board at the back of church or speak to me if you wish to attend.

Wishing you and your loved ones a very Happy Easter!

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector

Team Letter, March 2024

by | Mar 14, 2024 | Team Letter

Dear Friends

I do hope that Lent is going well for you and that if you are part of one of the Churches Together Lent groups or other Lent groups within our team, that you are finding this helpful. As we move toward the climax of Lent with Holy Week, let me tell you of the different services that we shall be hosting across our team:

Maundy Thursday
28 March		 Holy Communion St.Mary’s
7.30 p.m.
Vigil St.Mary’s
8.45 p.m.
Good Friday
29 March		 Churches Together Service Honiton Square
12 noon
Last Hour at the Cross St.Philip’s
2.00 p.m.
Easter Eve
30 March		 Vigil St.James’
7.00 p.m.

I encourage you to come and participate in the above services. If you have never been to a vigil before, then Maundy Thursday will provide the opportunity to hear readings from the bible plus long period of silence as we wait with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he died. On Easter Eve, the vigil service includes the lighting of the Paschal (Easter) candle from a fire, the renewal of baptismal vows and again various readings from the bible. Why not give them a try this year?

The Fit for Mission process is continuing at a steady pace. We have had offers from people across the deanery to serve on the Right Buildings and the Cultivate teams, and we are now keen to hear from people interested in serving on the Communications and Support Services Teams. As ever, if you are interested in anything to do with Fit for Mission, please email the navigation team at warringtonnavteam@gmail.com for further information or to arrange a conversation with Sarah Peppiatt or Ann Cheung, the deanery Fit for Mission facilitator. We have recently had a finance meeting with representatives from all of the churches plus many of the clergy to get to know one another and to understand the nature of the questions which parishes have. There will be a follow up meeting next month. We have also appointed Mara Livingsone McPhail, the deanery synod secretary and member of St.Elphin’s, as the Project Administrator.

In terms of other Team news, St.Mary’s has just launched its appeal to raise money to build an extension (visit www.stmarysgreatsankey.org.uk for further information). St.Paul’s is continuing to see its inter-generational Lifetime service on a Thursday morning thrive, and St.Philip’s has 14 of its school children being confirmed by the Bishop of Liverpool (with 3 adults from St.Mary’s) this Sunday at 3 p.m. – all welcome! Finally, do please continue to pray for Martin and the people of St.James’ as he approaches his retirement this summer and the PCC continue to explore the provision of future ministry there.

Wishing you a very Happy Easter when it comes!

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector