Parish Magazine, August / September 2023

by | Aug 14, 2023 | Magazine Letter

Dear Friends

The PCC, at its June meeting, agreed to the setting up of small groups within different areas of our parish for study, prayer, care and witness. As I explained in my sermon on 9 July, these groups will reflect the activities of the early church that we read about in Acts chapter 2, verses 42-47, namely:

‘they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching…’ (v 42) STUDY
‘to prayer…’ (v 42) PRAY
‘to the fellowship…’ (v 42) CARE
‘The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved’ (v 47) WITNESS

Small groups have been a well-established part of the life of many churches of differing denominations over many years. They do not replace regular, weekly worship but seek to complement it, for it is with the encouragement and support of fellow Christians that we can seek to grow in our understanding of God, our prayer lives, our care of each other and others, and witness to our faith, so growing the church.

The groups are being set up on a geographical basis so making it easier for people to attend and hopefully meaning that people can walk to them, so supporting our fifth church value of treasuring the environment by reducing our carbon footprint.

The details of the groups will be as follows:

Group Area Leaders Time
North of Whittle Brook Ali & Keith White Tuesdays, 7.30 pm
Whittle Brook – Liverpool Rd Joan Rotheram and Janet Kerswell Mondays, 2.00 pm
Liverpool Rd – Warrington Rd David & Janet Tanner Mondays, 7.30 pm

The fourth area of the parish is within Warrington Road – Sankey Bridges but as we have very few church members in that area, we will not be starting a group there yet. If church members live outside of the parish (if you are not sure ask or look at the map on the PCC noticeboard), then you will be allocated a group nearest to where you live.

Groups will start meeting week beginning Monday 11 September, meet bi -weekly during term time (though not during Lent when there will be Churches Together groups and possibly not in Advent when they might meet all together in church) and are open to anyone who wants to grow in their Christian faith and who wants to see others find faith as well.

Sign-up sheets are available at the back of church. I do hope that you will want to take part in this exciting new venture in the life of St.Mary’s !

Best wishes,

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

Team Letter, August 2023

by | Aug 14, 2023 | Team Letter

Dear Friends

It’s been a while since I last wrote, so my apologies for that, but life has been busy! One of the things which has been a particular focus in recent months has of course been Fit for Mission, the diocesan initiative to help us as churches in our deaneries to grow together Fit For Mission – Diocese of Liverpool. It was good to see a number of people from all our team churches at the Archdeacon’s visitation at St.Mary’s in June, when we heard from Canon Neil Cook, the Rector of Wigan, about the opportunities and challenges of working though a change programme. This of course takes time and is never all plain sailing but Neil did speak of some real encouragements that have come to the churches there through combining efforts to serve the people of that town and to share Jesus with them.

In terms of our own deanery, you may have already heard that there will be meeting on the subject of finance as it relates to Fit for Mission at Christ Church Padgate on Wednesday 27 September at 7.30 p.m. All are welcome but if you would like to attend, please email Gill Dottie at gill.dottie@liverpool.anglican.org by the end of August. There are also plans for a deanery vision morning for PCC’s on 16 September and a Fit for Mission Fair on the evening of 11 October but times and venues are yet to be worked out. I’ll keep you posted. A number of our PCCs are in the process of meeting Harriet Roberts, the newest member of the Fit for Mission Team, whose task is to help provide answers to the questions people may have about this process, so that they can make an informed decision by the end of November. If you would like to contact Harriet with your own questions or if you would like to have a conversation individually or in a small group, please do not hesitate to contact her via email at harriet.roberts@liverpool.anglican.org.uk with your contact details.

It was great to be able to attend the ordination of priests at Liverpool Cathedral on Saturday 10 June, including Rebecca Lloyd from St.James. The journey to being ordained priest can be a long and demanding one, as can the experience of being one! Last month I attended a service for my former training incumbent in Timperley who was celebrating the 50th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. So do please keep Rebecca and all those ordained with her in your prayers.

I would like to thank members of our Team churches who gave up their time to help with the Churches Together stall at the Penketh Carnival on Saturday July 8th. Despite the tremendous downpour at the end, we were fortunate to have some dry weather during the rest of the day and to have some good conversations with and prayer for people who attended. Speaking of Churches Together, you may be aware that St.Joseph’s Catholic Church in Penketh are celebrating their centenary on Saturday 23 September which is a cause for rejoicing. Please keep their priest, Father Raymond, and their congregation in your prayers.

Later this month, local churches will once again be having a presence at the Creamfields Festival in Daresbury from 22-28 August. They are recruiting a team of 70 volunteers from the churches and there may still be some spaces if you are still interested in helping. Apply to volunteer at Creamfields 2023 ! Whether you can help or not, one thing we can all I hope do is provide a packet or two of Jammie Dodger’s. Why Jammie Dodger’s you may ask? Because they have a heart in the middle and as these are shared with festivalgoers, they will be a sign of God’s love to them. Drop off packets at your team church.

Finally, there will be a Church Warrington meeting on Wednesday 6 September at 7.30 pm at Wycliffe Church on Bewsey Street in the town centre to promote and pray for the leaflets being distributed across our town in preparation for the carols event at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday 14 December at 7 p.m. If you can help distribute leaflets, please let your Vicar know.

With my best wishes and prayers.

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

Parish Magazine, June / July 2023

by | May 27, 2023 | Magazine Letter

Dear Friends

If you have been in church on a Sunday morning during the past couple of months or so, you may well have heard of the phrase, ‘Fit for Mission’. Just in case you haven’t heard about it, I wanted to use my letter this month to explain what it is all abouFit for Mission is a diocesan initiative aimed at getting churches across our deaneries to work together as part of one or two larger parishes with the intention of helping us all participate in the mission of God more effectively. By having only 1 or 2 PCC’s (rather than the 11 we have across Warrington at present), this will reduce time spent on governance issues at a local church level and so free up time for mission. There will still be the need for a leadership team for each congregation to address local matters such as what worship takes place, what particular mission initiatives should be engaged in and how money is spent. But there would be a central PCC and a central buildings team to oversee how buildings are used.

At heart, Fit for Mission is about people though because it is focused on mission. That is why its 4 main mission priorities are:

  1. Introducing people to Jesus
  2. Deepening discipleship
  3. Developing Christian leaders
  4. Working for justice

Part of this would involve giving church members the opportunity to participate in ‘Cultivate’, a successful local missional leadership programme, designed to equip people to plant new worship communities and justice initiatives. I gather that in St. Helen’s deanery, there are currently 100 people from across their churches involved in this programme, helping to start new things. How exciting is that?!

As part of the PCC’s discernment process to decide whether joining Fit for Mission might be right for St. Mary’s, the PCC held an open meeting with the archdeacon Simon Fisher, back in February. We held the second congregational meeting on this subject at the end of May and there will be a further meeting on July 9 at 11.30 a.m. In addition, Archdeacon Simon will be coming to St. Mary’s to speak on this subject as part of his archdeacon’s visitation on Tuesday 13 June at 7.30 pm, as well as addressing our 8am and 10am services on Sunday 25 June. Do make the most of these opportunities to find out more about Fit for mission and do let the PCC know your views at the congregational meeting. The PCC will need to vote on this issue in the autumn, so please do pray for God’s wisdom and guidance for them.

Finally, a quick update on the extension. The deadline for the council to report on our application for planning permission has now been put back from the end of May to the end of September this year. This is very frustrating and we have asked the council if they will reconsider how long the deadline is pushed back by. I will update you when I have any further news.

Best wishes.

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

Team Letter, May 2023

by | May 26, 2023 | Team Letter

Dear Friends

It’s nearly two months since I last wrote – how time flies! It was good to worship together as a team of churches during Holy Week, with communion and a vigil at St.Mary’s on Maundy Thursday, the Good Friday afternoon service at St.Philip’s, and the Easter Eve vigil at St.James’. It was also good to worship together as part of Churches Together in Warrington at Honiton Square on Good Friday lunchtime.

That sense of praying and worshipping together as Christians in our locality continued with the Thy Kingdom Come prayer walk on Ascension Day last week. I do hope that you are praying for 5 people who do not yet know Jesus to come to know Him and that God blesses you with some good conversations as you seek to share with and demonstrate faith to them. And as we gather in our own churches to celebrate Pentecost on Sunday, may we know the empowering of the Spirit to enable us to continue to share our faith for the year ahead.

As we prepare to move into June, so the Church of England prepares to ordain people as deacons and priests up and down our land, and across our world. Do pray for all those being ordained at this time, particularly in our Diocese of Liverpool, and especially for Rebecca Lloyd from St.James’ as she prepares to be priested. Do also pray for the young people from St.James’ recently confirmed by Bishop John at St.Andrew’s, Orford last Sunday and for the young people and adults from St.Philips’ and St.Mary’s respectively who are preparing to be confirmed at St.Philip’s on Sunday 9 July at 4 p.m.

At the end of March, some of you will have gone to the Parr Hall for the Church Warrington service to hear the evangelist J.John prepare us for a year of mission across our town. This will continue with the production of flyers this summer to distribute to each household across our town in September, informing them of the carols event at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday 14 December at 7 p.m. at which J.John will speak. Do please play your part in helping to distribute these flyers, and be thinking and praying who you might invite to come to that event with you.

Finally ,a reminder that you are all very welcome to attend the deanery visitation at St.Mary’s on Tuesday 13 June at 7.30 p.m. Archdeacon Simon will not only commission churchwardens for their responsibilities but also talk about the diocesan Fit for Mission initiative (NB This meeting relaces the one originally planned for Sunday 11 June). Please do make the most of this opportunity to learn more about Fit for Mission and to ask any questions that you might have about it, as we continue to discern what God is calling us to as churches at this time.

Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector

P.S. Churches Together in West Warrington are hoping to have a stall at the Penketh Carnival on Saturday July 8, 12 noon-4 pm. If you can help either set up, staff the stall or take it down, please let me or Sarah/Martin know by Sunday 4 June.

Team Letter, March 2023

by | Mar 28, 2023 | Team Letter

Dear Friends

Holy Week will soon be with us and, as ever, we have a number of opportunities to worship together as Christians across our team and in the company of those from other churches.

Maundy Thursday 6 April Holy Communion St.Mary’s 7.30 p.m.
(followed by Vigil at 9.00 p.m.)
Good Friday 7 April Churches Together Service Honiton Square 12 noon
Good Friday 7 April Last Hour at the Cross St.Philip’s 2.00 p.m.
Easter Eve 8 April Easter Vigil St.James 7.45 p.m.

A heads up for after Easter when Churches Together in West Warrington are organising another prayer walk on Thursday 18 May which is Ascension Day and marks the start of the Archbishops 10 days of prayer known as ‘Thy Kingdom Come’. We are invited to use this time to pray for 5 people we know who don’t yet know Jesus for themselves. So do join us if you can:

9.00 a.m. Prayers St.Mary’s
10.00 a.m. Prayers St.Joseph’s
11.00 a.m. Prayers and Refreshments The Oaks
12 noon Short Service Pemketh Methodist

Further details can be found here.

Many of you will no doubt have begun to hear through our churches of the Diocesan ‘Fit for Mission’ (FFM) initiative. This aims to help churches in deaneries to work more closely together in mission by joining together as part of one, or two, larger parishes. I appreciate that this may be a difficult idea for us to get our heads around when we are so used to often working largely independently as churches. But if we could pool our collective gifts and skills together for the sake of God’s kingdom here in Warrington, that could be very exciting! So may I invite you to attend two forthcoming deanery meetings at which there will be the opportunity to learn more about this:

Sunday 23 April Sharing a vision for Fit for Mission St.Paul’s 6.30 p.m.
Tuesday 13 June Archdeacon’s Visitation St.Mary’s 7.30 p.m.

Further information can be found by clicking here.

Finally, I am delighted to announce that John McCreadie has started work as the youth worker at St.Mary’s and St.Paul’s in conjunction with Youth for Christ. He will spend his time in local high schools as well as working with young people in these two churches. Another person beginning a new ministry next month is John Perumbalath, the next Bishop of Liverpool. You are very welcome to attend his installation service on Saturday 22 April at 3.00 p.m. at the Cathedral. No tickets are required – just turn up!

May you know the hope and the joy that Jesus’ death and resurrection brings this Easter season. With my prayers and best wishes.

Jeremy Tear

Pioneer Team Rector