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THE DIOCESE OF SOUTHWELL & NOTTINGHAM
GROWING DISCIPLES WIDER, YOUNGER AND DEEPER
A statement from the Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham, the Rt Revd Paul Williams
and the Archdeacon of Nottingham, the Venerable Sarah Clark
The Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham incorporates the City of Nottingham, the whole County of Nottinghamshire
and five parishes in South Yorkshire. The population is 1.15 million – 51% live in the greater Nottingham conurbation,
31% in ex-mining areas and 18% in rural. There are 305 churches (252 parishes), served by 142 stipendiary clergy and
licensed lay workers.
In 2016 a refreshed diocesan vision was embraced across the diocese, recognising the imperative for ‘Growing
Disciples: Wider, Younger, Deeper’.
‘Wider’ in that we will seek to grow disciples in every part of the diocese, with no retreat from any community: urban centre; outer estates; rural villages; or market towns.
‘Younger’ in that we will seek fresh ways to harness the boldness and creativity of children, students and young people across the diocese, not least in Nottingham which is the 4th youngest city outside London.
‘Deeper’ as we grow in knowing Christ, so that as his disciples we can be an increasing blessing to the people among whom we live and serve in the workplace, family and community.
The Bishop’s Senior Staff, Bishop’s Council and Diocesan Synod have demonstrated their clear commitment to sharing
in all aspects of this vision and strategy. In autumn 2016 more than 1 000 PCC members attended 5 vision evenings
around the diocese. We have discerned a series of emerging priorities that will facilitate growing new disciples in
every parish across the diocese. Compelled by the love of Christ by 2023 we will seek to:
Welcome 7000 new disciples into the fellowship of Christ and his church
Commission 1000 younger leaders (especially 15-30 year olds) equipped and inspired to serve the purposes of God in the Church and society.
Plant or graft 75 New Worshipping Communities (NWCs) across the diocese to increase our reach in telling the story of Jesus to all.
Grow 25 larger Resource Churches with clear commitment to develop leaders, plant New Worshipping Communities, and disciple the young.
Serve and pray together as 1 Church contending for the gospel in every community and sphere of public life in our city, county and region.
In this new chapter every parish has an opportunity to review its role within the diocesan mission, so that it can play a significant part in the strategic commitment to ‘Growing Disciples wider, younger and deeper.’ It is in the context of this vision that the Bishop together with the Team Rector of the Parish of Clifton seek to appoint a Team Vicar. A collegiate, mission focused priest with an evangelistic gift and a desire to enable discipleship and numerical growth will flourish in this setting. It is a parish where opportunities for the establishment of new worshiping communities that welcome and nurture faith in a way appropriate to Clifton, complimenting the present ministry, are clearly present. Bishop Paul has said: “It is my hope that each worshipping community will develop a compelling picture of its own
future in God’s purposes with an expectation of growing numerically and in the scope of its mission. It is my prayer
that the new Team Vicar in Clifton will have the creative leadership and imagination to work with the Team Rector to
develop discipleship, plan for growth and reach out to the unchurched of all ages in its locality.” December 2017
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West Bingham Deanery
The West Bingham Deanery is made up of 23 parishes situated to the
south of Nottingham. They comprise a range of diverse contexts
including the suburban areas of West Bridgford to the North, the urban
development of Clifton and village of Ruddington across the centre and
the more rural villages around Gotham and East Leake to the South.
This is a great time to be joining the Deanery as we discern how we can
work together more effectively to grow disciples “Wider, younger and
deeper”. On appointing the Team Vicar we will then have a full
complement of clergy within the Deanery along with many gifted and
experienced lay ministers in all sorts of different roles.
Deanery Synod meets at least three times a year to focus on a different
aspect of our Diocesan Vision. These are opportunities to learn from each
other, to share resources and ideas, to be encouraged by what God is
already doing amongst us and dare to pray for new growth. Clergy meet
as chapter on a regular basis for mutual support, prayer and friendship.
In the coming years in our Deanery we want to see:-
A deepening heart for prayer seeking God’s kingdom and God’s will to be done across all our parishes
A few churches growing in generosity as ‘resource churches’ prepared to serve and support other churches across the Deanery and beyond
A number of new worshipping communities established within the Deanery that serve communities and networks of people that we are not currently engaging with.
Every parish working in collaboration with at least one other parish in a way that benefits and challenges all parties.
A growth in lay ministry across the Deanery with a particular focus on encouraging younger leaders.
We would love the new team vicar to share
something of this shared vision for the Deanery
as well as making an exciting contribution to
mission and ministry in the parish of Clifton. Mark Fraser
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Relationship of the parish to the Deanery
We enjoy a very healthy and strong relationship with the churches
in our Deanery. We experience a high level of support from clergy
colleagues by way of cover for holidays having a particularly close
relationship with the neighbouring parish of St. Peter, Ruddington.
A number of their congregation helps us in our music group and
one of the Readers is on our rotas for leading and preaching at our
services. It is hoped that she will soon be licensed to both parishes
as a Lay Pioneer Minister.
The relationship is ‘two way’ as we too offer support and ministry
to Ruddington. It is hoped that we might form a covenant
relationship with each parish. This is still to be fully discussed and
would need be formalised and celebrated.
Introductions and welcomes from the Team Rector,
Associate priest and the Wardens
Team Rector
Our new Team Vicar will find a warm and friendly welcome in
Clifton and will find it a good place in which to be a priest.
Owen Page
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S/he will be joining a gifted, experienced and friendly ministry
team comprising:
1 Team Rector
1 Associate priest (Self-supporting)
2 licensed Readers
1 Reader with ‘permission to officiate’
1 Reader who is on long term sick
1 lay pioneer minister (to be confirmed)
We are all passionate about serving the community of Clifton;
both the worshipping and wider community. We are a mixed
bunch who all contribute our gifts in differing ways.
Associate Priest
We look forward to a new colleague joining our happy ministry
team and community. People in our churches care for and look out
for each other and also share the love of God with those around our
parish. Clifton is an exciting place to be and has a strong sense of
identity. Many people have lived here since the estate was built and
it has also become home for a succession of young families.
Clifton is a place where it is easy to develop your unique ministry
style, it can be challenging at times and also extremely rewarding.
Come and share our vision. Learn and laugh with us and be part of
this special and dynamic parish.
Gill Page
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Wardens of Holy Trinity with St. Francis
The Parish of Clifton now has 2 churches – Holy Trinity with
St Francis and St Mary’s. There were 3 churches – 2 on the estate
and 1 in the village. Holy Trinity and St Francis were built in the
1950s to serve the residents of the newly built housing estate on
the outskirts of Nottingham. When the church of St Francis closed
in September 2016 the congregation transferred to Holy Trinity.
We are a small, faithful and sociable congregation that is adaptable
to change. We have plans to refurbish the building to include extra
toilets with disabled access and baby changing facilities and to fit a
kitchen, so enabling us to reach out to the wider community as part
of our mission.
Joanne Naaktgeboren
Kevin Lancashire
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Warden of St. Mary’s
Welcome to St Mary’s Church. It is a beautiful and historic Grade 1
listed building situated in the old Clifton Village and is referred to in
the Domesday Book and Simon Jenkins’ 1,000 best churches.
It is a place of peace and tranquillity, where you can feel the
presence of God. It is much loved by all the Clifton community, who
often use it for weddings, baptisms & funerals and in times of need.
It is also blessed with wonderful acoustics providing a focus for a
wide range of musical events.
We have a fairly small but welcoming and faithful congregation with
a range of ages. We are aiming to make the church more appealing
to the young and to build on our historic and musical heritage to
reach out to the wider community.
Clare Ashton
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A recent Ceilidh at St. Mary’s
Mission
The parish mission statement is “Building church and community”
We have a strong desire to build on what is already being done in
our churches but also to seek new partnerships and ways to do
church in our local communities. We are on a progressive process
known as partnership for Missional Church.
(PMC):http://www.churchinnovations.org/what-we-
do/consulting/partnership-for-missional-church/overview-of-the-
partnership-for-missional-church-process/
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Through this we have begun to build some strong partnerships
within our community and have started to engage with new groups
of people.
We are keen to follow the Diocesan vision of “growing disciples
wider, younger and deeper” and hold this as our frame work in our
entire mission. We have a Missional group that works to achieve
all of the above by meeting regularly, praying together, reading the
word of God and working out how to apply all that we do in a
practical way. Our parish is in the genesis of an exciting time of
practical application, exploration and discovery of God’s ‘preferred
and promised future’.
So what is our story?
A: Saturday breakfast: we meet once a month at the church of
Holy Trinity with St. Francis (HTC/SF) for prayer, dwelling in the
word of God, sharing experiences and offering hospitality to others
outside of church life as well as those within.
Growing disciples deeper.
B: Toddlers & Toast: This is a new group which meets every
Monday morning in school term time at Holy Trinity with St. Francis
(HTC/SF), delivering a simplified Gospel message to our young
families, offering ‘Messy Church’ and family services in a friendly
and informal way.
Growing disciples younger.
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C: Highbank community centre: Seeking and encouraging a new
worshiping community, meeting people where they are and working
out what the Gospel might mean to them. We work in partnership
with them in the lead of a community choir which now stands at 14
members.
These members participate with the Church worship band in some
of our services and participate in many community events. We join
them with their Thursday night jamming sessions, building on a
social level to strengthen relationships. We are looking to
encourage a ‘START course’ with this group in the near future.
Growing disciples wider.
D: To encourage social nights both for existing worshipping
community and for those on the periphery, to strengthen
relationships and build community, growing disciples both wider
and deeper. We do this through many different social opportunities:
Dog racing
Liverpool trip
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Cocktail & quiz nights
Bingo nights
Skate Board Park
Jamming/open mike nights
Clifton’s got talent
Community choir events
Worship bands from across neighbouring parishes and the
community choir performing together.
E: Breakfast walk: This takes place 4 times a year by meeting at
St. Mary’s church for a bible reading and then a walk along the
river with prayer stops and finally resting at the pub for breakfast.
This walk includes our Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Association families,
friends of regular church goers, dog walkers, Toddlers & Toast
families and people on the fringe of Church life. This walk can
attract 40+ people with the majority of them being on the fringe of
Church life.
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We feel that our church and the wider community offer lots of
freedom to explore and to build friendships. Clifton is an extremely
exciting place to be, in terms of mission. We have found that the
local people are very welcoming to us as Church and they have
shown they are true ‘people of peace’. The ‘dwelling in the word’
passage we have used was Luke 10 1-12. This passage has
inspired us to be daring in our witness.
The PCC recently had a day of prayer, reflection, discussion and
worship to agree some mission priorities in the light of the
appointment of a Team Vicar. These were the agreed areas:
1. We aspire to develop closer relationships with our children
and young families, especially by working with the Boys’ and
Girls’ Brigade, the newly formed Toddlers group and with our
schools to help us grow disciples younger
2. To seek help in further growing disciples wider and to build
upon the excellent work of our Missional (PMC) group (see
above)
3. We want to deepen our faith together by way of developing
further the ongoing work of our home and prayer groups
4. Many of us value the centrality of Holy Communion in our
worship and we would love to work alongside someone who
respects this sacramental emphasis - even if it might not
necessarily be their personal background
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The PCC is aware these priorities for mission should be
reviewed and is open to fresh perspectives and suggestions.
We are in the middle of exciting times in Clifton and we are
convinced that God has great plans for us. As we seek to grow
our church and communities we are aware that we also need to
support and encourage our longer standing folk.
Our new Team Vicar
We seek a priest who:
….is an evangelist who will help us grow in number, making
disciples and seeing new worshipping communities established
….will take over from the Team Rector as ‘Spiritual leader’
of our Missional group
….will serve among us in being a pastor to God’s people and
have a particular responsibility for our newly formed 4 O’clock
Sunday congregation - a congregation that enjoys a more
informal, innovative and contemporary style of worship
….will develop existing links with our 7 schools and explore
setting up a chaplaincy team at our secondary school
AND
….will help to undertake and develop worship, conduct
services on a rostered basis, and to share in the occasional
offices
….who will build on existing foundations to help develop the
vision and strategy for the ministry and mission of the Parish
….will work ecumenically in the parish and within the Deanery
and Diocesan family
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Personal Profile
Essential Desirable
Experience At least 3 years of a
broad range of
practical experience
as an ordained
member of the
clergy within the
Anglican Communion
Working with
families.
Working in
schools with
children and
young people.
Experience of
the ‘Partnership
in Missional
Church’ (PMC)
programme
Skills and
Knowledge
Able to make and
take opportunities to
communicate and
teach the gospel to a
wide range of
audiences
An ability to link
the ordinariness
of life to the
Gospel
Broad theological
outlook; a respect
for a sacramental
ministry, at home
with PCC policies
(see appendix)
within a welcoming
and affirming
tradition and willing
to explore
alternative forms of
worship
Good at building
relationships
within the
Church and in
the wider
community
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Willing to step out
into the unknown
and take risks
Proven experience of
collaborative working
in a team
Committed to
community outreach
and ecumenical work
Able to see things
through to the end
Good influencing and
conflict resolution
skills and a good
listener
Effective
instigator and
leader of
change.
Basic email and word
processing skills
Personal
Qualities
An approachable
pastor and confidant
for a wide range of
people; A person
who encourages
involvement &
development of skills
Wisdom &
discernment in
dealing with people
Appropriate personal
and spiritual
resources and
resilience
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The Parish of Clifton
Brief history and description
The village of Clifton is situated three miles west of the city of
Nottingham on the southern side of the River Trent. In order to
meet the housing demands of Nottingham City after the Second
World War, the City Council purchased the land around the village
of Clifton. Construction of the Clifton Estate started in the early
1950s and there have been various stages of development over the
decades since it was originally conceived. This has led to a variety
of housing and accommodation within the parish, which includes
semi-detached and detached houses with gardens, high-rise flats
and maisonettes. The parish has a population of 23,000 and rising
(2011 census). Clifton has a variety of shops clustered in small
groups around the estate, with the largest concentration at the
Clifton Town Centre – often referred to as ‘The Top Shops’.
These include a large Morrison’s, Wilkinson, Boots and Iceland with
other small shops and businesses, bank and Post Office facilities.
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The estate also has three GP surgeries, two dental surgeries, a
leisure centre with swimming pool, 3 community centres, the
Cornerstone building which houses two of the GP surgeries and
local council and community facilities. Clifton also has a library,
various playing fields including a skateboard park, a police station
which is no longer open to the public, a Royal British Legion club
and three Public houses. The Nottingham Trent University campus
is situated between Clifton Village and the Fabis Drive area. A new
development is due to be completed in summer 2018 known as
‘The Clifton Triangle’. This will include another supermarket, shops,
restaurants and residential properties.
In addition to this new development there are to be 3000 more
homes built at ‘Clifton Pastures’ on the Clifton boundary with
Rushcliffe.
Clifton is only three miles from Nottingham City Centre with good
public transport links. The A453 runs through Clifton providing good
access to the M1 junction 24, the East Midlands Airport and the
East Midlands Parkway train station to the west, and the
Nottingham Ring Road and A52 to the east. The new tram network
(2015) runs through Clifton providing excellent communications to
Nottingham Train station, the City centre and beyond.
Clifton has several places of worship which include, St Mary’s, Holy
Trinity with St. Francis (both C of E churches), a Roman Catholic
Church, Methodist and URC churches and Hope (AOG) church which
meets at the new ‘Hope Centre’. There is also an AOG plant on the
Nobel Road estate.
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The Parish
The parish is within the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham and is
part of the West Bingham Deanery. It is a team Ministry and covers
the Clifton Estate, Clifton Village and the Barton Green, Nobel Road
and Fabis Drive (locally known as the Clifton Grove) areas. These
areas are collectively referred to as ‘Clifton’. It incorporates the two
parish churches of St Mary’s dating from late 11th century and
situated in the historic village of Clifton and Holy Trinity with St
Francis dating from the late 1950s and situated within the Clifton
Estate. The two churches have a total of 134 people on the electoral
roll. A few years ago the parish dismantled the three former District
Church Councils (DCC) and streamlined the management,
administration and representation apparatus by forming a
reorganised Parochial Church Council (PCC), whilst endeavouring to
maintain the use of the two churches, all of which continue to have
modest and loyal congregations.
Services are held in both churches on Sundays. These services
range from a Common Worship Eucharist Rite 1, with Morning
Worship and less formal ‘Worship for All’ services held once a
month. On a 5th Sunday we have a well attended joint Sunday
service which moves around the churches. The St. Mary’s singers
provide a choir at St. Mary’s on the first Sunday of the month.
A dedicated team of licensed lay people helps lead and preach at
services and together with our Wardens and deputy Wardens
participate in the ‘Mission and Ministry team’.
Service day & time Usual Sunday attendance 2016
Usual Sunday attendance 2015
HTC/SF Sunday 9.30am
22 adults 3 children
21 adults 2 children
St. Mary’s Sunday 10.45am
32 adults 4 children
29 adults 3 children
HTC/SF Sunday 4pm 23 adults 4 children
18 adult 4 children
Total 77 adults 11 children
68 adults 9 children
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The Team currently provides support and input to five primary
schools, one special needs school and a secondary school. There is
potential for future development in these areas. There are four
senior citizen residential homes and five independent living
schemes for the elderly. The parish works in partnership with Hope
Church to give support to the NG11 Food Bank and an after school
club on Thursday afternoons. ‘RISE’ (Reaching the ISolated
Elderly) is a senior citizens charity that meets for meals and
activities on Fridays. The Team Rector is on the management
committee of this valuable venture.
Our Easter and Christmas Experiences in the church attract groups
of children and staff from most of the Clifton schools.
The parish office is situated in Holy Trinity with St. Francis and is
open one evening a week from 6pm -7pm. A communion service is
also held in Holy Trinity with St. Francis on Tuesday 10am and is
followed by a newly formed ‘Chat N That’ craft and coffee morning
group. The Boys’ Brigade & Girls’ Association meets in the church
on a Tuesday evening.
Our newly formed Community choir meets in HTC/SF every Monday
evening followed by a prayer group and music group practice.
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The newly formed Toddlers group meets each Monday morning in
HTC/SF in term time.
A bell ringing team practices once a week at St. Mary’s and rings at
both Holy Trinity with St. Francis and St. Mary’s on Sunday
mornings as well as at weddings and funerals. Both churches
regularly host visiting ringing teams.
The Team Vicar’s house is situated in Clifton village and it is a
modern four bedroom detached property, with a garage and off
street parking. There is a garden to the front, and a medium sized
mature garden to the rear.
Please note the lamp post no longer exists ..... as a result of
some ‘near misses’ with cars!!!!
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Finances
We have just completed a most successful ‘promises and giving
programme’. This has resulted in an increase in regular and
planned giving of some £8000 per annum. The full accounts are
available on our website:
http://cliftonchurchofengland.weebly.com/pcc.html
Unrestricted
Designated Restricted Total
Total
Funds Funds
Funds Funds
Funds
2016 2015
£ £ £ £ £
INCOME
Donations 50,752 - 963 51,715 53,001
Events 20,760 - 25,000 45,760 33,475
Investments 1,249 - 212 1,461 1,723
Total 72,762 - 26,175 98,936 88,199
EXPENDITURE
Fundraising cost 1,862 - - 1,862 2,343
Charitable
activities 64,636
-
1,033
65,669
88,206
Total 66,499 - 1,033 67,532 90,549
Transfer between
funds 6,263
- 25,142 31,404 (2,350)
Net gains/losses 1,025 - (1,025) - -
Net movement
funds 4,102
-
-
4,102
496
Reconciliation of
funds 11,390
-
24,117
35,507
(1,854)
Total funds B/F 67,812 4,798 5,619 78,229 80,083
To 79,201 4,798
29,736
113,735
78,229
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Clifton Parish
Clifton
Community Challenges1
Clifton has areas of high social deprivation.
The 2015 Parish deprivation ranking for Clifton is 757 cf 12,599
parishes (where 1 is most deprived)
Low educational achievement within the community. (42% of
working age adults with no qualifications)
Low educational and career aspirations among young people.
Lone parenthood (33%)
Unemployment is around the national average, however many
people are employed on low wages. Working age poverty is at 21%.
There are high rates of ill health including cancer, heart disease,
COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) diabetes and mental
health issues as well as significant issues associated with smoking,
obesity and domestic violence.
1 Statistics taken from the CUF - http://www.cuf.org.uk/parish/380219
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Strengths/opportunities
Clifton has a strong sense of community.
The Parish is now in its 4th year of the missional PMC process.
The two/three congregations are commited to building a sustainable
and exciting future together.
There is the potential and desire further to develop and to deepen
links with the local schools, local groups and organisations.
A core of commited lay people.
Progress is being made with home groups. We are beginning a
START group for ‘explorers’ of the Christian faith.
Mission opportunities due to the relatively high number of occasional
offices.
Weddings/blessings
2017 to date 2016 2015
16 9 9
Baptisms
2017 to date 2016 2015
32 21 17
Funerals to date
2017 2016 2015
33 51 50
We are intentional about encouraging ministerial vocations and have
fostered 3 candidates to ordination. The Team Rector is an assistant
DDO.
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Challenges for the Parish
St Francis church is now unofficially closed. We await full
authorisation for the effects of consecration to be removed and for
the site to be sold.
Holy Trinity with St. Francis church is in need of a full refurbishment
to make the building ‘fit for purpose’. It is hoped that the 1st phase
of this refurbishment will commence in 2017/8 providing a fully
fitted kitchen, disabled toilet facilities, general re-decorating and
repairs as well as a fully refurbished Lady chapel for general
community and church use.
St Mary’s requires restoration work to drains, floor, wall and the
tower. These are also planned for 2017-2020.
Ageing congregations.
Apathetic attitude toward organised religion within the community at
large.
The A453 is a physical and in some regards a psychological barrier
within the area.
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Appendices
A Terms of Appointment
The appointment is made jointly by the Team Rector and the
Bishop and is to the benefice of Clifton.
A comfortable, well located house is provided in accordance with
Diocesan guidelines.
Expenses of office will be met in full by the Parochial Church
Council in accordance with agreed Diocesan scale of
reimbursement for car mileage, telephone, postage, home
entertainment and other approved expenses of office agreed by the
PCC.
B Ordination of women
The parish enjoys and welcomes the ordained ministry of both
women and men
The parish currently has a female Associate Priest
The PCC affirms the ordination of both women and men as
bishops
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C Baptism policy
We maintain an ‘open’ policy on Baptism and we also recognise the
need to respect the nature and importance of this sacrament
We are also mindful of the provisions of Canon Law and the rubrics
of the Book of Common Prayer and Common Worship Prayer Book
Baptism will normally take place on a Sunday at one of our main
services
A member of the Clergy may for good and valid pastoral reasons
and at her/his sole discretion celebrate a Baptism at another time
Parent(s) and/or adult candidates will receive preparation prior to
the baptism
Godparents and parents acting as sponsors for a child will normally
need to be:
a. Baptised themselves
b. Sixteen years of age or over
The Baptism of those who live outside of the parish (who are not
on the Electoral roll in Clifton) will only take place having sought
the permission of the priest of their parish of residence.
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D Marriage after divorce
The practice of welcoming marriage after divorce has been in
existence for many years in the parish. This is the practice of the
current Team Rector and Associate priest
The Team Rector follows the guidelines as set out in ‘The
Winchester report’ with particular reference to paragraph 3
entitled: Issues and questions you may wish to consider in the
light of the Church’s doctrine of marriage.
(https://www.churchofengland.org/media/1273420/gs1449.pdf)
E Reception of Holy Communion prior to Confirmation
The PCC welcomes all the baptized people of God to receive the
sacrament of Holy Communion and we use the Diocesan
guidelines and the following as guiding principles:
They must be baptized
Preparation must take place
For a child under 16 years of age parental/guardian’s consent
must be obtained
The child will normally be of school age
In the case of those 16 years of age or over the candidate would
normally be ‘desirous of confirmation’
The candidates (both children and adults) will be encouraged to
come to Confirmation in line with the Diocesan guidelines