Since Tim Fletcher left his post as Priest in Charge at Stannington, the Churchwardens and PCC have been in discussion with the Diocese as to how a replacement is to made.As you may know, Tim’s role as Priest in Charge was a half-time appointment with the other half of Tim’s role being in training Curates for the Diocese. Tim has now gone on to do the training role as a full-time appointment.After Tim was appointed in 2014, the Diocese published a strategy for clergy within the whole of the Diocese, which provides funding for a half-time only appointment for Stannington. The Diocese have confirmed that this remains the case and ordinarily we could expect only a half-time minister to replace Tim.This presents a difficulty. The PCC are aware that we have not been able to do all that we would wish to do with only a half-time minister – being Parish priest is a big job in itself. Also there is a limited number of people who would be willing to take a half-time job (the Diocese have confirmed that they are not able to offer an additional half-time role as they did when Tim was appointed).We have also looked into the possibility of sharing clergy with another Parish, but there is no obvious opportunity to do this locally and, in any event, this would not address the resource issue – we believe there should be a full-time Priest in Charge in Stannington.So, what has been proposed to us by the Diocese is what is called a “Graft” whereby a large well-resourced church known as a “Resource Church” offers to provide resources to support another church known as a “Receiving Church”. The PCC have spent some time looking into this type of arrangement including meeting members of a church who have received a Graft.We have now been made an offer from St Thomas Crookes (STC) which is:The STC council have unanimously given their support to the idea of a graft, subject to approval from Christ Church PCCSTC have agreed to provide 50% of a clergy stipend for a three year period, at the end of which we fully anticipate that increased giving, both from the graft team and also through church growth, will more than cover this deficit.STC will recruit and provide a graft/partnership team, probably of around 30 people, mainly, but not exclusively, consisting of STC members who already live in Stannington.What this means is that it will be possible to appoint a full-time minister for Stannington for at least 3 years in anticipation that this will be sustainable into the future. The PCC believes this to be an extremely generous proposal, which offers a real opportunity for us to deliver our Mission in Stannington, and have therefore agreed to go ahead on this basis. The next stage in the process will be to start the recruitment process for the new Minister. The appointment will be made by the Bishop of Sheffield, but the PCC will be involved in the recruitment process and naturally, STC will also have a say as provider of 50% of the funding.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer’ Psalm 18:2It’s coming up to seven years since I became parish priest at Christ Church Stannington. As many of you know my role is only part-time – I also organise the curate training programme for the diocese which has increased significantly since I started. Because of this I’ve been asked to go full time in the curate training role which means I will unfortunately be standing down as priest in charge of Christ Church from September. I have very much enjoyed serving in this parish and I never cease to be amazed at the beauty of this place. It has been a privilege and delight to serve alongside such a gracious church family and kind community.With regard to the next steps, there needs to be a discussion with our church council and our archdeacon – please can I encourage you to be praying about this.There are changing times ahead for us all of us as we start to come out of lockdown. And change can be very unsettling, even good change – some are nervous about reopening facilities, others are fearful about their finances and jobs and as a church we are wondering what the future holds in terms of leadership. But the reality is life always involves change but as Christians we have the truth that in God we have One who never changes - who is always there for us, always to be relied upon and always there to guide us and be our strength. The psalm highlighted above refers to God as our Rock – our ultimate security and this brings us comfort and hope, especially in these uncertain times. Let’s focus our attention on Him each day as we face the future.With love and God blessTim
