OUR VISION
Our vision at St Mary’s is to be a church at the heart of our community, and our hope is that this new structure will empower every Christian at St Mary’s to flourish in ministry for the good of the whole community.
St Mary's Ministry Structure - the "CoGs"
To support our vision, after a consultation period during the summer of 2018, 8 Areas of Ministry were identified by Church members that are integral to Church life. These can be referred to as "Calls of God" (CoGs). More details of these can be found in the "Give Your Time" pages.
For a quick summary of each CoG and the name of its Coordinator, view the following presentation:
- STEWARDING (Managing church land and buildings sustainably) - Mike Buckland
- GATHERING (Church services) - Rosie Creedon & John Cook
- NURTURING (Growing in our Christian discipleship) - Sarah Whiteside
- REACHING (Making Jesus known in our community) - Richard Eves
- CARING (Coming alongside others in times of need) - Steve Turville
- CELEBRATING (Coming together for fellowship and fun) - Sue Witney
- COMMUNICATING (Engaging the community in church life) - Mark Puddy
- SUPPORTING (All of the admin that is needed to run the church) - Mark Puddy
We have deliberately made each CoG a verb, emphasising that ministry is about "action/doing", each CoG working together with the others for the service of God and neighbours. Every Christian is equipped by the Holy Spirit for service - the question we each need to ask ourselves is, "What is God calling me to? Where can I serve?". If you feel you could be involved in any Ministry Team, contact the Team Coordinator.
To support this new vision:
- PCC meetings will increase from 4 to 6 per year to enable them to properly fulfil their duties of being strategic and evaluative.
- A Steering Group (made up of CoG leaders and others) will meet once a term to review Vision.
- An Operations team will meet weekly to maintain oversight of the day to day work of the Church.
