In preparing for the information afternoon for those who have joined the church in the last five or so years I began thinking about the last seven years I have had the privilege of being vicar of Old Felixstowe. It made me think about what has changed and how we have sought to grow together in our faith. This led me to look at the application I wrote for the role. In my application I highlighted four key priorities I discerned from the profile of the parish.

I thought I would use these to explain the journey the church has been on to those who have recently joined and I thought it would be good to explore these in this month’s news letter. 

I will take each area in turn and explore what has happened, acknowledging that much is still very much a work in progress.
 
Developing and expanding the ministry team.
Arriving in the parish it was clear that there was a great team of elders and clergy who carried out ministry in the Parish. Over time together we have built on this, developed our skills and hopefully grown in confidence in how we minister, both inside and outside of services. The different congregations we have require a slightly different approach to leading and the team have been flexible and resilient in how they have responded. Some have stood down from the team after many years of faithful service, and new people join bringing their unique skills and abilities. Evening services at St Nicholas have seen a range of styles as people grow in their ministries.

The welcome team across congregations has expanded the ministry in our congregations. We have also been blessed with two curates who have joined  as they receive training and experience with us.

The ministry team has also grown with the development of Parish Nursing, providing a different approach to ministry. Mostly ministering to those outside of the church.
 
Developing the links with families and young people
This is a priority in pretty much every parish profile, and the question that goes through my mind when I read them in my role as rural dean is whether the parish is prepared to do things differently.

One of the areas we have developed is our work with our primary schools in the parish. Meetings with the head teachers, delivering assemblies, helping with lessons, visits to the church for lessons, listening to readers have all helped develop those relationships.  A great team has helped when the children have visited the churches to explore Christmas, baptism or Easter to name a few.

Prior to COVID a fantastic team ran a monthly after school club which was going really well, this continued online -however when we tried to restart we realised parents were wanting a weekly event and as we could not provide this we prayerfully decided to stop.

Since the pandemic we started a weekly sing, sign and stories group aimed at pre-school children and their carers. This has built relationships and is a place where children and carers are known and nurtured. Some of those who have attended have started to come to the all age worship.

In the past couple of years we have launched a monthly all age worship which is shorter and a bit more interactive and is becoming increasingly well attended by all ages. We have also launched a monthly “Explorers” group providing teaching and fun for those who are of primary school age, and after time and prayer children are beginning to come.
This year we have held our first family fun day at Old Felixstowe Community Centre. This helped build relationships and was well attended- we are planning further events.
 
Engage in the wider community
The vision we discerned together when arriving at the church is to live, show and tell the love of God, becoming like Jesus and drawing others to him. In order to do this we need to be engaging with our community and meeting them where they are, paying attention to their needs.

This led to us agreeing to host our weekly popup shop, supporting those going through challenging times. In this space needs have been met and community has developed as people are known and noticed. An amazing team have come together to help us meet this need in our community.

Parish Nursing has been established to meet this need as well, bring health, wholeness and hope. The team around this support people both in the church and in the wider community, being present at the monthly OFCA market for example.

Pub Theology has started and is a place where people on the fringes of church can come and get to know others in a neutral environment.

We also developed and maintain our parish website as this is the first place many look to when wanting to know more about church. Through the pandemic we delivered online services, and this is something we have continued with, with DVDs of services being delivered to those who can’t access online. The work on the sound and visuals in St Peter and St Paul has enabled this to happen.
 
Nurturing the warm and welcoming church family that exists.
It was evident when reading the profile that the church family was warm and supportive. As the church family has grown we have sought to create spaces where people can encounter God through worship. This led to starting a new congregation after the pandemic at 9:30. We are trying to create spaces throughout each month where people can come together for fellowship and prayer, knowing that relationships matter to us all.

We have also enabled there to be a number of spaces where people can pray together in a variety of ways. These are well attended and people are growing in confidence in praying as they can.
 
On looking back, I am aware that there is still much to do, and also thankful for the grace that has been shown and the prayer support that has been offered. In Old Felixstowe Parish we are still very much a work in progress, and I pray we will always be so. Thank you for being a part of this journey together and if there are any more details you would like to know or would like to get more involved please do be in touch.

Chris