MARSHFIELD BENEFICE

In South Gloucestershire, England.

Church of England                                                                         Bristol Diocese

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"Vacancy" is the term used by the Church of England for the period between a vicar/rector leaving and a new one being appointed. It used to be known as the "Interregnum".

AWAITING A NEW PRIEST

Article  by Bruce Finnamore, Churchwarden, St Mary Magdalene, Tormarton.
 

Plans for the Vacancy.

Simon’s departure means that there will be a period when there will be no regular Vicar in the Benefice. The PCCs and Church Wardens from all four churches in the Benefice are working together with the Deanery and the Diocese of Bristol to appoint a new Vicar as soon as possible. That said, it could be over 12 months before we have a new Vicar in post. We want to use this period to reflect on the work of our Church and think through how we can strengthen each of our four parishes and the Benefice as a whole.

Our aim is to encourage as many people as possible to become active members of the Church community – and for all Church members to support each other to lead fulfilling Christian lives. We would like your views on how we can achieve this aim.

Over the next few weeks, we will hold a serious of meetings in each of the Parishes led by George Rendell from the Diocese of Bristol, to get as many ideas as possible and stimulate discussion. We will also organise a simple survey (based on a similar exercise run at Marshfield Church recently) and ask you to contact other interested members of the Church to get their views. The sort of questions we would like people to talk about include:

How can we strengthen the work of our Church?

How can we encourage as many people as possible to be active members of the Church community?

What do you like about your Church?

What do you dislike about your Church?

What changes or improvements could we make to:

The work of the Church in our communities.

The support we give to old people, children, families, people living on their own, people who are ill.

The social life of the Church.

How can we improve Church services? Should we for example:

Have more or less services?

Make them longer or shorter?

Change the start times?

Have more or less music?

Be more traditional or more modern?

Have more or less special services for children and young families?

Should we do more to link the Parishes across the Benefice? If so, what?

  • How can we make best use of our Church buildings?
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  • How can we use your gifts and talents?

    • We will be publicising the dates of the meetings shortly. In the meantime, please could you give thought to these and other questions and if you haven’t already done so, let us have your views. Please contact any of the PCC members or Church Wardens or write to: Mr G Rendell, Church House, 23 Great George Street, Bristol. BS1 5QZ, email: George.rendell@bristoldiocese.org