Cloverfield Community ChurchThetford, Parish Profile 2020

Contents

Introduction 3

Our New Team Vicar 4

Cloverfield Community Church 5-8

The Town of Thetford 9-10

The Thetford Team Ministry 11-16

The United Reformed Church in Thetford 17

Other Churches in Thetford 17

The Vicarage 18

Contact 19

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Thetford is a bustling and historic market town of some 25,000 people in south-west Norfolk which, along with surrounding villages, is served by the Thetford Team Ministry.

We are seeking to appoint an evangelical man or woman to be Team Vicar with primary responsibility for Cloverfield Community Church. The area of Cloverfield was developed in the 1990s and Cloverfield Community Church was planted in 1992 as a partnership between the Church of England and the United Reformed Church to serve this new community. The church meets in the purpose-built Cloverfield Church and Community Centre which also functions as the hub for many community groups and activities.

This profile describes who we are looking for in our new Team Vicar, as well as what we can offer to you, and describes our churches and communities in more detail. Thank you for your interest in the post; please contact us if you would like any further information (see page 19).

Introduction

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We are excited to see who God will call to be our new Team Vicar, serving alongside committed lay people in a friendly, caring and lively church family at Cloverfield Community Church, as well as with the churches and communities across the rest of the benefice. We offer the opportunity to serve as part of a close and supportive Team Ministry who enjoy having fun together.

At Cloverfield Community Church there are many opportunities for mission and for helping people to grow in discipleship, including openings to build on the existing strong links with the wider community. It is hoped that the new Team Vicar will play an important role in reaching out to the large new housing development of Kingsfleet.

This full-time post is one of incumbent-level responsibility and carries with it a full incumbent’s stipend, a full day off per week (plus an additional day off once per month) and six weeks’ holiday per year. The Vicarage is a modern four-bedroom house and is described more fully later in the profile.

We are seeking a Team Vicar who loves Jesus, His people and His world, and is:

• Committed to growth in their own Christian discipleship;

• Evangelical in their convictions and ministry;• A gifted Bible teacher, committed to God’s

Word and whose life and ministry are submitted to its authority;

• Prayerful and sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit;

• Pastorally caring, with a love for people of all ages and backgrounds and for the wider community;

• Committed to making disciples of all nations and able to inspire and equip others to join them in mission, including to children, young people and their families;

• Able to lead people deeper in discipleship and service, setting an example in life and faith;

• Able to work across the diverse range of contexts and styles within the Team.

Our New Team Vicar

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Cloverfield Community Church is an LEP (Local Ecumenical Partnership) which was jointly sponsored by the Diocese of Norwich and the United Reformed Church. The church was planted in 1992 and initially worshipped in a nursery on the Cloverfield development. Our purpose-built building was put into use in the year 2000. The church family currently numbers approximately 65 people, with around 45 adults and five to ten children attending on a typical Sunday.

Services and Regular Groups at Cloverfield

We are an evangelical church worshipping with a contemporary style of music alongside some more traditional hymns; once a month we have a café style all-age service, ‘The Sunday Mix’, aimed at families. On that Sunday we hold a reflective evening service, Abide. We also hold occasional united services with other churches in the area. We currently have two Authorised Worship Assistants, a Prayer Ministry Team and Pastoral Care Team. There are two Home Groups and a Men’s Discipleship Group. Our worship band is made up of guitarists, drums, violin and a variety of wind instruments, depending on availability.

On Sundays other than ‘The Sunday Mix’ our services include a supervised creche as well as a group for school-age children. Our children join in with a ‘Countdown Prayer’ as they go out to their groups.

Cloverfield Community Church

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Prayer is an important part of our church life. We have a dedicated Prayer Ministry Team who not only manage prayer requests left at the church and on the website but also offer one-to-one prayer at the end of every Sunday service and following Communion.

Every other month there is a Prayer Evening open to all in the church. We have also hosted 24/7 prayer events over the last few years in our dedicated prayer room. We pray for each street on the Cloverfield development throughout the year, focussing on three streets each week.

We hold regular fellowship events such as bring and share lunches, breakfasts and picnics in the park.

Some members of the church family attend conventions and events organised by groups such as New Wine and The Filling Station.

Cloverfield Community Church

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Mission Statement

Cloverfield Community Church seeks to be:• A welcoming place where Christ’s love can be

seen and experienced;• A united family, caring for one another;

worshipping, praying and learning together;• A committed group of God’s followers who

bring his words and works to others;• A hub for the local community.

Finances

The church receives income from regular member giving (including gift aid) and from hire of the premises. In the last year our income was approximately £45,000. Our expenditure was approximately £40,000. We were fortunate enough to benefit from grants in 2018/19 to the sum of almost £43,000, which enabled us to refit our kitchen to catering standards.

Cloverfield Community Church

Events for the Community

A weekly afternoon tea club is run by one of the church members for over 60’s with entertainment and activities included.

Regular outreach events have become part of the community calendar such as the Christmas Nativity Service, Easter Egg Hunt and Light Night, with around 100-150 people attending.

We support Operation Christmas Child with a monthly stall, donating items and acting as a drop off centre, with 339 boxes being sent off in November 2019.

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Strengths and Opportunities

As the Cloverfield Community Church family and Leadership Team have prayerfully considered the next chapter in the church’s life, we have identified the following strengths of our current church life for which we thank God:

• A friendly, relaxed, lively and fun church family in which absolutely everyone is welcome;

• A prayerful, Bible-based church;• Flexible and multi-sensory worship with music

led by a strong worship band;• An outward-focussed and forward-looking

church which has experienced numerical growth in recent years;

• The involvement of a wide range of people, including children, in the life of the church and a committed core of servant-hearted volunteers;

• A modern, purpose-built Church and Community Centre including a children’s room, prayer room, office and new kitchen.

We have also identified the following particular areas for growth and development:

• Growing our missional and discipleship work with children, young people and their families;

• Drawing members of our monthly ‘The Sunday Mix’ service more deeply into the life of the church;

• Further outreach, including to the Cloverfield development, groups who use our facilities regularly and to the new Kingsfleet development;

• Motivating, equipping and training church members for service and leadership.

Cloverfield Community Church

Governance

We have a Leadership Team who meet bi-monthly and work with the Minister to manage the church. The church is governed using a congregationalist approach involving a roll of voting church members (currently numbering 35) and church meetings which take place every second month for church members to discuss and vote forward actions. The church is overseen by a Joint Ecumenical Council which includes representatives from Thetford PCC, the Thetford United Reformed Church and Cloverfield Community Church.

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Thetford is the ancient heart of East Anglia, one-time home to Boadicea and later the site of a 12th Century Cluniac Priory. In Medieval times it was one of the largest and most influential towns in England. Centuries of gradual decline were turned around in the second half of the 20th Century when Thetford was adopted as one of the London overspill towns, with several large housing estates being built on the edges of the quiet market town. This growth continued into the 21st Century, including the development of Cloverfield, where the church is situated. Cloverfield is a pleasant development of approximately 1650 houses (predominantly private housing) which added a greater variety of housing stock than the earlier periods of expansion. The town’s growth will continue over the next few years through the Kingsfleet development, adjacent to Cloverfield, with a further 5000 houses planned with associated schools, employment and leisure areas.

The Town of Thetford

Prior to expansion the population of Thetford had dwindled to around 5,000 people. By the end of the London overspill programme in the 1980s the population had risen to 21,000, making it the fastest growing town in the country. Population is currently estimated at around 25,000 including a large number of recent migrants from Russia, Poland, Slovakia, and Portugal, drawn mainly by the abundance of agricultural work in the area. The last census revealed that almost 30% of the Thetford population was of Portuguese descent.

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Thetford is at the centre of some outstanding countryside. Thetford Forest is the largest lowland pine forest in Britain and the SSSI Brecks area is unique and steeped in history. Further afield is the enigmatic Fens area and the Norfolk Broads. The town is on the main train line from Cambridge to Norwich, and the A11 is dual carriageway all the way from Thetford to Cambridge, providing good access to London and other motorway links. There are the usual range of supermarkets and out of town superstores and, although shopping in the old town centre is a little limited, Bury St Edmunds is a short drive away with a much larger

selection of shops and other amenities. The town has a cinema, leisure centre with a pool and there are also several private gyms. The town has two doctors’ surgeries and a community hospital, the Healthy Living Centre.

There are two senior schools available. Thetford Academy is a secondary school and sixth form centre rated as good by OFSTED. There are several feeder schools for the Academy, with two schools within easy walking distance of the Vicarage. The historic Thetford Grammar School is an independent school catering for all ages.

The Town of Thetford

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The Thetford Team Ministry

The benefice of Thetford comprises the parish of Thetford together with the two village parishes of Croxton and Kilverstone. Each of the villages has one church, whilst Thetford Parish has three: St Cuthbert’s, Cloverfield and Grace Churches.

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The Team Rector is Peter Herbert, who has been in post for just over a year. Peter is married to Caroline and in his spare time enjoys walking, visiting interesting places and playing the piano.

As well as leading the Team, Peter has primary responsibility for the worshipping and pastoral life of St Cuthbert’s Church.

Tony Heywood is the Team Vicar with particular responsibility for Grace Church. Tony has been with the Team for eight years, is married to Helen, and has two young children, Martha (6) and Nathaniel (4). In his spare time Tony enjoys doing the Thetford Park Run, following the England cricket XI, watching war films and reading the novels of Patrick O’Brian.

The clergy team enjoy strong friendships, support and partnership in ministry with one another. They meet weekly for lunch and a staff meeting as well as for Morning Prayer twice a week and for social get togethers (including families) from time-to-time.

The stipendiary clergy are supported across the benefice by two retired members of clergy, three Readers and three Authorised Worship Assistants (AWAs; two at Cloverfield and one at St Cuthbert’s). Within the Diocese of Norwich, AWAs are recommended, trained and supported by their benefice, and licensed by the Bishop, to assist with preaching, teaching and conducting worship.

The Ministry Team, comprising the stipendiary and retired clergy, Readers and AWAs, meet together once per half term.

The Thetford Team Ministry

Peter and Caroline Herbert The Heywood Family

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Across the Benefice

There is a warmth of friendship and good degree of cooperation between the different churches in the benefice, and especially between the three churches in Thetford parish. In autumn 2019 we launched a monthly ‘Team Prayer Night’ to which members of all the churches in the benefice are invited for just over an hour of catching up with one another, worshipping together and praying for God’s work across our Team and beyond.

Many of our evangelistic events operate at the benefice-wide level, such as the Christianity Explored (or similar) courses run most terms, Men’s Breakfasts and Ladies’ Teas (which happen approximately termly) and the ‘mini-mission’ which has been run in May in recent years.

The Team Rector and the Team Vicars each take a share in the worshipping life and pastoral provision for all the churches in the benefice. Within Thetford, each member of clergy has primary responsibility for one of the three churches, and our new Team Vicar will take primary

responsibility for Cloverfield Community Church, as described more fully earlier in the profile.

In terms of Sunday services, the services at Cloverfield Community Church will be the primary focus of the new Team Vicar, although in our current pattern he or she will also lead and preach at the Grace Church and main St Cuthbert’s services from time-to-time. Likewise, the Team Rector and other Team Vicar will lead and preach on occasion at Cloverfield.

Services in the villages and the secondary services at St Cuthbert’s, as well as special services held at St Cuthbert’s (such as Ash Wednesday, Ascension Day and our annual Memorial Service), are shared evenly between the Team Rector and Team Vicars, or taken by other members of the Ministry Team.

Occasional Offices across the benefice are, again, shared equally amongst the stipendiary clergy or, especially in the case of funerals, taken by other members of the Ministry Team. Across the benefice in 2019 we took 11 baptisms and seven thanksgivings, four weddings and 37 funerals.

The Thetford Team Ministry

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The Parish of Thetford

Ministry in Thetford includes engagement in civic and town life, as well as particular links with four of the town’s schools. These links bring a mixture of assemblies, visits to St Cuthbert’s and services such as Christmas and Easter services. We have particularly close links with the Bishop’s School (a Church of England Primary School) and each week an assembly is taken there by either our ‘Open the Book’ team or by a member of the clergy team.

The Thetford Youth Project is run in partnership between the Thetford Parish churches, other denominations in Thetford and Integrate Youth for Christ. An after-school youth club, a youth discipleship group and mentoring of pupils during the transition to secondary school are all run as part of the Project.

Thetford is also a target area for Strategic Development Funding obtained by the Diocese for the purposes of church planting and revitalisation. We are in the early stages of assessing how we might partner with the Diocese’s sports ministry team and invest additional resources in youth work as we aim to reach young people in Thetford with the gospel.

St Cuthbert’s, Cloverfield and Grace Churches together have particular links with three sets of Parish Mission Partners. Our partnerships involve prayer and financial support, as well as sharing news and, when possible, face-to-face visits.

The parish is also twinned with the Parish of Holmsund, in the Diocese of Luleå in Sweden (the Diocese of Norwich’s link diocese). As well as annual visits to Thetford each autumn by Young

Leaders from the Holmsund churches, twinning visits by members of the congregations happen approximately every other year.

St Cuthbert’s is located in the centre of Thetford, adjacent to the main shopping street and marketplace. Services at St Cuthbert’s are currently all traditional and liturgical in style. The main service each Sunday is at 10.30 a.m., features a robed choir and organ-accompanied hymns, and has a typical congregation numbering around 40, predominantly older, people. The sermons are mostly expository in nature and usually follow the lectionary.

The fortnightly 8 a.m. Communion service attracts a handful of people, and the monthly Evensong and weekly midweek Communion services average six to ten people. There is one home group meeting regularly.

The first phase of a redevelopment project has recently been completed at St Cuthbert’s. The work includes an extended, catering-grade kitchen which is due to shortly be used to open a social enterprise café.

The Thetford Team Ministry

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Grace Church meets each week on Sunday afternoon in the Bishop’s School on the Abbey Estate, one of the post-war London-overspill estates to be built in Thetford and an area of significant social challenge and material deprivation. The majority of the congregation are drawn from the Abbey Estate itself and on a typical week number around 20 adults and six to ten children and young people.

Services are informal in style, with contemporary music, and the preaching is expository; mostly working consecutively through books of the Bible (or parts thereof), but with occasional thematic series. There is a dedicated group for children and young people. Associated with Grace Church are an evening home group, a daytime women’s Bible Study group and a parent and toddler group.

The Revd Tony Heywood is supported in the leadership and oversight of Grace Church by two lay elders.

The Thetford Team Ministry

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Croxton

Croxton is a village of some 400 people just north of Thetford. It has an active village community, in which the church plays its part. Two services are held per month with the congregation usually numbering ten to 20 people, although many more parishioners attend the Christmas and harvest services.

Kilverstone

Kilverstone is the smallest parish in the benefice, with a population of around 60 people. It is located on the north-eastern edge of Thetford. The parish is dominated by Kilverstone Hall and the Kilverstone Estate, and all the residential properties in the parish are connected with the estate.

A Communion service is held once a month with the congregation typically numbering fewer than ten people. Special events such as Christmas and harvest services, the harvest supper and annual flower festival are well supported by parishioners and others.

Please note that a further parish, Wretham with Illington, is legally part of the Thetford benefice, but operates independently of the Team Ministry. Discussions about some reorganisation of parishes within the Deanery are at an early stage.

The Thetford Team Ministry

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Cloverfield Community Church was planted in partnership with the United Reformed Church in Thetford, and the churches retain good links.

The URC church in Earls Street has served the town for over 200 years and in addition to its weekly services, it provides a base for the Peace Centre and also for a very active young family programme through its weekly Songs and Stories session.

Thetford URC actively contributes to the wider work of the Eastern Synod of the URC and one of its current worship leaders holds the Advocacies for Faith in Action, Inter-faith and joint chair of the Area Partnership.

Currently without its own Minister, it is part of the Mid-Anglia pastorate and has three worship leaders, two of whom are authorised for the Sacraments. The church believes in actively supporting local, national and international causes from Toilet Twinning, Planting Olive trees in Palestine to the local foodbank. It provides a range of facilities for local people and groups to use. Its Peace Garden is open 24/7 and every day of the year and it holds Continuing the Conversation sessions and provides regular pastoral listening and care support.

The United Reformed Church in Thetford

Thetford is also home to a variety of other churches. The leaders of these churches form the supportive and collaborative Thetford Ministers Together, which meets most months for lunch, discussion and prayer. There is also an active Thetford Christians Together, comprised of ministers and lay people, which meets several times per year.

Thetford Ministers Together and Thetford Christians Together facilitate inter-denominational working on projects like the Thetford Youth Project, the Thetford Night Shelter and a week of 24/7 prayer for the Thy Kingdom Come initiative.

Other Churches in Thetford

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The Vicarage is a modern detached house with good facilities within five minutes’ walk of Cloverfield Community Church.

The house has a lounge, dining room, kitchen, utility room, toilet and study on the ground floor. Upstairs there are four bedrooms (one en suite) and a bathroom. There is gas central heating and the house is in a good state of repair and decoration.

At the front is a spacious drive and double garage, whilst the enclosed back garden is of a reasonable size and laid to grass.

The Vicarage

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More information about the life of Cloverfield Community Church can be found on our website: www.cloverfieldchurch.org

For further information or for an informal discussion about the post, please contact the Team Rector, the Revd Dr Peter Herbert (revpeterherbert@gmail.com; 01842 763579).

Contact