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St Mark’s Haydock Pioneering a new Future

in the Lake and River Church

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Motto verse for 2014

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ST MARK’S PARISH PROFILE

Who are we? St Mark’s Haydock is a growing, vibrant, church at the heart of the local community within the Diocese of Liverpool. We are a Lake and River (mixed economy) church with a strong emphasis on mission; pioneering fresh expressions, resourcing others and providing training and consultancy within the Liverpool Diocese, nationally and internationally.

St Mark’s is a cell based church, with Core Values of:

All involved

Becoming disciples (who make disciples)

Creating community

Doing evangelism

Encountering God

Our vision is:

To proclaim the Kingdom of God in action and word to 21st Century people:-

Calling people to commit to the King and the purposes of the King, through personal

salvation and social justice.

Renewing inherited church (the Lake) and developing the River -

changing church, changing lives, changing communities.

Embracing a culture of change for church and society.

We are firmly committed to listening to God, acting in faith on his Word and bringing the love of Christ to our own relationships and those of the community in which we serve.

Our cell based structure enables us to explore fresh ways of reaching out to, and engaging with, the needs of our community.

Located centrally between the lively business, cultural and social centres of Liverpool and Manchester, and with excellent road, rail and air transport links to all parts of the country, we:

are a Resource Church for developing mixed economy in the Liverpool Diocese

have a dynamic and growing youth and young adult movement within the church;

actively participate with the wider St Helens churches network (SHINE)

engage with local networks to bring support and aid to our community

are a church with Vision and Values that are tried, tested and rooted in a down to earth

commitment to the Gospel, relationships with one another, and our local and wider

community.

Pioneering a new Future

in the Lake and River Church

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With an outward focus on mission, we seek to encourage and pioneer new ways of “doing church”, we have already established a new Church plant in the nearby town of Wigan, we are a Connected Church with Tearfund, and have undertaken mission visits abroad, fostering relationships as far away as Paraguay.

In common with many churches, contemporary, committed worship and a focus on work with young people (winning the Child Friendly Church Award for the last 3 years) is at the heart of St Mark’s life.

In considering a call to St Mark’s, you will be coming to a cutting edge, pioneering, mission-focused ministry that is reaching out to bring God’s word, love and relationship to people in need. Your challenge will be to provide strategic vision, leadership, guidance and inspiration to continue to move St Mark’s forward, and to empower, support and nurture the Spirit-filled growth of the leadership team, the congregation and the wider community.

You will be fully supported by an active, vibrant congregation who have mission values in their DNA, and you will be working within a forward looking, evangelical Diocese that is receptive to, and encouraging of, change.

Thank you for considering St Mark’s Haydock as God’s call in your life, and may God bless you with wisdom and guidance as you explore your future.

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St Mark’s - More detail

St Mark’s Haydock is pioneering ways of developing a mixed economy church through the Lake and River movement.

Lake and River St Mark’s is a ‘Lake and River’ church. By ‘Lake’ we mean a lively, healthy local parish church where people lay down roots, community flourishes and others are nourished. Increasingly in our culture, however, we are finding we need to go and explore new territory and discover what church means in different settings and places, hence the ‘River’, or ‘Fresh Expressions’ as they are called elsewhere. As we have pioneered this model we have discovered that people tend to move freely across the network, engaging with Lake and River in different ways, rather than sticking in one category or the other.

Cell Church We actively promote a cell-based structure that encourages members of our congregation to be both accountable and empowered. Our Cell groups, of between 4 and 12 people per group, meet weekly in each other’s homes to consider together God’s word, and to worship and pray together. Based around the “4W’s”:

Welcome

Word

Worship

Witness

Cell notes are linked to the Sunday sermon and help cell groups apply the teaching to daily life. In addition most people are encouraged to have a mentor (we have approx. 60 trained mentors in the church) and/or be part of an accountability group (groups of 3-4 people for spiritual accountability and discipleship) which are a vital part of our church’s life.

Copies of the weekly cell notes can be downloaded from the St Mark’s website.

St Mark’s Haydock Pioneering a new Future

in the Lake and River Church

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At St Mark’s we have held cell church conferences including visits from churches in Scandinavia and other parts of Europe who come to explore the ways in which we do cell church and the benefits it brings both to individuals and the growth of the church.

Clusters In addition to cells, we also have a number of “clusters” where we reach out into the non-churched community to meet with them through a shared love of activities that may take place within or outside the church itself. Examples of these are:

Walkout

Famlegh First

Cool Club

New Creations

Who Let The Dads Out?

Further details of these, and our other Ministries, can be found in the Lake and River Ministries Section.

Gifting At St Mark’s we actively encourage people to seek out their gifting in Christ and to explore the gifts that God has given them. We recently held a four week APEST course

Apostles

Prophets

Evangelists

Shepherds

Teachers

This was promoted in the run-up to Lent to offer church members the opportunity to further develop their gifts.

Life in St Mark’s is constantly changing and evolving, we believe this is essential to the continued well-being and growth of our church, enabling us to reach out and bring God’s love to those people in our community.

St Mark’s is an encouraging and challenging place to be, full of hope, joy, a desire to be with God and to bring him to others. As Vicar of St Mark’s you will be welcomed, loved and supported as we work together to pioneer God’s Kingdom here in Haydock and beyond.

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Church Setting St Helens and wider area Located midway between the lively and growing cities of Liverpool and Manchester, St Helens is a great base from which to explore the whole of the North West and beyond. We are just 20 miles from the coast at Southport and Formby, yet only 10 minutes to the M6 or M62 motorways with access to the North West, Blackpool (45min), the Lake District (1hr – 1 1/4hrs) and south to Cheshire, west to the North Wales Coast (1 1/2hrs) or east to the Pennines (1hr).

We have excellent rail links to Liverpool and Manchester from our two main stations, or access throughout the country from the West Coast Main line stations at Wigan and Warrington.

We are just 30 minutes drive from Manchester Airport and less than 30 minutes from Liverpool John Lennon Airport.

Sports enthusiasts can experience the excitement of premier year-round horseracing at Haydock Park and Aintree or enjoy action-packed rugby at the home of the most successful side in Super League history, Saints, and with five major Premier League football teams to choose from within 30 miles you are spoilt for top class action.

Liverpool and Manchester can provide all the cultural and social requirements with world class theatres and venues including the Lowry, Bridgewater Hall, Echo Arena and Manchester O2 arena in addition to numerous other major theatres and music venues. The Trafford Centre is just 20 miles away, and the Liverpool One shopping complex even closer.

Haydock St Helens area is renowned for its glass making and mining industries. These are less important to the area than in the past, but the traditional community spirit remains. Haydock itself is a warm and traditional community of approximately 16,000, set in the suburbs. Like most former industrialised towns it has a broad mix of incomes. Some areas are relatively affluent, whilst others have a level of deprivation and need. The ease of reaching Manchester and Liverpool makes St Helens a large commuter base, whilst remaining local industries attract mostly manual skilled labour.

Within Haydock itself there are two primary schools and one secondary school with whom St Mark’s has very good links, and in the nearby area we have a number of other excellent rated schools, and three of the country’s outstanding colleges at Carmel College, St Helens College and Winstanley College.

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St Mark’s Church St Mark’s church was established in 1910 to serve the local mining community and in particular to provide a place of worship free from alcohol to the local populace.

The church was reordered and completely refurbished inside in 1994 when all the pews were removed, and a new frontage added – which now serves as our King’s Table café during the day. The interior was opened up to provide a far more flexible space for worship, meetings and activities.

St Mark’s has a large church hall which is used to serve the local community as a resource centre for clothes, furniture and other items needed by the people of our parish and surrounding areas. Known as the TANGO hall (Together As Neighbours Giving Out), it was formerly bright orange to match.

In 2007 St Mark’s was able to buy out the lease on the former primary school across the road and this forms our Community centre for church activities and also is rented out to others as appropriate.

We also have a large car park and church field often used in the summer for fêtes and other activities, and we provide a community garden, which is an area for peaceful reflection and is open most days.

Church: Facts and Figures St Mark’s is an evangelical charismatic church with 384 people on the electoral roll and an average Sunday attendance of around 300 adults and young people. In addition, we have upwards of 500 people connected across the River network, and forge close links with a number of local churches in the area.

Services There are 3 distinct congregations who meet on Sundays:

9.15 a.m. Early Service A quieter 1hr service with worship and teaching

Communion on 4th Sunday 10.45 a.m. Celebration Communion on 2nd Sunday

A lively service (about 1 ½ hrs), with worship and learning. The Children and Youth cell groups meet during the service. On every 1st Sunday this is an all age service. There are youth led services 3 times a year.

2.00 p.m. Afternoon Worship weekly

Traditional communion service with hymns fortnightly, together with an interchurch meal and interchurch service on 2nd and 4th weeks.

Baptisms, weddings and Funerals In an average year we would hold:

Baptisms Approx 30 (a few of which are thanksgivings)

Weddings Approx 10

Funerals Approx 25

Baptism and wedding preparation takes place on a structured but informal basis.

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Church - Staff and Leadership Structure At St Mark’s we are particularly blessed, not only with full-time clergy, but also a dedicated support network of both paid staff team members and also volunteers to lead our varied ministries. The Incumbent supervises members of the Staff Team. The main Staff Team meeting is on Tuesday mornings and the clergy meet to pray and for supervision at 8.45am on Wednesday mornings.

Staff Team Vicar Position currently vacant Associate Vicar Ian Hopkins Curate Matt Roberts Ordinand (St Mellitus) Sarah O’Donoghue Lake and River Pastor Sheila Wilcock Church Administrator (Vicar’s PA) Sharon Boden Emerging Generations Pastor Position currently advertised Youth Pastor Mark Wade

Team supported by: 4 Lay Readers Pastoral Care Co-ordinator

3 Office Assistants 2 King’s Table Co-ordinators Youth/children’s Pastor A range of other ministry leaders who volunteer Verger

2 Wardens 7 Assistant Wardens 4 Worship Leaders

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Vicarage

The Vicarage is a comfortable family sized home which is situated in a secluded private lane just a 5 minute walk from the church. A modern, detached, newly double glazed, 4 bedroom house with:

2 reception rooms

Kitchen / diner (fitted kitchen)

Study

Utility Room

Downstairs toilet

4 Bedrooms (one with shower)

Family bathroom

The house has a single garage and spacious, secluded gardens to front and rear.

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FINANCE

St Mark’s Haydock has, through careful stewardship and generous giving, been able to maintain a positive cash position over the past few years. A summary of the 2013 accounts are shown below, and full details are available in the published parish accounts from the church office.

Our income consists of both unrestricted and restricted funding, the latter being available only for specific missional activities.

Summary of Income (restricted and unrestricted) for 2013:

INCOME Donations and Offerings £260,590 Investment Income £ 1,295 Church Activities £181,343 TOTAL £443,228 Income (Continued) Our church activities, which contribute over 40% of our income, are broken down in the chart to the right. Details of the key missional activities such as our community programmes for TANGO and King’s Table can be found in Core Ministries section A key part of our stewardship of our funds is to ensure that our missional activities are, as far as reasonably practicable, self funding.

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EXPENDITURE - Diocesan Quota £ 94,612 Mission £ 29,976 Governance Fees £ 2,040 Work of the Church £274,048 TOTAL £400,676 Expenditure (Continued) As seen from the chart above right, 2/3rds of our expenditure is for the work of the church, this includes the upkeep and maintenance of the church buildings, centre, graveyard and clergy houses. In addition it also includes our outreach programmes (TANGO, King’s Table etc), which generate income. A summary breakdown of the Expenditure (Work of the Church) is given below: Church & Clergy Houses £ 50,596 TANGO £ 86,496 Kings Table £ 28,312 Salaries, Wages & Office Costs £ 52,418 Graveyard Upkeep £ 5,989 Centre £ 11,021 Centre Refurbishment (2013) £ 10,258 Courses and Clubs £ 12,236 Other £ 16,722 TOTAL £274,048 As described throughout, St Mark’s Haydock is a mission-focussed church, and we actively seek to tithe 10% of our income to mission. In 2013, we directly donated £30,000 to missional activities, including Crosslinks, Tearfund / Harvest, Compassion, SAMS, CMS, CPAS, SHINE, Persecuted Church, and over £5,000 to supporting mission activities of our church family.