St Mary’s Haddenham

Governance of St Mary’s

St Mary’s Haddenham has long had significant lay involvement at every level of church life. It supports many ministries and activities. This is achieved through the development of sub-groups supported by the PCC and a Church Leadership team.

Mission Action Plan

St Mary’s has been working within the framework of the Living Faith Initiative. Our mission action plan is within the context of the two main objectives of Living Faith.

Sustaining the Sacred Centre

1. Sustaining our worship life

Worship is at the heart of our faith and we aim to grow and deepen our worship life together. In 2014-2015 we reviewed our Sunday worship and made changes in the Sunday worship pattern to be as inclusive as possible. We have also been reviewing Caféplus+ and are now implementing changes.

2. Sustaining and developing our prayer to undergird and guide all our other ministry

Overall one essential goal is to sustain and develop prayer ministry. We need to cover all our mission and ministry with prayer and continue to develop prayer ministry after services and at other times. The 24/7 prayer initiative has opened up new dimensions and we plan to discern how God is taking us forward with this. This 8th goal facilitates all our other goals listed below!

Holistic Mission

1. Children’s and Families Ministry

There are many families in our village and many are keen to have contact with the parish church. We have successfully renewed Children’s Church leadership and our goal is to increase the team to be able to provide this on more Sundays . We have been engaging with parents through baptism prep and follow up and through small groups. We are supporting a group of Dad’s as they seek to develop a Saturday Dads and toddler’s group in the wider community. Our long term goal is to employ a Families worker.

2. Effective process of belonging

There are many people who are fringe to St Mary’s and these are gradually becoming part of our fellowship. We have made changes in our services and other activities to meet the needs of new people. We are working on communication as a key means of drawing people in and drawing the church family together.

3. Effective pastoral care for all

We aim to provide pastoral care for our congregation, for those who we meet through occasional offices and to others in the wider community. We are developing a pastoral care system involving both lay people and clergy that will be effective both for the congregation and for reaching out.

4. Community service

We are developing community service as we strengthen our pastoral networks and grow though more effective belonging. This happens through: Caféplus+; courses with Christians Against Poverty; and connecting people in need with the local foodbanks and support services. We need to continue to make these areas of ministry visible and to grow volunteer involvement.

5. Global mission

Jesus commanded us to ‘go into all the world with the Good News’ and he also prayed that his church would be one. The Global Mission Group have significantly strengthened and refocussed our worldwide engagement. We seek to continue to develop our links with our mission partners and partner organisations.

6. Practical goals

We have achieved many practical goals in recent years, with a new boiler and new AV. We are in the process of closing the churchyard and seek to support the parish council as they look to set up a civic burial ground. We hope to refurbish part of the St Mary’s Centre over the next year. Our practical goals facilitate our wider mission goals.

7. Coming together with Stone and Dinton

St Mary’s continues to support the coming together of the two benefices. We will need to transition the parish office to be a benefice office and develop our operations staffing.