ST GEORGE COUNDON, COVENTRY PARISH PROFILE
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ST GEORGE
COUNDON, COVENTRY
PARISH PROFILE
Page 1 of 25
BISHOP’S INTRODUCTION
Coventry is a great city with a long, proud history, an impressive industrial heritage, a world-
renowned war time story that’s led to it becoming a city of peace and reconciliation, a young,
diverse population, two leading universities, an ambition to be City of Culture in 2021 and an
economy that’s now burgeoning.
Set close to the city centre is the mainly residential parish of Coundon, St George. The
wonderful people who make up the congregation exemplify the DNA of the Diocese of
Coventry. Grounded in their worship of God, they are deeply committed to making new disciples
and t0 transforming their community through loving Christian action. They are seeking to be a
genuinely healthy Christian community and, working really well with our NCD team, they are
showing many signs of the quality of health that leads to growth.
So this is a brilliant opportunity for a new vicar to nurture this good, healthy life of the church
and to harvest more of the fruit that is already beginning to appear.
With disarming modesty, endearingly typical of Coventry people, St George’s describes itself as
‘average’. Yes, there’s truth in that sociologically, economically and, even, geographically. But
spiritually they are far from average. Here is a community of people eager for more of God,
ready for biblically rooted, Spirit-led leadership and poised for growth.
Thank you for your interest in this post, which I gladly commend to you.
With my prayers
Page 2 of 25
DEANERY SUMMARY
St George’s, Coundon is part of Coventry North Deanery. Deaneries in the Diocese of Coventry
are key strategic structures for mission. Coventry North Deanery includes city centre, UPA,
suburban and rural parishes, most of which include areas of deprivation and also a wide
diversity ethnically.
There are many younger people in their 20-30s and reaching these with the gospel is a target
area for both the Deanery and the Diocese. Almost all church traditions are within the Deanery,
from evangelical-charismatic to traditionalist-catholic, including 2 Pioneer churches in the city
centre (Urban Hope and St Clare’s), and the Cathedral.
We are committed to fulfilling the threefold Diocesan Mission Purpose of Worshipping God,
Making New Disciples and Transforming Communities via the eight Essential Qualities of healthy
churches, and we want to work together to both support each other and see God’s Kingdom
come in Coventry North. The Deanery is seeking to grow churches and to become more
missionally sustainable.
We are expectant that God will do great things among us and there is a growing sense in the
deanery that building good relationships and sharing best practice will be significant for our
growth as a whole.
We look forward to welcoming the new incumbent and seeing what God has next for St
George’s.
(Written by former Area Dean. Position now in vacancy.)
Page 3 of 25
BACKGROUND TO POST
St George’s, Coundon, is a fun, friendly and increasingly generous evangelical church just over a
mile north west of the centre of Coventry. We want to serve Jesus and our community. In
trying to do so, we have steadily grown over the past eight years under the leadership of our
previous vicar, who has just moved on to lead a larger church elsewhere in the diocese.
Our Natural Church Development (NCD) survey results (which indicate the health of a church
across 8 Essential Qualities for a growing church), are very good, and place us in the top 15% of
churches conducting surveys in the country, which is very encouraging. This means that we are
in a good position for further growth, and look forward to a new leader to help us keep this
momentum!
Page 4 of 25
ROLE SPECIFICATION
The role of this post is to lead the churches in fulfilling the Diocesan Mission Purpose of:
Worshipping God
Making New Disciples
Transforming Communities.
This will be achieved by developing 8 essential qualities in the life of the church (see further
http://www.dioceseofcoventry.org/healthychurches):
Empowering Leadership
Gift-oriented Ministry
Passionate Spirituality
Inspiring Worship
Holistic Small Groups
Need-oriented Outreach
Loving Relationships
Functional Structures
PERSON SPECIFICATION
We welcome applications from fun and prayerful charismatic, evangelical candidates,
committed to the above role, and who:
Are passionate about the local church serving Jesus and growing, and who can work with
us to prayerfully discern God’s future for the church and community we serve.
Are empowering leaders who love building teams, and have a track record of
developing, training and supporting laity in leadership across all areas in the life of a
growing church.
Love the Bible and are creative in how they make it come alive and encourage others to
love and apply it too!
See the vital importance of small groups and have experience of developing small groups
with an outreach aspect as an essential part of a growing church.
Have a heart for both social action and evangelistic initiatives, including our Youth and
Children’s work.
Page 5 of 25
ST GEORGE AND THE DIOCESAN MISSION PURPOSE AND 8 ESSENTIAL
QUALITIES OF HEALTHY CHURCHES
The Mission Purpose of the Diocese of Coventry is:
Worshipping God
Making New Disciples
Transforming Communities.
St George’s is fully committed to fulfilling these three aspects. We believe that we will achieve
this Mission Purpose by developing 8 Essential Qualities in the life of the church.
Empowering Leadership
We have come a long way over the last 8 years, moving from a
church which had virtually no lay leadership, to a church now
where people are encouraged to use their talents and gifting
across all areas of the life of the church, including home
groups, working with children, worship, discipleship, café, and
organising outreach. People have been selected after prayerful
consideration, supported and mentored by the vicar.
However, as the church has grown it is clear that we need to
empower, train and support more leaders.
Collaboration and mutual support for each other is a key
aspect of all leaders in St George’s. Leaders meet together,
share ideas and pull together. Leaders will also offer assistance
outside their own area of expertise to help another leader’s activity, as team players within the
overall team. We have regular leaders’ meetings for groups such as: Youth Café, Youth Cell,
Homegroups, and Sunday Children’s groups, where training, support, planning and prayer take
place. All of this has been lay led but with support, when needed, from the vicar.
In our growing team of talented leaders we have those who take responsibility for various areas
of church life. This is most noticeably seen through our youth work, which while less than three
years old has seen seven church members under the guidance of our Youth Worker, take
leading roles in either Youth Café or Youth cell. She has also grown two young leaders aged 16
who now confidently have ideas for games and lead them at café and youth camp. These young
leaders are now also offering support to our adult leaders for our six to nine-year olds and ten-
year olds plus Sunday children's groups.
Other church members have headed up our ‘Footsteps’ events which is a type of messy church
aimed at families with three to eleven-year olds. They aim to provide at least four events a year.
Page 6 of 25
Lay leadership and participation is a key part of all of our
services - both formal and informal, with members
encouraged, trained and mentored to lead worship,
preach, lead intercessions, and run prayer evenings.
Significant parts of the Crib Service, Carol Service, Ash
Wednesday and Maundy Thursday services were also
taken by lay members. They were also encouraged to look
at and try different liturgy and styles of worship for these
services.
As we look to the future and further growth we need to
identify and grow more leaders in the church across all
age groups. We also need to become better at stepping
out in faith when leaders want to do things differently! As
leadership is such a key aspect of our growth as a church,
we would welcome applications from candidates who have a clear gift of empowering
leadership, with the personality, vision and enthusiasm to support our diverse team of existing
leaders (each of whom have their own unique style and personality!), as well as identify,
training, mentoring and supporting new leaders.
We want our leader to empower and enthuse us about the greater things that God has for us as
a church, and our part in that.
Gift-Oriented Ministry
This has been our strongest area in our last two NCD surveys. We discourage people in the
congregation sitting ‘passengers’, and encourage as many members of St George's congregation
as possible to contribute to church life, using the gifts that God has given them.
Currently we have members of the congregation with spiritual gifts, eg prophesy, words of
knowledge, healing. These need building on within our regular worship to encourage others to
see what God has for them in this gifting.
There are a variety of activities which church members get involved in, and they include all ages
of our community: Parent and Toddlers, ‘Footsteps’, Youth Café, Family community days, Home
groups, Winter Night shelter, Wednesday Café, Afternoon Tea, work at Amber House (a local
care home), and services.
We also look to ensure that activities have sustainability. When we were approached by Youth
for Christ to set up one of their Youth Café’s we saw it as the opportunity to start youth work
and use the gifts of some church members to ensure that it would continue beyond the YFC
involvement. The leaders have grown in their giftings to work with young adults.
Page 7 of 25
We are lucky to have a small band of talented people good at DIY who do wonders on church
maintenance and help keep the church area well maintained and clean. They do this willingly,
and often without being formally asked.
A designer in the congregation has recently taken the lead to produce fresh
and more modern branded posters and letter-heads for the church using an
image taken from the shape of the windows in the church.
The main barriers in the church, as with empowering leadership, is finding
people in a growing church to cover the growing number of teams.
Page 8 of 25
Passionate Spirituality
This has been our lowest quality in the last two NCD
surveys, but it still scored comparatively high. It
seems that, despite being an evangelical church, a
significant number of people in the church still
struggle to engage with reading the Bible daily and
realising how it can be a guide in everyday life.
More positively, there has been a real shift over the
last few years to acknowledge the working of God in
our everyday lives. People now share what He has
done in their lives regularly in our 10.30am Sunday
worship. People have also shared Bible verses which
they feel have really spoken to them personally or
which they think may encourage the wider church.
Answers to prayer have also been shared.
We hope that our new Vicar will be able to bring the Bible to life, at an appropriate level, for all
of the church so that they can see the different ways that they can engage with God’s word and
how it can guide them. This may involve engaging with different ways of reading the bible than
the traditional reading of a book.
As we have looked this year to help bridge the gap between the bible and everyday life we used
our Lent course to consider how the bible related to key contemporary issues of sexuality,
transgender, finance, and health issues. This raised awareness of the relevance of both Old and
New Testament to these major issues.
The church leaders are looking forward to an away day in February for spiritual refreshment.
This is the first day away we will have had for a few years
and we would look to a leader to encourage us to spend
time with God and each other through days or weekends
away.
Prayer is an important part of individual’s lives at St
George’s and many are aware that others in church support
them in prayer. Recently we have improved at praying for
people in the ‘then and there’ when a need has been raised.
It is not unusual to see people being prayed for after a
service, even though this is not a formal arrangement.
Members of the church will often email, text or use social
media with a prayer request. We have a lot of opportunities
available for the church to join together in corporate prayer
outside of the service including:
Page 9 of 25
Three prayer evenings a year
A day of prayer in August for the Alpha course and in particular whatever the church
focus for the year is.
Activities during Pentecost to Ascension
Despite efforts, current events are not well supported even though those who get involved
often leave lifted up and have had experiences of Jesus and the Holy Spirit at work. We are
looking at ways to improve support for these events and explore other ways of bringing us
together to pray.
Inspiring Worship
Our different worship services and styles enable people to meet with God. Our 9.00am service
is appreciated for its more traditional approach, reflection and space, and the 10.30 am for its
informal and contemporary style. There is strong lay involvement in all services.
Page 10 of 25The traditional 9.00am communion service uses
Common Worship and has two traditional hymns.
Although small in number, this is a very committed
congregation attending every week. The leadership of
this is shared between the vicar, our Reader, and
another lay member. Preaching is done by a mixture
of the vicar and laity. The sermon is usually a shorter
version of the one preached at 10.30am to enable
continuity of teaching across the church. This service
is replicated midweek and it too attracts a loyal and
growing congregation.
The main Sunday service is at 10.30am. It is accessible to a wide range of people, particularly
the un-churched and newer Christians. It is a service both regular members of the congregation
and visitors enjoy. In conjunction with the Vicar, it is led by three worship leaders who are also
part of our small band of musicians. Currently the music group consists of guitar, keyboard,
clarinet and cajon. We regularly pray that more Christians with a musical talent will be brought
into the church. Good use is made of technology in this service both for words, visual aids and
additional music from ‘I Sing Worship’ and Mp3 files. This service has a longer sermon often
with congregational participation, greater applications to everyday life and a time for reflection
afterwards. There are now seven members of the church who do talks which has blessed the
congregation, as each person has a different style and approach. We have found that sermon
series work well in the teaching aspect of the worship. Recent themes have been: David: A man
of God’s Heart, Welcome, and Life of Worship.
God has brought several people to the
church as visitors who have then become
members of the church. They all say that
they found the 10.30am service a place of
safety and speak after the worship of
something in the atmosphere that was
‘different’.
We have included welcome training this
year for all members of the congregation
as we were aware that we were not as
good at following up socially new-comers
who came into the church.
Recently we have seen six visitors becoming regular attenders. We are not complacent as we
know that making community is very important in the future of the church.
Page 11 of 25Children’s work takes place during the 10.30am service
and our growing number of children are enthusiastic
about their activities. These are split for 0-5, 6-9, 10-12
years using Scripture Union resources. One of our
challenges for the future is to look for ways to involve
the children, particularly in the 10-12 age group, within
the main
worship.
Our most popular services occur at Easter and
Christmas. On Good Friday we have a ‘Footsteps’
service which starts with a dramatic reading of the
Passion outside and is followed by a variety of
activities in church which tell the Easter story to
engage all ages. Hot Cross buns are always available,
with coffee, in the lounge. This attracts a wide variety
of visitors and church members.
Our Crib Service on Christmas Eve is the one time that
church is usually full to capacity - we long and pray for
those who have come for a few years to make
connections with us and worship at other times and
come to faith.
This year, for four
weeks, we were
forced into
worshiping in our
lounge area as the
church was being
painted. This move
led to a very
different feel to
worship at both
9.00am and
10.30am services.
At 10.30am, with a
full room, the
presence of the Holy Spirit was noticeable as we worshipped. Previous use of the room for
worship in café style had not been successful, but this experience has given us food for thought
for the future. We are a church who are adaptable, will try different types of worship and are
open to try different things.
Page 12 of 25Holistic Small Groups
This is one of our strongest areas. Our home groups are a vital
part of the church with well over half of the congregation
involved. They were the focus of a sermon series on Big Church
to Little Church a couple of years ago. All who come to faith are
encouraged to be involved in a homegroup to help them continue
their journey with Christ.
Established Christians who come to the church are also directed
to an appropriate group. We currently have five adult and one
youth group who meet fortnightly in the evening.
Provision during the day is provided via the Wednesday service
and a small question and answer group. All groups have common
values which were explored at a recent leaders meeting. These
included:
Jesus is the centre of each group
Every member is seeking to become a better disciple
Members should support each other in prayer
The need for an outward focus in the group (though if we are honest we are not very
good at this!).
Within each group discipleship is the key word and this is achieved through:
Helping members study the Bible more deeply.
Looking at applying the Bible to everyday life.
Setting an expectation that God is at work and encourages group members to share their
experiences.
Leaders modelling daily bible reading, prayer, worship.
Opportunities to give and receive prayer.
Socialising together - this could be meals, cinema trips or cups of coffee.
Fun and laughter! These are key elements of our groups!
We have had a new group form roughly every two years. These have come out of Alpha. In
January after the end of the Alpha course, those who have come to faith follow a twelve-week
basics in Christianity course. This goes deeper into the topics covered in Alpha and have a
greater Bible and lifestyle focus. This runs weekly. People are also encouraged to join the next
Alpha course in September as part of the hospitality team for meals and socialising. They then
have their own group discussion away from the main Alpha group.
Page 13 of 25The material covered in homegroups is varied. Leaders have the freedom at times of the year
to do what they wish in their groups although sometimes all groups study the same thing. This
can tie in with the sermon series, but may be on a different theme. Resources can be from study
books or from materials we have created. A couple of years ago when one of our NCD targets
was on encouragement, 3 home-group leaders worked collaboratively to create five sessions for
all of the groups. These were well received and the practical activities to supplement the bible
passages were found to be both challenging and fun.
During Lent, groups sometimes stop for a Church-wide Lent Course, usually run by the vicar in
the church lounge. Topics covered have included: different ways of Praying, The Beatitudes,
The Bible and big questions in society today (gender, money, health). The leaders enjoy this
time! They also appreciate the opportunity to receive.
Regular home-group leaders' meetings are held, led by one of the laity. These offer training in
running sessions, and how to prepare sessions. We have covered: different ways to worship,
how to use a session from a book, prayer activities, simple patterns for a Bible study. There is
support between meetings for all groups between leaders with resources shared, ideas given
and if needed, whole sessions provided.
As we look to develop the groups, we are conscious that they can take an inward focus and lose
sight of the work that Jesus did in the community to make new disciples. We also struggle to
grow new home group leaders and would welcome help with both of these aspects in a new
leader.
Need-Oriented Outreach
This area clearly has major strengths and significant weaknesses!
We have a range of outreach activities that take place at St George's
Parent and Toddler: This meets every Monday morning during term time and is regularly
at full capacity with twenty children. This was set up with a heart to bring young parents
together for fellowship and through this show Jesus' love to them and draw them into
the kingdom. This has not quite happened, but God clearly has his hand on this group as
it looked like it would have to fold this year due to the lack of a leader. After a few
desperate prayers a church member stepped up and told how she had changed job and
the new one had negotiated Monday free so she was able to take on the work!
Page 14 of 25 Afternoon Tea: on Tuesdays
traditional afternoon tea and cake is
served. We pride ourselves for our
cake baking! This is a safe place for
people to come and have a 'cuppa'. It
attracts some of the most vulnerable
in our community and it is testament
to the leadership of this group that
they manage to socialise and have
fun in a relaxed way. The school
holidays also bring children to this. Some children have also realised there is free cake if
they get down immediately after the end of school! They are most welcome!
Youth Café: a drop-in session in for Year 7-11 students (Year
6 from April) from 3.15pm until 5.15pm on Wednesdays. This
was formed initially from a Coventry Youth for Christ
initiative. It supports the needs and challenges of young
people in the community including friendship, self-esteem
issues and school. It attracts many non church children some
of whom have attended Sunday services.
Café: cost price food is served for everyone, both church and
non-church members after the Wednesday service each week. As well as sitting with
others for lunch, it offers friendship, support and care reflecting the love of Jesus.
Winter Shelter: We were one of the first churches to offer a venue for the Coventry
Winter night-shelter scheme for the homeless which we have done for the past four
years. Sadly, we feel we cannot be a venue this year due to problems with aspects of
the scheme. We hope that when these concerns are sorted we will once again be able to
offer the homeless a safe place one night a week from December until March.
Food Bank: We have a box at the back of church for donations to the Coventry Food
Bank. These are taken as needed to the food bank. On occasion food from this is used to
support people who come to afternoon tea who have a need.
Our church lounge is used regularly by a variety of groups. In particular we have good
relationships with the Rainbows, Brownies and Guides. They join us for Parade services
about four times a year. Two church members are involved in their leadership and the
uniformed groups are being brought into Footsteps, and other youth activities.
Other lettings are taken by childminders, karate, Slimming World and Abacus tutors.
Good relations are maintained with all of these groups who we would like to gain
something of the love of Jesus through us.
Page 15 of 25 A small, but very important ministry is taken to one of our local care homes. Two church
members run a monthly service at the home which caters mainly for dementia residents.
This has forged strong relationships with residents and staff. The singing of traditional
hymns is something the residents really warm to.
When we look to the wider community of Coundon, our engagement with them has been
limited. The main summer activity was a ‘Strawberry Fayre' held on site with, games, bouncy
castle, stalls, live music, and strawberries and cream! We decided this year to move this off site
and have a Family Fun Day in a nearby park. This had a variety of activities including: rounders,
unihoc and craft. All drinks and cake were free. This led to some excellent conversations
which started with, 'Why is it all free?' and moved on to giving us opportunity to explain about
our faith. Youth Café has since used this as a venue a couple of times to try to reach some of
the same youth again.
Our Footsteps activities have aimed to help engage more regularly with families but have
struggled to get to a set a regular pattern. We are looking to see how we can address this in
order to create community within families in the area. We long to engage more with the wider
community of Coundon, in particular, families and some of the more deprived areas in the
parish. We would welcome a leader who has a heart for social concern.
As we seek to make new disciples, the main driver for this is the Alpha course we run
annually from late September to early December. This has brought 8 people to faith in the
past three years, 4 of whom are now in leadership in the church.
Page 16 of 25The Alpha format starts with a meal provided by a team of church members, uses the
talent in the church to do each talk and give their personal testimony. We long to have
enough on each course for two groups, but sadly this has only happened once. However,
the vast majority who have stayed for all ten weeks have gone on to make a commitment
to Jesus. They are now part of the church and involved in leading in youth café, Sunday
groups, worship, footsteps and PCC.
When we have people who come to the church when Alpha is a long way off, we try to get
them involved in a suitable home group, however if this is not possible the vicar has in the
past taken on some small group or individual mentoring. This has usually been during the
day when our key leaders are at work.
Loving Relationships
We are a loving church with lots of laughter! As a community
we rub along well together. Try eating four cheese and
spinach, or mint toffee pancakes, in public without laughing?!
In particular over recent years we are much better at
apologising and dealing with any misunderstandings
promptly and with grace. Through our work on
encouragement we learnt the benefits of positive building up
of each other.
While some events we hold to foster community are
successful, others are less so. There is more to be done in
engaging families in events
and having a community that
provides for all, particularly
the 20s-30s. We have tried
events just for men, BBQs,
which have been enjoyable for those who come but have not
really engaged beyond a small core. We would welcome help in
developing this area.
There have been very few examples of resentment, particularly
in recent years. However, there was significant opposition
when the previous vicar did not robe for the 10.30am service.
This issue was overcome by providing a traditional service at
9.00am so the more informal and more modern style of
the10.30am could be developed.
Page 17 of 25Over the past few years the ethnic diversity of the congregation has improved and we now have
many more families. Our aim would be to be more representative of Coundon as a whole. This
would need us to reach out to more of the working class, 20s-30s and Asian communities.
Functional Structures
As a church we currently have very few formal structures but as we grow we appreciate that
this may need to change. We have an NCD team who form the strategic leadership group in the
church. The members of this group are mainly PCC members with two additional members who
have strategic gifting. They meet as needed to discuss survey results, and set and monitor
progress on our targets. We have welcomed the input of our NCD mentor who has been both
inspirational and challenging in enabling us to focus on key areas that have made our church
even more healthy.
Two years ago, we focused on encouragement, doing this through example, homegroup studies,
and embedding this in our embryonic youth work. This year we have been working on
becoming a true welcoming community, looking at how the bible impacts our lives, and
expecting God to speak to us through the bible. This group has met to look at ideas for engaging
with the 20s-30s in the future with the Diocesan coordinator.
Our PCC meets five or six times a year. We try to take a topic each PCC to discuss, for example,
branding, or youth work, so that the meeting does not just become a business and buildings
meeting. This year we had to deal with some building issues following the theft of lead from the
roof, though it is good to report that all of this was completed and the church is now water tight
and the inside has been redecorated.
Both the NCD team and PCC are good groups of people! Meetings are focused but will also
have a lot of laughter and…. guess what…..there is always cake! Everyone is encouraged to have
their say and issues are discussed and decisions made in an open environment. Financially we
would like to describe ourselves as good stewards who have a spirit of generosity. This has
been shown by our wanting to use a legacy and diocesan mission grant to employ a part-time
youth worker.
Outside of these two whole church leadership groups other functional structures are built round
particular aspects of church life e.g. youth work, Homegroups, Footsteps, or particular events
e.g. Family Fun Day with meetings of leaders and helpers as needed. We are now used to a
structure where not every decision has to come to PCC!
Page 18 of 25THE PARISH
History
The parish was formed in 1935 from St John the Baptist, St Nicholas Radford and St Thomas
Keresley-with-Coundon as the population of this area grew. The original parish church on the
current site was a wooden building dating from 1928. As the district of Coundon expanded it
was decided to replace this with a brick building. The foundation stone was laid by Lord Iliffe on
the 27th November 1938.
It was designed by N. F. Cachemaille-Day and built of red brick in a modern version of the
Perpendicular style. It consists of nave, north aisle, Lady Chapel, west tower, and south porch.
The tower, entered from the porch, has a low octagonal second stage surmounted by a spire.
Internally its base forms a spacious baptistery which also serves as a vestibule to the nave. The
old building continued to be used as a church hall, Sunday school and meeting place until 1980s,
when a new lounge was built.
Location
St George's is a compact parish to the north west of the City Centre of Coventry. It is a
predominately residential suburb of the city with good bus routes to the city centre. The
housing is mainly two or three bedroom terraced, the remainder being semi-detached or flats.
Most were built in the late 1930s. The majority of housing is owner occupied, the exception
being the Urban Priority Area in what is known as the Radford Diamond. This is a very deprived
area of rented housing in the part of the parish closest to the city centre. There are pockets of
new housing, the largest of which is a development of apartments on the old Rugby Ground.
There are three sheltered housing developments (two with church links) and two large care
homes.
The parish has a variety of retail outlets ranging from a big retail park on the site of the former
Alvis works (Morrisons, B&Q, Carpet Right, Currys/PC World, DFS, McDonalds) through parades
of local shops to an interesting array of corner shops which have a mix of specialisms.
Page 19 of 25There is a community library close to the vicarage, but this is threatened with closure. Outside
of the service industries the main employers in the parish are LTI - the makers of the London
Taxi and a large BMW dealership. A large Amazon warehouse is being proposed just outside the
parish boundaries.
The parish boundaries go through two particularly attractive open spaces- Coundon Wedge and
Lake View Park (where there is only a lake after heavy rain!). These are much appreciated by
locals as areas to walk or jog!
Population.
The Parish Population is 11,748 and, according to the Church Urban Fund, we are ranked 5,593
out of 12,599 parishes in the CofE, where 1 is the most deprived parish. This puts us about
average in the country. Other measures back this up: we have 23% with no qualifications, 27%
lone parents, 26% living on their own and 24%, but increasing, ethnic diversity. We are in many
ways an average area!
Buildings
The Church was consecrated on 1st June 1939 and is in good repair, having been repainted this
summer following water damage after a theft of lead. The stars on the ceiling are now very
white! There is a fixed projection screen for use with the laptop and projector, sound system
and a hearing loop.
Added after WWII there are
two vestries and a toilet
located alongside the
Sanctuary. One of these
vestries has been decorated
and is now used for PCC and
similar meetings and the
Bubbles children's work on
Sundays. Youth Cell also use
the room.
Page 20 of 25The Community Lounge was opened in 1980s
using the site of the former wooden church
buildings. It is rented out to several groups in
the week and on Wednesday (after the
morning service) it is home to a flourishing
lunch club. The current users include Parent
Toddler, Rainbows, Brownies & Guides,
Childminders, Abacas Tutors, Karate, Slimming
world. A regular holiday fun club also uses the
lounge, as have a keep fit group over the
summer.
Other uses are for children's parties and community
cookery courses. The church aims to keep Sunday and
one night a week (currently Wednesday) available for
church use.
Behind the main room is a large storage area which is
used by various users of the lounge, parent toddler,
uniform organisations in particular.
The Community Lounge leads to a large well-
maintained garden area. There are two large
permanent BBQs, well stocked flowerbeds and a large
area of grass which is used for a variety of activities.
Vicarage
The vicarage is a good sized, 4-bedroom detached house situated five minutes' walk from the
church in Moseley Avenue, close to local facilities. The accommodation downstairs comprises: a
porch and attractive entrance hall, lounge, dining room, large breakfast kitchen, study and
cloakroom with WC and storage. Upstairs there are 4 good-sized bedrooms and a family
bathroom with separate toilet. The house has gas central heating and double-glazing. There is a
security alarm system. There is a garage with additional space for cars on the drive. There are
well maintained gardens with a greenhouse and two outhouses.
Page 21 of 25Services
An example of an average monthly service rota is shown below. We are willing to consider
changes to this.
st nd rd th th
1 Sunday 2 Sunday 3 Sunday 4 Sunday 5 Sunday
9.00 am 9.00 am 9.00 am 9.00 am
Holy Holy Holy Holy
Communion Communion Communion Communion
10.30 am 10.30am 10.30 am 10.30 am 10.30 am
Family Worship All Age Worship Family Worship Holy Communion Holy
with Sunday with Sunday with Sunday Communion
groups for Followed by a groups for groups for with Sunday
children brief informal children children groups for
communion at children
12noon
In 2016 we had 6 baptisms (1 infant, 2 aged 1-4 and 3 aged 5-12) and 3 thanksgivings for gift of
a child. There were no weddings and only 5 funerals in church, with a further 7 taken at the
crematorium.
We have one Reader who, as well as leading our traditional services and preaching, helps with
funerals, and is licensed to take communion services by extension. She also takes some home
communions.
In April 2017 there were 83 on the Parish Electoral Roll. We have a good distribution of ages,
though fewer in the 20s-30s age range, and fewer men.
Sunday Services
9.00am Holy Communion using a variety of Common Worship service booklets with two hymns.
The average attendance is 18.
10.30 Family service: Average attendance of 45 Adults and 15+ young people aged 0-18.
This service is informal in style, innovative and aims to be accessible to young people, families
and newcomers. Robes are not worn. There is a mixture of clergy and lay leadership with the
majority of the leading and around half of the preaching coming from members of the
congregation, under the authority of the Vicar. A great benefit from this style of service has
been the exercise of some gifts in leading and teaching. We have Holy Communion once a
month within this service and once a month an informal gathering in the chancel after the
service.
Page 22 of 25Childrens work takes place during the 10.30 service, with the children leaving after about 15
mins of the service to have their own groups. Currently we run a Bubbles group for 0-5, Xtreme
for the 6-9 and Grid for 10-12. The children love their time together and cannot wait to go out
to learn more.
One Sunday each month we gather together for an all age service, and 4 times a year the
Rainbows, Brownies and Guides join us for a Parade service.
10.30 am Wednesday. A 45 min Common Worship, with short sermon, often a re-run of the
Sunday sermon. This is similar in style to the 9.00 but usually without Hymns. Attendance is 15,
of whom about 10 will stay for coffee and lunch at the Café we run.
School Links
The church has had good relationships with two primary schools within the parish, Moseley and
Coundon Primary. The previous vicar was on the board of governors of Moseley and visited the
school regularly to take assemblies and supported the RE provision. A change of teaching staff
at Coundon Primary has meant that this year the previous vicar did not take any part in
activities at the school. However, we hope that this will be a temporary situation. Pupils from
both schools have visited the church for various activities. Coundon Primary use the church for
their two carol services each year. We are fortunate that they are supportive of church events
and will publicise events like the Christingle Footsteps in December.
Youth Café, a weekly youth outreach, has members from all the local senior schools - Coundon
Court, Barrs Hill, Bablake- even though none of these is within the parish, all being just 'over the
border' to our neighbouring parishes. Other church youth attend the Church of England
Secondary School Blue Coat. In recent years Bablake (a local independent school) have used the
church lounge to hand out Harvest parcels to local senior citizens.
Our youth worker did some work at Bablake to help out with their Christian Union and we
remain on good terms with the staff there.
Ecumenical Links
Within the parish there are the following places of Christian worship:
Christ the King- a large RC church
Lawrence Saunders Road Baptist Church
Holyhead Road URC (includes a Korean Church who share the building.
There is also a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Page 23 of 25St George's is a key player within the Deanery. The previous incumbent was Area Dean and the
Deanery secretary is a member of the congregation. We are rarely not represented at Deanery
Synod. The synod loves to come and meet at St George's, and in recent years we have been the
venue for synods that have taken the form of a social meal, prayer evening with a labyrinth, and
for the visit of Bishop John to the deanery. We also often host the annual treasurers and
incumbents meeting. We have good relationships with all churches in the Deanery. Our
previous vicar also met regularly with the leaders of the URC and Baptist church to pray and
support one another.
Digital Media and Administration
We rely on a small band of volunteers for all administration. They set up rotas, update the
website and Facebook page and provide a weekly news-sheet.
Finance and Stewardship
The table below summarises our financial situation in 2016.
Parish
General Income 63,275
Planned Giving 30,859
Gift-Aid 6,079
Fundraising 142
Grants 3,100
General Expenditure 62,247
Parish Share Contribution 36,394
Unrestricted Reserves 38,428 Deposit
Account +
7,938 Current
Restricted Reserves 11
Any special We are using a legacy
considerations, future to support youth work
expenditure etc?
Parishes are expected to fund the costs of their own ordained ministry. This in effect means
paying the full cost of all clergy. Currently the contribution for a vicar with all ancillary costs is
approximately £56,500/annum to support our ministry.
Page 24 of 25St George’s is grateful to those churches elsewhere in the Deanery and Diocese who help to
support our ministry. It is our every intention to contribute more ourselves towards these costs
as the congregation grows, indeed we have over the past five years increased the percentage of
the share we pay from 50% in 2012 to 70% in 2017. We intend to increase by a further 2-3% in
2018. We tithe our income, supporting four missionary charities. These are Tear Fund, The
Bible Society, Open Hands (a local charity helping alcoholics) and the Church for All in Andhra
Pradesh. We have hosted speakers from all of these over recent years as we try to make the
links more than just money.
We have over the past three years received a mission grant of £3,100 per annum to help
support the cost of our part time (seven hours a week) youth worker. This funding will end in
2018. A legacy given a few years ago has also been earmarked to support youth work. We will
need to decide in 2018 how we wish to take the youth work forward when the Mission grant
comes to an end.
Clergy expenses are met in full.
A copy of our accounts for the last three years is available on request.
FURTHER DETAILS
For further information about the post please contact the
Archdeacon Missioner, the Venerable Morris Rodham, on 07506 731892
(Morris.Rodham@CovCofE.org)
Informal conversations are very welcome!
An application form can be downloaded from the Diocesan Website:
http://www.dioceseofcoventry.org/vacancies/current_vacancies
Closing date for applications: Noon, Friday 10th November.
Interviews will be held over 2 days: Tuesday 28th & Wednesday 29th November.
An enhanced DBS disclosure is required for this post.
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