The Parish of St James & Emmanuel

Two Anglican churches working together in one parish, co-operating with other churches in Didsbury.

St James is on Stenner Lane between the two pubs, and Emmanuel is next to Didsbury Library on Barlow Moor Road.

A view of St James church looking east
St James

St James is the second oldest church in Manchester; parts of it date from 1275. Emmanuel was built in 1858 and was extensively re-modelled in 1986. Behind Emmanuel is the Parish Centre. The church is responsible for the governance of St James & Emmanuel Academy Trust and its four schools: Didsbury CE Primary, West Didsbury CE Primary, St Elisabeth’s CE Primary and St Wilfrid’s CE Primary school in Northenden. Church members’ children are given a higher priority under the criteria for admission.  Each school in the trust shares the same three values as the church: Belonging, Believing and Becoming.

View of Emmanuel church from Barlow Moor Road
Emmanuel

The Parish of St James and Emmanuel has a team ministry, with a Rector, Vicar, Curate and OLM Curate. We also have a Youth Pastor and a Family and Children’s worker.

The Parish is in the Deanery of Withington, in the Diocese of Manchester, in the Province of York within the Church of England (Anglican) Church.

Parochial Church Council (PCC)

All Church of England Churches are run by a PCC. The members of this Council comprise the Clergy, the Churchwardens, Deanery Synod representatives and a number of elected lay members.

The PCC meets about eight times during the year to review, discuss, pray and decide on the mission opportunities and the pastoral work of the parish.

Legally, the Minutes of PCC may not be published, but all approved Minutes are available for inspection at the Parish Office by any church member whose name is entered on the Electoral Roll, or by anyone authorised by either the Lord Bishop of Manchester or by the Bishop of Middleton.

The Annual Report, however, must be published, as the Parish is a registered Charity, and this is available for download from this web-site.

The Churchwardens are elected annually at the Annual Meeting of Parishioners (all residents of the parish are eligible to vote), which is usually held in April concurrently with our Annual Parochial Church Meeting (voting restricted to those on the Electoral Roll). There are two Churchwardens for each church building. St James and Emmanuel has four Churchwardens.

In order to vote at the Annual Meeting – or to be eligible to stand for office – you must be on the Electoral Roll of the Parish.

There are normally 4 Churchwardens, elected each year at the Annual Meeting.

There are also five members of the Church who are elected at the Annual Meeting to serve on Deanery Synod for three years. St James and Emmanuel is part of the Deanery of Withington.

There are also 15 people from the Church elected to serve on PCC for three years. A group of five is elected every year.

The PCC elects officers to carry out specific tasks at its first meeting every May.