We are delighted to be inviting applications to become Mission Partners of St James & Emmanuel.
We view our Mission Partners as important friends to our church community; we will be praying for you, supporting you and occasionally inviting you to speak at our church. We therefore feel that it is important to understand who we are as a church community before downloading the application form at the foot of the page.
St James & Emmanuel
A number of years ago we adopted the following vision statement:
We believe that we are called by God to grow a diverse, worshipping community, where we encourage belonging and nurture believing; together becoming followers of Jesus who share God’s love with the world.
Alongside this the PCC of St James & Emmanuel recently adopted this statement of inclusion:
We believe in an inclusive church – church that does not discriminate on any level, including economic power, gender, mental health, mental ability, physical ability, race or sexuality. We believe in a Church which welcomes, accepts and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the gospel afresh for each generation and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high is the love of Jesus Christ.
Defining Mission
In 1984, in an attempt to bring clarity to discussions regarding the nature of mission, the Anglican Consultative Council formulated the ‘Five Marks of Mission’. The five marks are:
- To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
- To teach, baptise and nurture new believers
- To respond to human need by loving service
- To seek to transform unjust structures of society
- To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew thelife of the Earth
The Lambeth Conference approved these marks in 1988, and The Forum of Churches Together in England adopted them in 1997. Since that date they have been universally accepted as a healthy holistic understanding of mission.
Decision making
Our aim is for our mission partners to reflect the breadth of mission in the five marks of Mission and therefore we will ask each applicant to identify how the marks of mission relate to their ministry. We will endeavour to ensure that all five marks of mission be supported through our mission partners. In addition, the Mission Team will have a series of criteria against which each application will be scored. Applications may be to support living costs, specific projects, staffing costs etc. The applications that score highest will be successful within the available budget.
The PCC, through the Mission Team, pledge to support successful applicants for a three-year period after which new applications will be required. The annual sum of money pledged will vary slightly according to our allocated budget, which is determined by church giving, and applicants should bear this in mind when considering their planning.
When making an application please take into consideration that we aim to have a maximum of 8 mission partners and that our recent annual budget has been in the region of £25,000.
Application form
If you feel that St James & Emmanuel is a church that you wish to be partnered with and would like to make an application please download and complete the application form below and email to Helen Denham, Mission Team Leader.
Applications should reach us no later than 1 September 2022. Applications received after this date will not be considered.
