Meet our new Associate Vicar

Beth Keith joins the All Saints team

I am absolutely delighted to share the news that the Revd Beth Keith currently pioneer curate at Sheffield Cathedral has accepted my invitation to join the All Saints staff team as Associate Vicar. Beth is married to Laurence and they have two children.  Beth trained for the ordained ministry at Cranmer Hall in Durham including research on vocation and ministry.  Prior to studying in Durham Beth and Laurence lived in Sheffield for over 15 years and were variously linked with St Thomas Crookes and Church Army.  Beth comes to us with a wealth and breadth of ministry experience gained here in Sheffield and nationally. Until recently Beth was a member of the Archbishops’ Evangelism Task Group. 

We hope that Beth and her family will join us early in the New Year.  Details about her licencing service to follow in due course.  In the meantime please remember Beth and her family in your prayers during this time of transition.

We anticipate that the Keiths will join us early in the New Year.  Please remember them in your prayers during this time of transition. On accepting the post Beth said "I am thrilled to be joining the All Saints team, the family is looking forward to moving to Ecclesall in the New Year, and we are hopeful for all God has in store for this next season".

Gary Wilton
Vicar

From the Vicar September 2018

Welcome to the September ‘From the Vicar’.  It’s a bumper edition designed to set us up for the autumn.  I hope that you find it helpful and informative.

Following our summer sermon series about prayer, September’s morning and evening sermon series is entitled ‘Faith in the Church Family’.  It has been planned to help us begin our journey together towards the ‘Big Church Weekend’ in Buxton 25-27 January 2019 – perhaps the most important church weekend in the life of All Saints for many years.

As a multi-generation church family we are very young, young, young at heart, middle aged, old and very old.  And at any one time ‘in the midst of life we are in death’.  At any one time new babies are being born just as much loved older members of the church family come to the end of their walk with God in this life.  Indeed at the time of writing I am rejoicing in the birth of a baby boy to the Toombs family and mourning the recent death of Dorothy Burlison at the age of 92. 

This is of course, not to forget, those of us in the middle, who have been members of All Saints for a while.  We are also gradually moving up through the generations – however imperceptibly.  This includes even those who have given up birthdays or have elected to stay 39 on an indefinite basis! 

The last 18 months have been characterised by an unusually large number of deaths among church family members – this was particularly striking at the July service of remembrance.  I was very moved by all the names read out by Stephen Hunter. It was a very special reminder of so many church family members who had blessed or inspired Gillian and I since we first joined All Saints in 2004.

At the very same time we have been blessed by the birth of lots of wonderful babies and by lots of new people including families joining us.  Hence our continuing requests for help with the crèche and the children’s ministry.

All of this means that we are in the process of becoming a new Church Family – where for many of us - there are more people that we don’t know than people we do!

Many of us only know the people who attend the same home group or the same service or who do things ‘up front’ – even then we can struggle to remember each other’s names.  Hence the importance of the Big Church Weekend.  It will be a really special time of getting to know each other, making new friendships and renewing old ones.  An important time of being renewed as a Church Family.

This is why we have chosen the Palace Hotel in Buxton. We have booked the whole hotel including 300 beds.  It is the perfect venue for a multi-generation church family – although a little dated, it is very comfortable and very spacious with facilities for everyone.  It is also accessible by train and less than an hour away by car.

It’s also why we have asked Bishop David & Helen Williams to be our chaplains for the weekend, Joy Adams to lead optional early morning and late night prayers and Daniel McGuinness to be our main speaker.  They are a fantastic team, with very broad appeal.  I can’t wait to spend the weekend with them.  As well as growing together in the Gospel, I know that we are going to have lots of fun.

To make the weekend as accessible for everyone we have tried to make booking as easy as possible – either on line at

https://www.allsaintsecclesall.org.uk/big-church-weekend-away/ or by completing a paper booking form.

The only price is the non-returnable booking fee which is £35 per adult and £15 per child.   We have tried to set amounts that everyone can afford. If you feel that you may have difficulty affording the booking fee please have a quiet word with Dan Christian, Alistair Stevenson or myself.  We will do all that we can to help everyone who wants to be part of this very exciting weekend.

Clearly the cost to All Saints PCC is more than £35 or £15.  But that is all that you are asked to pay.  If you are able to donate more to help with the total cost, may I encourage you to be as generous as you are able – and to think in terms of donating to support others to attend.

We are not charging a price for attending the weekend.  But asking everyone, including those who are not able to attend, to think about donating towards the total church family cost.  For illustrative purposes we have mentioned £115 as the approximate cost per head - but do not want to focus on this figure.  But rather to encourage everyone to think and pray about supporting other church family members.

It is possible to make donations whenever you would like.  Donations are open now – either online (via the link above) or by cheque made payable to “Ecclesall PCC”.  Cheques need to be sent to Rachel McLafferty via the Church Office.  In addition,  this All Saints-Tide from 28 October to 11 November we will hold a retiring collection after all the services in support of the Big Church Weekend – so that as many members of the Church Family as possible will have the opportunity to support the weekend by donation as well as in prayer.  Finally there will be a collection at the weekend itself to help cover any outstanding costs.  This is a whole church family weekend away – so we need to support it financially as a whole church family.  Should we be blessed with a significant surplus of funds after all the donations – we will give a gift to another church to help them finance a church weekend away. 

To help us get to know each other a little better the second Sunday of 9 September will be a Badge and Pastries Sunday.  Please come to church ready to wear a name badge and to look out for church family members who you don’t know yet.  Pastries will be in generous supply.

Many of you will know that members of the House of Bishops are currently working on a major teaching document entitled ‘Next Steps in Human Sexuality’.  It will be endorsed by the whole House of Bishops and then commended to the whole Church of England early in 2020.  Our own Bishop Pete Wilcox is chairing the sub group working on the Bible, hermeneutics and Biblical ethics.  The teaching document is likely to have a major impact on the whole church.  This autumn Dan Christian, Alistair Stevenson and I will be spending some time together beginning to plan how we will help All Saints navigate through what will be a very challenging and at times uncomfortable period for the Church of England.  We would value your prayers.  https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2017-11/gs-misc-1158-next-steps-on-human-sexuality.pdf

Last but not least, I want to draw your attention to this Autumn’s Alpha course. The launch party will be on Tuesday 18 September at 48 Renshaw Road.  Who could you encourage to attend?  Who could you invite?  How could you help?  Could you support the course in prayer? For more details contact Dan Christian at dan.christian@allsaintsecclesall.org.uk or 07841 835711.

With love and prayers for autumn 2018

Gary

Bishop Pete welcomed to talk All Saints

Christian Voices in Contemporary- 'Mutual Flourishing in a place of disagreement'.

During Lent, All Saints Ecclesall hosts an annual public theology programme in partnership with St Peter's College.  It builds on the very successful ‘Christian Voices in the Contemporary World’ series launched in 2014.  We have recorded each of the talks since 2017 and they can all be found below. This talk was rearranged after it had to be postponed due to snow. 

From the Vicar July 2018

The summer is upon us.  Universities are already ‘down’ while the schools are about to close for the summer.  Whether we are parents or not, whether we are going away or not – the months of July and August are quite different to the rest of the year.  Usually there is a little more time to slow down and to phone or visit friends and loved ones.  And of course the roads in Ecclesall are much less busy even if the M1 is full of one traffic jam after another.  During August we are planning for our services to be simpler and a little shorter to reduce our demands on volunteers and staff.  In addition there will be no Sunday 6pm service on Sunday 26 August.

Summer opens with the Church BBQ on Sunday 8 July at 12.30pm at Rob and Jenny Coleman’s- 8 Carsick View Road, S10 3LZ. Please sign up in church. Summer also brings the All Saints children’s Holiday Club.  Please do sign up to help and invite all the children that you know as well as committing the week to your prayers.  If you would like to know more, please contact Rosie Blackett.

Looking back to June it was wonderful to welcome Bishop Pete once again to All Saints.  His lecture on ‘Mutual Flourishing in a place of disagreement’ was really well attended and it was very pleasing to welcome so many people from across the Diocese. The lecture ended with a discussion of what we have to offer a broken world, full of disagreement and enmity.  Here Bishop Pete proposed five simple rules for disagreeing well.

1.    Listen carefully, ready to change

2.   Affirm common ground

3. Assume the best intentions and motives

4. Address your opponent’s strongest arguments

5.  Only say publicly or at a distance, what you would be prepared to say personally face to face

I encourage you to share them in your home groups, with your families and at work.  They are very simple indeed – but nonetheless potentially life changing.

June also saw Pedr Beckley’s announcement of his retirement as Vicar of St Gabriel’s Greystones. After a very long wait the Beckleys have managed to buy their retirement house of choice.  This is wonderful news, but also a very strange time as they plan to leave Greystones after over 30 years of ministry there.  On 20 June, with the support of All Saints PCC, Alistair Stevenson met informally with the PCC of St Gabriel’s to begin to explore their vision for the future and to scope what serving there half time might look like alongside continuing to serve half time at All Saints. The St Gabriel’s PCC reiterated their enthusiasm for our growing partnership and the possible arrival of a small group from All Saints. St Gabriel’s is full of very faithful and committed people who have served for many years but who are no doubt greatly encouraged by the possible sharing of the ministry in Greystones in the years to come. Alistair left the meeting encouraged by the possibilities of what God might do at St Gabriel’s in the future and to build on the very significant legacy already there.  Accordingly I will table at All Saints July PCC the formal proposal to release Alistair to serve half time at St Gabriel’s from the autumn.  I will be able to share more details following the meeting.

This means that All Saints will be keeping the Diocesan removals company particularly busy this year- with the hoped for move of the Stevenson family to St Gabriel’s Vicarage and also the temporary move of the Wilton family out of the All Saints Vicarage later this month.  Many of you will know that the vicarage central heating system has been failing for a number of years. Initially this prompted discussions about building a new vicarage paid for by the sale of the current vicarage. This was a very attractive possibility and indeed I was very excited by the thought of designing a new vicarage fit for the next 100 years.  However the creation of the new Clifford All Saints Primary School has made me think again. Ecclesall is in the midst of a baby boom and in the future there may be pressure on Clifford All Saints Primary School to expand. The only way it could do so would be to use the existing vicarage site.  So I have proposed that we should retain the existing vicarage indefinitely just in case. I am therefore grateful to the Diocese for agreeing to install a completely new heating system.  We are already looking forward to being warm next winter!  But in the meantime every pipe in the vicarage is about to be changed by the plumbers, taking up all the floors and knocking holes in all the walls.  Once the plumbers have finished the decorators will move in, with everything ready for the end of August.

On 9 June, 75 Church Family members attended the PCC Open Morning to catch up with the PCC’s conversations about the possibility of building an extension.  The meeting was wide ranging including discussions about the halls, community use of the school, the scale of a possible extension, and the unexpected potential of the crypt.  No decisions were made except that we recognise that we have a lot more praying, talking and information gathering to do. The meeting was immensely positive and fun.  A number of Church Family members encouraged us to be really bold as we look into the future. Others were keen to adopt a phased approach. A highlight of the meeting was a visit to the crypt.  Around 60 of us made our way to the entrance east end of the church just below the Emmaus Chapel.  For most, it was their very first visit.  Most expressed surprise at the amount of space.  Others were very taken by the beautiful arched windows.  Currently we are writing up all the feedback generated by the Church Family.  Please look out for further meetings and other opportunities to contribute.

Meet our Church Administrator

This week we are finding out more about Sally Hunter, who has been catching up after a week’s holiday and eating lots of biscuits!

Who are you and what do you do?

I have been the Church Administrator at All Saints Ecclesall for 2.5 years. Before I joined All Saints my jobs have included working for the Royal College of Surgeons and the Magna Carta Trust. Out of work I am Mum to Robbie, who is 6, and I do tap dancing (very badly!). I am also Chair of Ecclesall Pre-School Committee, which is a challenging but rewarding role.

What exactly is a Church Administrator?

In the nutshell the role is to support the clergy and Ministry Team, so that they can get on with their Ministry Roles. That includes printing service sheets, preparing the weekly notices, letter writing, rotas, answering queries, organising staffing for funerals and weddings  and a whole host of other things I can’t think of at the moment.

What are the most challenging parts of the job?

The role is not rocket science but the big challenge is managing my time so that every task and every person I deal with gets the attention they deserve.

What do you love the most about your job?

The people- the Church family are lovely and everyone is so appreciative.

Are you enjoying belonging to the All Saints church family?

I was part of the church family before joining the staff team and have always felt very welcome here. My time in church on Sundays is very different to my role in the week. Some time ago I felt a calling to help with children’s ministry and most Sundays I lead the Explore (3-5 years) group. It’s a lovely age group and they can always make me smile!

 What difference does Christian faith make in your life?

God is continually challenging me to serve and broaden my horizons- without my faith I don’t think I would have done many of the things I am doing now.

From the Vicar June 2018

Welcome to the June Edition of From the Vicar. June will open with the third official visit to All Saints by our new Diocesan Bishop Pete Wilcox.   Bishop Pete chaired his first Diocesan Synod here last November and presided at our confirmation service on 8 April. But having had to postpone in Lent because of the snow, we look forward to welcoming Bishop Pete back at 7.45pm on Thursday 7 June.  His talk is entitled ‘Mutual Flourishing in a place of disagreement – what does this have to say to the world’. 

Given the profound disagreement about women bishops within Sheffield Diocese and across the wider Church of England, this will be an important evening on a very contemporary issue.  Please publicise this widely and invite your friends.  Also listen out for my interview with Sarah Major about ‘Mutual Flourishing’ on BBC Radio Sheffield on Sunday 3 June.

There will be a PCC Open Morning on Saturday 9 June, 10.00am – 1.00pm in the church building.  Everyone is invited.  A key part of my presentation at the APCM was an update on the PCC’s thinking about a possible extension to the church building.  We are still very much at the beginning. But are now ready to share our conversation with the wider congregation.  More than that we want to work with you to develop our vision for the church building we need as a multi-generation church family.  Together we will need to start asking: Is this the right vision for the building? What are our needs? What about the cost? What about the halls?  What about the crypt? What about the community provision at the new Clifford All Saints School? How do they all fit together?

I am really encouraged by the conversations that I have enjoyed with different members of the church family.  These have been alongside those with the wardens, PCC Executive Committee and staff.  In the midst of the excitement a consensus seems to be emerging.  Firstly amongst both those who are for and against an extension to the side of the church building, there is recognition that this will be a big undertaking and will involve a lot of consultation over a number of years.   And secondly there is a growing groundswell in support for developing the crypt first.  Indeed a number of people have argued that we won’t know quite what we need in a side extension until we have developed and started using the space in the crypt. 

I hadn’t even thought about developing the crypt until last autumn when it very clearly emerged as a key matter for investigation for the PCC.

  Now, I am excited by the possibility of having three meeting rooms, some toilets, a coffee point and lots of storage there.  Nonetheless it is important to stress that no decisions have been made and that the wider conversations are only about to begin.  For the moment ending with ‘watch this space’ seems very appropriate.

A number of you have also wanted to talk to me about the new Clifford All Saints C of E Primary School.  It will be very much a new school working across two sites, Psalter Lane and Ringinglow Road.  We hope that the new Bishop will dedicate the school in September.   The Ringinglow Road site will be closed for the autumn term for building work ready for a formal opening in January 2019.

Alongside this, the new Ecclesall community primary school will have opened on the site of the old Ecclesall Infants.  Much of the new community school will be a brand new building.  So Clifford All Saints will be working hard to ensure that the Ringinglow Road site offers its children an equivalent high quality learning environment.  Partnering with St Andrew’s Psalter Lane church council, All Saints PCC have agreed to raise a £10,000 gift to help upgrade the facilities at the Clifford All Saints Ringinglow Road site. Currently we are working with the Head Sue Preston to finalise a project for us to support.  Once we have chosen it, we will ask parents past and present whether they would like to contribute.  In the meantime I hope that you like the new logo.  It is a wonderful combination of the All Saints windows and the cross of St Andrew.

Coming closer to home it is now over 7 months since our new Pastoral Team was established under the leadership of Dan Christian and Sue Blaby.  Very quickly it has become an important part of the pastoral life and ministry of All Saints.  Quite wonderfully we now have over 20 church members involved in long term visiting of those who need regular home visits.  The purpose of the team is to visit and support those who can’t make it to church or those with a long term health need.  Sue Blaby and Dan Christian have been pleased and a little overwhelmed by the support of the church family for one another.  If you would like to be involved or if you are aware of a church family member who needs regular home visits please don’t hesitate to contact Sue or Dan. They would be delighted to hear from you.

Yours in the service of Christ Jesus

Gary

 Vicar

Associate Minister Vacancy

From the Vicar May 2018

Welcome to the May edition of ‘From the Vicar’.  April may have ended with a bitter cold day, but it also ended with a very warm and harmonious Annual Parochial Church Meeting. Despite the weather and the road closures the meeting was well attended and very enjoyable. I was delighted that we elected Michael Gordon and Sarah Leighton to serve as Churchwardens and Ruth Watkin and David Coleshill as Deputy Wardens. In addition we elected Richard Blyth, Richard Donkin, Emily Jackson and Julia Newton to the PCC and Vicky Vidler as a Deanery Synod Representative following her co-option last year.

Those stepping down from the PCC included Corrynne Osborne, Mark Peterson and David Quinney. They have each served as wardens and as PCC members with great energy and wisdom over many years. We are immensely grateful to them and we hope that it won’t be too long before they stand again. We are also very grateful to Richard Donkin for agreeing to step in as PCC Secretary last year.  He has done a sterling job keeping us in order, and will hand over to the equally able Emily Jackson later this month.

We have a great PCC. Our meetings are hard work but often full of laughter.  As stewards of our Church Family finances they are charged with ensuring that our finances are sound and in good order.  They also ensure that we take proper care of our buildings and staff and that we are fully compliant with matters of safeguarding and legislation. Most of all the PCC are tasked to work with me and the staff team to ensure that we are moving ahead with a shared vision.  This means that we spent a lot of time looking forward, dreaming dreams and planning for the future as well as reviewing different ministries.

For 2018/2019 we already know that we have a packed agenda.  Since last autumn Alistair & Catherine Stevenson and their family, Rosie Blackett and Tim & Emily Elgar and their family, have been helping to support the new monthly 9.00am ‘First Service’ at St Gabriel’s Greystones. This has gone really well, and the PCC of St Gabriel’s have written to our PCC requesting that we develop and formalise our collaboration once their current incumbent Pedr Beckley retires.  At the same time the All Saints PCC has been exploring and discerning how we might do this.  Last autumn with the full support of the Diocese, I tabled the proposal that we should release Alistair Stevenson to take pastoral charge of St Gabriel’s, while still being a member of the All Saints staff ministry.  Initially he would serve half time at St Gabriel’s with the task of growing the church in Greystones so that it is able to sustain a full time vicar within 5 years.

Alistair would transfer in planned stages to serve at St Gabriel’s full time as it grows and as finances allow.  Once Pedr Beckley has announced his retirement, it will be important that we complete our discernment and decision-making process and respond formally to the request made by the St Gabriel’s PCC.  But for the moment we are very much in the midst of the process of discernment and we continue to ask for God’s guidance.  Please would you add Pedr and his family, Alistair & Catherine and their family and St Gabriel’s to your prayers.

As I write I am also finalising the advertisement for a second Associate Vicar to succeed Jo Hird.  The advert will be published in the Church Times on 11 May. The PCC are eager to appoint someone who fits All Saints and the existing staff team. We are therefore advertising the post with a flexible portfolio of ministries in order to attract the right person.  Very generously both Dan Christian and Alistair Stevenson have offered to adjust their ministry portfolios accordingly.

A key part of my presentation at the APCM was an update on the PCC’s thinking about a possible extension to the church building.  We are still very much at the beginning, but are now ready to share our conversation with the wider congregation. We want to work with you to develop our vision for the church building we need as a multi-generation church family.  On Saturday 9 June from 10.00am to 1.00pm we will be holding an Open PCC Meeting to which the whole church family are invited.  Together we will need to start asking: Is this the right vision for the building? What are our needs? What about the cost? Please put Saturday 9 June in your diary and join the conversation.

This coming September will mark the opening of the new Clifford All Saints (C of E) Primary School.  Catering for children aged 4-11 it will offer high quality and inspiring education in a Christian setting for the children of Ecclesall and beyond.  The ethos statement for the new school begins: 'INSPIRATIONAL EDUCATION FOR EVERYONE'.

Inspirational and holistic education for all children in a welcoming, generous and safe Church School community shaped by faith, hope and love. The new Clifford All Saints School will be jointly based on the sites of the former Clifford Infants and the former Ecclesall Junior School.  The former Junior School site will close for refurbishment during the autumn term, to reopen as part of the new Church of England Primary School.  The new school will have a church majority on the governing body shared by All Saints Ecclesall and St Andrew Psalter Lane.  Quite wonderfully the logo for the new school blends the three windows from All Saints with the St Andrew’s cross.  Please remember the new Clifford All Saints School and the expanded Ecclesall Infants, soon to be Ecclesall Primary, in your prayers.

Yours in the service of Christ Jesus

Gary

Gary Wilton, Vicar