As part of the response to the challenges the Deanery will be hosting an evening to engage in conversation about the future. If you would like to contribute to this conversation then please do contact your reps Vanessa Conte or Chris McConnell or speak to Mat.

After much prayer, thought and discussion the working group has distilled a vision. ‘The Source: a place of connection and creativity’.

For the purposes of the project we have defined ourselves as a partnership seeking to witness the fullness of God by serving the community in Kingsdown and Cotham.

Our mission statement is motivated by our Christian faith and commitment to the local area. We want The Source to become a place that provides good connections for individuals and bridges across different communities. We want The Source to inspire creativity and for it to be a centre from which we can serve others. We aim to achieve this by a combination of hospitality, encouragement of the creative arts and offering therapeutic services. We want to actively promote issues of social justice through our activities at The Source.

At this stage the detail of how this vision will be realised is not defined. That task will be taken on by a new Trust consisting of members of St Matthew’s and BCF which may in time also include other local residents. If all goes to plan the new trust will be formed by Easter and will begin the work of creating a business plan and working towards making the vision a reality.

Do continue to pray for this exciting project. If you’d like to know more speak to Vicky, Mat, Simon Pugh-Jones, Max Beseke or James Rimmer.

As part of the 6 month trial we are asked to feed any comments back to the Church of England. If you have any comments to pass them on to Mat.

By the end of January we hope to have put an application in to the Charity Commission to set up a Trust that will be managed by Trustees from St Matthew’s, BCF and maybe some others. This Trust will be a separate body to both churches.

Please do continue to pray for this project and if you want to know more or make a comment do contact the St Matthew’s reps on the Steering Group.

If you were unable to attend then we are endeavouring to find people who were there to come and visit you. Someone will be in touch before the middle of November. If your spouse came then we will assume that you are aware of what went on through them, but if you’d like to be visited do let Mat or the office know.

There are notes to the meeting available in the office and also a recording of it available through the Listen Again team. Again do contact the office.

We will collate the responses and aim to report back to the whole church in late January/early February.

In order to work towards this, a steering group has been formed from members of BCF and St Matthew’s. Claire Davies, James Rimmer, Max Beseke, Vicky Wright, Simon Pugh-Jones and Mat Ineson are the St Matt’s representatives. The purpose of the steering group is to set out the vision for the Ark and the strategy for engaging with the local area, provide enough details to set up a trust and make application for trust to Charity Commission by end of Jan 2010. The starting point for the vision is :—

‘In light of our Christian principles and ethos, we seek to use the Ark as a vehicle to bring positive change/transformation to the local community.’

This is still under development and discussion which includes a community consultation, prayer meetings and conversations in both churches.

Future dates relating to these developments that you can get involved with include:

• Community consultation
• A joint prayer and vision sharing meeting on the evening of the 5th October in the Ark beginning at 8pm
• A festival in late October in the Ark
• A joint evening service on Sunday 25th October in the Ark

Please do pray for this project especially that we might continue to hear God’s voice clearly, keep talking and asking questions and do attend the events and get involved where you can.

As well as old favourites, including tea, coffee, snacks and sweets, there’ll be new goodies to try. We’ll also be stocking Fairtrade products from the Visionary Soap Company.

Why buy from us? Traidcraft was established in 1979 as a Christian response to poverty. It supports disadvantaged producers through fair payment and prices, and assistance with community projects. Buying from us rather than a supermarket helps your money go further in the work of the organisation.

The consultation is going to take a number of different forms, but the main one is a team of volunteers from both churches going door-to-door with a questionnaire.

We need as many volunteers as possible! Full training will be given and there is the option to go in pairs. I know that for some this might seem like quite a daunting task, but it is a great opportunity to get out and about, meet people and hear what people think.

The consultation will happen over two weeks: October 12th – October 23rd.

Within this time-frame, volunteers are free to organise their own schedule but the time commitment will roughly be 2-3 evenings. One evening to deliver the questionnaires, and a couple more to collect them and do some consultations on the door.

Mat Ineson

My official title is Priest-in-Charge of St Matthew and St Nathanael (65%) and partnership priest in the Highbury Church Partnership (which is St Matt’s, Cotham and St Paul’s—35%). At present with the vacancy in the neighbouring benefice I am involved more than I have been since I arrived. I have overall leadership responsibility in partnership with the PCC.

My passions are to see the church of God grow in maturity and size and especially to see people develop in their own gifting, taking their part in the body of Christ. I really enjoy being priest in charge at St Matt’s and working with the teams of people here. I’m really excited by all that God has planned for us in the coming months and years and am looking forward to people coming to faith in Christ and continuing to grow in following Christ.

Revd. Joyce Caithness

Ordained Local Minister – non stipendiary, part time 15 hours per week!

My role covered as OLM at St Matthew’s includes preaching, presiding & leading at services across the Highbury Partnership; oversight of Pastoral care in St Matthew’s together with Mat and Minty Hull, Prayer Co-ordinator; prayer with, and mentoring of, people within and outside St Matthews; and as Mat is very fond of saying I am one of those who carries the ‘history’ of St Matthews which ages me considerably!!

Obviously the above role is not the easiest to ‘pin down’ a wide but interesting brief which has its highs and lows and all shades in between.

Tanya Marie Lord

My position is one of Training Curate, Mat and the team are teaching me how to encourage equip and support a worshipping community in its ministry and mission to each other and the community at large.

Alongside diocesan training days I have spent my first few weeks at St Matt’s getting to know the area and some of the people, and discovering where we are at as a congregation.

I am passionate about sharing our faith in Christ and love to see people growing in their personal commitment to Jesus, and finding themselves doing things for the Lord that they would never have thought possible! I am thrilled to be part of what the Lord is doing and going to do at St Matt’s and look forward to spending the next four years with you. My husband Glenn, daughter Mary and I would like to thank everyone at St Matthew’s for making us feel so welcome.

Vicky Wright

Community Minister

“The local church is the hope of the world” Bill Hybels

I want to see God’s people (us) released through His love and power to bring His message of hope and transformation to our local community (Kingsdown) and beyond…

In practice this means I spend time chatting with people about what is going on locally, I develop relationships with other local churches, organisations and networks and I help encourage and organise local events. I think about how we can communicate who we are and what we are up to at St Matthew’s, I have the privilege of encouraging and supporting others’ ideas about engaging with our local community and I help the staff and those who lead us think strategically about mission and engagement.

I also spend time loitering in coffee shops, writing sermons and running round trying to find church keys that I’ve lost.

Ali Berry

Youth & Children’s Minister – Part time

There are 4 aspects to my role—youth work within the church; youth & children bridges within the parish; developing & supporting those involved with youth work within St Matthew’s; new initiatives.
My passion for the youth ministry here is to see our young people grow in their love for Jesus and in confidence in the ways they can serve Him in the church and in their lives; grow together as a pocket of community within St Matthew’s; and bring others into the group & see it grow.

I am passionate about evangelism; being with children/young people (hence detached & messy church initiatives are so exciting); looking out for & working alongside a fantastic team of youth leaders (humbling!).

Cath Hubbuck

Children’s Minister

I love to see children growing in faith by providing them with a wide range of opportunities to explore and discover more about Jesus. I also love to welcome children and families to our church, who otherwise have little or no contact with the Church and to see them feel at home here. I believe that faith in action—what we do and say and how we serve others—can powerfully show more of what Jesus is like.

My regular week at work involves planning, resourcing, preparing, overseeing and organising the staffing of the activities for children on a Sunday morning—from crèche-age children, to Tiddlywinks and the 5-11s in Sunday Groups. Some weeks this involves evening meetings with leaders to plan for these activities. At other times there is evening planning for the all-age worship services. My work also sees me running Toddlers every Tuesday morning and welcoming some 45 children and their parents or carers to St Matthew’s church for fun and friendship. One Saturday a month there is a Saturday Morning Playtime session. From the Autumn there will be a monthly Messy Church service to plan and resource and I also hope to set up a friendship and informal support group for Mums.

Jackie Burnell

Church Administrator – Part time 15 hours per week
Mon & Tues 9-1pm, Thurs 9-12 noon & Fri 9-1pm

I look after the admin side of things, church service requirements, hall bookings etc (including keeping Mat in order).

I love my job and am blessed by the privilege of being at the centre (in the office!) of all that goes on at St Matthew’s. Exciting times!

Announcing GLOW, a chance for St Matthew’s women and their friends to connect, chat, relax…

An evening of hands-on beauty that won’t cost the earth

Cost: £5

This context-based training aims to ground the students’ theological training in a church and social context. There are four other contexts in the Bristol area. There will be a group of 6-8 students whose primary purpose is to train for ministry spending half the week at college and half in this context. We will undoubtedly see fruit as they work alongside us in the locality.

Emma Ineson is the College Tutor for this cohort; do speak to her if you’d like to know more.

I’m pleased to be able to announce that we have now decided and committed to formally set up a Trust to oversee a project based in the Ark building. What needs to happen now is that we need to discern God’s plan for the project, formulate a vision and set up the Trust before committing to any longer terms plans. To this end a Development Group is being formed with people from both churches. This group will continue to pray, consult and work towards setting up a formal Trust in early 2010 and also more importantly coming to a common vision and purpose.

Do continue to pray and speak to Mat or Vicky if you’d like to know more.