E. LOCAL CHURCH LIFE
St Andrew’s
| Sunday Services | 11am weekly - average attendance 120 6pm first Sunday of month – average attendance 20-30 |
| Special Services in the last year | Special Services held last year included Harvest Festival, Christmas, Easter, a World Church and Mission service, three joint services with Cheltenham Ladies College, three services to welcome new Church Members, a service led by the West Midlands Moderator, a joint service with the Cluster Group, two Commitment for Life services, a St Andrewstide service, a Gift Day service, several Baptisms, and a number of URCiC pastorate services |
| Holy Communion | Celebrated monthly, generally on the first Sunday of the month with 8 morning and 4 evening communions annually. |
| Lay involvement | Members of the congregation read the lessons each Sunday; the Worship group leads occasional services; the Church has a number of retired Ministers in the congregation who take occasional services; one member of the Church is a locally accredited lay preacher and leads occasional services; the congregation also contains a nationally accredited lay preacher and a member working on the third year of the TLS course. |
| Hymnbooks | Rejoice and Sing is used each week; items are also chosen from other sources including Common Ground and printed in the order of service. |
| Baptisms each year | An average of 7 per year over the last 5 years |
| Weddings each year | An average of 10 per year over the last 5 years; in the last year approximately 25% were for members/adherents. |
| Funerals | An average of 7 per year over the last 5 years; in the last year approximately 60% were for members/adherents. |
| Church Meetings | Two Church Meetings are held per year, one the AGM. Attendance at the last two meetings was 37 and 55 respectively. |
| Work with Children and Young People | Junior Church runs every Sunday morning with the children in Church for approximately the first 20 minutes of the service. On leaving they split into two groups according to age, with two leaders per group. A crèche area is also available for very small children. Attendance varies, with regular (not necessarily weekly) attendance by Pre-school 5, Infants 10, Juniors 3 and 14 Secondary. The groups use ‘Roots’ material. |
| Church Officers/Committees | Church Secretary; Treasurer; various committees, including Finance, Premises, Catering, Events and Publicity. Various members act as representatives to other bodies, including Commitment for Life, Christian Aid, Gloucester District Council, West Midlands Synod and Churches together in Cheltenham. |
| Outside groups using Church premises | Rooms in the recently redeveloped St Andrews are regularly used by yoga groups; various Cheltenham based music groups for both practice and concerts; children’s activities, including a toddler group and the NCT; Cheltenham Scottish Society; various training courses including the National Star College |
| Outreach | A coffee bar is open in the Church premises on a Thursday morning (drinks and cakes) and also on a Saturday morning (including light lunches.) The kitchen is staffed by members of the congregation and the coffee bar attracts many local residents. Initially set up to provide funds for the redevelopment this continues as a means of reaching out to local residents and visitors. |
Enjoying the Harvest Concert at St Andrews
Harvest Banner
Prestbury
| Sunday Services | 11am weekly - average attendance 35 10.30 am monthly Family Services (January 2006) average attendance 45 |
| Special Services in the last year | Special Services held last year included Harvest Festival, Christmas, Junior Church prize giving, Mothering Sunday, Easter, 3 united evening services with Churches Together in North Cheltenham. Also two URCiC pastorate services on the fifth Sunday in the month |
| Holy Communion | Celebrated monthly, on the second Sunday morning of each month |
| Lay involvement | Members of the congregation read the lessons each Sunday, the Worship group leads monthly Family services; the Church has an active lay person who leads worship on a regular basis. |
| Hymnbooks | Rejoice and Sing is used each week, together with hymns sung at school
which are printed on to the order of service. Mission praise is used occasionally |
| Baptisms each year | 12 baptisms and 8 dedications in the last 5 years |
| Weddings each year | 8 in the last 5 years - all for outsiders |
| Funerals | 3 in the last 5 years and all for members/adherents. |
| Church Meetings | Three Church Meetings are held per year, one is the AGM. Attendance is about 16 at all of the meetings. |
| Work with Children and Young People | ‘Urchins’ runs every week during term time with an average attendance of 30 babies and toddlers with a carer. This group is run by Church members and adherents. Junior Church runs every Sunday morning with the children in Church for approximately the first 20 minutes of the service. Attendance varies, with Pre-school 4, Infants 7 and 2 Junior. The group doesn’t currently use any set material but is working through the stories in the Lion’s Storyteller bible. The sessions include the story, activities including craft, games and songs. At least twice a year we hold a ‘Playdays’ afternoon with a bible theme which is attended by 40 plus children many of whom do not attend Church. One of our members is a Foundation Governor at St Mary’s C of E Infants School. One of our members also leads a termly service in St Mary’s Infants School. |
| Church Officers/Committees | Church Secretary; Treasurers (one for book keeping and one for banking); various committees, including Premises and Fund Raising. Various members act as representatives to other bodies, including the URCiC World Church and Mission Committee, Worship group meetings, URCiC Traidcraft, Churches Together in North Cheltenham, Gloucester District Council and West Midlands Synod. |
| Outside groups using Church premises | The local police use the premises annually to hold their neighbourhood meetings, Mother’s Union once a quarter |
| Outreach | Monthly coffee mornings, ‘Open the Book’ in Prestbury Infants School (this is an ecumenical project initiated by Prestbury URC leading weekly services by sharing bible stories), Village events e.g. taking part in the village fete etc. |
Harvest Lunch
Wine tasting at Oggersheim July 2005
Warden Hill
| Sunday Services | 11am weekly - average attendance 30 |
| Special Services in the last year | Special Services held last year included Harvest Festival, Christmas, Easter, 2 united services with URCiC and 4 united services with St. Christopher’s (Anglican) Monthly family services and monthly cooking club for Junior Church - coincides with Communion |
| Holy Communion | Celebrated monthly, on the first Sunday morning of each month |
| Lay involvement | Members of the congregation read the lessons each Sunday, the Worship group leads monthly Family services; the Church has a retired Minister in the congregation who takes occasional services. |
| Hymnbooks | Rejoice and Sing is used each week |
| Baptisms each year | An average of 3 per year over the last 5 years plus 2 blessings |
| Weddings each year | An average of one per year over the last 5 years - for outsiders |
| Funerals | An average of 3 per year over the last 5 years; in the last year approximately 2 were for members/adherents. |
| Church Meetings | Three Church Meetings are held per year, one is the AGM. Attendance is about 15 at all of the meetings. |
| Work with Children and Young People | Junior Church runs every Sunday morning if children are present with the children in Church for approximately the first 20 minutes of the service. Attendance varies, with none usually on the second and last Sunday and Pre-school 5, Infants 6, Juniors 7. The group uses Roots material. A successful ‘Playdays’ was run with St Christopher’s at Easter last year when 50 plus children attended. A toddler group called ‘Urchins’ meets weekly with about 25 toddlers attending. |
| Church Officers/Committees | Church Secretary; Treasurer; various committees, including Fabric and Traidcraft. Various members act as representatives to other bodies, including Partners (committee to discuss united work with St. Christopher’s) Commitment for Life, Christian Aid, World Church and Mission, Gloucester District Council, West Midlands Synod and Churches Together in Cheltenham. |
| Outside groups using Church premises | 2 lots of dance groups, karate, child minding, 2 slimming groups and local council for its regular meeting. The halls are also available for private hire, for example, for children’s parties. Alcohol is not allowed on the premises. |
| Outreach | May plant sale and Christmas fair held each year and are well supported by lots of local residents. We take part in several litter picks each year along with St. Christopher’s Church and the local Warden Hill in Bloom Association. Open the Book in Warden Hill Infants and Junior School (this is an ecumenical project with St Christopher’s leading weekly services by sharing bible stories). Warden Hill members run and manage the URCiC Traidcraft which supplies goods to St Andrew’s, Prestbury, St Christopher’s and Warden Hill. The profit made from this is used to support world disasters and appeals. |
‘Contact the Elderly’ guests at a Christmas Party
[ Context ] | [ Pastorate Arrangements ] | [ Priorities for the Pastorate ] | [ Ministry and Mission ]
[ Local Church Life ] | [ Statistics ] | [ Appendices ]