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St Mark’s Church Profile
Summary of the Profile
St. Mark’s is housed in a
truly beautiful 130 year old
church well placed within
the centre of St.Helen’s
town. We are part of a town
steeped in industrial
heritage: our church bearing
historical links with the
famous Gamble and
Pilkington families proudly.
Whilst our Parish faces
some challenges with a fast growing population and some areas of deprivation, St.Mark’s strives to
continually widen its reach with a dedicated, hard-working family of volunteer mission leaders.
St.Mark’s Church is a member of the St.Helens Team Ministry. We hope that as part of a team,
St.Mark’s has mastered the ability to accept others kindly, share thoughtfully and care sincerely for
those in and amongst us.
We need greater outreach around quite a widespread population of the Parish. We want the
church to be a spiritual beacon at the top of the hill again.
We are proud of...
Our three church buildings affording us the scope to reach many diverse groups in our
community both socially and spiritually
A regular and committed congregation
Our Bible-based services
Yet we recognise the need to...
Develop our mission by working towards more family-friendly church
Address areas of our Parish that have perhaps been neglected
Take some risks!
We pray for the confidence to take those risks.
We hope to grow our mission and to deliver with the guidance and example of Jesus’ love.
We welcome the right person who will help to share this load.
Who are we looking for?
We want a Vicar who:
Feels called to this Church’s challenges and will be present for the long
term
Is young at heart and can relate to all members of the congregation
regardless of age. Will be pastorally caring themselves and ensure good
pastoral support is in place for the congregation.
Is a Bible based, inspirational leader who will in turn inspire leadership
within members of the congregation and enrol/involve others in our
growing parish
Will be dynamic and come to fully understand the area and its people
Is missionary minded in their approach considering the challenges of
Merseyside and specifically the parish (we have a great variety of old and
new housing estates with some poor areas)
Within time constraints will make an effort to be visible in the parish and
also make themselves available to the wider community.
Demonstrates empathy with all age groups. Our growing parish needs
more family friendly worship
Is interested in the music of our church.
Could this be you?
If you feel that you could become part of St. Mark’s family, please contact us.
About the Parish
We are a North St. Helens church with a growing population. Our Parish consists of a mixture of residential
and industrial properties. It includes two public parks: Haresfinch and Victoria Park. The latter has recently
been restored with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund to include a Victorian style bandstand, tennis
courts and improvements made to the wildlife and duck pond areas. The population of the Parish is currently
approximately 6,500 and is set to grow with the building of much new housing in the old part of the Parish.
There is also on-going building development in the region of City Road (the newer part of the Parish). Clearly
the right Vicar would ideally enable the
new and old elements of our Parish to
flourish together.
The population live in a mixture of council
and private accommodation and a
complex of sheltered housing which is
mostly situated to the west and south of
the church and to the north east some
distance from St. Mark’s. Within the
Parish there are churches of the United
Reformed and Roman Catholic traditions,
the latter with its own primary school.
The Parish is an urban district with a
moderate percentage of the population of
low to middle income. Our congregation is largely between the 60-90 age range which reflects the static
population of the town as a whole.
In 2010, St. Mark’s formally became a member of the St.Helens Town Centre Team Ministry which comprises
St.Helens Parish Church, St.Thomas’ and St.Andrew’s also. Adjacent to St.Mark’s Church is the Verger’s
house, which amongst our list of priorities for the year ahead, requires some refurbishment.
The town centre boasts a highly respected industrial history with the Gamble and Pilkington families of note
playing a considerable part. Our church hall, Gamble Memorial Hall, is named after the Gamble family who
famously set up a chemical works in 1828. The Pilkington family, whose name is synonymous with quality
glass production, fittingly bequeathed a number of stained glass windows which are a reminder to our
congregation of the town’s hard-working values. Nowadays, St.Helens RLFC places our town in the limelight
from time to time!
Our Parish is within easy access to the town centre: the journey from St. Mark’s itself is less than ten minutes
on foot. In recent years the town centre has suffered a high street decline in line with towns of a similar size
across the country. However, efforts are being made to increase diversity, for example with the introduction
of a Makers’ Market and family arts activities linked to ‘The World of Glass’ museum.
The Church and its People
Our churchmanship is of the evangelical tradition although the pulpit, lectern and communion table frontals
are changed according to season. We like Clergy and Readers to robe at most services. Currently we have
two Lay Readers and one Reader Emeritus
qualified to take services in the absence of
Clergy. Our congregation is mainly female and
the age range is almost entirely in the 60-90 age
range. We have a congregation of between 45 to
60 people each Sunday morning.
There are 15 members of the PCC who meet
regularly. There are two Wardens (Don Hayes
and Neil Fowles), a Treasurer, a Standing
Committee and Health and Safety Officers who
work extremely hard. Of course, there are many
others without a special ‘title’ who add to the
working of our Church, such as Jennifer who
ensures the Church has glorious floral displays each week, Cath, Norman and Carole who clean the Church
regularly and Cath who ensures the tea is hot and the biscuits plentiful and so many more.
Music is important to us at St.Mark’s and our
experienced organist, Ian Grimshaw, leads us in our
praise at Sunday morning services. We hope that a
new Vicar would share this love with us and assist us in
developing the music ministry taking into
consideration what our congregation feels
comfortable and enjoys. We have not had a formal
choir for some years now. Perhaps widening our reach
to younger families could go hand in hand with the re-
establishment of a musical group, whether formally for
the benefit of Church services or informally for social
reasons.
We hold Sunday morning services (45-60 attendees) and Thursday morning services (15-25 attendees) in the
church building each week. We use Common Worship for services and Mission Praise books for hymns and
songs. Sadly we no longer have an evening service on Sundays or the need for a Sunday school which used to
take place in the Vestry during the 10.30 service. However, we have recently introduced our own Messy
Church group which runs on Saturday (every 6-8 weeks) in the Gamble Hall. This group has attracted on
average 40-50 people and feedback has been extremely positive. The emerging picture seems to be that
there is some cross-over with Tots and Toys and also Cafe Church all of which run at Gamble Hall and have
quite a social flavour. We are very pleased to have new – many very young – faces among our extended
congregation.
Presently our service programme is as follows:
1st Sunday 10.45am Holy Communion
2nd Sunday 10.45am Morning Prayer
3rd Sunday 10.45am Holy Communion
4th Sunday 10.45am Morning Prayer
5th Sunday 10.45am Morning Prayer
Weekly Thursday Morning Prayer 10.45am at St. Mark’s
Weekly Wednesday Bible Study Group 2.00pm at St. Thomas’
Cafe Church is taking place on a monthly basis on Sundays, 10.30am in Gamble Hall.
Messy Church is on a Saturday (every 6-8 weeks) from 11.30 – 1.30pm in Gamble Hall with
lunch provided.
Ladies’ Coffee Break Group is held on the 2nd Monday of each month in Gamble Hall.
Weekly Wednesday 6 o’clock Club (term time youth group), 6pm in Gamble Hall.
The Church and the Community
We firmly believe that it is our group efforts that make us strong. We have a number of dedicated mission
leaders, selfless volunteers amongst our congregation and skilled and talented PCC members. Here is a
flavour of what we achieve.
As a number of our congregation live outside the Parish boundary, or are old or infirm, we have a Parish
minibus service organised by Norman Roughley. Each week he ensures that everyone who needs help in
getting to church can get there safely and in all weathers. There is a great social aspect to our church which
begins with tea and biscuits after our Sunday service and extends to frequent days out, bussed by Norman,
to the Trafford Centre or Cheshire Oaks for a shopping day and a spot of lunch.
Many local organisations are supported through our Centurion Centre, which has been refurbished to a high
standard. Regularly the centre is used to support ex-service personnel in the form of a drop-in cafe on
Tuesdays between 10am and 2pm. ADDACTION service users also frequent the centre and can make use of
computer and photocopying facilities as well as accessing help and advice. The centre is a great space for a
local Dance group who meet each Tuesday night. Of course, the possibilities for the centre will, we hope,
continue to grow.
Our Gamble Hall is a lively venue! We hold 6 o’clock club here each week for children aged between 4 and
11 years. They enjoy varied activities, some circle time and prayer and snacks and drinks. In the Summer, the
attached field becomes the football pitch and the gymnastics stage for our young members! Cafe Church is
also bustling at Gamble Hall. Here we share endless home-made cake and enjoy having a chat before an
interactive Bible based discussion. Tots and Toys is another of our new ventures which is a playgroup for
babies and toddlers and their Carers. Feedback from all sessions is positive and praises the organisation and
quality of provision.
Each week we hold a Bible Study group at St. Thomas’ church. This group is open for anyone across the four
town centre team’s church congregations. It attracts a faithful core of people and gives us the chance to
discuss and pray together in some depth.
Throughout the year we hold joint services with St. Andrew’s. During the last year we shared a Christmas Eve
service and a Good Friday service. These services are always well attended and enjoyed by all.
We give support to various Missionary agencies including TEAR fund, Open Doors, Stamps for Leprosy
(Corpus Christi in Rainford have helped us with this) and Toys at Christmas. At present we are attending
training to collaborate with St. Andrews’ on the Make Lunch project to help to feed youngsters during the
school holidays. Of course, we collect to support the local foodbank which helps people closer to home. We
are aware of another project called X-cite that aims to bring youngsters to our church. Hopefully with some
guidance we could be involved with this in the future too.
One of our readers is a Lay Chaplain at Whiston Hospital. In the past we have held a Holy Communion service
at Pyes Gardens Sheltered Housing with approximately 15 people in attendance.
Historically we have had civic links within our Church with Rev. Bill Mathews as Chaplain to the Air Cadets. At
present, Paul Johnson serves as the Saints RLFC Chaplain and works closely with the local ASDA choir who
perform for us at events such as the Summer Fair.
The Church and its Buildings
St. Mark’s has three buildings in regular
use which are all in good condition. The
general fabric of our buildings are
maintained by skilled volunteers, our
Health and Safety Officers, Alec Roberts
and Dennis Fairclough. The Church
building was consecrated on 25th May
1886. The west end of the building was
latterly remodelled to contain a lounge
area with toilet and kitchen. In recent
years a ramp for disabled access via the
north Memorial door was added. After
the quinquennial inspection, all areas
requiring attention have been dealt
with within the specified time scale.
On the Church site a fourth building, a detached house which used to be the Verger’s residence, still stands
but in some disrepair. Although this house requires some modernisation (it dates from 1898), it could in time
provide a good source of income.
The Church
Our Church is very
attractive and
traditional inside with
original pews, however
we are open to
suggestions about
simple modernisations.
For example, we have
discussed removing
the pews from the
north side and
replacing those with
comfortable seating,
chairs and tables.
Unfortunately a new
central heating system
and its maintenance is
now at the top of our priority list as the Church is regularly used for at least two services per week. Ideally
our toilet facilities also require improving and possibly extending at the back of the church.
The Gamble Hall
The Church’s Gamble Memorial Hall
is situated about 800 yards to the
north of the church across Victoria
Park. The hall is in a good state of
repair having recently benefited
from new kitchen appliances and
work surfaces. A coat of paint and a
recent floor polish have really
livened up the main hall making it a
cheerful space for all the groups
that take place there. Sue Corner
runs Messy Church, Tots and Toys
and the 6 o’clock club here weekly
with the help of countless others!
Cafe Church also runs in the
Gamble Hall as well as the groups
who rent the space, for example
Slimming World and a troupe of Morris Dancers. This hall has become a good source of income for our
Parish.
We have consulted with The Conservation Volunteers about
making simple improvements to the Gamble field, which is a
fabulous open space. We are looking to plant more trees and
plants to encourage wildlife and to install some seating for
those who simply wish to sit and think in peace.
The Gamble field is the location for our outdoor Summer Fair
each year. The fair allows us to work collaboratively with
St.Thomas’ and with the groups associated to that parish such
as Brownies and Rainbows who contribute to the stalls on offer.
Last year we had entertainment from the ASDA choir and from
a local young band too. It is a well attended event in a great
location.
The Centurion Centre (Parish Hall)
The Centre is directly adjacent to St. Mark’s church positioned just behind the old Verger’s house: a gravel
drive allows access between the buildings. A great deal of work has been carried out to modernise and
create good access for all
to the Centre, which was
until recently minimally
used. The centre has an
impressive kitchen,
excellent toilet facilities, a
large hall space, computer
and photocopying facilities
and a full sized snooker
table. At the moment it is
used weekly to hold a drop-
in cafe for ex-service
personnel and is hired
privately for dance. The hall
could generate a good deal
of rental income to
improve our finances – we
need to explore and take
advantage of this.
The Wider Context
We are praying for a new Vicar to love the aspects of our Parish that we love and to push us in the right
direction in dealing with matters that are failing. At St. Mark’s , we know that our priorities for mission
should be to bring families into our church regularly and it is fair to say that we are really trying here. It is
vital that we become more team focused in the future: our PCC voice can be heard saying this even if we do
not always know how to do it.
With regard to finance, the Church is currently in a stable position. We have no liabilities, but require an
increase in voluntary giving to secure a safer future.
We fully support the ministry of women priests at St. Mark’s.
We are committed to supporting our team vicar, to make sure that they get regular days off and holidays.
We also would encourage them to take opportunities for training and retreats. We also think it important to
cover reasonable expenses.
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