St Mary the Virgin St Mary’s Platt

Parish Profile

December 2016

www.stmarysplattchurch.org.uk

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Introduction and Welcome to St Mary’s Platt The churchwardens and people of St Mary’s Platt bid you a warm welcome and extend to you an invitation to come and join a loving church at the heart of the community of Platt.

The church has about 100 on the electoral roll, but has practical support from well over 100 volunteers from both the church and community. Usual Sunday attendance is around 50 to 60, but to this should be added our fresh expressions initiatives that do not meet on a Sunday, such as First Steps, Harpwood Care Home communion and First Thursday. Messy Church was also running for a while

A recent picture of the congregation

The family of the church provides caring support for one another and through church mission initiatives we are reaching out with that care to those around us who need it. Many of our family are engaged as individuals, visiting and caring for those less able in our community. We try to be aware of the changing needs around us and are conscious that there is much work to do.

We value both the sacraments and the word, and believe that church should be a welcoming environment where all are nurtured and encouraged.

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The Village and Parish of St Mary’s Platt

The parish of St Mary’s Platt is more than just the village of Platt. The parish is actually made up of five hamlets – Platt, Wrotham Heath, Crouch, Comp and Nepicar plus a newer development at the Old Saw Mill. Needless to say there is much blurring of the boundaries and you will come across many houses nestled among the trees as you amble along the country lanes. Like many villages we have our pockets of new development, and we always look forward to welcoming new people to the parish.

The church is the only church in the parish and is at the heart of a lively and friendly village. It is in the North Downs area of outstanding natural beauty, half way between Maidstone and Sevenoaks in rural Kent. The parish has a population of about 1,700 and benefits from excellent road and rail links. It has its own pub, village hall (the War Memorial Hall), two sports fields and a cricket pitch. It is also within easy reach of Borough Green where there is a good selection of shops, a library, the railway station (trains run to London Victoria twice an hour) and large medical and dental practices.

There are a number of schools in the area including our own Church Aided primary school. The parish has two hotels, one residential nursing home, a small industrial estate and 42 acres of public open space woodland.

Local farmer harvesting the fields

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The Local Cluster

Since 2000, St Mary’s Platt has been part of a local cluster of four parishes, including Wrotham, Ightham and Borough Green. It is a loose collaboration with the aim of achieving more by ministry together than we can on our own.

The Church Building

The church is a Grade II listed building constructed in 1843, overlooking the surrounding village. It has chairs to seat about 200 people providing flexibility for worship and church functions. There is disabled access to the church and a sound system incorporating a hearing loop.

The church is in good repair and benefits from an addition, called the Garden Room (built in 1990), which provides a meeting room seating about 30, kitchen facilities and toilets with provision for the disabled. The adjoining lobby has useful storage facilities and houses the copyprinter. There is an exterior door in the lobby providing independent disabled access, as well as two doors leading directly into the church.

In addition there is a large open churchyard (mown by a contractor) and a Garden of Remembrance for the burial of ashes.

Next to the church are four Almshouses. The vicar is ex officio on the board of trustees for the Almshouses. The Garden of Remembrance

Choir Practice in the Garden Room

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Our Worship

Regular Services

Sunday 08.00 Holy Communion (BCP)* 10.30 1st and 3rd Sundays – Holy Communion (CW) with Explorers for children of school age in the Garden Room during the service

2nd Sunday – Family Service 4th Sunday – Morning Worship (CW) with Explorers 5th Sunday – Service usually held with our cluster parishes: St George’s, Wrotham; St Peter’s, Ightham and the Church of the Good Shepherd, Borough Green

18.30 (16.30 in winter) 2nd Sunday of month only. Evensong (BCP) (without choir)

Wed 09.15 Holy Communion (CW) – held weekly* *These services are usually held weekly but, during the interregnum, are held monthly

There are specific orders of service for all services and seasons.

Other Services

The congregation is open to a variety of services and different styles of worship such as Iona or contemplative worship.

We have a Parish Quiet Day for reflection and prayer each year, usually at nearby West Malling Abbey

Occasionally we have held services of healing, with laying on of hands.

Café services are held two or three times a year at 10.30am.

St Mary’s by night

A Café Service… … is a lot of fun!

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On the day after the church fair, the church holds an outdoor service, on the field used for the fair. From time to time this has taken the form of a pet service.

Parade services for the uniformed groups in the village focus on three main services: Remembrance Sunday, Mothering Sunday and the open air service. Platt School holds three services a term in Platt Church usually led by the vicar, or, in his/her absence, a Reader. The vicar also takes worship services at the school.

A School Service

There is a ten minute act of worship before each First Thursday meeting.

Two or three times a year there is a choral evensong which gives an opportunity for people to draw near to God through the beauty of music.

An Open Air Service

Messy Church was held three times a year in Platt School but is currently in abeyance

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Seasonal provisions

On Palm Sunday the choir leads the congregation in a service of readings and Lenten music.

In the evenings during Holy Week there is Compline and the Maundy Thursday service. A one-hour meditation service takes place on Good Friday afternoon. A children’s Good Friday Club and Harvest Club lead into all-age worship on those days.

The all-age Advent Service includes several activities such as signing up for Posada, signing Christmas cards for Prisoners of Conscience, providing festive food for the Foodbank, bringing Christmas toys for a charity and supporting the Bridge Trust with a Christmas card ‘tree’.

An annual Service of Remembering is held before Christmas for those who wish to remember someone who they will particularly miss at Christmas time.

A service of Nine Lessons and Carols is held a week or two before Christmas.

Two identical Christingle services are held on Christmas Eve at 2 and 4pm. The 2pm service is quieter for very young or sensitive children as the congregation to the 4pm service completely fills the church.

The crib at Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve

Christmas Tree Festival

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Music We are very fortunate to have an extremely good pipe organ in our church, which is played enthusiastically every week by our committed organist.

We are also very proud of our four-part robed choir which sings for every Sunday 10.30am service of the year. Our aim is to enhance the worship of the church through the words and music of the liturgy. We sing both traditional hymns and modern worship songs as is appropriate for each service.

The choir also sings a choral evensong three times a year and provides a service of Lenten music on Palm Sunday and a Nine Lessons and Carols service at Christmas. We have a grand piano in church which is played in some family services to accompany our small music group. This group incorporates a number of our younger congregation members.

Within our choir (and congregation) we are fortunate to have a number of proficient musicians who value the opportunity to worship through music that is both musically challenging and worshipful. With such resources in the parish, we feel extremely fortunate to be able to offer a wide variety of music to enhance and add to the spirituality of the church.

Various choirs and music groups appreciate the opportunity to use the church for concerts. Due to its excellent acoustics it is also used for amateur and professional recordings. A couple of times a year the church and village will put on a combined fund raising concert and supper.

Sara at the organ

The church also has a grand piano

Songs from the Shows

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‘Uncle Tom Cobley an’ all!’ Members of the choir and congregation enjoying a lighter moment singing Widecombe Fair at a fund raising concert.

Mission and Evangelism

Our parish magazine, Village News, is produced by the church for the whole parish. It is delivered free to every household ten times a year, supported by adverts placed there by businesses and traders in the local community. In the magazine the village and church can engage together for the benefit of the whole community. Through its pages the church is able to share something of the Good News it has to offer, to invite all members of the community to share in the life of the church, and draw readers’ attention to local events and issues that impact the community. The community in return shares something of its life through articles from the school, neighbourhood watch, local councillors, and the Memorial Hall, amongst others, and through events advertised in the magazine. This outward-looking focus of the magazine is typical of the blurred boundaries between the church and community that allow a rich dialogue between the two. The magazine is produced, printed, collated and delivered by a team of volunteers drawn from both church and community.

Each year the team produces a Platt Year Book of local information and contacts delivered with the magazine, extra copies for delivery to newcomers can be an introductory welcome from neighbours

The team proud to show that Village News is

multi-award winning!

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We take seriously the call to engage personally with our community within the context of the five marks of mission and in the wider world through support for mission agencies. The following gives a flavour of the ways the church seeks to fulfil its calling.

…To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom

We hold a Walk of Witness around the parish on Good Friday and at Harvest, giving visible witness to the presence of the Christ in the community. A cross is taken to various locations representing the five hamlets of the parish, where we hold a ten-minute service with prayers for the households in the neighbourhood.

We give out free mince pies around the local industrial estate at Christmas, and hot cross buns at Easter. This is a ‘Servant Evangelism’ initiative and builds on the monthly delivery of the parish magazine. Slowly relationships are being formed with some of those who work there. We hope that the opportunity for casual conversation which this provides breaks down some of the unease that is clearly felt about Christians and what they might be like, and the image of the local church as ‘giving’ rather than ‘asking’ is established.

An open air service is held in the local recreation ground the day after the annual church fair. Away from the church building it regularly attracts the unchurched, particularly when it has taken the form of a pet service!

School ministry is very important. The vicar is much involved in the spiritual life of our church school, including taking worship, and leading school services in the church. The church presents bibles to the school leavers and the PCC appoints foundation governors.

Good Friday gathering at

Pigeon’s Green

An open air service

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Messy Church was held in the church school’s hall at the end of the school day on a Friday once a term. The timing and location meant that there was a real opportunity to reach out in a non-threatening way to those who do not usually come to church. In addition, a Messy Church style Club is held in church during the mornings of Good Friday and Harvest Sunday.

We involve the community in the life of the church through fun events such as concerts, quiz evenings and other events such as the very popular fish and chips evening with children’s games.

…To teach, baptise and nurture new believers

We hold confirmation classes to prepare all our candidates, and leadership of these has been shared by the vicar and Readers

Our fortnightly bible study group is a welcoming environment where mature Christians and new Christians work through their faith together.

First Steps, for 0-4 year olds and their parents/carers, is used as a way of maintaining contact with the newly baptised and includes story-telling with puppets, songs, etc.

…To respond to human need by loving service

We hold a monthly “get together” lunch for any who would like a two-course hot lunch, a warm welcome and plenty of conversation. It provides a meeting place for both church members and the local community alike and is well attended by both in equal measure.

A Harvest Club

A fish and chips evening

A Christmas Get Together lunch

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A weekly coffee morning has been very successfully established and has run for over a year now. It provides a more regular opportunity for church members and members of the local community to come together for a coffee and chat. Church members are encouraged to bring neighbours who might otherwise be isolated in their own homes.

Like many churches, we gather food from the congregation to take to a Food Bank.

The church is open daily for prayer and quiet reflection. There is a prayer corner with hand held crosses, prayer booklets and the opportunity to light a candle.

….To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation

During Advent we send Christmas cards to prisoners of conscience to demonstrate both to those in captivity and their captors that they are not forgotten by the world at large, or by their Father in heaven.

We linked with St Faith’s, Budiriro in Harare, Zimbabwe at a time when they were suffering great persecution and had been locked out of their church. We continue to develop our relationship with them. We had hoped that they would visit last autumn.

In 2014 the church was delighted to welcome Bishop Chad Gandiya to share news of Zimbabwe and his vision for the Diocese of Harare.

The launch of Café Platt

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Currently taking a break, the First Thursday monthly talk is always about some aspect of ‘Christianity in Action’ and is often illustrated. It follows a short act of worship. First Thursday is attended by church members and local community members. After the talk the meeting concludes with tea and cakes.

….To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

We are committed to be a Fair Trade church and a Fair Trade stall is run twice a month and every week through November and up to Christmas. The goods are both from sustainable sources and fairly traded, supporting individual workers, their communities and the environment in which they work.

We collect old newspapers to take to the local kennels for them to use as bedding, which saves the kennels using alternative resources.

Our mission giving, which amounts to around ten percent of total income, includes support for a range of local and international charities and mission initiatives.

The Fair Trade Stall

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Pastoral Care Pastoral care is led by the vicar and Reader/Pastoral Assistant. A small group of people carry out home visits and communions. Holy Communion is taken to the only care home in the parish, Harpwood Care Home, twice a month, once by the vicar and once by a Reader (by extension). (This has only been once a month during the interregnum.)

Within the church there is a ‘sheep pen’ system whereby about 6 members of the congregation keep a caring eye out for those who sit in their part of the church. They are supported by the vicar and Pastoral Assistant.

We are used to vicars who encourage collaborative ministry involving not only the lay ministers but as many of the congregation as possible in different areas of worship and service.

We would wish to continue with the policy whereby some divorced couples are able to marry in the church, dependent upon the vicar’s decision, following an interview with the couple, and adherence to Canon Law.

We would like to follow an open baptism policy whereby all who wish to be baptised are welcomed without conditions.

A Local Baptism Family

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Opportunities and Challenges for Ministry We see ourselves as a welcoming, friendly and hospitable congregation but recognise that we face some key challenges such as:

Dwindling numbers in the Explorers’ Sunday school, Messy Church and other young children’s activities.

Very few people taking up the opportunity of study groups.

We have classes for confirmation candidates and a study group for old and new Christians to explore their faith together, but we have not run a course for the unchurched, such as Alpha, nor a nurture course such as Emmaus. This gap makes it difficult for those seeking faith to make the journey from enquiry to baptism / confirmation.

A need to develop opportunities for collaborative prayer.

Children attending secondary schools travel quite far afield and as new friendships and interests develop (especially sport), they tend to stop attending church. We have been advertising for a youth worker to run a weekly youth club for two years but without success.

A new Memorial Hall was completed in the summer and the war memorial re-dedicated by the Bishop of Rochester. In due course a new building for our Church-Aided primary school will be constructed adjacent to the hall. The old hall and school sites will be released for housing and we see this as an ideal opportunity for the parish to grow and flourish.

The new War Memorial Hall

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Community

Key festivals are all well attended and several services each year, including Remembrance Day, are attended by all of the uniformed groups. We delight in joining with the community to commemorate national and local events. Some community led events are held in the church, such as the District WI carol services, flower and Christmas tree festivals, art exhibitions and concerts. The village is blessed with a wide variety of social groups from WI, Scouts, flower arrangers, village hall, etc. (See also Platt Year Book.)

Brownies at a campfire

VE Day anniversary celebrations in the old Memorial Hall

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Platt Church of England (Aided) Primary School Our local Church school is well attended and has just been rated ’Good’ by Ofsted with some outstanding features. The SIAMS inspection in July 2015 was ‘Good’. The links with the school are very strong with the vicar being an ex officio member of the governing body, attending services within school and hosting services within the Church each half term.

Platt School Nursery

There is a pre-school nursery in the school grounds catering for children from age 2 until the time they transfer to primary school. There are close links with the primary school though the nursery is run as a not-for-profit company.

Church and Village Events

Our annual summer church fair, held on the recreation ground, is a major event that brings church- and non-church-goers together in a fun social occasion. It also generates significant funds for our church.

During the year, we hold various events such as quiz nights or concerts with supper in the church. Other events held in the church include a plant sale, an Autumn Bazaar and other entertainments.

The current school buildings soon to be

replaced by a new school

The annual church fair is always a popular event

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The Vicarage

The vicarage is next door to the church and benefits from a spacious garden backing on to Platt Woods. It was built in the 1970s and is a detached, split level house with four bedrooms and an attached garage.

There is a study and toilet which can be accessed without entering the family home.

Finances

The PCC works hard to ensure that the income and expenditure are matched in any year although this is often difficult given the challenge of maintaining a large building. There are, however, reserves available to the PCC and we have been able to finance some significant, important works over the last few years, in particular rewiring the church, replacing defective leadwork on the roof and plasterwork repairs. Nevertheless the PCC is committed to maintaining its level of giving to support the mission work of the church.

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Our New Vicar

This is a part time appointment of 4 days per week including Sundays and festivals.

We are seeking a spiritual and prayerful priest, with the enthusiasm to build on the strong foundations of this Church within its community. With the help and support of the congregation, our vicar should seek:

To inspire the worship and corporate prayer life of the church.

To nurture spiritual growth in all ages of the congregation.

To be a loving and compassionate pastor.

To build on the strong links we enjoy with our Church School.

To enjoy and encourage the quality and breadth of music in worship and community engagement.

To encourage all age groups to become actively involved in church life and to engage in mission with the local community.

To work with colleagues within the local parish cluster to grow the Kingdom of God within the wider area.

To enable us to become the church, within the community, that God wishes us to be.

View of the churchyard from the East

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What We Can Offer We see ourselves as a friendly, welcoming and hospitable congregation.

We have a supportive ministry team including two Readers, one of whom is also a Pastoral Assistant and licensed to conduct funerals, allowing the vicar more flexibility in his or her time management.

We have many willing volunteers who clean, arrange flowers, polish brass, do the sacristan’s duties, and tend the churchyard and Garden of Remembrance, as well as those who undertake pastoral visiting, giving the vicar more time for ministerial work.

The challenges that we have identified provide an opportunity for rewarding ministry.

The church building needs minimal maintenance and planned expenditure will be covered by the repair fund.

The vicarage is a modern detached building close to the church.

The church has sound finances and a positive attitude to giving.

St Mary’s Platt is an attractive setting for a home, and a lovely working environment.

The view from the church tower