ministry

Parish of Southampton (City Centre)
Reg. Charity No. 1126950

The Parish's Ministry

Introduction

As a Parish we have a very diverse ministry. This is expressed in the following documents on this website.

We hope you will find them informative, and that they may provoke a response of prayer and enquiry.

Mission Statement

Vision Statement - which was drawn up after a Parish awayday, and subsequently endorsed by the PCC

Ecumenism - links with other churches

The Burma Link - details of the Parish's link with the Church in Myanmar (Burma)

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Southampton City Centre Parish: Our Mission

Southampton City Centre Parish is as diverse as any parish can be. For better management it has been divided into neighbourhoods, each cared for by a vicar. The easiest way to understand our ministry and diversity is to look at each neighbourhood.

St Mary’s

Its neighbourhood, which borders the tidal estuary and runs down to the eastern docks and the new marinas, has several distinct communities including Holyrood, Northam, Chapel, Golden Grove and Kingsland, all ethnically and socially diverse. Under major redevelopment schemes, new residential and commercial areas are under construction. With City College next door, and Solent University halls of residence nearby there are many students in the locality.

St Mary’s neighbourhood has its own primary school. We are very proud of this, and have close links, including membership of the governing body.

The worship in St Mary’s Church is mainly Eucharistic led by the growing Parish Choir. On the first Sunday morning of the month a non-eucharistic service led by the "First Sunday" choir brings in a different congregation, which seeks to integrate with the more conventional congregations of the other Sundays.

As St Mary's is the Civic Church occasionally services are held reflecting this.

St Mary's has one of the most ethnically diverse congregations in Southern England.

St Michael’s

St Michael’s has a more eclectic congregation. The neighbourhood consists of several communities. It includes Ocean Village, a growing development on the site of the former Union Castle docks, the commercial heart of the city, part of the Polygon, an Edwardian development now largely occupied by Southampton Solent University students, West Quay Shopping Centre and the Old Town neighbourhood.

St Michael’s worship life centres round the Sacraments. Incense is used each Sunday and the Cantores Michaelis choir has built up a first class musical reputation with. St Michael’s is developing its role as an education centre for young people and as a place of debate, spiritual renewal and hope in the commercial heart of the city. It has a proud tradition as the oldest building still in use in the city of Southampton.

An Overview

Some 14,000 people live permanently in the City Centre Parish. A further 14,000 students, mainly from Southampton Solent University, also dwell there – part of the time. Tens of thousands come in to work each day and in its first year 17.5 million people shopped in West Quay.

We seek to have a ministry to them all. Multifaith relationships are very important to us as are links with our Christian ecumenical partners, with whom we try to work closely. We seek to minister sensitively to the needs of all those who call upon us. We seek to empower people to walk with God where they find him and in ways they can understand. The diversity of experience, background and expectations of those who worship in the parish and those who call upon the services of clergy and laity mean that there often appears to be little consistency in our ministry.

Two “Cathedrals” have opened in the parish in the past two years - the massive shopping centre, West Quay and the St Mary’s Football Stadium, the home of Southampton Football Club “The Saints”. Within the parish are at least 17 other Christian worshipping communities as well as the three Anglican ones. On any Sunday there are around 3,000 Christians at prayer in the parish. There are also more than 12 places of worship other than Christian within the parish so we are community of faith steeped in prayer.

The City Centre Parish seeks to work in conjunction with all people of good will to build the Kingdom of God, relieve suffering and help everyone to find their fulfilment. Pray for us as we work together for the good of all.

Southampton City Centre Parish: Our Vision

We seek to be Kingdom builders

through our worship, as our joyful response to the love of God in our lives,
through living with brokenness,
through engaging with the whole community and
through developing relationship with God for ourselves and others.

We seek to walk beside others in our shared journey of faith and life.

“We shall love the Lord our God, with all our heart with all our mind and with all our strength and our neighbour as ourself”.

OUR AIMS

To invite God in by building a community of:

Prayer – prayer will be the ground of our lives. We seek to share in prayer together, to develop our personal prayer life and make the foundation of decision making in our community.

Study – we have the expectation that every member will read scripture and seek to grow their understanding of God through study and group work discussion.

Worship – through which we express our personal and corporate response to our salvation through God in Christ.

Life style – We seek to live both corporately and individually sacramental lives that honour creation and the redemptive acts of Christ. We seek to place the sacraments at the centre of our lives through which we recognise the sacredness of the whole of life.

Evangelism – We seek lifestyles which witness to the loving creative power of God, so that the blessings we have received draw others into faith.

Pastoral care – We seek to build a community where our care for one another witnesses to the value Christ places on each of us.

STRATEGIES

PRAYER

To develop prayerfulness through teaching and sharing
To develop prayer groups at times and contexts available to people
To develop intercessory prayer as an informed vehicle for prayer
To create prayer chains and other means to support prayer-filled lives
To develop informed prayer

STUDY

To establish the expectation that study is for everyone
To discover exactly what is happening at present
To discover what needs to happen
To encourage study through the setting up of book groups, nurture groups, and bible study groups
To develop preaching courses as ways into deeper learning
To encourage learning through study days
To explore ministry in all its forms
To encourage study through groups like Emmaus, Encounters with Jesus, Lent Groups and Confirmation and refresher groups.
To develop and increase our ministry with young people

WORSHIP

To develop a diversity of patterns of worship
To develop a variety of opportunities for worship
To offer opportunities for worship inside and outside the church buildings
To open our buildings for at least two hours at midday every day
To publish who we are what we do and how we worship
To seek to be pro-active in our worship life inviting others to join us
To develop and increase our ministry with young people

LIFESTYLE

To make the development of life styles reflecting God’s creative love a priority
To develop a sacramental ministry in the parish reflecting God’s creative love
Through study, practice and example to help others see the life as sacramental (holy)
To use Scripture to understand human relationships and humanity’s relationship with the whole of creation

EVANGELISM Creating opportunities to be living witnesses

To develop the confidence and courage to enable us to tell our story more effectively
To develop study, prayer, worship to strengthen confidence and deepen courage
To share with one another
To make the parish more visible in the wider community by every means available
To develop confidence and trust in God and in our own faithfulness
To develop strategy for inviting people in and create opportunities
To recognise the skills we have in the Holy Spirit and how we can get out and use them
To identify tools for developing spiritual growth and to use them
To develop and increase our ministry with young people

PASTORAL CARE

To support all those given us by God in our community
To offer opportunities of nurture, support, growth and participation in the sacraments at appropriate levels to all who seek them
To give thanks for growth, development and happiness and to pray for and with those in need
To walk beside our neighbours in the their journey of faith in mutual support.

Ecumenism

The Southampton City Centre Parish is a member of the FORUM OF SOUTHAMPTON CITY CENTRE CHURCHES.

Membership of this forum consists of four Christian denominations in the City Centre, the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church the United Reform Church and The Anglican Church.

SCCCF Ecumenical Group has a forum agreement to work together.
The organising Committee meets four times a year. Clergy and lay representatives from each denomination meet to organise events, where we can worship, socialise, study and discuss together, and share the Good news of the Gospel with others in the City.

The Southampton City Centre parish is committed to ecumenism and we take every opportunity to build up our common life and witness to our union in Christ.

Our current representatives : Carole Adams, Anne Lancey
There is one vacant position at present and we are looking for someone else to join us