The Parish Church of St John-at-Hampstead

Parish: St John at Hampstead
Deanery: North Camden
Incumbent: Fr Stephen Tucker
Wardens: Andrew Penny
Visitation by: The Revd Andrew Cain
Date: 11th June 2008

Summary observations:

St John’s is the historic parish Church of much of the Deanery and occupies a very prominent position at the heart of Hampstead village. It is a beautiful, Grade I listed building, set in an historic Churchyard well maintained by the local Council. The building itself is very well maintained, lovely and kept open as much as possible. The congregation is large, vibrant and intellectually curious and the clergy team is blessed with intelligent and thoughtful leadership; bright and engaging curates and an obvious enjoyment of the parish and all that it has to offer. Historically generous in its support of Common Fund the parish is seeking to address some concerns about its funding base. The parish also has ambitious plans to renew its buildings within the historic envelope of the current structure to engage more carefully with the increasing number of children and young families it attracts, partly through its excellent parochial school and equally through the quality of worship and preaching offered. This may well impact on its ability to continue its previous record of generous support of Common Fund.
Meeting with Incumbent

Fr Stephen has been in post for 8 years and clearly enjoys this role leading this important parish. He acknowledges that he is fortunate both in having two full time stipendiary curates and in their quality. He described the relationship with them as very good and stimulating and it was clear in interview that all three share a vision and a passion for the parish and its life.

He acknowledges that the parish is in a period of transition and like a great ocean going liner is taking a long time to slowly turn around and begin to move on a new course. The congregation is supportive and intelligent and often well resourced outside of the parish network and as a consequence he notes that it can be hard to engender a sense of commitment to the Church community.
The challenge is partly how to provide both the sense of engagement with God through the quality of the traditional style of worship offered and to create routes through to a deeper engagement with the Church community itself drawing people into the centre by fostering a sense of welcome and a space for newer people to claim as their own. This is coupled with the reality that like almost every parish in the Deanery there are problems in getting people to attend mid- week worship and education programmes, though a new initiative called Christian Essentials’ is showing hopeful signs on a Sunday afternoon.
There have been recent changes in a variety of areas as the Church seeks to engage with this task coffee at the back of Church rather than in what the Area Dean found to be rather dingy basement; a new Saturday morning group begun by Mo Sarah for those in their 20-30’s exploring blocks to belonging and a popular midweek service for mums and toddlers Holy Hampsters.
As Vicar of a busy and demanding parish Fr Stephen is looking forward to his sabbatical later this year.

Meeting with Wardens

The recent death of Sarah Knight a long standing and popular member of the congregationand warden should be recorded. Peter Ginnings (deputy warden) joined Andrew Penny for the meeting.

They expressed their gratitude for the quality of the clergy the parish enjoys and the good relationship they enjoy with Fr Stephen. Issues identified reflected those raised by the clergy with the added concern about communication with the congregation and the administration of the parish life. A new parish administrator has been appointed to replace a long standing and very successful employee and some time was being taken in bedding down new procedures and ways of working.


With Fr Stephen’s sabbatical coming up they were aware that they would need to be more active in supporting Mo Sarah and Fr Jim in their roles and in assisting the parish administrator in her work for the parish. Regular meetings will be needed to ensure that good communication remains in place and that work is done as necessary.

Exciting plans for the redevelopment of the 1911 extension to the Church were explained and the fundraising target necessary for these works.
Again the theme of a parish in transition was raised the parish Survey of 2004 had helped in the production of the Mission Action Plan, which the wardens admitted was long on plans and a little light on action. Given the need to engage the congregation in the life and witness of the Church it was suggested, and agreed, that the current Mission Action Plan is probably not the most user friendly document, even when reduced to Point 8 and printed in an A5 booklet. Some thought might be given in the PCC to reviewing the document and setting annual targets and then celebrating them as they are achieved.
Recommendations:

1. That regular meetings be held with the Parish Administrator and the Assistant Clergy during the Inter-regnum.
2. That the PCC be encouraged to look again at the MAP and consider how it, as it currently stands, works as a document for encouraging engagement.

Meeting with the PCC

Background facts on Mission:

St John’s is close to both Christ Church, Hampstead with which it shares a similar tradition in its emphasis on Choral Anglicanism and also the proprietary Chapel of St John’s, Downshire Hill, with which it does not! Very good relationships have been maintained over many years with other Christian Churches in the area. The Parish population is around 8,114 with the usual Deanery large number of adults aged 20-45 living in the parish and unusual racial homogeneity for central London. Common Fund payments are very high and the parish is the largest supporter of the Common Fund in the Area. This may not be sustainable given the building works contemplated for the medium term. The Electoral Roll stands at 239 in 2006 though the substantial decline recorded on previous years was the result of a systems failure in contacting previous ER members and is being addressed. The current figure stands at just over 350.


15 members of the PCC attended the meeting representing mostly the older and more long standing members of the large PCC. During a wide ranging discussion a variety of views were expressed on the strengths of the parish which the PCC identified as including- the large and interesting congregation; the strength of the clergy team and their excellent preaching; the traditional Anglican liturgy with excellent music. The quality of the worship was something that was felt particularly drew people to St John’s. The increase in younger families was noted, and the difficulties of including and supporting them acknowledged. When asked about the attractiveness of the Parochial School as a driver for attendance it was felt that it was hard to pin-point how many came with the aim of securing a place at the Parochial school or how many continued to attend services once their children came to the school. The school is an important feature of parish life.

Sunday school classes are a strength although the lack of space for them was acknowledged. Some classes are held in the Vicarage which is extremely generous of Fr Stephen and was something that the Area Dean was very keen that his congregation should not discover.

The beauty of the building was also mentioned and its place at the heart of the historic village and its life.

The challenge for the PCC was felt to be how to address the busyness of the Church members and encourage a sense of ownership especially amongst the younger members. The very active core of the Church was felt to be ageing and there was some concern expressed about how they will be replaced as they cease being able to offer their active support and financial contributions to the life of the Church. The difficulty of encouraging financial contributions from the younger, less engaged members was also mentioned though the wealth of some of the congregation is a positive for the parish, if it can be harnessed in some way to supporting parish life. If it is any comfort to the PCC similar concerns have been raised by almost every PCC in the current Visitation series.
It was less easy for the PCC members present to be able to articulate their sense of outreach as mission to the parish and the tendency was to revert to the quality of worship, preaching and music and the number of social events and groupings in the Church though there was some dissent about how welcoming and easy these could be to access for newer members.

The PCC seemed unaware of the growth of other parishes in the Deanery St Mary’s Primrose Hill is now enjoys the largest worshipping congregation; St Luke’s Kidderpore Avenue is as large as St John’s and offers a very distinctive approach to the faith and Holy Trinity, Finchley Road is also growing rapidly. The ethos of St John’s welcoming of women’s ministry, Inclusive and Liberal is also less unusual in the Deanery than in past years and will be even less so with the new appointment at Emmanuel.

Both these factors will necessarily have an impact on the attractiveness of St John’s as a Church of choice for established Christians entering the Deanery and the PCC does need to undertake some thinking about who they are now as a Church community and how they might shape a new vision for themselves in the Deanery.

Some careful thought needs to be given to their strategies for mission and welcome and the very good work begun by the move to coffee at the back of Church, the provision of two welcomers at the main Sunday service and three pilot pastoral care groups recently begun are excellent starters. Again it is worth noting that every parish in the Deanery is struggling with similar issues.
Recommendations:

1. That the PCC looks again at its Mission Action Plan and reflects on the identity of the parish and how its unique situation, resources and strengths can be made most of in drawing in new members.
2. A new Mission Action Plan should include some specific action points for the year ahead and be shorter and more focused on results and less on committees to consider actions!

Conclusion.

St John’s is a very well established and healthy parish. It is blessed in many ways and the clergy, Wardens and PCC are very conscious of its history and the challenges of its current life. It was mentioned that at a recent PCC Fr Stephen had suggested to the PCC that the choice was either to grow or decline the parish cannot stand still.’

I would agree and this will clearly take some effort and imagination but it is also clear that the parish leadership is excellent, the ability to think and plan exceptional and the resources available considerable. I cannot see why St John’s should not continue and flourish as it faces the issues that it and every parish in the Deanery share.

Fr Andrew Cain
Area Dean
June 2008