St Weonards Benefice www.stw.org.uk is made of up of five rural parishes in the western part of the Ross and Archenfield Deanery. It has a population of about 2,000 with good road access to Hereford, Ross-on Wye and Monmouth (M50 – 20 minutes, Severn Bridges – 50 minutes). Although there are a few large, highly successful agribusinesses in the benefice, many smaller family farms are finding life challenging, and they worry about the future. The vicarage in St Weonards is in a central location. St Weonards and Garway have maintained primary schools. There are two village shops, three village halls, five pubs and a garage.

St Weonards Benefice working with the Deanery hope to appoint a parish priest who will give 80% of their time to the parishes and 20% of their time to helping the Benefices in the Deanery engage with children and families more effectively.

In this period of ‘interregnum’ the parishes have developed a collaborative approach and wish to explore how to further improve this to a manageable group, to support the incumbent.

So please join us in our discovery.

The benefice seeks someone to be a servant of God in the service of the community (80% of role)

To play a distinctive and intentional role in inspiring each generation, proclaiming Christ and growing disciples by:

• Sharing the cure of souls with the Bishop and Rural Dean and exercising spiritual leadership as part of a team.
• Helping to lead the benefice in mission by encouraging it to focus on the diocesan priorities of making disciples, growing leaders and engaging with younger generations.
• Inspiring creative mission and ministry; building on existing traditions and being visionary in exploring new opportunities.
• Developing the energy and encouraging the gifts of the whole people of God.
• Exercising a pastoral, sacramental and teaching ministry across the benefice and community.

Deanery Role (20%) To work in conjunction with our incumbents and key children & family workers in each parish/benefice to:

• Assess the needs of what is required and what work is going on within the deanery
• To put together a ‘plan of action’ for how the deanery can engage with young people and families ensuring that we use our talents & resources wisely; build on strengths; follow the Spirit’s leading.
• To identify, support and resource those who lead and support our children’s and family work.
• To identify suitable resources that might be available from Hereford Diocese, Church of England & third parties organisations; offering training options and support.
• To provide ‘joined up thinking’ regarding collective worship and children’s ministry options (e.g., OTB, Messy Church, Festival opportunities) wherever possible.

• A love of people, an excellent communicator, with a desire and confidence to engage with people of all ages.
• With a living faith, a passion for creative ministry, the ability to respect the existing traditions and grow the worshipping community in new ways.
• A vision and confidence to introduce change in parish structures for future sustainability.

An important feature of the benefice is the tradition, since the 1970s, of collaborative working and worshipping together. The benefice embraces a variety of worshipping traditions. The first Sunday of the month we have a benefice service that rotates around different churches (on Zoom during COVID-19), which enables us to meet and worship together.