The Aylsham Team, and within it the Bure Valley churches, seek to bring people together, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ through worship and prayer and to show the Good News in action through loving service.

The parishes in the Bure Valley group of churches belong to one of the Diocese of Norfolk’s most flourishing Team Ministries. The Aylsham Team has been in existence for many years and those ministering here can expect to find both the benefits of supportive lay and ordained colleagues and the joys of pastoral care of particular church communities.

The benefice clergy work well together to ensure appropriate ministry and mission in each of the churches within the Team (by, for example, sharing the ministry to couples coming for marriage at one of the most attractive church buildings), and collaboration across the Team is a high priority.

The pattern of ministry in a Team yet with local responsibility enables parishes in the Aylsham Team to connect well with their local communities. It is fair to say that the next Team Vicar of the Bure Valley Group of Churches will have a heart for community ministry and will appreciate the considerable overlap which exists in rural parishes between church and community, using this to draw, as this profile suggests, the community into the church as well as the church into the community.

The Diocese of Norwich recently adopted its new vision, to be Transformed by Christ: Prayerful, Pastoral, Prophetic. You can find out more about that in the Diocesan notes and other material accompanying this profile. Within the wider diocesan family, you will find the heart for mission and ministry which I hope you will discern within this profile, as well as the same genuine desire for the post-Covid church to take the shape and carry out the work which the Lord desires. You will be in the prayers of many, those who know you and those who do not, as you seek to discern whether you are called to be the next Team Vicar of the Bure Valley.

May the Lord bless you richly as you undertake this discernment.

The Team Vicar will

• enable the mission and ministry of the Bure Valley group of churches
• extend outreach to the community
• facilitate the churches in serving those who live in the benefice
• develop greater opportunities for teaching and discipling
• encourage the participation of the laity as widely as possible
• enable the churches’ active intention to attract all people to a welcoming environment

Ways in which this ministry will be fulfilled include

1. by bringing the church to the community and the community to the church, for example by preparatory and follow-up work with wedding couples, support to the bereaved through funeral ministry that provides on-going support, by provision for those struggling with the cost of living (food bank, community pantry), by drop-in possibilities, not least for those whose mental resilience has been damaged by the pandemic and by good and supportive engagement with schools.
2. by drawing on resources available from the diocese or elsewhere to enable deepened discipleship, for example, by exploring Pilgrim, Alpha or similar courses, through opportunities for biblical and theological study, by actively developing a ministry bringing those baptised to confirmation.
3. intentionally to engage with new and existing diocesan arrangements to develop lay leadership through, for example, wider participation in training Authorised Worship Assistants and considering possible vocations to other forms of lay and ordained ministry whether locally or nationally authorised or commissioned.
4. working collaboratively within the congregations and the wider Team to develop the churches’ welcome, including by asking which demographics within the benefice are missing and how might this be addressed, whether there are particular ways to serve, encourage and bring to faith particular groups of people and what leadership development might enhance the congregations’ outreach to the community.

The key characteristics which the ministry of the Team Vicar of the Bure Valley will manifest include:

• being secure and confident in the love of God
• emotional intelligence
• pastoral awareness
• good interpersonal skills
• being an active presence in the community, offering support and care to those in need
• ability to work with the congregations in developing a mission plan
• a commitment to ministry in local schools
• good liturgical leadership in both traditional, formal, modern and informal worship
• actively and intentionally taking steps to develop faith and build confidence in the congregations
• thoughtful preaching
• a readiness to take new steps in outreach
• an enthusiastic team player within the wider benefice

The Aylsham & District Team Ministry is made up of eighteen unique parishes centred around the Market Town of Aylsham which has the largest community in the team.

The team comprises the Revd Canon Julie Boyd, Team Rector, two full time team vicars based in Buxton and Cawston and two part-time team vicars based in Aldborough and Badersfield (formally RAF Coltishall). Members of the ministry team have pastoral responsibility for a group of parishes and also share expertise across the team in a mutually supportive way. The team also includes a number of active retired clergy, two licenced lay ministers (Readers), a number of Authorised Worship Assistants (AWAs) and a part-time administrator.

Until recently we also had a part-time youth and families worker. This position is currently vacant and we hope to reappoint someone in the near future to support the team in their work within schools, communities and churches.

We are seeking an enthusiastic and mission minded full time Team Vicar to complement our present ministry team as a visible presence for good in our community.