St Barnabas is a lively, friendly church with a very diverse congregation. Christians of all ages and backgrounds come together to worship Jesus, enjoy fellowship, serve the Lord and share the gospel in our community.

Our church is at the corner of the main square, at the heart of the Adeyfield neighbourhood. We have a core of committed families and individuals who love Jesus and want to see the church grow, to strengthen our links with the wider community, and to continue to deepen our own faiths.

We invite you to read on to see if God is calling you to join us on our journey.

Please email to request an application pack from: archdstapa@stalbans.anglican.org

Closing date for applications: Wednesday, 8th February at 12 noon

Interview day: Wednesday, 15th March 2023

Our community

St Barnabas Church is a little over a mile from the Hemel Hempstead town centre, in a mostly residential area. The demographics for the Adeyfield parish are fairly mixed, and the church reflects this. The parish includes 3 schools, 2 care homes and an industrial park.

Our church

St Barnabas Church was built as part of the original Hemel Hempstead “new town” development of the 1950s – the church itself is a large and versatile space, refurbished in 2005, with a vestry and toilets added in 2018. The hall complex is used by St Barnabas Preschool during the week and by other groups at evenings and weekends.

Our team

St Barnabas is a part of the Hemel Hempstead Team Ministry, which includes 3 other parishes - St Mary’s Old Town with St Paul’s Highfield, The Church of The Resurrection serving Grovehill & Woodhall Farm and St Alban’s serving Warners End & Gadebridge. The Team Rector has responsibility for St Mary’s and St Paul’s, and there is a vicar at each of the others. The clergy work in a relationship of mutual support and cooperation, to the benefit of all parishes.

Within St Barnabas, we have the support of a very experienced Reader, a retired Associate Minister and a vibrant lay leadership team who assist with services. We employ a part-time Administrator and a Cleaner, and the church office is also shared by the Manager of St Barnabas Preschool. The PCC is a committed and supportive group that meet 5-6 times per year.

Our vision and priorities

Like any church, the Covid-19 pandemic has presented us with many challenges. We are slightly diminished in number, and haven’t managed to restart everything we did before, but we share a desire to keep Jesus at the centre of all we do, and to build from where we are. Our priorities going forward are:

• To see growth in our church, particularly families and younger people.
• To continue to reach out to the wider community, helping to meet needs and showing Christ’s love through our example.
• Improving our care and attention for the extremely varied needs within our own church community.
• To review how we engage and involve the youth we have, as well as making the church more attractive to others.
• To continue the development and encouragement of lay leaders in our church.
• Improvement of the prayer life of our church.
• Continued deepening of our own faith through bible-based teaching.

Our new Vicar will

• Lead the spiritual and pastoral care of our church community.
• Deliver Bible-based, relatable teaching and leadership in traditional and contemporary service styles.
• Continue to build relationships with the wider communities of Adeyfield and Hemel Hempstead.
• Work as part of the Hemel Hempstead Team Ministry, strengthening mutual support and sharing expertise.

The right person for St Barnabas will be

• A strong communicator, enthusiastic and effective in teaching the good news to a congregation of varied age, belief and experience, and interested in offering other opportunities for learning and deepening of faith.
• Encouraging and enabling church members to explore and develop skills, talents and calling within the church.
• Outward-looking; able to forge relationships in the wider community, making St Barnabas more visible, taking God beyond our walls.
• Keen and capable of reaching out to our youth, encouraging and involving them.
• Able to generate new ideas for worship and mission and inspire confidence to explore them.
• Able to work with a broad range of people and groups, listening effectively and sharing expertise where possible.

About Us

St Barnabas started out 70 years ago in the anglo-catholic tradition. It went down a charismatic route for a number of years before adopting a more evangelical approach. Today’s congregation is comprised of people who have joined at every stage of the journey, and as such holds a rich and varied range of Christian experiences and viewpoints. The church continues to hold regular Sunday services that are quite distinct from each other. The 9 o’clock is traditional in tone and style; clergy robe, process in and celebrate communion at the altar table. Our main service, the 10.30, is more informal; clergy don’t robe and communion is celebrated on a small table closer to the congregation. There is a separate children’s group running in the hall 2^nd to 5^th Sundays of each month.

We are united by our love of Jesus and desire to serve him both in church and in the wider community, and we are excited to meet and welcome whoever God leads to join us as Vicar. Please do look at our Parish Profile, and if you would like an informal conversation about the role contact Revd Canon John Williams (Team Rector) on tel. 01442 265272 or email teamrector@hotmail.com