MISSION AND SOCIETY FORUM
ANNUAL REPORT
2008
INDEX
Message from the Ven Caroline Baston…………………….………………………2
Head of Mission and Society ………………………………….……………………….2
PDCSR – Portsmouth Diocesan Council for Social Responsibility…………2
Hampshire Family Mentoring Partnership………………………………….……..4
Hampshire Voluntary Care Groups Advisory Service………………………….6
Communications Adviser………………………………………………………………..7
Disability Issues……………………………………………………………………………9
Chaplain with Deaf People in Portsmouth and Winchester Dioceses…...9
Ecumenism………………………………………………………………………………...10
The Porvoo Report……………………………………………………………………….11
Environment Adviser……………………………………………………………………13
Interfaith Adviser………………………………………………………………………..14
The Mothers Union……………………………………………………………………..15
Urban Ministry Adviser…………………………………………………………………17
Port Chaplaincy in Portsmouth………………………………………………..……18
Qinetiq Site Chaplain – Portsmouth…………………………………………..…..19
Rural Affairs……………………………………………………………………………....21
Contact Details for Mission and Society Team ………………………………..23
Intercessions for Personal Devotion and Corporate Worship…………....27
Message from the Ven Caroline Baston
In response to a question as to which commandment was most important, Jesus responded by refusing to separate love of God and love of neighbour. For Anglicans this dual responsibility is focused in our commitment to Word, Sacrament and Pastoral Care for all. The Mission and Society department seeks to oversee the outworking of this ‘love of neighbour’ (pastoral care) within the wider diocese.
This report highlights the huge variety of the ways in which this is carried out in the name of Christ and on behalf of the diocese. I commend it to you and the work to your prayers. The Ven Caroline Baston, Chair of Mission and Society Forum and Archdeacon of Isle of Wight.
Mission and Society Section
The Section’s work covers a broad range of areas that do not easily fall within any other area of the Diocese’s work. It can appear difficult to see the connecting thread, but there is amongst of all them, a view about the value of people both as individuals and as a community that is fundamentally based on Christian values. We are all engaged in the task of trying to build the kingdom of God on earth, and there is no single way to do that but we can embrace all manner of opportunities, ideas and approaches.
Canon Nick Ralph, Head of the Mission and Society Section
PDCSR – Portsmouth Diocesan Council for Social Responsibility
The CSR Steering Group is appointed by Bishop’s Council and consists of Lucy Docherty (Chair), the Ven Caroline Baston, the Revd Max Millett,Mr Mike Dobson (Roman Catholic representative), and Mr Leigh Rampton.
TheChurch Based Social Enterprise Group came aboutfollowing aDiocesan Seminar/Tour of the Bromley-by-Bow Centre in East London.This is anationally significantexemplar project in which a Church is serving its local community in an area of disadvantage in a particularly innovative way. Each of its over 200 projects has been set up to be socially useful and financially self-sustaining.
We encouraged parishes to participate in a ‘A Meet the Investors’ eventheld at Aspex Gallery in Gunwharf.All PCC Treasurers and Deanery Treasurers were invited with an explanation of the purpose of the day. This was also an opportunity to help parishes think about their assets as investment based, with expectations of concrete outcomes rather than easily forgotten grant handouts.
Leigh Rampton has put together a ‘bootcamp’ Parish Rapid Development Programme (RPD). Three parishes in areas of disadvantage took part in the first pilot and second is scheduled to take place in spring 2009.We hope to produce a Toolkit from this programme which can be sold more widely in other areas and used to subsidize further local programmes. In addition to this we have been working closely with the University of Portsmouth on the South East Coastal Communities project (SECC) which has resulted in 50 post-graduate architecture students spending significant time at St Francis, Leigh Park, coming up with concept ideas for their hall site. Some first year students from a variety of disciplines will be spending time at St Luke’s Southsea. The SECC project also ran an Asset Development Workshop for community groups which was attended by four parishes.
Youth Mentoring Scheme.This project is supported by the E C Roberts Trust. Adam Court is employed as the Youth Development Worker and runs a Breakfast Club at St. Luke’s School. The post is managed by the Portsmouth Deanery and aims also to set up a Deanery wide youth mentoring scheme.
We have continued to support the work of local authority civil emergency planners and have conducted training for faith leaders both on the mainland and on the Isle of Wight.
We continue to provide census data, deprivation data, maps, and access to a funding database to parishes. We are currently working on an 18 month intensive work programme to help both diocese and parishes engage with their communities in new and effective ways that also help to make them, their buildings and other work more sustainable in the longer term. This is challenging as it involves some difficult decisions about stopping some areas of work, and setting up new ones, but, like parishes, we in the central structures are trying to see how we can work more efficiently and effectively, with the Kairos challenges in mind, better to implement the Bishop’s vision for the diocese. Canon Nick Ralph, Social Responsibility Adviser
HAMPSHIRE FAMILY MENTORING PARTNERSHIP
In practice the service has not been without its difficulties, specifically, the recruitment of a Service Manager. In May 2007, the recruitment of a suitable service manager was achieved and following an extremely difficult start, the scheme is finally developing momentum.
The Children’s Services Manager is responsible for the recruitment, training and supervision of volunteers, who are closely matched to families who are in crisis. The volunteers are recruited from various sources and have a diverse range of skills, knowledge and experience. The service has received a total of sixty enquiries from people who have shown an interest in becoming a volunteer. However, seventeen of these volunteers were deemed unsuitable for the role and a further sixteen volunteers left due to their changing lifestyles. Hence, the service currently has twenty-seven potentially active volunteers.
All volunteers undertake an initial training programme, which consists of six modules: Introduction to Barnardo’s; Boundaries; Communication; Safeguarding Children; Disability Awareness; and Equality & Diversity. A total of twenty-six volunteers have completed the initial training programme, a further eight volunteers are in the process of completing the training and six volunteers are awaiting training. The purpose of the training is to provide a firm basis to consolidate and develop the volunteer’s experience, knowledge and skills. The training programme equates to eighteen hours of learning and is currently facilitated as a rolling programme.
The programme is flexible and can therefore, be adapted to meet the changing needs and commitments of the volunteers. To ensure their ongoing professional development, volunteers who are actively mentoring families, receive professional supervision on a monthly basis. Further learning and development opportunities are provided through regular group supervision sessions, which incorporate training workshops facilitated on a quarterly basis throughout the year.
During the year 2007, the service received a total of seventeen referrals from a variety of teams within Children’s Services (Gosport 47% and Havant 53%). However, only ten of these referrals were matched to family mentors as seven of the referrals did not meet the service criteria. This number increased slightly in the year 2008 to twenty-one referrals (Fareham 5%, Gosport 52% and Havant 43%). Again, three of the referrals were not matched to family mentors as they did not meet the referral criteria. The service has received a total of five referrals this year (Gosport 20% and Havant 80%). Hence, the service currently has thirteen closed cases, seven open cases and thirteen awaiting allocation.
The service is a ‘cost-effective’ approach to meeting identified need within an area of limited resources. This is particularly significant for those families that do not meet Children’s Services threshold criteria for intervention and/or continued service provision. The service is jointly funded by Barnardo’s, Diocese of Portsmouth and Hampshire Children’s Services. The service budget is set and linked to a 3 year agreement until 31st March 2009; with Barnardo’s contributing 53% of the funding from voluntary income and Hampshire Children’s Services contributing 47% funding, while the Diocese of Portsmouth contributes £4,200 in kind. However, from 1st April 2009 to 31st March 2010, the cost will be jointly funded by Barnardo’s and Hampshire Children’s Services, with Portsmouth Diocese continuing to provide services in kind.
Children’s Services Manager – Sally-Ann Whitehouse
HAMPSHIRE VOLUNTARY CARE GROUPS ADVISORY SERVICE (HVCGAS)
The Advisory Service has had a very busy and productive year. An increase in funding has enabled a restructure of the service, the employment of 3 new P/T advisers and the appointment of a coordinator. As part of the re-organisation we have reviewed the roles of the advisers who will now be able to spend more time in their areas supporting existing groups and, importantly, developing new groups and services.
The Coordinator will maintain a strategic overview, plan and direct work with the advisers and resource the team. Time has also been given to rebranding, including a name change, to better reflect the work of the advisory service and distinguish the service offered from the work of the groups.
We hope to launch with a new name (Good Neighbour Support Service) and logo in April 2009. We have continued to offer support to existing groups by providing good practice guidelines, information on legal requirements, offering training and dealing with issues. The major issues this year have included; mileage rates, motor insurance, concessionary travel, taxi licensing.
The groups have continued to offer invaluable support in their communities, the number of volunteers has increased to over 3,500 and the number of tasks they undertook to 111,257. There are currently 113 groups offering services including transport, shopping, visiting, small household repairs etc, 28 groups also run lunch clubs and 10 groups operate a minibus service. In economic terms (using minimum wage) this represents £1.8million of free time and value. Six new groups were launched and development work started in seven areas.
With older peoples’ health and well being high on national and local government agendas, the care groups and the advisory service are increasingly asked to provide or develop local solutions. With the newly shaped service we are now in the best position to provide support to this valuable network of good neighbour groups. Jackie Paterson Co-ordinator
COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER
Communications continued to be vital to the smooth running of the Portsmouth diocese in 2008. The job of helping thousands of churchgoers, clergy, PCC officials, deanery and diocesan officers to share their experiences, listen to each other and suggest ways forward continues to be a challenging one. And the job of communicating to the outside world what the Church stands for and what its worshippers do is as important as ever.
The Pompey Chimes continues to be the primary source of communication around the diocese. This 16 or 20-pagetabloid colour newspaper is produced monthly (apart from January and August) and is read by 8,500 worshippers across the diocese. Among many other things, in 2008 the newspaper gave worshippers examples of successful Kairos: Buildings’ projects, outlined our work with disabled people, and highlighted the need for changes in the way ministry is carried out within our diocese.
The diocesan website ( has become increasingly important, with more than 8,000 unique visitors each month. Worshippers expect to find more and more information there, and non-churchgoers expect to find answers to questions about faith, and information about local churches, weddings and baptisms, among many other things. The principles behind the website remain that (i) it should be mission-oriented and (ii) it should be capable of being updatedby multiple users who each have access to the pagesthey are responsible for. Interestingly, one of the most popular reasons whypeople land on our site is because they have Googled the phrase: “Is there life on other planets?” – aquestion answered on our ‘Frequently-asked questions’page! A review of the website’s content and design isplanned for 2009.
Communications has been key in the launch of the newKairos: Buildings initiative. We have produced ahandbook and a DVD to guide parishes and deaneriesthrough the process. This was the first DVD producedlargely in-house by the communications adviser and theexperience means that other DVDs can be produced infuture.
Media liaison has continued to be important. Aseries of press releases have continued to find theirway into local newspapers and broadcast bulletins. Thishelps tohighlight the valuable work of the Church toincreasing numbers of people who have no other wayof discovering what we do.
Parishes have also received communications training, the diocesan mailing continues to besent out regularly, and the diocesan directory is avital tool to help 1,600 people around the diocese keepin touch with each other. The online database thatsupports our directory is being copied by otherdioceses.
Portsmouth diocese also hosted the 2008 DiocesanCommunicators Conference in September,which involved communications staff from across theChurch of England meeting for their annual get-together.The programme included presentations,discussion, visits and the chance to worship in differentstyles around the diocese.
The increasing importance of the website, the desire toproduce video material and the need for a strategicaudit of communications prompted the Bishop’sCouncil to recommend in 2008 that a part-timecommunications assistant should be taken on,for two days a week, from the start of 2009.
This appointment was made in January 2009 andCaroline Challender was appointed to the role. The new communications team will aim to review andimprove the communications tools at its disposal.
Neil Pugmire, Communications adviser
DISABILITY ISSUES
Special Services and Retreat Days continue to be held at All Saints throughout the year for people with learning disability who are not integrated into parish worship. There are also several causeway groups that meet in the diocese providing activities and opportunities for worship for people with learning disabilities.
A Disability Issues Support Group was formed in the autumn of 2007 and worked until summer 2008 to produce a Disability Access Pack – Welcoming All for each parish. Parishes were invited to nominate a contact person for disability issues and the response has been good.
The bishop and archdeacons wrote a letter to each parish commending the pack and contact person.
The group also made visits around the diocese to collect information for Pompey Chimes October edition in which the centre pages where devoted to disability issues.
Thanks to all members of the disability issues support group for their commitment and hard work.
Please pray for all disability issues in the diocese on the 30th of each month as suggested in the Mission and Society Intercessions for Personal Devotion and Corporate
Worship.The Revd Mary Tillman
CHAPLAIN WITH DEAF PEOPLE IN PORTSMOUTH AND WINCHESTER DIOCESES.
I have been in post now nearly nine years, and am still enjoying the work. Firstly can I say thank you to the Parishes of the Diocese who through their "Parish Share" enable us to carry on our work. Things are busy with the regular rounds of Sunday Services, visits, Weddings and Funerals.
Portsmouth Deaf Centre should have been sold a year ago however, things have come to a grinding holt and nothing is happening at the moment. So our Church group in Portsmouth continues to meet on the first Sunday every Month in the Chapel of the Sisters of Bethany at Southsea. The Sisters have made us very welcome, and we are very grateful to them for their help and support. Every quarter we also have quiet days in the conservatory of the convent. These are proving very popular; we paint, think, relax and share for the day.
I continue to take communion to Easthill Home for Deaf People on the Isle of Wight every Month. Most months one or two people from the mainland come with me, and four or five Deaf from the Island also come along. So there is always a great deal of sharing before and after the Service.
This last Christmas we led Carol Services for several of the Hard of Hearing Groups in the area. These are proving popular and are a useful contact. I am assisted by by a team of three people all of whom are "Lip Speaker" interpreters and tutors. One is C of E, one Baptist, and one Roman Catholic, so we are the perfect Ecumenical Team.
On the first Wednesday every Month we hold a Coffee Morning in St. Faiths Church at Lee on Solent. This is going well, and is something we would like to develop round the area. Several of the local Deaf who attend do not go to any other Deaf Group, so for them it's an important contact.
I am assisted round the area by a team of very keen volunteers, all of whom have a real heart for the work. We are still looking for one or two volunteers to help me on the Isle of Wight, it is not easy to find the right person with the right attitude and skills. And finally, I would like to thank Peter Hancock for all his support also. Robert Sanday
ECUMENISM
Review of Ecumenical Partnerships
The Archbishops’ Council is currently reviewing the Church of England’s involvement in Local Ecumenical Partnerships. Single-congregation LEPs involving the Church of England appear especially vulnerable to changes in the mission strategy and ministerial deployment patterns of their partner churches and this period of consultation is designed to investigate whether they have a future.
Possible ways forward include: