Central LoNdon Pastoral Assistants Scheme
An extraordinary opportunity to spend a year at one of three London Churches
St Dunstan's is now recruiting for September 2023
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St Matthew's Westminster
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St Peter's Eaton Square
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St Dunstan's Stepney
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Meet Pastoral AssistantsMeet our Pastoral Assistants who spent a year exploring vocation at three extraordinary London churches. Read here about their year and where it's led ....
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Pastoral assistant atSt Matthew's Westminster
St Matthew’s is a busy inclusive church in the Catholic tradition, situated at the heart of Westminster. We offer sung Mass on Sundays and daily Masses in the week, interspersed with afternoon concerts, a ‘Come and Sing’ Evensong once a month and a weekly Mass at our church school. We also resource the sung Mass on Wednesday evenings at our sister church of St Mary le Strand, a monthly Sunday evening service, and support for their concerts and events.
The Pastoral Assistants assist in all these services : they plan, set up, lead, serve, intercede and preach. In the case of St Mary’s they also gain valuable experience in what it’s like to ‘grow’ a church. Their life is based on the foundation of the daily office and Mass. They share in the administrative life of the church , and are encouraged to develop their own skills. (The success of the new weekday Evensong was hugely facilitated by our PA’s skills on social media and the website.) St Matthews has a strong tradition of hospitality and the PA’s are encouraged to engage with both the regular worshippers and the visitors, tourists and homeless who come our way. They are very popular at the local school, where they help the children prepare for First Communion and Confirmation, and serve and preach at the weekly mass. We also offer them the chance to explore sector ministry, including student work, prison ministry and work with the homeless. We have strong links with our neighbouring parishes, which include modern catholic, ‘middle of the road’ and charismatic evangelical. The PA’s regularly broaden their understanding of Anglicanism by engaging with these different communities and attending their services. They also contribute to the life of both our churches by their sheer energy and enthusiasm. To find out more about St Matthew's click here |
Pastoral Assistant atSt Peter's Eaton Square
We are a large, friendly and inclusive church in central London and we worship in the Liberal Catholic tradition. Our diverse and international congregation come from a wide area, attracted by the distinctive worship and community at St Peter’s, and our electoral roll is around 400 people.
Our parish around the church is teeming with life - it stretches from the middle of St James’s Park almost to Sloane Square and includes Victoria Station, embassies, offices, theatres and schools, Westminster City Council and the Ministry of Justice, the Guards’ Barracks and (geographically) Buckingham Palace, as well as a great variety of housing. Economically the parish is very diverse, with real hardship and considerable homelessness around Victoria, and great affluence in the northern part of the parish. We are known for the superb choral music at our Sunday Sung Eucharist (attended by about 50 people) and our popular and Family Eucharist (with around 150 people). We have our own concert series - Eaton Square Concerts - and the church is used as a venue for many other events. Children are involved in all our worship and we have a successful Youth Group and Toddler’s Group. To find out more about St Peter's click here |
parish assistant atSt Dunstan and All Saints Stepney
St Dunstan and All Saints Church Stepney is the mother church of London’s East End and founded in 952. Today our church community is vibrant and inclusive with around 60-100 people attending each Sunday. The main Sunday service is Sung Mass at 10.00am.
St Dunstan’s is located in Tower Hamlets halfway between the City of London and Canary Wharf . Our parish is socially and ethnically diverse borough with significant areas of social deprivation. St Dunstan’s employs a Children and Community Worker responsible for outreach to schools and the local community; there are weekly ‘parent and toddler’ and ‘stay and play’ groups as well as visits from local schools with activities related to their educational key stages. A reoccurring theme of ministry at St Dunstan’s is food and hospitality. We host a traditional roast Sunday lunch once a month and open to all, a meal together is part of our Lent Course and we celebrate ‘Thanksgiving’ by hosting a 3 course meal for all the volunteers who make St Dunstan’s possible. We also have a Food Bank meeting the needs of individuals and families who can’t make ends meet even though some are in full time employment. We’re offering a one-year opportunity to live and work in our unique parish and experience the cycle of the liturgical year in an Anglo-Catholic setting; Lent, Holy Week, the Tridium, Patronal Festival, Advent and Christmas. Our Parish Assistants are part of the altar serving team and learn all the servers roles as well as reading, interceding and preaching at Mass and other services, based in our church building helping with administration and welcoming visitors. To find out more about St Dunstan's click here |