The Parish

The Parish of Exning with Landwade lies in the most westerly part of the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, and for the past 20 years has been a training parish for assistant curates. It includes a significant population of American Air Force Personnel, thought to be about 500, from the nearby base.

The parish is comprised of the village of Exning and the northern half of Newmarket, and is a mixture of rural, suburban and urban areas. The main parish church, St Martin, is situated in Exning and its sister church, St. Philip with St Etheldreda, is in Newmarket. In addition there is a private peculiar church, St Nicholas, on the Landwade estate at the Northern end of the parish.

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We wish to grow a group of youth leaders and reach young people who are currently associated with church

St. Philip with St. Etheldreda acts as the chapel to the community hospital where a Salvation Army Chaplain is the part-time chaplain. With the expected future growth of the hospital, we would wish to strengthen these links.

We are exploring new lines of communication and organisation to facilitate effective pastoral care within and out rom the church family.

We wish to develop the opportunities available in the follow up to baptism services with those families that come who do not normally attend church.

We currently have no recognised channels for growth e.g. no Alpha course or Emmaus course and are eager to explore this avenue of possible growth.

We wish to market all that church has to offer to the local community and see it as a key feature to our long term outreach

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Has strong personal faith — has the gift of bringing God's word to life and making it relevant to all

Has an empathy to the ministry of mission —. talks to and visits people and enters fully into the community, possessing active listening skills to get alongside people and understands the needs and aspirations of family life today.

A person with vision — whose style of working makes everyone feel welcome and a valuable member of our church family.

Enables through leadership — able to grow the church in developments that have begun; appreciative of lay involvement; supports collaborative ministry and will bring own ideas too

Has real concern for young people — able to support Godly Play and youth work and has energy and enthusiasm for all God's children whatever their age.

Feels called to the parish — serving the needs of the local community whilst growing within the hugely supportive diocese.

Our friendship is offered

Our prayers are offered

Our hands are offered

Together we will grow

Our faith

Our spirituality

Our congregation

Together we will be seen

as a valuable asset and resource to the northern half of Newmarket