MINUTES OF THE EXTRA MEETING OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL, ST. BARNABAS CHURCH, LINSLADE, HELD ON MONDAY,

10^th SEPTEMBER 2007, AT 8.00PM IN THE CHOIR VESTRY

Present:                        Keith Saunders             Carolyn Birch                               Marlene Richardson                 John Deighton

                                    Miranda Soper                         Valerie Stewart

                                    Wyn Jones                               Maureen Gadsby        

                                    Simon Soper                            Carol Oakman

                                    Bruce Benedickter                    David Throssell

Janet Miller                               Vicki Faiers

Pat Faulkner

Apologies:       

Jo Thomson                              Russell Stannard

Marian Dye                              Nick Moore

Also present: Richard Inward, Bishop of Bedford; Paul Hughes, Archdeacon of Dunstable; Grant Fellows, Team Rector; Malcolm Grant, Rural Dean of Dunstable; John Wallace, Lay Chair of Dunstable.

Bishop Richard chaired the meeting. He opened with a Vision for Action prayer.

16/07   Vacancy meeting

The Bishop began with giving some background to the Diocese of St Albans that has been described as the “honeymoon diocese” because it comprises mainly Herts and Beds. He expressed his gratitude for the way Linslade has co-operated in the transfer arrangements. He explained about the Vision for Action that has 5 overall aims – proclamation, encouragement of ministry, development of church buildings, stewardship, and work among young people. (Cards, printed with the aims and the prayer, were distributed)

He gave a brief synopsis of his journey to being Bishop that had involved considerable moves and asked Archdeacon Paul to introduce himself and explain the process.

Archdeacon Paul said his entire ministry has been in St Albans and he is presently responsible for Beds and Luton. Vacancy meetings in the St Albans diocese are usually held at the beginning of the vacancy but Linslade have already completed much of the process, especially in producing the Parish profile.

The next stage is advertising the position. A short profile will appear in Diocesan publications and the main advertisement will go to John Lee, the clergy appointments adviser at Church House, and on the Diocesan website. These are a free service but he strongly recommended advertising in the Church Times for 2 weeks. This will cost about £800.00. The advert does not need to be lengthy – just enough for candidates to request a Parish profile. It does need to include the closing date and the date for interview.

The interview is a 2 way process and takes a day. During the morning the candidates are shown round the parish, individually, and the formal interviews take place in the afternoon. The PCC representatives on the interview panel are the 2 churchwardens.

After a discussion about the qualities we wanted in our priest and the good news and challenges facing applicants, the dates for the process were agreed.

Advertisement:    Friday 5^th and 12^th October 2007

Closing date:         Tuesday 30^th October 2007

Short listing:          Wednesday 31^st October 2007 at 6pm.

Interviews:           Friday, 9^th November 2007              

Everyone was thanked for their time and co-operation.

The meeting concluded with a prayer and the Grace at 9.15 pm.