This is a text-only version of an article first published on Wednesday, 21 April 2021. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
This article is from 2015 so some facts may be out of date. For an up-to-date list of who's who, visit the Amersham page.
The Revd Camilla Walton, Area Dean of Amersham We caught up over lunch in a café in Beaconsfield, just down the road from St Mary's Church.
It's a place Camilla regularly uses for meetings with clergy from the parishes she supports as Area Dean, a role she has done for about two-and-a-half years.
Before that she was Assistant Area Dean. "It's taken me this long to feel I know what my role is and to begin to understand the depth of the deanery," says Camilla.
The Amersham Deanery includes part of the M40, a well-known commuter route into London and, as a result, parts of it are extremely wealthy.
At the same time, there are also pockets of urban deprivation, where the Trussell Trust has a large presence with foodbanks providing vital necessities to some of the area's poorest people. There is a spread of church traditions, from large Evangelical congregations to much smaller rural parishes that, with the support of the Deanery Synod, are working together.
"It's about admitting they don't all see eye to eye, but they do all have the same aims and purpose," says Camilla, who works strategically to ensure that Synod meetings are held in different areas, including Denham, which is on the opposite side of the motorway to the rest of the deanery. Amersham has a tradition of starting training courses to empower people in the pews, as well as a pastoral course that has been rolled out across the diocese and preaching courses. "We are the first deanery to set up a Deanery Trust, a separate charity running alongside our main work, and we are still working out what that means for us. "(See the Moneybox supplement in the March edition of the Door for the full story on this. ) "One of the things we have been doing for the last two years is Mission Action Planning.
We couldn't do that without knowing what the parish mission action plans were.
We've been supporting parishes in creating their own MAPs, then responded to what they were already doing on the ground to do with mission, outreach and growth. "It's been looking at how different parishes might be able to support each other with resources.
It's about saying certain parishes are good at, say, family work, while others want to do it but don't know where to start.
It makes sense to get them together. " One example of collaborative ministry is a funeral chaplaincy.
"We did research into funerals and how clergy collaborated with undertakers," said Camilla.
"The chaplaincy works across our area and spills into High Wycombe and it means that at any one time we have someone available to take a call about a funeral. "Soccer on Saturdays
One of the children's football teams's from St James, Gerrards Cross ENCOURAGING families to attend church when there are so many sporting fixtures on Sundays can be a challenge. So at St James' Gerrards Cross, the church has its very own football club, with 150 children and 11 teams of children, catering for those up to the end of Key Stage Two.
Matches are played in a Saturday league, enabling club members and their parents to get a football fix and attend church on a Sunday. "This club started to encourage children to play football competitively but with a strong Christian influence," says the Revd Martin Williams, the Rector. Celebrating a brand new beneficeby the Revd Ian BrownAN Easter party will celebrate the creation of the new Benefice of Chalfont St Giles, Seer Green and Jordans. A benefice is a larger area than a parish and normally includes at least two parishes.
It is led by clergy, in this case the Revd Ian Brown, as well as part-time clergy.
In this new benefice there is also an Associate Priest, the Revd Cassa Messervey. Other lay leaders support the clergy; Linda West the Licensed Lay Minister and also the PCCs of the parishes. We are excited about working creatively together to further the mission of God through our churches.
The benefice was inaugurated in February this year at a special service in Chalfont St Giles, with Bishop Alan licensing Cassa and Ian in the morning and Archdeacon Karen installing and inducting during an afternoon service in Seer Green. Also in February Ian and Cassa effected a 'church swap' so that their congregations began to get to know them a little better. The children's Easter party takes place on Easter Saturday. Feeding a spiritual hungerA CAFÉ style seeker service is attracting 80 to 100 people to the Parish Hall at Chalfont St Peter's Church every week. Children and their parents, most of whom had no prior church contact, enjoy the event.
From this, another second service for growing leaders has been launched and a weekday toddlers group which is also close to capacity. The Revd Jim King, from Chalfont St Peter, said: "About six years ago we realised we were in slow, steady decline.
The population was ageing and we had a gap of a generation-and-a-half.
We weren't retaining or attracting children or young people. "With a Sunday school of sometimes no children and sometimes only half a dozen, the PCC got together, prayed and sought God as well as asking for advice from elsewhere.
"We came up with an outreach service focused on families and children.
They come together for 35 to 40 minutes in an informal, non-threatening atmosphere where they can simply come and be welcomed.
There is coffee and refreshments available and the aim is to make friends and build relationships. "The service involves interactive songs, teaching, crafts and worksheets for the children and information for parents to take away.
"It's fun, really chaotic and the parents and kids love it," said Jim. "We have found a real spiritual hunger amongst parents with young children.
We had no idea who would come and we get new people almost every time. "