This is a text-only version of an article first published on Tuesday, 25 June 2013. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
NEW housing developments that will see 5,000 new homes built in the area are proving a huge challenge for churches in the Aylesbury Deanery. An innovative new position is being created on the Berryfields Housing Estate, in partnership with the Aylesbury Vale Academy, for a Chaplain and Community Vicar.
The person appointed will spend half their time in the Academy as a chaplain, and the other half on Berryfields, helping to create community and grow the church. The Revd Andrew Blyth, Area Dean and Vicar of Holy Trinity, Walton, said: "It'll mean the academy buildings can be used as a base for church life. It's exciting in the sense of what does it mean for the Diocese to sponsor an academy and how do you express that particular ethos of a diocesan sponsored academy and contribute to making it something distinctive. "Andrew says all churches in the deanery, and in the neighbouring Wendover Deanery, are thinking hard about how to respond to such a massive scale of development, which involves a population increase equivalent to a small town. "There's a challenge to intentionally working out what the partnership between churches of different traditions should really look like," he said. The Revd Phil White, of Broughton Church and the Deanery Mission Enabler, who is leading on the project, has previously held a similar post at a school.
He said: "The idea of the chaplain is about pastoral support for the academy community, students, staff and parents.
It's an important role in developing the Christian ethos of the school.
They have never had a chaplain and it's only been a CofE school for two or three years.
It will be an exciting but demanding role. 'It's exciting to be doing something new and innovative. '"The whole community will be going through a significant time of change.
There will be new housing and the area will have a significantly different feel.
There is a railway station and it will probably attract commuter families and there will be a certain time of transition.
It's exciting to be doing something very new and innovative.
There won't be a new church building, but the academy space will be used for worship and that's really exciting. "Gordon Joyner, Deputy Director of Education for the Diocese of Oxford, said: "As the school moves site to the new housing development, the chaplain will provide a vital link between the school, the new community and, just as importantly, the community that is already there. "Fiona Froment, the Academy's Principal, said: "This will be the first time we have had a chaplain at the Academy, and we see it as a positive step.
Having someone dedicated to working within the school and at the same term serving the Berryfields estate will benefit us all as our community develops. " ;