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THE PARISH OF ST. AIDAN

Parish Review 2005

PARISH BEGINNINGS

The Consecration of the Church of St. Aidan, Manchester, Sunday 21 October 1996

Initially, the Community of St. Aidan worshipped in rented rooms, but in February 1996 an opportunity arose for it to purchase a redundant United Reformed Church Hall, (Presbyterian / Congregationalist) in Levenshulme, Manchester, no more than 3 miles distant. In worldly terms the prospect was rather daunting. There were at least two (marginally) higher offers on the market and the Community only had about Ł900 in the Bank.

Fr Gregory put the matter before the church and people prayed and dug deep. There were just 10 days to go before closure on the sale. In that time a small community of 20 households raised the deposit of Ł12,000 towards a mortgage of Ł28,000 and then in the following 6 months, a further Ł10,000 to fund repairs, rewiring and the like. (Much of the Church furnishings had been funded over the previous year). In a few weeks the answer came back from the vendors. The offer had been accepted!

The community was ecstatic and praised God for his bountiful goodness. The next few months were rather hectic as a repair team and contractors got to work. The Community was able to move in on the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul, (joint patrons of the see of Antioch), and then a second phase of work building the dais, solea and iconostasis and other screening. In the meantime, Fr Gregory had approached Bishop Gabriel and asked him if he would be prepared to come over to Manchester and consecrate the altar and church later in the year.

The Community was overjoyed when it heard Bishop Gabriel's decision. Yes indeed he would come ... on 20 October! The pressure was really now on. Would everything be finished on time? ... In the end the temple was ready, but only just. Worked stopped at midnight Friday 18 October, 17 hours before the first service of the consecration, Vespers on the Saturday night.

The following day the occasion was glorious and greatly blessed. Orthodox clergy and participants from other parishes crowded into the Church. The moving consecration service, (somewhat akin to baptising the altar table), profoundly moved us all. Here, just over 2 years from Fr Gregory and his group's momentous decision was a fully functioning Orthodox parish. A great part followed with a feast fit for kings. We were also greatly blessed to be visited by Vladika Anatoly, a titular Archbishop in the Russian Diocese of Sourozh, who was in Manchester that day to serve the Liturgy for the Russian community.

How the Church looks now (Pascha 2006)

A MISSION PLAN

Since the Consecration took place the Community of St. Aidan has laboured to extend its work. More has been done to the building, new people have been received and chrismated into the Orthodox Church and a foundation has been laid for the future. As our Mission Plan we simply keep before us the words of the Psalm:-

"Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labour in vain" (Psalm 126:1)

These are a few of the initiatives we have put in place to reach out to the Community:-

From Tuesday 13 June 2006 we are launching a weekly Prayer and Bible Study Meeting in Church to enable Orthodox and enquirers alike to grown in the knowledge, love and service of God.
Good teaching, publicity and communication resources are essential to make Orthodoxy more visible and accessible. All our services are in English, (which is vital for a true integration of Orthodoxy within British culture) and we take a pride in our excellent bookstall and literature.
We try to make our pastoral work personal, accessible and service orientated for anyone who God puts in our way, Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike.
We run a charity shop where people on limited resources can obtain furniture, clothing and household articles for next to nothing.

With these strategies and services already in place we hope to be faithful servants of He who, for our sake, became the Servant of all.

Deanery Parish Review 2005


The Council	Fr. Philip at St. Aidan's

Early in 2005, Fr. Gregory and Fr. Philip Hall from our All Saints of Lincolnshire parish in Lincoln began to explore the possibility of their communities helping each other to review parish life with an eye to growth and mission.

So often we can only see the picture from our own perspective. To have a supportive trusted second pair of eyes can give us three dimensional rather than two dimensional vision. In this, the idea of a twinned Parish Review was born. Both communities agreed to the idea and plans were made. Both parishes would consult their own members and the Parish Council formally on six (revised to seven) key areas of Parish Life ... what was done well and areas for possible further development.

For both parishes, the Review process began in parallel in September and concluded on Saturday 5th November 2005 with an extended Parish Council drawing up a Parish Development Plan, guided by Fr. Philip in Manchester and Fr. Gregory in Lincoln. We can now present the results of the Parish Review online with downloadable files in three popular formats. We also offer the (revised) standard Review templates. It may be that your own parish could use this process to help it become more confident and effective in mission. All we need to remember is that God gives the growth. What he requires from us is good stewardship in the talents he has given us.

Downloadable Files
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