North West Hampshire Churches
This temporary website provides information on proposals for the creation of "One PCC" for these churches of North West Hampshire:
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St James' Church, Ashmansworth;
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St Michael & All Angels' Church, Crux Easton;
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St Martin's Church, East Woodhay;
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St Thomas' Church, Woolton Hill.
Our sister Parish - St Michael & All Angels, Highclere - has decided, for the time being, not to become part of the proposed new parish, but has nominated PCC members to liaise with our Shadow PCC (see below) on the preparations. All our churches are committed to working together in harmony to support the Benefice as a whole and all our communities.
The language barrier
The Church of England moves in mysterious ways, one being the labels we use in our management and organisation. Sometime (real soon now, as they say in Silicon Valley) we hope this website will carry a helpful dictionary of church labels and meanings. Meanwhile:
"PCC" = Parochial Church Council, which has legal responsibility for owning and managing a parish church.
"Benefice" = the area (and related set of churches / PCCs) for which an "Incumbent" is responsible.
"Incumbent" is the label for a priest who has personal responsibility for (and oversight of) the churches / PCCs in their 'benefice'.
Our Benefice comprises the five churches of North West Hampshire, each of which has a PCC. Our Incumbent is the Revd Canon Christine Dale.
Because the Church of England is 'established' by Act of Parliament many of these labels and meanings can only be changed by Parliament. The Church has other priorities!
What's happening
Four of our five churches having agreed to move forward as One PCC with four Church Committees, they have established a "Shadow PCC" of representatives from each church and the Benefice ministry team, who are working with colleagues at Winchester Diocese, our Deanery and our Benefice Office to consider how best to prepare for an excellent start for our future PCC.
The process, managed by the Church Commissioners, is explained in our "Progress and Updates" page.