Behind the Scenes - Keeping in Touch

The Parish Church of St James
St. James's Road, Hampton Hill, TW12 1DQ (Parish Office 020 8941 6003)

RUNNING THE CHURCH
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In previous pages of Behind the Scenes we have described the work of some of the groups which keep the church running smoothly, and those trying to reach out to the parish as a whole, whether church members or not. Our mission should not, and indeed does not, stop there – we are concerned with the whole Christian church, secular matters, the country and indeed with the world as a whole.

Mission implies active participation, and where we can, however modestly, we try to exert a Christian influence on this wider community. This is sometimes by active membership of other organisations, sometimes directly by gifts. Some of our links to the wider church and world community are briefly described below.

Schools
For many years St. James's church has had connections with local schools, centres of the wider community of the parish. Our vicar, Peter Vannozzi, is a governor and vice-chair of the Governing Body of Hampton Hill Junior School, and regularly goes into the school for assemblies. Classes from the school also visit the church as part of their R. E. Peter also visits Carlisle Infant School. Lady Eleanor Holles School welcomes Peter to the Junior Department to take assemblies and into the Senior School for a twice-termly celebration of Holy Communion. Recently the Revd. Julie Gittoes and Peter have visited Hampton Community College together, and they hope to work jointly with the College.

The Deanery Synod
A deanery synod is a part of the government of the Church of England. A 'deanery' is a collection of parishes, and 'synod' means 'council.' The synod consists of all licensed clergy and a certain number of lay representatives from each parish in the deanery. Deanery synod members are the electorate for the diocesan synod and the General Synod. St. James's is in Hampton Deanery and elects five lay members to the Deanery Synod. A deanery synod does not have a great deal of power, but can have influence when significant matters are referred to it by a diocesan synod or the General Synod. It provides a forum for the sharing of information between churches locally, and between the diocese and national church, and the local church.

• See our Hampton Deanery page which includes details of contacts.

Churches Together around Hampton
Churches Together locally is part of the wider Churches Together in England, seeking to bring together different Christian denominations. In Hampton, Churches Together holds regular meetings of the ministers of the eight member churches, and holds a forum several times a year bringing together lay people and clergy. There are shared activities such as Christian Aid Week and the distribution of hot cross buns to commuters in Holy Week.

• See our Churches Together Around Hampton page which includes details of contacts.

ALMA
The Angola-London-Mozambique-Association had its origins in a link between the Anglican Dioceses of Angola and Mozambique and the Willesden Area of the London Diocese. In 1998 this became a diocese-wide link and a covenant was signed by the bishops committing the dioceses to a mutually enriching partnership. The 10th anniversary will be celebrated with a special service at St. Paul's Cathedral on Sunday July 13th at 6pm. ALMA reminds churches in two very different settings of their oneness in the Body of Christ, and the common commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ. St. James's supported the diocese-wide Lent Appeal in 2008 for money to build new schools in Angola and Mozambique.

• See our ALMA page which includes details of contacts.

Church Missionary Society (CMS)
The Church Missionary Society is an organisation that is dedicated to mission. CMS supports 700 people in mission and works in over 50 countries around the world. They have offices in Singapore, Seoul, Nairobi, Cape Coast and headquarters in Oxford. We, as a church, support CMS through our annual donation. This money helps sponsor Joanne Udal in Sudan. Her letters are posted on the church noticeboard regularly. CMS is focusing on the Five Marks of Mission in 2008 as this is a Lambeth Conference year. These are 'Proclaim, Teach, Respect, Seek and Renew'. None of this can be done without money so fundraising is important. Individually people can make annual donations to help the organisation.

Please watch out for the regular CMS magazine which is left at the back of the church and the monthly 'Prayerlines' booklet next to the vestry.

• See our Church Missionary Society page which includes details of contacts.

United Nations Association
St James’s church is affiliated to a local branch of the United Nations Association which generally exists to promote the work of the UN. This very active branch of UNA has a new chairman, Councillor Virginia Morris, and has just won the region’s important Steven’s trophy for its work. The branch is currently looking for ways to celebrate the 60th anniversary of one of the UN’s most important instruments, The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Recent activities included an address by Zac Goldsmith, Director of ‘The Ecologist’ magazine, about how to make a difference to the environment at the local level. The branch looks to work with 3 to 4 schools again locally in this Summer term with Model UN General Assemblies, where students engage as they represent different countries debating an issue like Climate Change.

• See our United Nations page which includes details of contacts.

Further Information
	Contact the Parish Office 020 8941 6003 or go to the individual pages named above

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