The unsung heroes who keep St James’s running
The many unseen helpers at St. James’s quietly get on with the many tasks that produce the pleasant environment for worship, a smooth-running administration, and enjoyable social events. What are these tasks and who does them?

What goes into preparing the church for worship? Who keeps the garden and courtyard tidy? Who sweeps the church, polishes the brass, arranges the flowers, washes the altar linen? And worship today is not a solo performance by the vicar, watched by a passive congregation. We have sidesmen, readers, intercessors, servers, an organist and a choir. Who rings the bells, types the service sheet, organises the rotas and chooses the music? Who supports the vicar in providing pastoral care - through visiting the sick and housebound, through preparation for baptism? Who handles the administration - the hall bookings, the registers, the books of remembrance? And in our relationship with the wider world - who keeps us in touch with the deanery and diocese, and with other churches? Who maintains our links with overseas mission partners? Who maintains our website? Who staples The Spire?!

There are many other activities - from teaching children to cleaning out the gutters, from cooking and making coffee to washing up - and laundering the tea-towels. You can be as involved as you like and as you have energy to be! Look at these behind the scenes activities, celebrate our hidden helpers and encourage everyone to pray for them, to support them and to join them.

Preparing the Church for Worship
Before we say a word to visitors, we have told them what our church means to us by the way we care for it. And the way we care for the place of worship says a great deal about the importance to us of the One we worship. Some people are able and willing to serve God in highly visible roles - as clergy, readers, servers, singers - but many of us look for a less public role. It may be an extension of an existing interest such as gardening or flower-arranging. It may simply be willingness to meet a need - there is nothing exciting about the annual gutter clean or the weekly cleaning but those who volunteer for these jobs are making a real contribution to the dignity and pleasure of our worship.

The Properties Committee of the PCC is responsible for maintaining and improving the church building, its contents and its surroundings. The churchyard is the responsibility of the Richmond Council, but their care is pretty basic. Individuals look after family graves and the churchyard is regularly swept but there is scope for more help - from picking up litter as you walk through to taking on the care of a particular flowerbed or area of the churchyard. The church is cleaned every week and once a year, in preparation for Easter, the church is given a major internal clean. The annual gutter and drain clear-out usually happens in the autumn. The altar linen is washed and ironed by a member of the congregation and the choir robes are looked after by a member of the choir. We all benefit from the sometimes spectacular wedding flower displays but for most of the year it falls to a small team of flower-arrangers to provide the displays at the entrance and at the front of the church.

Welcoming
There are many people who have a special responsibility for making church welcoming. But they are not the only people who need to be concerned about welcoming people to church. It is something for all members of the church community. A welcome can make all the difference for someone coming to a church for the first time. A sensitive greeting, neither being too pushy nor ignoring someone, can help a person feel that this church is for them. Our welcome reflects the welcome of God who, in Jesus, extends a welcome to each person who seeks him.

Today, before someone sets an actual foot inside the church building, they are likely to have dipped a virtual foot in the website. Our website is also an integral part of our church's outreach to the local community and beyond by being informative, instructive and educational. More and more people are looking on the internet and finding our website with a search engine. We are summoned to worship by the evocative sound of bells and as our bells do not swing, they can all be rung by one ringer. When you arrive in church, the first person you are likely to meet is a sidesperson or welcomer. Handing out books and pew sheets as people arrive gives sidespersons the opportunity to welcome visitors, help them get their bearings and invite them to stay for coffee after the service. Pew sheets (now also available in large print format) are prepared by the parish administrator and handed out by the welcomers. They enable people to follow the scripture readings and provide a means of passing on news and notices. Welcoming is not just about greeting someone at the door. It includes providing the informal opportunity to get to know each other. That is one reason why we provide coffee (or tea, hot water, juice, etc.) after the service. It’s an excuse to linger and chat.

Worshipping
If there is one thing that a church building is for, it is worship. Ever since the Church began Christians have worshipped together. The way they worship will vary due to time, place, language, and so on. Regardless of this, it is the same God who is worshipped. When we worship we give God what is due to him – our praise and thanks. As worship is so important, in preparing for a service in church we take time and trouble over it. Nothing is left to chance. The planning and structure can then leave us free to pray, and to worship.

The servers are responsible for ensuring a service runs smoothly by getting everything ready and then by clearing away afterwards. Music in church tends to be very visible - certainly audible! What you see and hear during a service though is the tip of quite a large iceberg with nine tenths of the work having already happened in advance, usually weeks or months beforehand. At most services the Gospel is read by the clergy or one of the servers and the other two readings by volunteers. It is not easy to condense the needs of the church, the world and the local community into five minutes of formal intercession which will harmonise with the theme of the collect and readings. It is not easy to read such prayers in a way that will move beyond performance into a genuine act of collective prayer. It requires preparation - thought, prayer and practice. And finally - not so much behind the scenes as behind our backs - there is the sound system manager to adjust the microphones to suit the varying voices of readers, intercessor and president.

Running Smoothly
Our work as members of the parish is primarily that of mission. This is summarised in our Mission Action Plan, and is perhaps most obvious in our formal worship. If a Sunday morning service were all that happened in our church, the vicar could run the parish single-handed, but there is a great deal more to mission than that. Day by day, a wide range of people come to the church and the church hall - to worship, for advice, to arrange or attend a baptism, a wedding or a funeral; or perhaps to join the nursery school sessions, classes or evening meetings. All of them assume that they will find the buildings in good repair, the services as timetabled and the hall appropriately equipped. They expect to find an organisation running smoothly.

Responsibility for this smooth running rests with the vicar and the churchwardens, supported by the Parochial Church Council (PCC) which advises on, and authorises, the major decisions taken by the vicar and churchwardens. The PCC consists of the vicar, who chairs the meetings, the churchwardens, four members of the Deanery Synod, and the twelve ordinary elected members. Emergency decisions may be taken by a small Standing Committee, but these must be reported to the next PCC meeting. The churchwardens are responsible directly to the Diocese for the protection and upkeep of all the property of the church, its buildings and all their contents. They also advise and assist the vicar in his work. The secretary is responsible for circulating the PCC agendas, keeping the minutes, and organising the PCC business. She also organises the Annual Parochial Church Meeting held each April, when elections take place, the accounts are approved and reports from sections of the church are presented. She ensures that the Child Protection Policy is annually updated, and liaises with our Children’s Advocate. The treasurer is responsible for keeping the parish accounts and preparing financial statements for the PCC and the independent external audit required by the Diocese. The Finance Committee, chaired by the treasurer, discusses the financial situation and how major items should be funded. In particular the treasurer is concerned with the planned giving income and the decision of the amount of the Common Fund allocation to the Diocese and the allocation to charities. The committee also discusses where to invest PCC funds. The Planned Giving Committee is responsible for the running and development of the scheme. The Recorder keeps confidential records and reclaims the tax on Gift Aid donations. The Charities and Links Committee recommends to the PCC the allocation of our giving to local, national and international charities. Our total giving each year is at least one tenth of our income. The committee also considers any special needs, in particular disaster funds. The Properties Committee is responsible for the upkeep of the church, church hall and churchyard. The Hall Committee supervises the maintenance and letting of the hall. Bookings for the hall are dealt with in the Parish Office, and there is also an online booking diary which hirers can consult. The other committees which meet regularly and report to the PCC are: Music and Worship, Ecological, Social and Magazine. The Church Administrator works in the church office on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings from 9am-12pm. Responsible to the vicar, she takes incoming phone, email and personal enquiries, and types pew sheets, service sheets and other notices. She is responsible for the administration and fees for baptisms, weddings and funerals. The electoral roll lists nearly three hundred people who have registered as church members, and this is kept up to date in the office.

Building Community
The central objective of all our church activities is mission and there are groups at St James's that build our community by fellowship in study and recreation. They provide a vehicle not only for our own togetherness, but also for people who would like to find out more about us without commitment. The Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Brownies and Guides are an important part of that and also provide excellent training and social contact for young people of all ages. The Jays Sunday School have activities include arts and crafts, drama, games, quizzes, and discussion groups, depending on the age group. Sometimes all classes combine for a specific project. The Ladies Casual Choir sings for fun and to enjoy the company of others with similar casual ideas! The Social Committee is responsible for arranging and organising events to bring the congregation together. St James’s Theatre Club began in 2006 and has been to see comedies, tragedies, ballet and musicals.

Reaching Out
Part of our mission as church members is outreach, making ourselves known to all sections of the parish. This takes many forms: visiting those unable to get to church through sickness, or non-churchgoers who would like to know more about our activities, visiting for baptism or wedding discussion, visiting the bereaved. Another part of outreach is our parish magazine, which reaches people who may not often attend our services but respect the church and its work. We welcome all people as part of our community, and try to show that welcome. The church website is also an integral part of our church's outreach to the local community and beyond. More and more people are looking at the website to find out about baptisms, confirmations, marriages and funerals as well as graves in the churchyard. The website is a most effective way to let people know we exist.

Keeping in Touch
So far 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 here.

For many years St. James's church has had connections with local schools, centres of the wider community of the parish. St. James's is in Hampton Deanery and elects five lay members to the Deanery Synod. Churches Together locally is part of the wider Churches Together in England, seeking to bring together different Christian denominations. 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. The Church Missionary Society is an organisation that is dedicated to mission. 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.

For a detailed account of how the church has been run through the years, read the page The History of the Running of St. James's Church.