Designed By St Michael's Church
Bristol
Project Type: Single Church
Project Area: North
Project Address:
Old School Rooms, The Green, Stoke Gifford
Postcode: BS34 8PD
Website: http://www.st-michaels-church.org.uk
Project History & Affiliations:
St Michael’s is an Anglican Church which can best be described as ‘open evangelical’. The congregation consists of people from a wide range of church backgrounds ranging from free-church to Roman Catholic and pretty much everything else in between. We believe in the authority of scripture and seek to teach the Bible faithfully whilst striving to communicate its relevance to today’s society. The church is a lively community seeking to grow in discipleship and to reach out to the local community. The culture of St Michael’s actively encourages “every member ministry”, helping people to discover and nurture their gifts in a supportive atmosphere where mistakes are seen as part of the learning and discerning process.
We are predominantly a family church with an increasing number of single people whom we are seeking to welcome and support in new ways.
Structure & Vision of the Project:
Our vision statement for the church is: Living to make a difference as a Christian heart in the centre of the community. This is happening through 3 main aspects:
- discipleship
- outreach
- serving the community
DCC, Staff Team and Standing Committee are in place to take responsibility for the delivery of the vision and the effective management of the church.
The DCC and the Standing Committee meet bimonthly in alternate months and the Staff Team meets weekly to manage the day to day aspects of church life.
About the location of the Project:
Stoke Gifford is a suburb in the north of Bristol.
The population is largely middle class with significant local employment in two main specialist hospitals (Southmead and Frenchay), the MOD Central Procurement, Rolls Royce and BAe Systems at Filton.
There are two schools within our area: St Michael’s C of E Voluntary Controlled Primary School (630 places) and a Secondary School, Filton High (1000+ places).
Eleven uniformed groups use the church’s Old School Rooms for their weekly meetings. A thriving Parents and Toddlers group (Beehive) is held each week and the church provides a very high quality Pre-School for about 50 children, funded through the Government’s Nursery Education Scheme five days a week.
The University of the West of England (UWE) lies within the Parish and is constantly growing in student numbers and influence in the region.
Local amenities include a B&Q Superstore, Sainsbury’s, Tesco Express, Post Office, hairdressers, two Chinese takeaways, Domino Pizza, pharmacy and a popular Esporta Health and Fitness Centre. There is a local medical centre and dental practice.
There are two pubs in the village, both are busy and serve a good range of food and drink. A regular and efficient train service at Bristol Parkway Station (two minutes walk from the Church). There is close proximity and access to the M32, M4 and M5. Local bus services provide public transport to Bristol and to the Cribbs Causeway Shopping Mall on the northern fringe of Bristol.
About the youth work of the Project:
There is a full-time youth minister who runs the work with a team of volunteers supporting her.
The youth work reaches about 80 young people on a weekly basis through a variety of groups (cell groups for older teenagers, Sunday club for younger teenagers, youth club for younger teenagers). Currently, we are looking to establish one-to-one work.
Also, from September we are looking to start a youth club/drop in for the older teenagers.