Governance Roles
St Nicolas is a part of the Church of England, and as such has a synodical form of governance at national, diocesan, deanery and parochial levels. We are also a charity overseen by the Charities Commission. A healthy church needs a healthy governance team made up of clergy and elected members of the laity.
Our elections take place during our Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) typically at the end of April, and we seek nominations in the previous couple of months. Nominees, their sponsors and seconders must be members of our electoral roll.
Please consider serving in one of the many roles below. As some may be more familiar to you than others, a little information is given below. If you can give of your time and abilities, would you please prayerfully consider whether one of these roles might be for you. All of the information you require to become a member of the electoral roll or stand for any of these positions can be found through our APCM page which is available for a few weeks prior to each APCM.
Speak to the Rector, PCC Secretary or one of the Church Wardens if you would to discuss any of these opportunities further; or reach out to the PCC Secretary using the ‘Contact Me’ button.
When using the "Contact Me" button, please include your name, contact details and the reason for your request. If you want a copy of the request, please add yourself to the address line.
Deanery Synod Representative
“Primarily, Deaneries provide an opportunity for individual parishes to resource leadership, collaborate in mission, and support each other in ministry in a way that is not possible on the micro-scale of the parish or on the macro-scale of the diocese.” (Deanery Handbook, p5)
Our local Deanery comprises parishes in the wider Leatherhead area covering a population of approximately 75,000 of whom about 2,000 regularly attend our churches on Sunday.
Deanery Synod, which is a forum for both lay and clergy representatives of the Deanery, meets three times a year, mainly to address issues of relevance to the work of the local churches, and sometimes to share in the decision making of the national Church. We see a strong role for Synod members in enabling the work of the local churches and supporting each other in our collective efforts across the Deanery.
All local licensed clergy are automatically members of the Deanery Synod. The number of lay members for each church is determined by the number of people on the Electoral Roll. At St Nicolas we typically have between four and six places available for lay members.
Deanery Synod members are also automatically members of their own Parochial Church Council (PCC) although they do not need to be on a PCC prior to being elected on to Deanery Synod.
Churchwarden
Churchwardens are essential to the smooth running of the church. Their responsibilities are wide-ranging but include sharing in the leadership of the church, ensuring the fabric (buildings and property) of the church is kept in good order, being a direct link between the bishop and the parish, and caring for the congregation and parish priest.
Although every church seeks to appoint two churchwardens, at St Nicolas we have a team of four wardens: two Churchwardens and two Assistant Churchwardens. A larger team allows the work to be shared and succession planning to work more effectively. During their time as Assistant Churchwardens, typically two years, they learn the role of Church Warden. After this, they often stand for election to become a Church Warden.
PCC Member
Do you have an interest in the work of the church, how it is progressed and how decisions are made? Do you desire that we continue the mission of St Nicolas Church in Building Faith in the Community and do it well? Would you have gifts, expertise or experience which would enable you to share in setting the mission of the church, keeping everyone safe and looking after the fabric and financial position of the church?
The PCC meets six times a year on a Monday evening in alternate months. The meetings include hearing from those who have ministries in our church: ECO to Fabric, BYouth to Families and Children. There is also business to be done and decisions to make to ensure the smooth running of the more administrative (but essential) side of things.
We have several places available each year. These are appointed at our APCM for an initial term of three years. You can also find out more by to a current member of PCC (listed on our website).
NOTICES:
Safeguarding: Several of our roles involve working with children or vulnerable adults, and so we take our safeguarding responsibilities very seriously. For engaging in particular roles our 'safer recruitment' process will be involved as directed by our Safer Recruitment Policy.
GDPR: We may ask you for your contact details. We will only use these details to enable the leader of an activity that you have selected to make contact with you at your own request.
Feedback: If something is wrong with this web page or its dependant-pages; or if you have asked to be contacted but not heard back within two weeks, please send details to the Next Steps Team.