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This is a text-only version of an article first published on Wednesday, 15 June 2016. Information shown on this page may no longer be current.
THE Revd Jason St John Nicolle has been the Rector of Churn Benefice, in South Oxfordshire, since 2008 and Area Dean of Wallingford since 2012.
The area is growing as thousands of new homes are built to meet the demand for housing.
Jason is also Area Dean of Wantage, another area that is experiencing growth.
There will be more on Wantage in a future edition of the Door. This growth presents exciting opportunities and challenges for the Church.
Church leaders are working hard with Peter Morgan, the Diocesan New Communities Officer, and church leaders on how we can respond. "I find the challenges of engaging with new areas of housing fascinating.
We are trying to provide the most appropriate resourcing for mission and ministry in new areas of housing and looking at how you provide the resources once you have discerned the model," says Jason, who feels his role also involves being something of a historian.
"There have been church communities here for over 1,500 years, pre St Birinus.
There were Seventh Century Christian communities here.
Part of the work in our deanery is providing a traditional parish ministry in the countryside.
It's still effective as a means of sharing the life of Christ and in growing in that life.
At the same time traditional parish ministry doesn't reach everyone.
That's why we are all looking at new ways of engaging with the Gospel, hence our science missioner in the Churn Benefice and a new children's worker in Harwell. "We are looking at how we can adapt the structures of the Church so that we can be effective conduits of God's transforming grace.
It's a matter of not throwing the baby out with the bath water.
One of the joys of rural ministry is that there is a large fringe, typically here in a village, of people who are well intentioned towards the Church.
That is a powerful field for mission, outreach and fundraising and that is a joy. "The physical presence of the building in the villages helps to ensure that these are largely Christian communities even if they are small congregations.
It's about community and connecting people with Jesus.
I suspect that this is similar in towns.
There is really great ministry going on in the towns of our deanery, Didcot and Wallingford. "As Area Dean, while Jason knows conversations about parish share can be difficult, he views them as a vital element of discipleship. "When I was working as a lawyer, and as a financial adviser, I was helping people with debt problems.
The world of money is part of the reality of the world that God has created," he says.
"Decisions about parish share are about sustainability and are as spiritual as conversations about Sunday services and pastoral care. " Jason sees the whole of his work as Area Dean as seeking to promote Confident Collaborative Leadership, one of the five strands of Bishop John's Living Faith vision. "It's supporting one another to work and grow in the love of Jesus Christ, asking colleagues to be thinking about the best ways we can be doing things. "Jason is also aware of balancing serving the needs of the people now with planning for the future, thinking about what the needs of communities will be in a decade's time and beyond.
"It's about intergenerational equity - a fair balance between the rights of communities in the current time and the rights of the future communities," he added.
;It's all about science FROM celebrations of the first moon landing through to ecological surveys of churchyards, the Revd Jennifer Brown is loving her new role as a Science Missioner.
Jennifer, who serves in the Churn Benefice, says: "One of the things that gets me excited about this job is myth busting.
We want to break down the view that science and religion are at odds with one another and have some useful conversations. "Churn Benefice Rector and Wallingford Area Dean, Jason St John-Nicolle came up with the idea of a science missioner.
"He started to notice how many scientists were members of his congregations.
There is so much science related industry in South Oxfordshire," says Jennifer, who has a background in medical communications and understands scientific language.
"We thought we should be doing more outreach in that area," says Jennifer who has a BSc in Psychology and an MA in the Psychology of Religion. "The role is to help to support people in our congregations who work in the science industries so that they feel confident to articulate their faith, and to make connections with the local science community. "To commemorate the 45th anniversary of the Apollo moonlanding a special service was held in July.
Staff from the European Space Agency in Harwell and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory space technology department were invited. "The idea was to let the space technology industry workers know we are praying and taking an interest in what they do," says Jennifer.
"We are also hoping to work with local environmental groups to arrange an 'explore your churchyard' day, getting children involved in ecology and why that is important to the Church and the Christian faith," says Jennifer.
"We are planning to do some work in schools in the next academic year.
One of the advantages of the job is that I'm employed by the benefice to do this role, which means that, as well as looking outwards to engage with the science community, I'm also getting to preach regularly in the benefice, and get to know the congregations. " Jennifer is writing a blog about the new role.
As communities grow
THE Revd Mark Bodeker (right) is excited about moving to the new Great Western Estate with his family.
There he has already started to build on the mission work that has already started within the expanding community.
The new development, along with the adjoining Valley Park estate, when complete, will see 6,000 homes and up to 15,000 new people move to the west of Didcot .
Mark's work as Community Minister on GWP is developing as the physical landscape of Didcot is changing dramatically as three of the six famous cooling towers at the now iconic power station were demolished in July.
"Part of my role is to help support and build community.
That's everything from helping people to find their way around to supporting the siting of a new post box.
It's about working together to ensure that where a new community building is planned, the council and main contractor do the work they say they are going to do," says Mark. "The second thing is to help people grow in their Christian faith on the estate.
It's the old fashioned model of meeting, greeting and inviting people," says Mark, who has been making connections with the Stephen Freeman Community School, Residents Association, local housing agencies, mums and toddler groups and others on the new estate. "I'm excited because what I'm describing to you is all new.
We are trying things out.
We had one event on a Friday evening in someone's home.
That didn't get a massive take-up so we tried it on a Sunday afternoon and lots of people came.
People may be tired on a Friday night but may have some energy by Sunday. "While All Saints', Didcot, where Mark also acts as Curate, offers him a structure and rhythm, the new communities work is completely the opposite.
A family summer activities week with events arranged for children aged from toddlers up to teenagers took place in August and other, similar events for a broader range of people are in the pipeline. Mark is looking for a regular meeting place for groups where people can explore spirituality.
"I am trying not to use terms that only people with experience of the traditional Church and Christianity can understand, but trying to make this outreach accessible to people with no church background. " So far Mark has met around 20 committed Christians and is working to reach those who may not go to church.
"Those people may want to get their child baptised or may simply want a place to come which is outside of their busy lives and be still for a while.
What they are seeking is a spiritual dimension which they can't experience elsewhere. " ;