St Mary Magdalene church becoming a MINSTER church
At a special service on Sunday 13 March 22 our church will be designated TAUNTON MINSTER. What will this mean for us?
The Background
It’s now 6 years since we received a letter from Taunton Deane Borough Council asking us to consider the church being “reclassified as a MINSTER” believing it would be “of enormous value for the town”. A sub committee of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) was formed and, with the guidance of our Diocesan Bishop on the path to follow, a lot of work was undertaken to identify the pros and cons and seek the views of other churches.
PCC members were particularly mindful of a deep reluctance on our church’s part to be any different from other C of E churches in the town. But our prayerful research and investigations led us to recognise how this might just be God’s call to us to become more involved in the life of the town community.
In 2017, after consideration by the PCC, the report of the sub committee led to wider consultation with the church family through both an open meeting and at the Annual Parish Church Meeting where a show-of-hands poll indicated heavily in favour of St Mary Magdalene’s becoming a MINSTER church. There then followed a meeting of the PCC which overwhelmingly voted in favour of formally approaching the Bishop for his approval.
We might ask why it has taken a further 4 years for this to come to fruition! There followed a period of consultation in the wider Diocese before the Bishop could approve the designation, but its implementation was thwarted when our Vicar moved to Great Malvern Priory in 2018. An 18-month vacancy followed before the arrival of our new Vicar, Tobie Osmond, in October 2019. Then Covid-19 arrived.
How will becoming a Minster change our church?
We shall still be known as St Mary Magdalene church but with the added shorter title of TAUNTON MINSTER used on our noticeboards in the churchyard and on signage for tourist visitors across the town centre. But becoming a MINSTER church in the 21st century means so much more than a change of public perception. Michael Sadgrove, Dean Emeritus of Durham cathedral, wrote: “To become an urban Minster today is to accept a wider, if not new, vocation”.
As part of that wider vocation, we shall develop a partner relationship with our District Council and the Taunton Chamber of Commerce through the establishment of a Minster Council to help address key issues in society with the aim of improving people’s lives. Other vocational opportunities might well include:
- a)Engaging culture and the arts: opportunity to increase profile through Arts Taunton
- b)Developing educational programmes: opportunity to grow links with (e.g.) Bridgwater & Taunton College
- c) Development of our relationship with Wells Cathedral and Bath Abbey to open up and explore new possibilities for mission in the south-west of the Diocese
Within the church building itself we may expect to see an increase in the number of visitors and enlarging the Coffee Shop area gives us the opportunity to grow our hospitable welcome.
How will this impact our relationship with Taunton Deanery and our Diocese?
Over time, we shall …
- Become a focal point for the deanery, providing resources for training and events
- Aim to become a centre of excellence providing theological education
- Serve the diocese as a hub at the western end of the Bath and Wells diocese, including the hosting of diocesan-led events
What is the vision of how we shall meet these challenges?
We are excited by opportunities we have identified which the Minster designation could open up for mission and ministry in our Town community. The challenge will be to ensure our resources are aligned to enable those new opportunities for mission, service and evangelism to be prayerfully prioritised and grasped. We shall be challenged but, with God’s help, we shall own those challenges. We shall own “a wider vocation”.
St Mary Magdalene Taunton Parochial Church Council
January 2022
