Minster News

We will meet for breakfast in the Coffee Shop for the third of this new series on Saturday, 5 November from 8.30 to 9.30am. 

This will include a cooked breakfast and a short talk and discussion. The speaker will be Miles Quick, Director of Music at Taunton Minster.

Next gathering thereafter will be Saturday, 4 February 2023.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 2nd November at 2.30pm.

Joanna Morling will lead ‘A Thoughtul Meditation’.

All are welcome to join us as we gather in the Minster coffee shop.

Following formal recognition by the Charity Commission of TAUNTON MINSTER as the new working name for ‘PCC St Mary Magdalene Taunton’, the name of the church bank account has been changed to TAUNTON MINSTER.

This means from now on, all cheques in favour of the church should be made out to TAUNTON MINSTER. A cheque written with the old name will have to be returned and a replacement requested in the name of TAUNTON MINSTER.

The bank account number is not being changed and, therefore, no action is necessary in respect of Standing Orders and Direct Debits.

New ‘paying-in’ books for cash deposits will be brought into use as soon as they are

received from the bank. In the meantime, we shall continue to use the current books, amending the account name by hand to TAUNTON MINSTER.

Any queries please to Nigel Birkett, Acting Treasurer.

Magdalene Coffee Shop in Taunton Minster has been issued a 5 Star Rating for the Coffee Shop.  Well done, Sandra!—great news and all credit to you for carefully managing the whole operation, especially the complexities of food management and compliance.

On Sunday 13th March, at a special historic service, St Mary Magdalene church was officially confirmed as Taunton Minster by the Bishop of Taunton, The Right Reverend Ruth Worsley.

Minster Prayer

Loving God,
you call us together Taunton to work in partnership
with one another for the benefit of the whole community;
you give gifts to each one of us
so that we may serve you both in our work and in our leisure;
you enable us to communicate your love to those in need;
grant that we may continue to respond to your call
as we seek you in our neighbours.
As the Minster Church of St Mary Magdalene,
Help us to be a service to our Town, County and Diocese,
in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Thank you Tekna (our junior church) for your hard work in creating these beautiful Easter floral displays.  You can see them at our Easter Day 10am Holy Communion and 5pm Sung Evensong services tomorrow.  You can find the Orders of Service on our Worship page.

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 21^st 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:

1. a)Engaging culture and the arts: opportunity to increase profile through Arts Taunton
2. b)Developing educational programmes: opportunity to grow links with (e.g.) Bridgwater & Taunton College
3. 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 …

1. Become a focal point for the deanery, providing resources for training and events
2. Aim to become a centre of excellence providing theological education
3. 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