The Parish Profile

We have a dream

We have a dream of drawing closer to God and to each other through

•           creative worship that engages with all ages in a variety of worship styles and times.

•            reaching out in witness and mission, beyond our walls, to take out the message of God's love for all to our              community.

•           growing in faithfulness as we learn more about Jesus and what it means to follow him.

•              transforming our building to enhance our worship, to be a witnessing presence on the High Street, providing a             base for our outreach, and offering a resource for the community.

•           having warm and caring relationships with our fellow Christians and a genuine commitment to the parish grouping.

Worship: 

Our intention is to:

•           Offer a range of different style of services during the week at times to meet the needs of members.

•           Involve  members leading and  taking part in worship which engages with all ages.

•           Review the way and the frequency with which we celebrate communion.

•           Make more use of  modern audio and visual facilities.

•            Develop more exciting and diverse music in our worship.

Throughout the year Sunday morning worship is held at 11.00 a.m. with  an attendance of between 100 - 120.  Sunday Club children attend the first part of the service then have their own activities - but few young people attend on a regular basis. A small choir leads the singing, which tends to come from a range of sources, with modern hymns much appreciated by the congregation.

Modern projection facilities are available and PowerPoint presentations are used for some services.

Coffee and tea are served after the service and members are encouraged to continue in fellowship then.

Communion services are held twice a year, in April and October, with informal celebrations held after morning worship at other times.

On Wednesday mornings at 10.30 a.m. there is a short midweek service which has  a regular attendance of some 20 people. This service is normally led by members of the congregation. Members also lead monthly worship in the residential homes in the town in co-operation with other congregations from the parish grouping.  There is a Worship group, which assists with Sunday and other services as required.

With the intended development of worship opportunities throughout the week we do not want to create unreasonable demands on the ministry team. This is an area where we can make use of the abilities of many of the congregation.

Witness and Mission

Our Intention is to:

•           Be aware of the needs of our community and be involved in working with others to try to meet them.

•           Use our accommodation to provide a location for community and special interest groups to meet.

•           Offer events such as lunch clubs and after school activities.

•           Follow up contacts made through baptisms, weddings and funerals.

•           Be seen to be at the heart of our community.

Already our Mission and Outreach group has developed some contacts within the community and beyond. Support has been given to the Angus Christmas Toy appeal, providing bedding for the Forfar Resource Centre and projects like Blythswood. Regular pastoral contact is made with housebound members through the Pastoral Committee and the Friendship Visitors. St. Margaret’s building is used by a wide range of community groups which give us the opportunity to form links with people beyond our own congregational membership.

Learning

Our Intention is to:

•           Provide an exciting programme for young people.

•           Offer opportunities for families to come together to worship and learn.

•            Arrange regular discussion opportunities for adults to allow them to grow their understanding of their faith.

•           Provide regular training opportunities for office bearers.

Sunday Clubs meet during church service time and the Education Group of the Kirk Session has developed plans to reorganise our provision of work with young people. The Group has also arranged training events for office bearers and other educational sessions for all members about topics of special interest to the church. Two of our elders are accredited elder trainers and have been used to lead a number of training sessions.

Our Building

Our Intention is to:

•           Use  our plant to attract people and to show that the church is alive and has something for everyone.

•           Make the sanctuary a comfortable, flexible area with movable seating and modern audio visual facilities.

•           Create visible access to the building so that the church is seen to be in regular use.

•           Ensure that the building fully complies with the requirements for disabled access.

•            Modernise the hall, office, kitchen and toilet accommodation.

•           Provide a seven day a week facility for the use of the congregation and the community.

Given the central position of the building in the town it is well used by congregational and community organisations. The location of the building on the busy West High Street means that it has a high visibility.  Our intention is that we will ensure that usage continues and increases.

The Presbytery Plan of 1995 resulted in the sisting of expenditure on building improvement. This has now been lifted.  The building is in need of substantial improvement work. Clearly there will be a significant cost for this work and already we have reserves of almost £200,000 which can be used for part of the redevelopment project. Once a total cost has been estimated plans will be made to raise the necessary funds in a reasonably short timescale.

Relationships

Our Intention is to:

•           Continue to work with  all denominations in the town.

•           Commit ourselves to help make the Parish Grouping work.

The Forfar Action of Churches Together ( FACT ) arranges a number joint events and we will continue to support the work of the group.

The Parish Grouping  was established in 2006 involving four congregations. It is fair to say that, at this stage, the grouping has not been hugely effective but there are plans to create a more effective system for working together. We are committed to the principle of the congregations in the grouping working together and will support the development initiatives.

We have a dream  -  to draw closer to God and to each other  -  a dream which requires us to roll up our sleeves and start to work to fulfil it.

 We accept that our dreams will not, without much effort, change the position of the congregation overnight. We do believe that, with God's guidance and motivation, we can, as a team; members, office bearers and minister work together to create a congregation which engages positively with the community. It will be a congregation which works alongside others and encourages more and more people to come to know and love the Lord. This vacancy has forced us to do some deep thinking about our role as a people of God. We want to move forward to lift the confidence of the congregation, which has suffered due to the confusion, created by the Presbytery Plan, in the last 13 years. We have many good and committed people who are not fully involved and we want to see the concept of “using the gifts of the people” developed in a positive way.            

While much of our time and energy in the last few years has been spent on the, ultimately abortive, negotiations over the proposed union with Forfar East & Old, we have also been thinking and praying about the type of community church we feel God wants us to be.

We are confident that many of the aims and objectives we have set for ourselves can be achieved in a reasonably short time. Our vision plan is not one set in tablets of stone but, like all good plans, is flexible and adaptable to change in the light of experience, of new thinking and the availability of the skills of members. We believe that in partnership with a new minister working as part of the leadership team we will move forward.

We know that on this journey we have to learn to listen for God's word guiding and motivating us in ways that may not be the ways we imagined He would want us to follow!

Our Dreams for a Minister are:

We are strongly committed to the concept of using the gifts of all the people of God and wish to seek a minister who is similarly committed to that approach.

 We seek a minister who will be a leader but who will not be expected to carry the weight of the congregation alone.

We  look for someone who has skills to work with us in raising the confidence and vision of the congregation, a people person who sees her/himself as an integral part of the leadership team.

We want to create a place for a minister who can enjoy an acceptable work, family and leisure balance, within a supportive fellowship, which is the congregation.

Would you like to come and work with us on this journey, which promises to be exciting and  challenging? 

Can you share our dreams and help to make them reality?

St. Margaret's Congregation

Our History

St. Margaret's is the result of a union in 1977 of the former St. James's and the West congregations. The premises used are those of the former West Church and comprise a large sanctuary with a seating capacity of some 749, a full suite of halls, vestry and meeting rooms. An attractive garden area at the front of the building leads on to the busy West High Street and has been imaginatively used for mission related displays in recent years. We consider the site and the facilities available in the building provide us with an excellent base from which to carry out our mission to the community.

At the time of the union in 1977 St. Margaret's was one of the largest congregations of the Church of Scotland with some 2,500 members. That figure reflected the Angus tradition of joining the Kirk although ongoing involvement may not be high and that is one of the challenges we have to tackle! In recent years we have carried out a number of reviews of the role, which has  led to a reduction of our membership to some 896.

Where have we been and where are we going?

St. Margaret’s Congregation has undergone almost 13 years of confusion and uncertainty. The Angus Presbytery Plan of 1995 envisaged a future union between Forfar East & Old with St. Margaret’s but it was not until 2005 that serious discussions on a basis of union were initiated. In the intervening years any significant expenditure on buildings was sisted.

From 2005 until earlier this year Presbytery representatives led discussions on a basis of union. An imaginative  vision for the worship and  mission of the new congregation was agreed but it was  not possible to agree which building was to be used. Accordingly the issue was referred for arbitration.

The decision of the Arbitration group was that the building to be used would be that of St. Margaret’s. Such a furore was created in the town that eventually Presbytery decided to depart from the decision to unite the two congregations and return to the position where both be allowed to call ministers on an unrestricted basis and both buildings to be designated “a” category in the necessary buildings classification. The Presbytery Plan was adjusted accordingly.

In short St. Margaret’s has undergone 13 years of confusion and uncertainty created by the Presbytery Plan and this has led to us operating in what might be describes as maintenance rather than development mode. The building has been maintained at basic level and we have not been able to create the warm, comfortable, modern facility we long for. The uncertainty has also resulted in a lack of confidence  within the membership, which has contributed to the unsatisfactory financial position of recent years.

Having been supportive of the Presbytery Plan for a union, which we felt would create a new and dynamic congregation in the Town, we are now committed to ensuring that St. Margaret’s develops in that way by transforming our worship through offering  a range of styles and times, by engaging more effectively with our community and by expanding our outreach and mission.

Our Congregational Life

Congregational Administration

We are presently operating in terms of the model constitution, but consideration is being given to adopting the unitary constitution.

The Kirk Session has 35 elders and the Congregational Board has a membership of 33, 15 of whom are elected by the congregation. We have just introduced a new structure of task groups, which are charged with progressing some of the development projects that have been on hold due to the union negotiations. The task groups have a mix of elders and board members and have replaced the groups mentioned in the first part of the profile.

The Worship Task Group is charged with working with the minister to help develop worship that engages with the community, to  offer worship of varied styles and at a range of times throughout the week. The group will lead services in the absence of the minister and co-operate with others in the Parish Grouping to arrange joint worship.

The Mission and Outreach Task Group will survey what the real needs of the community are and encourage community involvement. A major role will be to promote the life and worship of St. Margaret’s to encourage more of the community to become part of our fellowship. They will also organise special projects such as the Blythswood Christmas box scheme.

The Nurture Task Group will oversee the pastoral care of the congregation and organise training and learning opportunities for office bearers and for all members . They will organise fellowship events to help bring members together and create a family feeling in the congregation. This group will co-ordinate the work the Friendship visitors who regularly visit house bound members.

The New Gen Task Group will oversee and support the development of the work with young  people in the congregation. As we have a lack of young families in the congregation they will identify ways of engaging with the missing generations.

The Development Task Group will deal with ongoing property maintenance work and will start discussions on a development plan for the building.

The Administration Task Group will deal with the management of congregational finances and with general administration. They will  also develop fund raising projects once a major building  development is proposed.

The  Kirk Session and the Congregational Board meet on the same evening every second month. In the other months the task groups meet. The financial, fabric and some of the administrative matters are reported to the Congregational Board with all other matters dealt with by the Kirk Session. It is intended  that once task groups have a project approved they can then carry out the work and do not constantly have to report back to the Board or Session.

Buildings: 

Due to the sisting of expenditure on building improvement, which has hampered us since 1995, the building is in need of substantial improvement work. Plans for renovation have been under discussion for many years but now we are in a position to take action to make the building fit for the purpose of a 21st. century congregation. It is proposed that consultations are held with a local architect, who specialises in church building developments, to identify a suitable plan to upgrade the sanctuary and modernise hall, office, toilet and kitchen facilities. There will be a significant cost for this work and plans will be made to raise the funds in a reasonably short timescale.

Halls:  The halls and ancillary accommodation are attached to the Church and consist of:

               Large hall accommodating about    120

            Small hall accommodating about      60

            Two meeting rooms for about         30 each

            A church office, vestry, kitchen and toilets.

The accommodation is heavily used by our congregational organisations. Angus Presbytery uses the Halls for Presbytery and Committee meetings and the Church office is the base for the Presbytery Clerks. The Clerks are in the office every Tuesday. Because of its good location within the town the halls are regularly used by local organisations for meetings and fund raising events such as coffee mornings.

Outside organisations which use the buildings include:

•           St. Andrew's Ambulance for training courses.

•           Tai Chi groups.

•           WRI

•            Dancing Groups.

•            Slimming group.

•           An annual Burns Festival uses all parts of the building.

•           A number of local groups use the halls for coffee mornings or other fund raising events.

Most weeks from Monday to Saturday things are happening in the halls.

 The  range of congregational organisations includes:-

 •          The Guild, which meets fortnightly and is about to start meeting regularly with the other  two Guilds in the town.

•           Senior Circle  meets every Monday and provides a range of activities for its members, who come from                         the congregation and out with. Membership is about 80.            

•           The   Mums and Toddlers group meets every Tuesday and Thursday morning with 15 - 20 children each day. It             caters for members of the congregation and others.

•           The Widow's Group meets once a month for the members to share discussion and provide some mutual support.

•           Every Friday a coffee morning attracts members and non-members alike.

•            Embroidery and Patchwork groups also meet throughout the week.

•            Spectrum Choir,  a ladies group, performs at a range of services and entertains groups in the Church and outwith.

•           The sponsored open Scout Group, 3rd. Forfar, has groups for Beavers, Cub Scouts, Scouts and Explorer Scouts              and meets in the main hall. It has a total membership at present of some 80 and has had to introduce a waiting              list for potential members.

Staffing: In addition to the minister there are three members of staff:    a hall keeper, an organist and a church secretary who carries out a range of secretarial and administrative work. The secretary will provide support for the minister if that is required. The church has a well equipped office, which is open on Wednesday and Friday mornings when the secretary is at work. It provides an important focus for members obtaining and sharing information.

Manse:  A modern manse is located in Potters Park Crescent, a pleasant housing area of the town. The property provides a comfortable family home. It is double glazed with gas central heating. A double garage and driveway allow for parking a number of cars and at front and rear there is easily maintained garden ground. The property has three bedrooms, one of which is en-suite, a study or fourth bedroom, lounge and dining room, family bathroom, toilet and kitchen with a breakfast bar. The manse is close to the local Primary School, bus stops and the centre of town for shopping and leisure services. A regular maintenance programme is carried out to ensure the property is in good order and suitable for the manse family. The manse is seen as the home for the family and is not used for meetings, as accommodation is normally available at the church.

Finances:  In the last two years the Christian liberality of the congregation has been  challenged as deficits have been shown of some £12,197 in 2006 and £ 9,648 in 2007. Despite these deficits all payments to central funds have been met by drawing from the reserves. Income in 2006 was some £83,423 and in 2007 £83,731. Given the disappointing levels of income in the last two years the Congregational Board has taken steps to try to reverse the pattern and initial signs are that for the current year a small surplus may be expected.

It is felt that the deficits in the last two years are due to the uncertainty about the future of the congregation and the recent clarification of the position will have a beneficial effect.

Despite the need to draw from reserves the congregation retains a balance of almost £200,000 which is earmarked for development work.

Parish grouping

Angus Presbytery in 2006 established a Parish grouping structure in the Forfar area. For the purpose of Presbytery Planning clusters have been formed round the six main burghs, Arbroath, Brechin, Carnoustie, Forfar, Kirriemuir and Montrose.

The Forfar cluster incorporates the parishes of: Aberlemno, Guthrie & Rescobie, Dunnichen, Letham, Kirkden, Glamis Inverarity Kinnettles and the three Forfar congregations - East & Old, Lowson Memorial and St. Margaret's.

Two congregations are not, at present, part of the parish grouping - Aberlemno, Guthrie and Rescobie, and Dunnichen, Letham, Kirkden.

The Grouping is co-ordinated by a Joint Development Group which has representatives from all four congregations. A number of joint events have been organised including a very successful series of Pizza Praise events, which have attracted family groups with little contact to any of the congregations. It is fair to say that at this stage the grouping has not been hugely effective but there are plans to create a more dynamic system for working together. The minister appointed to St. Margaret's will also be  appointed to work as part of the Parish Grouping and our expectation is that the ministers in the Grouping will work together as a team providing mutual support.

The Basis of the Grouping provides for 40% of the time of the minister of Glamis Inverarity & Kinnettles to be available to the Grouping. Also there is provision in the Presbytery Plan for an additional ministry to be provided in the Grouping to carry out new work.

FORFAR  -  THE COMMUNITY

The Royal Burgh of Forfar is situated some 15 miles north of Dundee in the rich, arable lowlands of the Vale of Strathmore. Forfar was one of the ancient sites for the Scottish kings being an established royal residence in the time of Malcolm Canmore and was the seat of a sheriffdom in the twelfth century.

Lying at the heart of Strathmore it has a well established agricultural support  industry, while the former linen, flax and jute industries have been replaced by a highly efficient polypropylene industry, which is one of the major employers in the town. Natural spring water is bottled here, with Strathmore water sold in many parts of the world.  Arguably the most famous feature of Forfar is the bridie, a meat filled pastry,  many thousands of which are made and sold each week. Forfar is located some 18 miles from the coast and a similar distance from the foothills of the renowned Angus Glens making it a fine centre for a wide range of outdoor leisure pursuits.

Forfar is the county town and administrative centre of Angus with the headquarters of Angus Council located within the Burgh. The population is rising - between the 1991 to the 2001 censuses - it had increased from 12,832 to 13,358.

The Angus Council Local Plan shows an allocation of new housing sites of which some 400 properties will be within the Saint Margaret's parish. The Dundee and Angus Structure Plan (approved in 2002) identifies Forfar as a focus for growth in Angus.

The housing mix in the town is estimated at :-

                        owner occupied            48.2

                        local authority              45.7

                        other                               5.9

Forfar is well connected to the strategic roads network, with Aberdeen 50 miles, Edinburgh 75 miles and Glasgow 93 miles. The nearest railway station is in Dundee which has regular services to Edinburgh, Glasgow and south of the border. There is a good local bus service to Dundee and other towns within Angus. Connections to longer distance bus services to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow can also be made in Forfar. All these factors, together with the good range of services available in the town, have brought more families into the community.

Employment: A good proportion of the working population do work within Forfar but large numbers also commute to Dundee and other surrounding towns in and beyond Angus aided by the improvements which have been made to the trunk road network. The unemployment position fluctuates but is presently at about 7%. Angus has become an area in which a large number of mainly Eastern European workers have settled and this has had created new demands on the services proved by both statutory and voluntary agencies to try to meet their needs.

Education: within the town there are three primary schools Strathmore and Whitehills, both of which have been recently rebuilt, are outside our parish although Strathmore does use our Church for services, as it is the closest for it to use. Within the parish is Langlands Primary School, which is presently undergoing a complete rebuilding programme. The  secondary school serving the area is Forfar Academy. All the Forfar schools have a good reputation for the quality of the education provided and all offer a wide range of extra curricular opportunities. Further Education Colleges are situated in Arbroath at Angus College and in Dundee at Dundee College. Angus College has an outreach centre in Forfar, which provides a wide range of courses. There are two Universities in Dundee, with St. Andrew’s University only some 30 miles from the town.

Community: Forfar is well provide with Council services having good sport, recreation and cultural facilities. These include a leisure centre with a wide range of sporting facilities, a swimming pool, a well stocked library and a local museum and art gallery. Lochside Country Park, which stretches round Forfar Loch, is a popular and attractive area for walkers.

There is a good 18 hole golf course with many others within a short distance. The town has a wide range of organisations and societies covering most social, cultural and sporting interests. Also in the town are a number of hotels and restaurants, together with a wide range of shops and several supermarkets.

Health services are provide through; a recently built Community Hospital, which includes a minor injuries unit, three medical practices and two dental surgeries. Major hospital services are provided at the highly regarded Ninewells Hospital in Dundee and at Stracathro Hospital near Brechin.

Our Parish

Forfar is a compact community and although there are three identified parish boundaries there is no real parish system in operation within the town with membership of all three Church of Scotland charges spread throughout the town and into the surrounding rural areas. Membership numbers are estimated to be:

                        East & Old                  1,292

                        Lowson Memorial          973

                        St. Margaret's                896

A Scottish Episcopal Church, St. John's and a Catholic Church, St. Fergus also operate in the town. Through the Forfar Action of Churches Together (FACT) there is good ecumenical co-operation.

The Parish served by Saint Margaret's covers some 4 square miles with an estimated population of 4,500 and expected to rise in the next few years, of whom about 4.6% are estimated to be members of other denominations.

Within the parish is one sheltered housing complex, two residential homes and one nursing home. Langlands Primary School is within the Parish and the minister has been chaplain, which has involved about a one hour per week commitment.

The  church buildings stand  directly on the High Street adjacent to the Post Office, Library, Police Station and a bank so there is a substantial “passing trade” which makes our site very suitable for a series of mission based displays.  We consider St. Margaret’s is a church at the centre of our community, offering a huge opportunity for development.