For those of
you who are unfamiliar with the framework of the Church of England,
Deaneries provide a link between Parochial Church Councils and
their Dioceses. The Diocese of Southwell (pronounced SUTH-EL as in southern, southerly and Southwark - and included in the Domesday Book under its original name of Sudwelle) has fifteen Deaneries;
Bawtry, Mansfield, Newark, Newstead, Retford and Worksop in the
Newark Archdeaconry and Beeston, Bingham, South Bingham, West
Bingham, GEDLING, Nottingham Central, Nottingham North,
Nottingham West and Southwell in the Nottingham Archdeaconry.
Gedling Deanery encompasses
the following fifteen parishes (in alphabetical order of location):
(All of the photographs included are actual postcards from the early twentieth century.)
(In the cases where a
parish is represented on the Internet, a link to their homepage
has been built into the relevant name above.)
The purpose
of a Deanery is to feed information from the Diocese (and General
Synod) to all those who take an interest in Church life. It would
be impractical for everyone to attend General Synod meetings so
each Parish appoints representatives to be members of the Deanery
Synod and each Deanery appoints members to represent them on the
Diocesan Synod. In turn, the Diocese elects representatives to
attend meetings held by the General Synod and so the flowchart
is completed from the Archbishop down to every member of a church
congregation!
Deaneries are
responsible for the fellowship and spirituality of their parishes,
whilst offering any assistance they are in a position to provide.
Additionally, with the deaneries' links with their parishes, dioceses
are able to fairly determine parish shares. A parish share is
the amount of funding a church contributes to the running of their
diocese - not just for administration, but essentially the incumbents'
stipends and maintenance of the vicarages, etc.
If you would
like to contact the Deanery, messages may be sent using this link.
To be continued
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