Pilrig St. Paul’s Church of Scotland Mission:
We commit ourselves to serve Christ, the Leith Community and Wider World through Worship, Music, Fellowship, Support and Outreach
Scottish Charities No. SC 007277
Following the retirement of our minister after a long ministry, we are seeking an open, friendly, minister to both lead us and walk alongside us as we journey in faith together. As a small, inner city congregation, we are looking for someone who will help us as we explore our vision for the future; someone who will guide us as we negotiate the changes that will come as we prepare for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead of us.
Our ideal candidate will be someone who will:
Challenge and inspire us to meet our vision.
Support, encourage and love us through our journey together.
Nurture and help enable us to meet the challenges presented.
The above done with an inclusive, affirming and welcoming theological framework through:
Leading our worship along with the readers, choir and use of our audio visual equipment to connect the spiritual with the everyday.
Working in hand with the Pastoral Care Group, flower and magazine distributors. Warm and approachable and a good listener.
Christian education and discipleship of all ages.
Building and strengthening community in the congregation by encouraging and helping us with our outreach and service in the name of God.
Building and strengthening our links with the wider parish by working with our neighbouring churches, both in the Leith Churches Forum and the Leith Churches Together.
To work with the Office Bearers and the Kirk Session to encourage and challenge us to use our skills and gifts in service to God as the spiritual leaders of the congregation.
In return we will:
Support and encourage you.
Offer our prayers for you.
Serve God to the best of our ability.
Acknowledge we are not perfect, and because of that, we don’t expect you to be!
Mission We aim to provide a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere to our worship and events, we have recently formed a Pastoral Care Group to focus on providing pastoral care to our elderly members to supplement the Elders visits and the Minister’s visiting of members with critical needs. Additional contact is provided by a network of people who deliver magazines and flowers. Our desire is to see the development of regular learning and discussion opportunities for the congregation (bible study, Lent study, house groups etc). We would also like to be able to provide recordings of services for housebound members although the lack of internet access for many older members makes distribution a challenge.
Our principle mission efforts centre around our Music Outreach and the Open Doorway. We are challenged by the Edinburgh Presbytery ‘Unless the Lord Builds the House…’ report to develop a ministry towards the 20-40 age group in the parish.
Worship We presently hold a single service of worship at 11am on Sundays Communion is celebrated on the last Sunday in January, April, June and October and we occasionally hold more informal communions on some of the intervening months. We have an adult choir and junior choristers who lead praise and sing anthems etc. lead by our Director of Music, Colin Gray. A crèche is provided during worship (with PVG registered staff)
Music Outreach Led by our Director of Music, there are three choirs in addition to our adult choir which supports worship every Sunday. Vocal Vibes for primary 3 to 5. Singchronicity is a youth choir and musical theatre group for Primary 6 upwards funded jointly by the Leith Churches Forum.
Pilrig Chorus is a 40 strong mixed adult choir, drawing members from the wider community along with members of the congregation. We also have the Choristers, drawn from the more talented Vocal vibes singers and going through the RSM Music for Life programme. They sing during church services both on their own and with the adult choir and are paid pocket money retainer. Open Doorway The Open Doorway uses our well equipped fellowship area at the front of the church (opened in 2004) to provide a visible presence on Leith Walk currently two days a week (Tuesday and Thursday from 11am to 1pm) where the church can be seen to be open and welcoming to anyone who wants to come in for reflection or prayer or just a chat. Lunch Club Open Doorway The lunch club meets in the Session Room every Wednesday to serve meals (provided by the City of Edinburgh Council) to elderly people in the parish and provide companionship.
Pilrig Parlour For more than 30 years we have reached out to the community and visitors during the three weeks Edinburgh Festival Fringe by establishing a cafĂŠ serving refreshments and light meals. In recent years our main hall has been used as a Festival Fringe venue. Lunch Club
Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals The large parish population produces an average of 43 funerals a year, about 9 of those are church members. There have only been one or two congregation or parish weddings and baptisms per year in recent times. Leith Churches Forum The congregation is part of the Leith Churches Forum Parish Grouping which comprises of the four Church of Scotland churches in Leith (South Leith, North Leith, St. Andrew’s and Pilrig St. Paul’s). Formalised by Presbytery in 2009, the aim of the Leith Churches Forum is to foster closer working relationships across the Leith churches and explore ways of providing innovative ministries using the resources of all four churches. It is a condition of our Reviewable Tenure that a new minister will be willing to work within the Forum. This grouping has been in place for more than 15 years and has seen the introduction of joint services and communions, sharing of information and conferences and joint meetings of the Kirk Sessions. School Links Our Minister was chaplain to Lorne Primary School who use the church for services at Easter and Christmas. During our vacancy, contact is being maintained with Lorne Primary by Jennifer Stark who is Outreach Worker for the Leith Churches Forum and Jennifer hopes to re-establish links to Pilrig Park School (Special Needs) who also still use the church for their services. Parish The parish of Pilrig St Paul’s is located in the north east of Edinburgh, on the boundary between Edinburgh and Leith and lies astride Leith Walk. With an estimated population of nearly 12,000 it is one of the largest parishes in the city.
Developed primarily in the latter half of the 19th Century it has typical Victorian tenements from the 1870’s onwards and the Pilrig area contains two storey terraced villas of the 1880’s. In the latter years of the 20th Century more modern flatted and villa housing was developed on the former Balfour Street timber yard and around the edges of the parish at Hawkhill Close, Albion Gardens, Dicksonfield, Dryden Gait and Hawthornden. Currently new housing is being developed at Hawkhill Avenue and Shrub Place. The ethnic mix and transient nature of the parish population present real challenges to effective outreach but there are opportunities to introduce evening or mid-week worship to reach the population. Congregation Pilrig Church first opened for worship in 1843, the present building was opened in 1863. Pilrig Church united with Dalmeny Street Church in 1950 and again with Leith St. Paul’s to form Pilrig St. Paul’s in 1999. The congregation currently stands at 250 with 4 adherents, average attendance at worship is around 70. The main age group in the Parish is 20-40 The congregation at a recent child’s blessing compared to the congregation where it is over This is an area in which we will need to work together to address. We use the Model Deed of Constitution, we have a Kirk Session of 16 and a Congregational Board with 13 elected members. We have standing committees for Finance, Property and Stewardship, our last Stewardship Campaign was in 2011. Buildings The buildings have undergone extensive renovation in recent years, re-wiring, fire proofing, new heating boilers and new chandelier lighting in the church. The church is equipped with radio microphones and a multimedia system with twin 42inch monitors and a dedicated laptop to display hymn words and images during worship. In addition to the church itself, we have two halls, the main hall is upstairs, has a stage and seats 100 people, the smaller Session Room is on the ground floor and seats 50 people and has a hatch through to a well equipped kitchen.
60.
Manse The Manse at 78 Pilrig Street is a substantial terraced villa on two floors, within 200 yards of the church and across the road from Pilrig Park. Accommodation is as follows:Ground Floor: Vestibule, hall, spacious lounge with bay window, living room with French doors to the rear garden, kitchen, dining room, cloakroom/toilet with shower. First Floor: Study, three bedrooms (one with large bay window), family bathroom. There is an easily maintained, sheltered rear garden and a small garden to the front. There is a separate garage / lock up in Arthur Street Lane The building has central heating and gas fires, it is in good decorative order and carpeted throughout. The intention is to upgrade the décor and the bathroom to the new occupant’s requirements. All external paintwork is in good condition. The roof is regularly checked and maintained. Organisations The Guild (the only one remaining in Leith) has around 24 members who meet in the Session Room on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday from September to April and enjoy a varied program of speakers and entertainment. Our halls are used extensively by many community groups and youth organisations and provide a valuable income stream for the congregation. Our aim is to employ a part time halls manager to deal with the bookings and liaise with the groups to open and close the buildings. Leith Churches Together Pilrig St. Paul’s is a member of this ecumenical grouping with a remarkable range of traditions – Baptist, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican, United Free, Ukrainian Catholic, United Reformed Church and Methodist who continue to explore ways of deepening the bonds between the churches, and encouraging mutual witness to the Gospel message through action and prayer, serving the community of Leith.
Finance The finances of the congregation are in a reasonable position due to the balance in the reserve fund. This is higher than normal due to:
Two sizeable legacies received during the last 6 years.
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Major fabric items have been paid from the sale of the Leith St. Paul’s buildings at the time of the union. These funds have now been used up completing the rewiring and installing new lights in the sanctuary.
At present we have two main sources of income, the ordinary offerings received each week and the income generated from hall lets.