In co-operation with the incumbent, churchwardens, as part of the ministry team, are generally responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the parish and/or ministry area.

It is important that churchwardens nourish and maintain their own Christian faith, and not let it fade with the administrative and practical issues which may arise in the church. 

Churchwardens are not expected to do everything themselves, but to make sure that there are other people available to carry out the various tasks.

Guidance for Churchwardens

More learning opportunities

Those who are asked to lead worship on behalf of others are undertaking an important responsibility.

Clergy and Readers are licensed by the Bishop to lead worship.

Churchwardens may also lead worship.

Many churches now have groups of worship leaders who prepare and lead non-eucharistic worship.

>> Find out more about leading worship as a churchwarden here.

Downloads

Here are a worship resource sheet (PDF) and some orders of service that churchwardens can use if they need to lead an act of worship at short notice.  The orders of service are Word docs so they can be adapted if needed.

BCP - Morning Prayer (Word doc)

CW - Morning Prayer (Word doc)

BCP - Evening Prayer (Word doc)

CW - Evening Prayer (Word doc)

Worship for all family (Word doc)

Resource sheet for churchwardens leading worship (PDF)

Once described as a “stone-built preaching box” St Mary’s in Cromford has evolved into a uniquely decorated Derbyshire church.

“Wow! Really impressive”, reads a comment in Cromford St Mary’s visitors’ book. It’s not untypical of the many remarks.

They are, no doubt, referring to the collection of magnificent murals painted around the inside of the church.

Dr Alison Brown is one of a group of 35 who have visited Kolkata, India, to build and strengthen the Derby Diocesan Board of Education's links with the area.

Jacqueline Stober decided at the age of nine that she was going to work for God.

And as well as her own route to ordination, she’s been exploring those of other BAME clergy in the Church of England.

Remembering the ‘light-bulb moment’ is something many people do when it comes to discovering God or hearing His call.

The next Bishop of Derby will be the Right Reverend Libby Lane.

Bishop Libby is currently the Suffragan Bishop of Stockport, in the Diocese of Chester – a post she has occupied since 2015.

Libby describes Derbyshire as ‘the place that holds my heart’. She grew up in Glossop in the north-west of the county and was selected for ordination while working in the parish of St Thomas Brampton, Chesterfield.

It is important to note that, by default, the incumbent is automatically the administrator (and an editor) of your church's page(s).

As the administrator, the incumbent can then grant editor access to up to five other people.

If your church is in vacancy or if the incumbent does not have access for some reason, you can follow the procedures below.

If you want to become an editor of your A Church Near You Page, you must have an account.

First, go to achurchnearyou.com and find your church by entering the postcode or town in the search box.

As you type, look for the suggestions offered to you under the search box and use the most appropriate, then click the orange arrow - it's more accurate!

We'll use St Alkmund's Duffield as an example:

 Next, choose your church from the list on the left...

This will take you to an overview page for the church. Once you get to that, click 'Visit Page' on the left. This will take you to the next level for that church.

Once you're on the church's main page, again look at the left-hand side and, at the bottom, click 'Edit this church'.

If you don't have an account, this page will allow you to register - it's a simple process.

An email will be sent to you containing a link which you'll need to click to prove you own the email address.

Once you've verified your email address by clicking the link which will have arrived in your inbox, head back to www.achurchnearyou.com and make sure you're logged in to your new account.

Search for the same church again then select “Edit this church” from the list of tabs on the left-hand side.

This time, instead of the form you had to fill in before, there are three scenarios:

1 - If you're the vicar who leads the church

If you are the vicar who leads a church, your application to edit that church on AChurchNearYou is automatically approved so long as:

1) You have listed an email address on your Crockford’s entry and you have not requested to have your contact details restricted
2)The email address you've used for your AChurchNearYou account matches the email address on your Crockford's entry.
3) You are included on the Crockford's entry for the church(es) you're requesting to edit (if you don't have a Crockford's subscription you can check if you're listed on a church's entry by going to the church's AChurchNearYou page and clicking More Information, if you're listed under the Crockford's Contact Details section you're listed on the entry)

If you are the vicar who leads the church, and you meet the criteria above, then your request to edit the church will be automatically approved and you will also be automatically assigned administrator status for the church.

An editor with administrator status can approve or decline requests from other people to edit that church, and can remove existing editors from that church.

Only the vicar who leads the church can be the administrator.

If you need to update either your contact details on AChurchNearYou or your Crockford's entry please follow the instructions at: https://achurchnearyou.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002336113

Please note: You do not need a Crockford's subscription to find out what is listed on your own entry or to update your own entry. You can update your Crockford's entry at any time.

2 - If you are not the vicar who leads the church:

If you're not the vicar who leads this church, then you'll see a box into which you'll need to enter a short message to your vicar and a button which you'll need to click which says REQUEST ACCESS.

Unless your church is in vacancy, the vicar who leads your church needs to approve your application.

If the vicar doesn't have an account they’ll need to create one, and request to edit their church as described in the steps above.

Once they're able to edit the church they'll be able to click Manage Editors and then click Pending Requests. From there they can approve your request, even if they haven’t received an approval request email for you to edit the church.

This article explains how the vicar who leads a church can approve requests to edit their church: https://achurchnearyou.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360003569093

3 - If your church is in vacancy

If your church is in vacancy, you’ll need to ask for manual verification; once you have created an account on AChurchNearYou.com and have requested to edit a church make sure you’re logged in and click the purple Help button on the right hand side of any page of AChurchNearYou, or the 'Submit a request' button at the top of the Help Centre...

Say that you're requesting manual verification because your church is in vacancy.

In your message please include the following:

• The reason you're requesting Manual Approval (eg you're an interim minster covering a group of churches. Please provide as much information as possible so that the support team can understand the situation fully and provide approval as quickly as possible)
• Your role within the church (office administrator, curate, PCC member, etc)
• Your email address (the one with which you registered for your AChurchNearYou account)
• Your permission to disclose your name, contact details, and request to your Area/Rural Dean, Archdeacon, and/or Diocesan staff in order to gain approval.
• The AChurchNearYou ID of the church(es) you have requested to edit and for which you require Manual Approval.

You'll find this ID by going to the AChurchNearYou church page in question and looking in the browser address bar where you'll see: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/ followed some numbers, please provide us with those numbers.

For instance, the URL for St Alkmund's in Duffield is: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/13370/ so their AChurchNearYou ID is 13370.

Forgotten password or unable to log in?

If you are unable to login to AChurchNearYou please visit: https://www.achurchnearyou.com/accounts/login and click FORGOT PASSWORD? and follow the process from there.

A message on screen will say that a password reset email is on its way. However, for security reasons, this message will display whether or not an account exists for that email address.

If you do not receive a password reset email: please try other email addresses you use just to make sure you're using the correct email address.

If you continue not to receive a password reset email it's most likely you do not have an account. We therefore recommend that you register for a new account, and request to edit your churches.

USERNAMES/CODES/DORMANT ACCOUNT DELETION:

The AChurchNearYou login method and procedure was updated, from usernames/codes to email addresses, in November 2017. At the same time, accounts which had not been used for 12 months prior were removed.

Ever wondered what it's like to be a churchwarden?

Hazel Massey, the churchwarden at St Wilfrid's, West Hallam, says it's more than just a position, it's a vocation. 

So if you've ever thought that you might be called to do work for the church, but not inclined to be ordained, read on...

Hazel writes:

I’m sure most of you are aware that as a churchwarden generally we have responsibility for the fabric of the building and work with the Priest to enable worship to happen. 

I am a volunteer and this a part of how I can give back to my faith and church.

A Church Near You is a fantastic resource provided by the Church Of England.

It lists every church in the Diocese of Derby and should be one of your first ports of call when getting information about your church and its activities out to a wider audience.

If you're not already using A Church Near You, you should be!