Living, loving, serving and growing together with God.

St Paul’s is an active, growing and Christ-centred church on the east side of Macclesfield. We seek to follow Jesus Christ and to share the good news of God’s love as revealed in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. Loving and serving our local community is very much at the heart of our vision, together with an exploration what it means to live an abundant, rich, full and meaningful life.

Worship at St Paul’s

Our worship is based on Common Worship with our robed choir ((who are at the centre of our musical life) leading the singing. Parish Communion and Morning Prayer services are fairly formal and traditional, but we offer something different and more informal and relaxed with our all age services (‘anything goes’) and Fun@4 (see under children and families). Our regular pattern for our worship is as follows.

1st Sunday: 10.30 a.m. Parish Communion

2nd Sunday: 10.30 a.m. All Age Service & Uniformed Groups parade

3rd Sunday: 10.30 a.m. Parish Communion; 4.00 p.m. Fun@4 (Messy Church)

4th Sunday: 10.30 a.m. Morning Prayer

5th Sunday: 10.30 a.m. Parish Communion

First Wednesday in month: 11.00 a.m. Morning Prayer in the Parish Centre

Third Wednesday in month: 11.00 a.m. Holy Communion in the Parish Centre

A prayer basket for prayer requests is located at the front of church by the vestry.

There is a full programme of events throughout the week for young people as well as seniors.

Children and families

Young people and their families are at the centre of our mission. We have various worship activities for families and children throughout the year including all age worship every month, with presentations, readings and prayers led by members of the Uniformed Groups. We also have Fun@4 every month which is an activity-based session for all the family based around a theme, with stories and treasure hunts, finishing up with a freshly prepared hot meal.We have strong links and excellent relationships with two local schools, with regular services, assemblies and special visits throughout the school year.

Six Uniformed Groups meet every week in the Parish Centre during term-time and each group leads a service at least once a year.

If you are interested in having your child christened please contact the Vicar on 01625 921858 or the parish office.

Parish centre

Our Parish Centre, which is a Cheshire East Connected Communities Centre is a hub of activity seven days a week from hosting our own thriving Uniformed Groups, a Toddler Group and Lunch Club through to community groups including Knit and Natter, Pilates, yoga and choirs, We are now a dedicated Warm Space providing further support in these difficult economic times.

Staff

As well as our Vicar we are blessed with a very strong team of lay people who support ministry and mission and contribute greatly in the work of sharing the gospel both within the church and also in the local community. The team enables many church activities to happen throughout the week as well as the three ‘Mission’ Groups (Worship, Community & Refurbishment) each of which is led by a lay chair. Ideas for new initiatives are encouraged, especially among young people, whose development as leaders of tomorrow we take extremely seriously. Meet some of them below…..

Meet the team:

Vivien GisbyVicar - Rev Canon

Vivien was born and brought up in Yorkshire but has since lived in several different parts of the country. She has degrees in biology and theology, and before getting into Christian ministry worked both as a librarian and later on as an information scientist. Most of her Christian life has been here in Macclesfield where she was a Reader before beingordained, although for the last 8 years was been Vicar at St John’s Weston in Runcorn. Alongside her parish roles she was for 10 years Warden of Pastoral Workers and later Warden of Readers as well. She has three children (one of whom lives in Macclesfield) and a grandson Rohan. She enjoys cooking, singing, cross stitch, listening to music and history.

Emma DennehyParish Administrator / Families & Community Co-ordinator

Emma prepares weekly liturgy, runs the church office and works closely with Joan on pastoral matters. In addition she acts as Families and Community Engagement Co-ordinator, seeking to ensure that St Paul’s is effective in carrying out its mission to engage with local families and with those in need. Emma also leads Fun@4 (Messy Church). She also runs the weekly Pastimes Coffee Morning. Emma is married to Karl and they have 3 children.
In her spare time she is Brown Owl of a local Brownie Unit and enjoys making crafts, watching motor racing with the family, Saturday family game nights and walking her dog.

Joan MottersheadPastoral Assistant

Joan ensures that the pastoral care team, led by the Vicar, is aware of the pastoral needs of the congregation and wider parish. She is part of the baptism team, conducting home visits. She has worshipped and served at St. Paul’s for most of her life and acts as our collective memory, aided by illegible notes on small pieces of paper! In 2018 Joan was honoured to receive Maundy Money from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth at a ceremony in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. In her spare time she enjoys gardening.

Nick MottersheadChurchwarden

Nick is the other churchwarden

Matthew CooperChurchwarden

Matthew works closely with Nick to ensure that the church’s ministry is effective. His responsibilities include Health & Safety, maintenance and managing parish centre bookings. He works in a local school and what little spare time he has is spent running.

Malcolm BrownTreasurer

Malcolm is a skilful diplomat who ensures that the church finances remain on track. He works closely with the vicar to prepare budgets and reports for the PCC. He is a keen supporter of Manchester United, travelling to away games across the world. Recently while supporting his team in Kazakhstan he combined his passion with a spot of ice-skating.

Ann HarrisSafeguarding Officer

Ann is responsible for co-ordinating all matters regarding safeguarding. She ensures that our policies are up-to-date and properly communicated, that appropriate training has been undertaken by church officers and other church members, and logs and reports any safeguarding concerns. Ann is a keen runner, a very active grandmother and also finds time to chair the Board of Governors of a local primary school.

Robert MarshallReader

Robert is our Reader, recently transferred from across Macclesfield. He has been a reader for 45(!) years and is looking forward to settling further into St. Pauls. He retired a few years ago after a career in IT and is currently working (as you sere!) on his musical skills.