St Mary’s Stoke Bishop

St Mary's has a long history of working with children and young people, and we have hosted SWYM trainees in the past.  A new trainee placed with us from September 2026 would join a supportive team of ordained and lay ministers, all of whom are passionate about seeing younger generations come to faith and grow as disciples.

St Mary's is an open evangelical, gently charismatic church made up of an outward-looking family of believers with most of the outreach focussed on under 18’s and people in later life.

In May 2025 the PCC approved the use of the Prayers of Love and Faith at St Mary’s.  You can read the nuance around this decision on our website. Any curate would need to assent to our Guiding Statements.

In addition, Trinity Theological College is in our parish and we are in many ways a bit like a training hub as we invest in ordinands, interns, curates and people doing vocational placements here.

The main work we do currently with children and young people is:

Extensive involvement in our local primary school (weekly worship, and a multitude of opportunities throughout the year).  St Mary’s Church – Stoke Bishop Church Of England Primary School

St Mary Magdalene, Stoke Bishop : Stoke Bishop C.E. Primary School

Weekly youth group for 10-16 year olds on Fridays (6-7.30pm) where we have about 30 youth 'on the books'.

Fortnightly youth discipleship group

Fortnightly SHINEonSundays groups for 0-14's within our main Sunday services.

Fortnightly Explore@4 services aimed at pre/primary school age families, encouraging intergenerational conversations about faith.

St Mary's Staff Team:

Clergy

Vicar (F/T) Since 2019 [Also will be the Area Dean from Sept 2026], Associate Vicar (F/T) Since 2018 [Also has a role serving our Mission Area of local churches], Associate Minister (Self-supporting) Since 2025 [Also works part time as a nurse]

Employees

Operations Manager (P/T) , Facilities Co-ordinator (P/T), Office Administrator (P/T), School and Community Chaplain (F/T).

We also have two Licensed Lay Ministers, supportive Churchwardens and many willing and able volunteers.  We often have a Ministry Experience Scheme Worker placed within our Mission Area, and usually line managed by one of the St Mary's clergy.

The trainee would have opportunities to come alongside our existing group of young people who meet fortnightly for Bible study and a meal together.  They would also be able to connect with around 20 young people every week on a Friday at our well-established Youth Group.  This primarily attracts young people who are not connected with St Mary's in any other way.

In addition, we can provide extensive opportunities for ministry in our local C of E Primary School, and the trainee would work alongside our full time School and Community Chaplain (starting on 1 July).  There are no secondary schools in the parish, but one of our Mission Partners is a local charity (Encounter Christianity) who go into schools across Bristol delivering high quality RE lessons in primary, secondary and SEND schools.  We would be keen for the trainee to spend time each month volunteering with this charity as a way of giving them experience of schools ministry and the opportunity to shadow and learn from experienced RE teachers.

In the coming year we would also love to resume our pattern of taking young people on trips and a residential, as this lapsed during the pandemic and never really got established again afterwards.

St Mary’s is a suburban parish church in a leafy part of Bristol, seeking to combine the best bits of being a parish whilst also collaborating with other local churches.  It's a church that tries to be ‘all things to all people’ and offers three distinct service styles each week.  The parish is mainly domestic houses, with property costs meaning that young adults usually can’t afford to live here, but there are plenty of families living locally who are attracted by the quiet suburb, good local schools and transport links.

A glance through our church website will give you a sense as to what kind of church we are and the sorts of things we are doing.  Missionally our main areas of focus are our local Primary School, our four local Residential Care Homes and our local Foodbank.  We are strong at encouraging people to be part of small groups and offer a variety of opportunities for worship in varying styles and ongoing discipleship.  We seek to be a generous church in the ways that we support (practically, prayerfully and financially) other local churches who are serving people who are disadvantaged, and through our support for 12 Mission Partners.