- Jesmond Parish Church
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Jesmond Parish Church 
Denomination Church of England Churchmanship Evangelical Website www.church.org.uk Administration Parish Jesmond, Clayton Memorial Deanery Newcastle Central Archdeaconry Northumberland Diocese Newcastle Province York Clergy Vicar(s) Rev David Holloway Minister(s) Rev Jonathan Pryke Assistant Rev Jonathan Redfearn, Rev Ian Garrett Laity Director of music [Post is vacant] Jesmond Parish Church (JPC) is a parish church in the Church of England situated in the Jesmond suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne, England.
Contents
History
The church had a slightly unusual beginning. 1856 saw the untimely death of Rev Richard Clayton, Master of St Thomas' Church, Haymarket, and a local evangelical light. In his place the church authorities wished to appoint a successor who didn't share Clayton's concern to teach the Bible. A large number of the congregation of St Thomas's were deeply unhappy. A committee was formed with the intention of planting a new church nearby, which "will form a central point for the maintenance and promulgation of sound scriptural and evangelical truth in a large and populous town." At the time, much of the land around the site was open fields; the building was designed by the architect John Dobson and consecrated in 1861.
List of Vicars
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
- 1861-1882 Rev Canon Berkeley Addison
- 1882-1888 Rev Canon Somerset Pennefather
- 1889-1894 Rev Theodore Charles Chapman
- 1894-1897 Rev Edwin Savage
- 1898-1907 Rev Canon Thomas Brocas Waters
- 1907-1916 Rev Canon James Inskip
- 1916-1927 Rev Canon George Oakley
- 1927-1947 Rev Canon George Goddard
- 1947-1959 Rev Harry Bates
- 1960-1972 Rev Roger Frith
- 1973-present Rev David Holloway
The organ
The church houses a fine pipe organ by the renowned builder James Jepson Binns of Leeds dating from 1913. It contains pipework from an organ by T. C. Lewis of 1895. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register.
List of organists
- Charles Chambers 1882 - 1890
- John Murray 1890[1] - ????
- Claud H. Hill
- J.E.Hutchinson 1903 - 1947
- George Henry Sutcliffe 1947 - 1978 - ????[2]
- Chris Edwards 1996 - 2011
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
List of Assistant organists
- Clifford Harker 1928 - 1930
- Graham Steed 1934 - 1941[3]
- Miles Cragg 2006 - 2011
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
The church today
Today JPC is a conservative evangelical Anglican church of approximately 1,100 people. Currently the leadership team of the church includes David Holloway (the vicar since 1973), Jonathan Pryke, Jonathan Redfearn, Ian Garrett and Alan Munden. The church is noted for its preaching, which aims to be expository and evangelistic.
Sermons are published on the website [1] (www.church.org.uk) and are offered as MP3 downloads as well as being available in video format on the church's new broadcast website (see below). Also available are the quaintly named Coloured Supplements, a monthly piece giving Christian comment on social and political issues, normally written by the vicar.
Liturgically the church is conservative, adopting the north side position at services of Holy Communion. ASB Rite A (Prayer Book Pattern) is used. Services of Morning and Evening Prayer are based on the Series 3 forms. Hymns and songs are sourced from a range of books, including 'Hymns for Today's Church'.
The church has a close relationship with the Christian Institute whose national headquarters are also in Newcastle. David Holloway is a prominent member of the CI and has written many of its annual Christmas messages. Both organisations take a strong stance against homosexual practice, most recently in relation to the legislation on civil partnerships, which has led to the church's services being picketed on a number of occasions by gay rights activists. In October 1999 the church was vandalised with graffiti opposing the church's stance on human sexuality [2].
JPC is a member of Reform, a network of evangelical churches within the Church of England, that includes some of the largest Anglican churches in UK. Other churches with similar theology include:
- St Andrew The Great, Cambridge
- St Ebbe's, Oxford
- St Helen's Bishopsgate
Clayton Media
In 2007, the Jesmond Trust (set up to manage the property and finances of the church) started a new media production unit known as Clayton Media. The aim was to fill a perceived gap in the UK media by producing evangelical, Bible-based content to broadcast quality. In 2008 this aim was initially realized through the introduction of the Clayton.TV website. Evening services from the church are now filmed to broadcast quality, and later edited and put on the website which acts as an Internet TV channel. Other content includes Christian talk shows and teaching from Sydney, Australia.
In the coming years, Clayton Media intends to take advantage of the growth of Internet TV technologies to enable broadcasting to television sets via the Internet and set-top boxes, as opposed to being merely PC-based for the time being.
References
- ^ Northern history, Volumes 16-18, University of Leeds. School of History, 1980
- ^ Who's who in Music. Fourth edition. 1962. p.205
- ^ Who's who in Music. Shaw Publishing. 1937. p.376
Further reading
A Light in a Dark Place by Rev Alan Munden (Clayton Publications, 2006; 286 pp; ISBN 0-9507592-1-X) is a definitive written history of the church.
External links
- Jesmond Parish Church Website
- Clayton.TV website
- Resources for students
- The Globe International Cafe
- Review of one of the church's services
Coordinates: 54°58′56.3″N 1°36′23.5″W / 54.982306°N 1.606528°W
Categories:- Church of England churches in Tyne and Wear
- Churches in Newcastle
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