Governance
Leading and managing our church’s affairs with integrity & transparency
Trinity is a registered charity and part of the family of Church of England churches that make up the Diocese of Gloucester.
We share a long-established model of governance and safeguarding which unites church and charity law to ensure proper oversight and transparency for all our ministry and mission. To find out more about our Safeguarding commitments, please click here.
Governance Structure
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Andrew Blyth (the ‘Team Rector’), our other Church of England ministers and two ‘churchwardens’ elected at our Annual Church Meeting, Barry Lambert and Liz Lang, are all approved and formally licensed by the Bishop of Gloucester to serve at Trinity. They each have specific responsibilities to ensure that everything at Trinity is in-line with best practice and legal requirements.
Twelve other church members are also elected at the Annual Church Meeting to serve with them as our PCC (Parochial Church Council). Acting as our Trustees, the PCC is the guardian for the integrity of church life, formally approves strategic plans in line with our vision and ensures that all necessary resources, policies and proper checks and balances are in place for financial, safe-guarding, staffing and health & safety matters.
A number of members of the church staff team attend meetings of the PCC to ensure appropriate information is being provided. Anyone who is on our Church Electoral Roll can request to see the approved minutes of the PCC meetings. Please contact us if you wish to see them.
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In consultation, Andrew and the PCC appoint the members of the Trinity Leadership Team. Its role is to seek and share God’s vision for the church and to develop our strategic mission and ministry plans.
The Leadership Team communicates vision and acting as the ‘standing committee’ of the PCC, oversees the implementation of strategic plans. The Leadership Team appoints and supervises the staff team and volunteer leaders of ministries, manages budgets and policies and ensures proper reporting to the PCC.
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Our church family relies on many different people being led by the Holy Spirit to share their time, gifts and experience in a wider variety of voluntary and paid roles. If you think God might be calling you to serve in one of the below roles ahead of April/May 2023, please see the information sheet below which helps to explain the responsibilities and commitments involved. An informal chat with one of our Pastors on a Sunday is another good way to find out more.
Churchwardens
Our two Churchwardens act as a key link between the church family and the Senior Leadership Team.
PCC
The members of the PCC (Parochial Church Council) appoint and support our staff team to ensure good governance and wise management of church life in line with God’s vision for us.
Deanery Synod
2 members of our PCC will be presenting our church at the local Deanery Synod. Deanery Synods are formal meetings, which are mainly for information and discussion about mission and ministry in the area, under the leadership of a Dean.
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We know that sometimes things do go wrong and people can make mistakes. In line with our beliefs as Christians and best practice, we encourage anyone with a complaint to try and first resolve the matter by directly contacting the person they have been dealing with.
If this does not work or you feel unable to speak to the person by yourself, we encourage you to be in touch with another more senior member of our ministry team to ask them to support you in trying to resolve the situation in this way.
If you feel unable to do this or if the complaint is of a serious nature, then we follow the formal process set out in this policy.
Our Annual Meeting
Each year, members of the Trinity community are invited to gather for a time of worship, prayer and reflection. Through our time together, we look at the business side of what it means to run a church and govern well, we celebrate what God has done through the church in the previous year, and we look forward to the next.
More information on 2024’s Annual Meeting here
APCM Minutes 2023 || APCM Agenda 2024 || Intro to PCC || Annual Report & Accounts 2023 || Church Warden, PCC and Deanery Synod representatives and nominations 2024 || APCM Draft minutes 2024
Electoral Roll
At Trinity, we don’t have members as such, but as we are part of the Church of England, the Electoral Roll is the Church of England’s official register of who worships with us. This enables us to vote together for those who stand to make decisions on our behalf on our PCC, Deanery Synod and in the specific roles of Churchwarden.
If you have worshipped regularly at Trinity Cheltenham over the last six months or more, we encourage you to join our Electoral Roll. To do this electronically, you must be registered on ChurchSuite. If you are not currently on ChurchSuite, you can sign up here.
Electoral Roll FAQ’s
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It is your parish church register of electors. It is the list of those qualified to attend and to vote at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting where the elections take place for the Parochial Church Council and the parish’s representatives on the Deanery Synod.
Any person entitled to attend the Annual Church Parochial Meeting may raise any question of parochial or general church interest.
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You can join the electoral roll online by clicking on the button above. If you are not on ChurchSuite you will need to sign up by clicking on the button above to complete the application.
Alternatively you can complete a paper form and return it the the church office.
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The Electoral Roll online is made up of two parts. The first part is the application form you fill in, and a note on your ChurchSuite details is the counterpart of your application.
ChurchSuite then helps us keep a log of who from Trinity is on the Electoral Roll, and makes sure we have the right contact information for you.
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By enrolling you become a voting member of the Church of England and so help to ensure that all the synodical councils of the Church – the Parochial Church Council, the Deanery Synod, the Diocesan Synod, and the General Synod – are fully representative of its members.
Synodical government gives an opportunity for partnership between bishops, clergy, and laity in the life of the Church.
First, the system is intended to enable church people at every level to be in touch with the Church as a whole and to play their part in decision-making.
Secondly, the system is intended to ensure that the laity have their place in every aspect of church life, including its doctrine and service.
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You can use the Church of England’s Parish Finder to determine whether your home address falls within Trinity’s parish boundaries or not.
Get in touch
Want to get hold of us? Find out more? We’d love to hear from you!
Julia Thomson
Administrator - Operations
hello@trinitycheltenham.com