Harlescott Parish

• Harlescott Emmanuel
• Harlescott Holy Spirit

Training Incumbent
The Revd Lisa Knight

Trained: Queen's Foundation . Deaconed: 2018 Lichfield

Prior to Training for ordination, most of my professional life has been in education. I trained and worked as a nursery nurse before going on to train as a primary school teacher. I married Andrew in 1994 & we have two daughters. He too is ordained and so we have lived in vicarages all of our married life. This experience as a clergy spouse and family for over 20 years and now, as a priest, has given me a broad perspective of ministry and family and enabled me to be available as a confidante for clergy partners across the diocese.

As a cradle-Christian, I grew up and was nurtured within the liberal/Anglo-Catholic tradition in a suburban context. My curacy was within an evangeical, rural benefice and I now find myself occupying a broader field of tradition, placing me just the liberal catholic side of central!

My passion is community; I thrive on the relational aspects of community that connect and depend upon each other. This reflects something of our relationship with God.

My regular engagement with the local Sunday market and ‘The Hub’ that has emerged in one of our churches illustrates this.

I strive to work with the possibilities and opportunities that our context provides rather than worrying about the obstacles that might limit us. I enjoy working with others and seeing others develop and thrive.

The context

Our Sunday congregation members are largely over 70yrs old, yet our wider community covers the breadth of generations; some of our fresh expressions serve the wider demographic yet there is great potential to reach more.

The retail parks and trading estates that occupy approx. 1/3 of our Parish have built up on the site of the old cattle market; Harlescott hosts much of the retail provision for the wider area of Shrewsbury and beyond.  This retail ‘belt’ divides Sundorne and The Grange areas of the Parish and the two churches are situated on the outside edges of these areas.This large retail community remains largely untouched by the church! Over the last three years, a relationship has developed with the Sunday Market by weekly visits by clergy. There is enormous untouched potential both here and into the shops and businesses for greater presence and ministry. This might be a particular area in which a curate might flourish!

There is a large proportion of social housing across this urban parish and it would not be unreasonable to acknowledge the contrast to the wider area of Shrewsbury, in terms of wealth and aspiration.

Both churches are LEP’s with the Methodist church, but these partnerships have faded in recent years and the current incumbent and congregations are discussing the potential ways the relationship may be revived and rebuilt.

‘The Hub’ at Church of the Holy Spirit has evolved over the last two years. It is built upon the foundations of hospitality. We regularly make referrals to food bank and winter grant applications. The worship that takes place in the Lady chapel at 10.00am has taken on a unique identity and although made up of existing worshippers, occasionally draws in people from the hub and is an accessible introduction to the worshipping community.

We would be looking to use the Prayers of Love and Faith as part of our ministry here at Harlescott.

Mission statistics (2023)