Milton, Norton & Brown Edge

• Brown Edge St Anne
• Milton St Philip and St James
• Norton-le-Moors St Bartholomew

Training Incumbent
The Revd Karen Petherick

Trained: Queens Foundation, Birmingham. Deaconed:2014 Lichfield

I have served all of my ministry in Lichfield Diocese amongst the people of the Potteries. Originally from London where I had a career as a biomedical scientist, I was licenced as a Reader in 2012 to serve in the Hanley Team Ministry. An emerging call to ordained ministry saw me ordained to be an OLM in Hanley in 2014. This was followed by a second full-time curacy at Bradwell & Porthill in Newcastle under Lyme.

I have been Priest-in Charge at Milton & Norton since August 2021 and Brown Edge since December 2023.

The context

Milton, Norton & Brown Edge is a newly formed benefice (December 2023) which emerged from pastoral reorganisation in Leek Deanery during the first phase of Shaping for Mission. It is located in the north of the city of Stoke on Trent reaching into the Staffordshire Moorlands. It encompasses suburban and rural areas and a wide range of socio-economic diversity, although there is limited ethnic diversity within the three parishes (majority white British).

Within the parishes there has been a positive response to the formation of the new benefice, which develops historic links between them, and we are continuing to explore what new relationships will look like moving forward, especially around sharing our gifts and talents across the benefice. 

Each of the parishes serves an area which has a very strong sense of local community, and which look to the church to mark key moments in their lives; because of this occasional offices and the opportunities that arise from them are a key ministry of the benefice.

We would be looking to use the Prayers of Love and Faith as part of our ministry at Norton. We have not yet discussed the use of PLF at Milton & Brown Edge. 

Mission statistics (2023)