• St Paul's Church

    Governance

  • The Structure and Governance of St Paul's Church

    The overall governing body of St. Paul’s is the Parochial Church Council (PCC) which is chaired by the vicar.

    Members of the PCC are also charity trustees and are legally responsible for the governance of St. Paul’s.

    The role of the PCC is to co-operate with the minister (vicar) in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical; (1956 PCC Measure). This means that the PCC provides oversight, governance and development regarding:

    • Support to the incumbent in the whole mission of the church: pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical.
    • The financial management of the church and all its activities, including budget setting and budget management
    • The management and maintenance of the church buildings
    • The safeguarding of all people that have a relationship with the church using the Diocese of Ely policies (www.elydiocese.org/safeguarding.php)
    • The well being of the congregation and the wider community of St. Paul's
    • Maintaining an effective reporting and accountability structure
    • Outreach into the parish and wider community
    • Pastoral support for vicar and staff
    • Being part of the diocesan structure, receiving reports from Deanery and Diocesan Synod
    • Taking up appropriate international, national and local issues, including those that might be led by the Church of England

    The current members as of August 2025:

    The Rev'd Imogen Nay - Chair

    Dr. Jonathan Chaplin - Church Warden

    Andrew Chaplin - Treasurer

    Elisabeth von Rabenau (PCC Secretary)

    Christina Barry (Licensed Lay Minister)

    Professor Mark Elliott (Chair of Commerce Group)

    The Rev'd Becky Warner (Curate + Chair of Culture Group)

    Peter Bone

    Helen Flynn

    Professor Jenny Mander

    Marion Saunders

    Professor Andy Gordon (Chair of Compassion Group)

    Jeremy Whitton-Spriggs (Chair of Maintenance Group)

    Dr. Vicky Green

    The latest PCC minutes can be Notes of Meeting of St Paul’s PCC

    Annual Report Year End 2024

    Annual Report Year End 2025 (in production)

    https://www.churchofengland.org/about/leadership-and-governance/legal-services/church-representation-rules/introduction

    House of Bishops Safeguarding Guidance 'Promoting a Safer church'

    The Mission and Vision of St Paul's

    During 2025 the PCC has worked on clarifying the mission and vision of St Paul's.

    You can find that vision articulated in the following document: Mission and Vision.

  • Parish Church Council

    This diagram explains how the trustees, who sit on the parish church council, oversee the ministry and operations of St Paul's Church and Community Centre. The vicar chairs the PCC; the Standing Committee enacts the business of the PCC between meetings; four committees pay closer attention to our four work streams: congregation/compassion/commerce and culture; and two committees are operational (finance and maintenance). The congregation committe covers the mission and ministry of the church, its worship, pastoral care of members and discipleship; compassion covers our community outreach; commerce our lettings and any other commercial activity; culture our cultural programmes.

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  • Policies

    The PCC of St Paul's have made publicy available a number of policies which they believe the wider community and congregation should be aware of. Individual Policies are linked below.

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