St Mark's lion on St Andrew's flag
St Andrew and St Mark
Surbiton

REALISING THE VISION - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. WHAT IS "THE VISION"?
The Vision is our plan of action. Our vocation, as the Parish of St Andrew and St Mark, is to deepen our faith, to serve God, and to serve others in His name. As with any other plan of action, as Christians we need from time to time to take stock and to check how effective we are being; whether we have everything we need to complete it; and if we could do it any better.

This process began in 1999 with a study day in Woking for the PCC, which was followed in later years by study weekends at various retreat centres: St Katherine's by the Tower, Dunford House, and most recently Wychcroft House, the Diocesan training centre. The first stage was called Discerning the Vision, because the essential first step was to discern or find out whether we are doing God's work here. The PCC examined our current activities, and our resources in terms of people and buildings. They then discussed whether we were doing the right things, and what we were lacking. In the light of these discussions, proposals were drawn up.

These proposals were then presented to the rest of the Parish, for consultation and discussion, and the process of Embracing the Vision began. Meetings were held for the congregations, and for all the various groups and societies of the Parish, to ask for their opinions and suggestions. The wider community of Surbiton was consulted and a Community Audit completed and published.

A major part of the Vision (though not the whole of it) is to provide new meeting rooms and other facilities on the church sites. When general agreement had been reached on this, it was time to start taking action and to move to Realising the Vision - to making it real.

2. WHAT IS THE HIDDEN AGENDA?
There isn't one. The decision was made in 2000 to keep and maintain both churches as centres of worship, and that has not changed. Both churches will be enhanced with new facilities, and the main hall will be located on the St Mark's site, where more parking is available. This is the plan in its essence, although some of the detail remains to be finalised. The present church hall sites will be offered for redevelopment in order to finance some of the new work. The PCC is currently negotiating with a number of Housing Associations with this end in mind.

3. WHY CAN'T WE JUST STAY AS WE ARE?
As we said last time, the Vision is our plan of action. Everything around us changes, and if we don't take that into account, we will become irrelevant to our community. God doesn't change, and neither does our faith; but the ways in which we express our fellowship, and serve our neighbours, will sometimes need to change. Jesus in his parables condemned the man who buried his share of money in the ground, instead of putting it to use. Also in purely practical terms, the current St Andrew's Hall is in need of expensive repairs. St Mark's Hall is visibly falling down: it was only ever intended as a "Temporary Church" while St Mark's was rebuilt, so it has more than served its time.

4. AH - IT'S REALLY ALL JUST BRICKS AND MORTAR?
Not at all - although the phase we are in right now is mainly concerned with planning some new buildings, there have been and will always be many different aspects of the Vision. Since 2002 the Parish has benefited from many new developments which grew out of the Vision discussions.

5. SO WHAT HAS THE VISION EVER DONE FOR ME?
All these things have come from the Vision: These examples, including efforts to run the Parish more efficiently, to deepen our faith, and to reach out to the community and the wider world, are exactly what the Vision is all about.


This is an attempt to explain more about the Vision. Members of the congregation who have any questions should ask a member of the Steering Group. There are also occasional displays in both churches. Others can contact the Parish Office for more details.

Realising the Vision - logo