What sort of church are we?

 We are unashamedly an Anglican Church, that is we belong to the Church of England.  This church is the ancient church of England and has its roots deep in history.  We therefore understand ourselves as being available to all people and committed to the parish system, that is, we exist to serve our local community.  Being in South Yorkshire we are part of the Diocese of Sheffield and we take belonging to the local family of churches very seriously.  Through the Diocese we also recognise that we are part of the Anglican Communion, that is the global family of Anglican churches.  We are also committed to our local ecumenical group of churches in Ecclesall.

Although labels are not always helpful, it would be fair to say that All Saints belongs in the open evangelical tradition.  Hence we believe in the Bible as the source of authority for Christians and we seek to preach and teach the scriptures as the basis of faith and Christian living.  However we do so with awareness of the complex cultural differences between ourselves and Biblical times which require us to work at interpreting scripture.  Therefore we are neither fundamentalists nor liberals. However, within the church family there are Christians who come from different denominations (including staff members) and from various traditions & spiritualities and we are at ease with variety and difference.  Additionally, we hold mission, after worship, to be the primary purpose of the church.  Therefore we are committed to sharing our faith with everybody in our community, but in an appropriate manner.  We seek to make the good news of Christ accessible and meaningful to all.  This we do through service & witness and through worship & preaching.

All Saints is a large church operating a multiplex model.  We have five Sunday services, each of which has an intentionally distinctive style of worship.  These services are focussed at different people groups in order to build up multiple congregations, partly but not exclusively, defined by age.  Additionally such diversity enables Christians to worship in a way that fits with their specific spirituality, which we believe to be important.   

We take our title "All Saints" seriously and we seek to enable everybody to find their calling and gifting in ministry.  This enables us to share ministry throughout the church in our corporate life, so that all have a part to play.  However, we also seek to enhance every member's calling and gifting for ministry in the world of work, community and family for the sake of God's Kingdom.

The average Sunday attendance in 2008, including children, was 535.  The parish is committed to a quantitative and qualitative growth culture, that is we seek, by God's grace, to be growing in both numbers and in faith, prayer & love.  We are committed to fulfilling our calling as a parish church, both to those who live in Ecclesall and beyond.  This is our mission statement:

The mission of All Saints Ecclesall is to grow the church, both in quality and quantity, so that all the people of our parish, and beyond, may encounter the love of God.

Finally, we are aware that none of the above is possible through sheer human effort.  Therefore the staff team meet for Morning Prayer every working day.  We also have strong prayer and healing ministries operating in the church and many informal networks of prayer through home groups, prayer triplets etc. We recognise that we are profoundly dependent upon grace and we seek to have prayer as the foundation of our life together as a church. 

Contact Parish Office (The Vicar) 0114 268 7574 Send E-mail