St Bartholomew and All Saints Church

Wootton Bassett

Updated 16 February, 2010

Churchwardens

 

The Churchwardens are the Bishop of Salisbury’s local officers and they are present to welcome and walk before him whenever he, or his Assistant Bishop, is present in Church.  There are two Churchwardens and they work closely with the Vicar to maintain the common life at St. Bartholomew’s.

 

The common life of our church is the responsibility of all who are baptized and the inclusive nature of our ministry that celebrates the gifts of men, women and children, offers exciting prospects for the future of the Anglican Church in Wootton Bassett, as we reach more people and more people respond to God’s challenge to work with him.

 

The office of churchwarden can be traced back as far as the thirteenth century. In those early days, parish churchwardens were elected by parishioners every year and they were expected to be both trustees of the church’s goods and ‘guardians of parochial morals’. Nowadays each parish is still expected to have two churchwardens elected annually by its parishioners and although a modern-day job description would be couched in rather less paternalistic tones it would nevertheless remain similar in essence. The duties with which churchwardens are now charged are laid down in some detail in statute law

 

Following their election and subsequent admission, churchwardens become ex-officio members of the PCC and they try to take an active part in as many facets of weekly church life as is practicably possible (or certainly as many facets as they cannot persuade others to take responsibility for!)

 

It can be, to a certain extent, a role of ‘the buck stops here’ type. For example, it must not be forgotten that in the event of an interregnum the churchwardens become legally responsible for the managing of the parish. Another example would be that in the event of nobody being willing and able to become PCC treasurer then that responsibility would, by law, be automatically transferred to the churchwardens. However, in a parish such as Wootton Bassett the churchwardens are fortunate in (and grateful for) the degree of support they receive from other parishioners.