School service welcome for priest with no church building

A Mansfield clergyman will be licensed for his new work this week, but the special service will be at a local primary school, as the parish has no church building.

The Archdeacon of Newark, the Ven Nigel Peyton will licence the Revd Philip Stead on Thursday, 20th September at 9am during a special assembly at the school.

“I don’t know if this is a first nationally” said the Archdeacon, “but it will be a wonderful occasion for the children, staff and parishioners, an opportunity to think about the Church as God’s people as opposed to a building.”

Oak Tree Primary School will be the licensed base for a church on the Oak Tree Lane Estate, an outer estate parish with no church building and a population of about 3,000. The new vicar, the Reverend Philip Stead, also looks after the neighbouring parish of St Alban’s Forest Town and his wife, Erika teaches at the local school.

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