St.Peter's Church Parkstone

The Original St.Peter's Church of 1833

The major thrust of development since 1992 has been to dramatically change the whole pattern of ministry away from its past clergy dominance to a collaborative style which sees ministry as belonging to the whole people of God. We still use the glorious vestments, on special occasions, but only lay people are allowed to dress as "Subdeacons". We have 27 Eucharistic Administrators (unrobed), who administer both bread and wine and often take communion out to the housebound. Intercessions are always written and led by lay people. The liturgy has been transformed into a modern catholic style, using all the new liturgies.

Parish Vision

 

Some History

In Victorian times, Parkstone was the area on the edge of Poole where the wealthy merchants of the town lived. Poole itself is the second largest natural harbour in the world and in 1998 it celebrated the 750^th anniversary of its charter. In 1833 the church of St.Peter's Parkstone was built. The parish had about 1,000 people and stretched down to Sandbanks. By 1870, the parish had become deeply influenced by the Oxford Movement and the decision was made to build a bigger church. The church they built took decades to finish and is one of the largest churches in the diocese, complete with a throne for the bishop. At the same time, the owner of Brownsea Island built a parish church on the island (in the  process it bankrupted him). By the turn of the century the people of Parkstone had moved their sights up the hill and decided to rebuild the tin hut at St.Osmund's and replace it with a massive Italian Basilica. This was so that the servants had a decent church of their own. In time, these three churches came to form the Lower Parkstone Team Ministry.