Denomination: Church of England
Welcome to the Benefice of Brimpsfield with Birdlip, Syde, Daglingworth, The Duntisbournes, Winstone, Miserden and Edgeworth – seven parishes with about twelve discrete communities and nine Church buildings. These communities are set in a stunningly beautiful area in the triangle between Cirencester, Gloucester and Stroud.
The word ‘benefice’ originally meant an estate held for life in return for certain services, especially military service. A church or ecclesiastical benefice is a temporal endowment attached to any permanent office in the Church.
This all sounds rather stuffy and ‘churchy’. What does it mean? Well, the collection of parishes in the Benefice is arbitrary but the best possible way of making use of the available clergy. The parishes have greater affinity with some than with others. The communities within parishes work together in the larger grouping of the Benefice while retaining their strong local identities. This very strong local identity is important but is balanced by maintaining an outward view in our dealings with the wider world.
The word ‘benefice’ originally meant an estate held for life in return for certain services, especially military service. A church or ecclesiastical benefice is a temporal endowment attached to any permanent office in the Church.
This all sounds rather stuffy and ‘churchy’. What does it mean? Well, the collection of parishes in the Benefice is arbitrary but the best possible way of making use of the available clergy. The parishes have greater affinity with some than with others. The communities within parishes work together in the larger grouping of the Benefice while retaining their strong local identities. This very strong local identity is important but is balanced by maintaining an outward view in our dealings with the wider world.