benefice
Whilst my natural style of worship tends towards the liturgical, I have since been shaped and encouraged by a variety of churches of different styles and contexts, from an estate church in Bristol via St Mary’s, Saffron Walden & HTB to a varied benefice near Braintree, where my wife is a vicar.
I am involved in running Alpha in the benefice and co-lead the Course in Christian Studies in the area.
I have experienced and been blessed by the breadth of the Church of England and currently worship across a three-church benefice near Braintree, one of which is a Local Ecumenical Partnership.
I am currently the Rector of the Wye benefice where I have been very happy since I arrived in 2010 and, until recently, I thought that I would probably be here until I retired.
However, in March I received a strong call to the vacant Trinity Benefice in Folkestone and, that call having been affirmed by the relevant people, I am due to be inducted as vicar there in October.
Severnside Benefice T & W Deanery
Having been a Wakefield ordinand in 2004 and having served my curacy in the Mirfield Team Parish I have since been on my travels serving as a school chaplain, vicar of a rural multi parish benefice, rector of an urban civic parish church and since 2023 in Cathedral ministry first at Canterbury and now latterly part of the team at one of our three Cathedrals in this unique diocese.
I’m Rachel, I’ve very recently turned the big 4-0, and I’ve been a Licensed Lay Minister since 2023, serving in the Benefice of Workington.
Recently the Church Commissioners approved a plan to unite six benefices in the Kerrier deanery in the Diocese of Truro to create a single massive benefice comprising 21 churches.
Parish Safeguarding Officer, Tadcaster Benefice
I serve as Parish Safeguarding Officer for the Tadcaster Benefice.
Proposer: Rev Michaila Roberts, Hulme Lecturer & Associate Vicar, Benefice of St Peter & St
I have been a Licensed Lay Minister (Reader) in South Derbyshire for nearly three years and serve within the benefice of Etwall, Egginton, Sutton on the Hill, Dalbury and Trusley.
My ministry includes Messy Church, Young Christians, All Age Worship, contemporary worship, leading a home group and serving as part of the benefice leadership team.
Seconded by: Revd Canon Tessa Stephens, Benefice of Nunthorpe, Area Dean, Stokesley Please vote for me as a new and fresh voice on General Synod, a fellow parish priest with a real heart to represent the clergy voice.
I am the vicar of a multi-parish benefice in the North Cotswolds and also serve on Diocesan Synod.
Nominated by Gareth Griffith, Moreton Vale Benefice
2024 - present: Ordained and serving as "The Pink Vicar" (called out by a 3 year old) in the benefice of St. Mary's, Allerton Bywater, Kippax and Swillington, East Leeds.
o what steps are being taken to reduce the pressure experienced by small, often rural, churches due to the large quantity of necessary policy documents, procedures and risk assessments that they are required to produce, review and maintain?; o why so few people are currently coming forward for ordination. (Over the past 8 years, the number of people being recommended to train for ordination has fallen by around one third.). (General Synod Report of Proceedings July 2024, p46, response to question 4); o on climate change-related issues: I asked if online ‘calculators’ would be provided to help make it cheaper and easier for churches to explore the likely costs and benefits of installing different renewable energy systems; sought advice on which climate- proof trees to plant in our graveyards; and suggested an alternative approach re: the need for a Faculty for a new boiler, by churches with low fossil fuel use; and o asked questions on theology, the importance of Scripture, and reducing multi-parish benefice sizes.
I have led the Benefice through two vacancies and have been important in working towards the Parish Profile and ensuring that Governance remains robust.
• Growing Younger Minister in the North Westmorland Benefice.
I was ordained 17 years ago into this diocese and served my title in an eight parish rural benefice, then was Rector for a decade in a four parish rural benefice, and for the last four years I’ve been Vicar of St Mary’s with St Peter’s in Bury St Edmunds, mainly based at St Mary’s.
I am now Rector of Eynsford with Farningham and Lullingstone, a rural benefice here in the Diocese of Rochester.
My wife Ann is a vicar in a rural benefice.
Walsham Benefice
Affirming | Inclusive | Generous | Energetic | Real Proposed by the Revd Jane Morris SCP, Rector, Lingwood Benefice
Now, over the last 2% years, proactively getting to know every benefice in the diocese in different ways through my current role.
lam a member of All Saints’ Church in Kemble which is part of the Thameshead Benefice, a group of six parishes with nine places of worship in a rural setting containing the source of the Thames.
As a Reader, I conduct services across the Benefice and value the variety and strengths of each Parish, serving their respective local communities.
I am the Rector of the Fownhope Benefice, a rural
Ordained in 1995, I have ministered in very different parochial contexts: in town-centre ministry; in a large rural multi-church benefice in Yorkshire; and since 2017 as the Vicar of the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford.
¢ Oversight ministry across a multi parish benefice which gives me a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing clergy and congregations in this Diocese ¢ My vocation was discerned in the Diocese of Truro, where I trained for ordination, served my curacy and began my first incumbency.
I persist through (almost daily) personal prayer and bible reading and regular attendance at my local Church - St Simon & St Jude, East Dean; whilst also supporting Friston and Jevington churches in the benefice.
Previously I served my curacy in the Weighton Wold Benefice (2021-25), a five-church rural benefice in the East Riding of Yorkshire.
Benefice, Area Dean of Blackpool and Chair Of Blackburn
I have been a parish priest in a multi-parish benefice, at one point serving five churches and covering two further churches of a different denomination within an LEP.
benefice of Cradley with Mathon and Storridge
I have attended two joint-benefice village churches in the Sevenoaks area and I have used my legal expertise in resolving complex High Court cases concerning historic church trusts.
I have special responsibility for choosing hymns for morning services at Ruyton, and at Little Ness and Great Ness, the other two parishes within the benefice.
I served my title at St Davids Cathedral, followed by two incumbencies: a benefice of three rural parishes in North Pembrokeshire; and then a grotty post-industrial town parish west of Swansea.
Alarmed at the amalgamation of rural parishes into ever-larger benefice groupings, I am standing under the banner of ‘Save the Parish’ (StP) – a grassroots organisation that seeks to reaffirm the value of a Christian presence in every community.
After five years there, I joined the Diocese of Blackburn as Vicar of the United Benefice of St Stephen with St James, Blackburn, serving in a predominantly Muslim context.
Currently, I live in a village in southwest Suffolk, one of five in multi-parish benefice.
I moved to the area in November 1996 having grown up in Lincolnshire, in a small rural village, where the church was one of a benefice of eight churches with no incumbent.
St Mary’s on the Green, Witney is part of a benefice of five churches and so I have experience of working with both rural and town centre ministry.
I am an active member of the Stow Caple Benefice in the Wye Valley and a cradle member of the Church of England.
In January 2015, I moved to become Area Dean of the North Cotswold Deanery and Rector of the Benefice of the Guitings, Cutsdean, Farmcote, Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter with Eyford and Naunton.
Proposed: Revd Susan Cooke, Vicar of the Benefice of Badgeworth, Shurdington and Witcombe with
I am the Rector of Winslow Benefice in the Archdeaconry of Buckingham.
I was licensed as a Recognised Parish Assistant four years ago and have been an Authorised Lay Minister for three years, focusing on ministry across our benefice of six churches and leading services during a two-year interregnum.
Outside of our benefice I am a volunteer Money Mentor for Community Money Advice (which recently joined forces with Christians Against Poverty) and a Tearfund Speaker, as I am passionate about alleviating poverty both in this country and in the developing world.
I now serve as Vicar of the Priory Benefice, a group of parishes situated on the border of West and South
The Benefice is
The Reverend Canon Paul Cartwright Vicar of The Priory Benefice caring for the Parishes of St Luke’s Grimethorpe with St Paul’s Brierley St James the Great Ryhill, Havercroft with Cold Hiendley & Wintersett, Parish of All Saints South Kirkby, Area Dean of Pontefract and Chaplain to West Yorkshire Police.
The Benefice can be four, eight, and now in Cornwall and several other Dioceses up to 32 parishes with one ordained Parish Priest, and a system of worship divided amongst lay people, retired clergy, churchwardens taking services and rarely seeing their parish priest for which the long suffering congregations are paying for in the Parish share.
Belonging to a rural multi-church benefice and serving on the National Church Buildings Council, I see local financial struggles firsthand.
I am proud to be a Rector of a multi-parish benefice in a rural area.
Benefice as a Lay Worship
my current benefice about a year ago.
Rector of the Benefice of Chidham & Hambrook with
Benefice of Minchinhampton Commons and Vale,
then served my curacy in a large rural benefice in Herefordshire before mov ing to Gloucestershire.
I arrived at St Peter’s and St Mark’s as the first incumbent of the plurality, so I have personal experience of leading a multi-parish benefice, and helping two churches learn how to work together whilst continuing to engage with and serve their parish.
Evangelism and church growth — including the opportunities facing a mainly rural four- church benefice as significant new housing developments transform our communities.
Our four-church benefice is facing an exciting new challenge, with significant housing developments changing the communities around our churches.
Existing short-term funding models are not solving the problem of reductions in stipendiary clergy and ever-increasing benefice sizes.
The Revd Jenn Camirand Vicar to the Benefice of West Leigh [St Alban] I am standing for General Synod because I believe the national life of the Church must remain accountable to the life of its parishes and the communities they serve.
I am Rector of the Benefice of Highley, with Billingsley, Glazeley, Deuxhill and Chelmarsh, and have served in rural ministry for nearly a decade.
With prayers and thanks, The Revd Kina Robertshaw Rector of the Benefice of Highley, with Billingsley, Glazeley, Deuxhill and Chelmarsh Email: [email protected]
ATALOSS The Bereavement Journey programme , now in its third year for Herefordshire on behalf of the Weobley and Staunton benefice
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Lay Reader, Benefice of Lozells and Newtown
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Coordinator, women of Grace Fellowship, Benefice of Lozells and
Young adults from unchurched backgrounds are walking into churches and asking how to become Christians in a way we’ve rarely seen before – this has been happening even in my Central Tradition benefice in rural Wiltshire.
I am the Rector of the Wellsprings Benefice, five rural parishes in Devizes Deanery – we are paying our way, have baptised five adults in the last year with two more in preparation, and are enjoying ourselves too.
We are a welcoming, inclusive church, part of a two-church benefice and are about to go into vacancy but blessed to have an SSM priest and a retired priest with PTO as well as enthusiastic and Spirit-filled lay people.
I know what an unsustainable benefice looks like: I see the strain on our clergy as we are asked to stretch across more and more parishes.
Previously I served my title in a rural benefice in the Diocese of Norwich.
The parish priest remains our source of pastoral leadership, yet clergy are stretched across benefices too large to know, or be known by, their communities. (More priests resigned than retired last year!) Every benefice should be a size a priest can sustain, knowing and known by their people.
Following my curacy, I was Instituted as Rector of Loftus-in-Cleveland and Carlin How with Skinningrove by the Bishop of Hull in March 2009 and have served sixteen years as Parish Priest in this unique, lively, and growing coastal benefice.
Team Benefice
As one church out of 18 in a rural ‘mega-benefice’, I grew up thinking it was normal for my parish church to only be accessible once a month instead of once a week.
lam aregular and committed member of the congregation of St Nonna’s, Altarnun, in the benefice of the Three Rivers, in the Deanery of Trigg Major, as well as a former PCC member and churchwarden of the same.
I oversee safeguarding for the 10 Parishes that make up the new Benefice of ‘Bride Valley and Chesil’.
This is a very rural benefice, that often feels forgotten about.
In 2021 I was licenced as a Reader for the Benefice of St Andrew's and St Peter's Clevedon, and have been on the ministry team for these two churches since then.
e In 2021 I spearheaded our Benefice's engagement with the Church of England's Living in Love and Faith (LLF) course, and relayed feedback from our members to the central LLF team of the Church.
Important, though, that my ministry at Diocesan level is, my work at Benefice and parish level is equally important as I seek to help bring the Kingdom to our Diocese.
I have completed the Bishop’s Commission for Mission and the Bishop’s Permission to Preach programmes and am now an active member of our Benefice Ministry Team, taking services in our parish churches, taking Holy Communion to parishioners in their homes when needed and to residents of our care homes and developing a fledgling funeral/end of life ministry.
Nominator 1: Revd Mary Rolls, Rector of the Benefice of Thirsk and Area Dean of Mowbray.
I now live in a rural Benefice of three active churches.
Our benefice comprises the town and two villages, and we are a silver Eco Church.
We are based in Bordesley Green where we work with the two churches of Holy Trinity Benefice.
THE REVD CHRIS HUTTON Rector of the Earsham (Ditchingham) Benefice
As Rector of a multi parish benefice of six rural churches (including some with no water or electricity), it is a joy to serve the local community.
Within the Earsham Benefice we take weekly Collective Worship at four church primary schools, and it is a privilege to be involved.
My ordained ministry has taken me from Chichester, where I served as a Licensed Lay Minister, Deacon, Priest, and Incumbent, to Ely, where I served a rural benefice and as Rural Dean of Shingay Deanery.
Parish experience ● Served as a Reader (LLM) prior to ordination, then 11 years ordained ● Curacy in a semi-rural multi-parish benefice (Lichfield Diocese) ● First incumbency in a rural multi-parish benefice (Lichfield Diocese) ● Current post is an urban/sub-urban two-church benefice (28,000 people)
In 2016 I became the Priest-in-Charge of the United Benefice of St Catherine’s, Belle Vue and St Andrew’s and St Mary’s, Wakefield; inner city, multicultural parishes with high levels of deprivation.
I am a farmer and a Lay Minister, licensed to the benefice of Brasted, Sundridge with Ide Hill and Toys Hill.
I serve as an Anna Chaplain – an important ministry of spiritual care and kindness to older people – both within my benefice and also in Hever and the Three Spires Benefice.
Vicar of The Benefice of Leicester St Anne, St Paul and St Augustine and Area Dean for the City of Leicester Deanery Why am I standing for General Synod?
I will argue for realistic workload models, fair stipend and deployment formulas, and real investment in lay- led ministry (readers, LLMs, churchwardens) so no priest is stretched across a whole benefice alone.
When I moved to Sheffield, I became a member of Christ Church, Fulwood, southwest of the city centre, while my brother & his family worship in a small village church which is part of a rural multi-parish benefice.
I live in West Cumbria and am proud to serve the Benefice of Workington as Reader/LLM.
Following our move to Cumbria from Northamptonshire, I trained as a Reader with Emmanuel Theological College and was licensed to the Benefice of Workington in November 2023.
Perhaps if more of that Bounty had been properly shared out, particularly to poorer rural diocese like Truro, then the spectacle could have been avoided where in Kerrier 20 churches are being mashed into one giant benefice with just three ordained full-time priests.
I am a church warden in the rural parish of Barningham Winter in North Norfolk which is part of the Maltase Benefice and near where I live with my husband and two sons.
➢ Our benefice is blessed to have a dedicated and enthusiastic rector where the individual churches have, as Lord Williams described, “a rooted presence…in every community.” My first foray into church politics, however, came about a decade ago in a different diocese.
I was asked to assist a group of parishioners troubled by the intended creation of a benefice from 2 small parishes to 6 following the retirement of the incumbent.
Whilst closure was averted and a smaller benefice was achieved, the interregnum lasted over a year, leading to a decline in attendance.
• Lozells and Newtown Benefice.
As more churches go into vacancy/interregnum, and the number of churches in a benefice increases, any help from an incumbent is likely to reduce if not disappear.
As a priest I have served in a benefice of five semi-rural villages in south Oxfordshire and in a large church in a culturally vibrant European capital.
I was converted by the grace of God in my 20s and now worship in a small rural evangelical benefice in Saffron Walden Deanery, where I have been for 35 years.
Henham, Elsenham & Ugley Benefice
Priest-in-Charge, Wheathill Benefice
Our benefice had to buy our new vicar’s PC, washing machine etc, despite the vicarage being sold for £1m!!
My wife, Sara, and I worship in the Radley, Sunningwell and Kennington benefice.
Priest in Charge: Benefice of
United benefice of Upper Tooting
I worship and minister in the United Benefice of Upper Tooting and I have been a Christian all my life.
Parish / Benefice: St Andrew’s Sneyd Green, Stoke on Trent
Who I am and what I stand for Rector of a rural multi-parish benefice in South Cheshire.
My curacy was in a large, traditional, suburban church and I am currently rector of a rural multi-parish benefice.
Within our benefice we have a Teddy and Dolly Church that attracts 35 children and adults, a third of the village population.
I am a part-time vicar looking after three rural churches in the Peak Parishes Benefice, Chester Diocese.
Chalton and Idsworth Benefice and occasionally preaching at St John’s Rowlands Castle.
I have seen so many challenges we face: Our local church has had two interregnums over the past 10 years, our Benefice has been remade, and I see the strain on our clergy and their families—especially those in rural and coastal settings—and the need to encourage more to join our faith journey.
Former General Synod Member, Facilitator for Spiritual Companionship, and Associate Priest in the Hullbridge, Rawreth and Rettendon Benefice.
My experience I am a PCC member at my local church and until last year was the editor of my local benefice magazine, doing this role for 5 years.
Rev’d David Cowie – Rector of the Wigston Benefice.
Benefice of Christ Church & St. Marys, Frome
For the past six years, I have served as the Vicar of the Alham Vale Benefice near Shepton Mallet, living out the many challenges, joys and blessings of rural multi-parish ministry day by day.
I subsequently served my curacy within the Crediton Mission Community, a large, multi-parish rural benefice in Exeter Diocese.
Guided by a strong calling to return to the Diocese of Bath and Wells, in 2020 I accepted my current role and for the past six years, have served as the Vicar of the Alham Vale Benefice near Shepton Mallet, living out the many challenges, joys, and blessings of rural multi-parish ministry day by day.
I was Team Vicar in a large multi church benefice in West Cardiff before becoming Vicar of two inner city parishes in East Cardiff.
I know this first-hand: after around 30 years in one parish group, we were reassigned to an entirely new benefice.
Ten years in Yorkshire, in a rural multi-village benefice, part of a Bishop’s Mission Order, with a complicated interregnum.
I moved to the Diocese of Worcester in 1998 and, over the past 28 years, have experienced the beauty and challenges of life in a rural benefice; Powick, Callow End, Madresfield and Guarlford; a Worcestershire town, Malvern Holy Trinity and St James West Malvern, and in the Black Country at St Andrew’s Wollescote and St Peter’s Pedmore.
2003 – Ordained and served my curacy at St Peter’s, Notting Hill in London Diocese 2007 – Licensed to a benefice in Sittingbourne (Canterbury Diocese) while my primary focus was caring for my two young daughters.
I am LGBTQ+ and second-generation Polish, a former sociology and social policy academic, a Modern Church Trustee and Council Member, and I currently serve in a rural Benefice in Bedfordshire, across the parishes of Cople, Moggerhanger and Willington.
A Quick Biography 2 Year Curate in rural multi-parish Benefice nd
While my vocation was nurtured in a single urban parish, I now minister in a three-parish rural Benefice and am a member of the Hope for Rural Churches network; in General Synod I will speak up for rural parish ministry, a perspective that is too often absent.
I worship at Most Holy Trinity Church Hinton in the Hedges, Astwick vale benefice, Diocese of Peterborough.
Hinton is smallest of the 5 benefice parishes and only one with responsibility for two ancient churches, the other churches could not afford to assist .
Treasurer of Benefice
I love my village church, St Andrew’s West Hatch, & our benefice family, the Seven Sowers, just south of Taunton.
Our Seven Sowers Benefice Open The Book Team visits all 3 of our benefice primary schools every week, showing the love of God by acting out a bible story – we’re by no means professional actors (!), but we bring enthusiasm, joy and hope, and we do it with love for the children (all 300 of them), the school staff & each other.
In the past 5 years our Benefice Ministry Team, like many others across the country, has shrunk significantly - we’ve lost our House for Duty, an Associate Priest and a Lay Reader.
As much as volunteers try to help, we are not filling the void left by less clergy serving in the benefice.
I am fortunate to serve as Team Rector in the Chalke Valley Benefice and Rural Dean of Chalke Deanery.
Like many benefices in Salisbury Diocese, the Chalke Valley Benefice is a multi parish, geographically large, rural Benefice with 14 churches and nine parishes but only just over 4000 people.
Benefice, General Synod Member 2015-2026
I have been involved in children and youth ministry since I was a teenager and now support youth work in our benefice.
Before moving to the ‘Sunshine Coast of Essex’ I served as Curate for four years in the United Benefice of Sileby, Cossington & Seagrave, Leicester Diocese.
Serving in a multi parish benefice I am all too aware of the pressure clergy are under, not just with the needs and concerns of the parishes they serve, but also with the ever increasing administrative burden the diocese and structures place on them.
Serving God in Bath and beyond We are quite busy in our Combe Down benefice, with its two rural village churches and the ‘mission’ church birthed from the main church into a housing estate.
Downhill skiing Sailing yachts and dinghies Hill and coastal walking The weekly 5km Park Run (PB 27:25) Combe Down church involvement: Leading and preaching at Holy Trinity Combe Down – the Benefice’s main church with its ‘Word and Spirit’ flavour. in the Benefice using the CofE Liturgy in the two village churches of Southstoke and Monkton Combe.
Email: [email protected] Phone number: 07936 871 698 Rossendale team benefice
which is part of the larger Rossendale Team Benefice.
are unique in my benefice, as the majority of the other churches are more contemporary around Rossendale.
" My areas of interest & expertise Mental health support I started a mental health group in Clowne in 2018 and this group is the frontline of mission in our benefice – we have seen people come to faith through this ministry.
• I am Vicar of the Benefice of the Pant Valley Churches in Braintree Deanery.
The Benefice was
although my current benefice embraces a variety of church traditions.
Much of General Synod’s work is concerned with legislation; as a Surrogate for Marriage Licenses, I have had experience working with legislative texts in detail, and I also have experience of using provisions in Church Law to create Joint Councils for groups of our benefice’s PCCs.
St Giles Chetton is a small rural parish of 350 residents and forms part of the wider Brown Clee Benefice in the Diocese of Hereford .
As a local Churchgoer I act as Benefice Safeguarding Officer .
Benefice of Crich and South Wingfield.
After nearly 30 years as a Prison Chaplain, I am now vicar in a rural Benefice and finding parish ministry rewarding and fulfilling.
Each benefice should be limited to a maximum of five parishes to enable the priest to do his work properly.
I’m Team Vicar in the Benefice of Witney, where I’ve lived with my wife Hannah and two children for the past two years.
I have recently been appointed Vicar of St Denys Church, Evington, having served for the past three years as a Curate in Knighton Benefice.
I have served as an Associate Priest since 2007 in the benefice of Durham, St Margaret’s, Nevilles Cross, St John and Bearpark, St Edmund’s.
During those nine years it has been a particular encouragement to see real growth across the benefice, especially among families and young children.
Priest-in-Charge, Coast & Country Benefice | Diocese of Exeter I am standing for General Synod because I believe we need a Church which cares for its clergy, values its parishes and is brave enough to change the things that get in the way of mission.
Prior to ordination training I had the great privilege of serving across varied missional contexts in both northern and southern provinces (CEMS participant in Sunderland with a four group benefice of churches and work as pastoral assistant at St Martin-in-the-fields) I whole heartedly affirm the aims of the Save the Parish network because I believe that our greatest strength lies in our historic parochial model of church.
The knowledge gained in that time informed the early years of ministry, especially in a benefice that was rural, semi-rural and urban in character.
Service as Rector of a multi-church benefice in Jarrow as well as T.I. and as a member of the Bishop’s advisors for ministry.
My experience of dealing with the diocese during the interregnum brought home to me the threat to the future of small parishes (some with large parish share requirements): the possible future imposition of a part-time rather than a full-time priest; being made part of an expanded benefice and so on.
Plainly this needs to be rectified and that can be done by: – not cutting stipend posts in order to balance budgets; – stopping the use of managerial metrics more suited to the world of commerce; and – limiting the number of manageable parishes (to 5 possibly?) which can be put into one benefice.
Assistant Curate, Benefice of Witney (2017-2021)
Benefice
I would take the knowledge and experience of worshipping and supporting my deeply rural Parish and Benefice as well as the Deanery Synod to the debates and decisions of the General Synod.
Working towards how the Church can respond to the world with love, reflecting the ultimate and foundational image of God present across humanity – demonstrating how we are called to journey together Supporting how the Church can function faithfully and sustainably in rural communities, especially where several communities are held together within one benefice In my role as a Priest I work to ensuring that the church better understands and supports the concept of cure of souls – from leading Occasional Offices to youth work and beyond To better understand how the church can respond to and influence the huge technological advances we face
Benefice.
For the past ten years I have served in a Benefice of two wonderful and different churches.
Since ordination, I have fully immersed myself in the life of the Benefice, seeking to care for God’s people well (by taking a lead on pastoral care) and to equip them to hold onto the good news of Jesus in their daily lives and to share it with others (by playing my part in preaching and teaching week by week).
Only my Incumbent’s confidence in me enabled me to try things out and to flourish (and to end up where I am now!) and in my current Benefice we are actively seeking to grow the clergy/lay partnerships that are going to be vital to enable the church to continue its mission into the future.
I am the Rector of a six-parish benefice in West Dorset, I also sit on the diocesan Discipleship, Vocations and Ministry Committee, and am part of the team of Vocations Advisors that support those at the initial stages of discernment.
I grew into my baptismal faith and vocation in a benefice of fourteen churches in this diocese, mentored and encouraged by the whole worshipping community, lay and ordained.
In farming communities, commuting to church is viewed as an activity for the wealthy; lambing, calving and harvest all work to God's own timings, not to a benefice rota!
CSCSV Benefice