church plants
Although I became a Christian at university in London, and worshipped then at one of the HTB church plants (St Barnabas), my life afterwards has taken me to an Anglican evangelical church in Loughborough, an ecumenical church plant in Cardiff, a traditional church with more formal services and a robed choir and now to where I find myself today.
Parishes flourishing: I hope that my long term experience of leading both a resourcing church (Holy Trinity Clapham) and a small-sized church (All Saints, Clapham Park), as well as sending out church plants from HTC, will continue to be helpful in discussions at Synod.
Over 30 years of experience of Lay and Ordained ministry in parishes, schools, universities, cathedrals, and church plants across a huge range of church traditions.
New worshipping communities, chaplaincies, church plants and fresh expressions all have an important part to play in our common life.
We need independent oversight of our safeguarding work, while ensuring that professionals remain embedded in our diocesan teams (and local volunteer PSOs in our parishes and church plants), securing that safeguarding is seen as everyone’s responsibility rather something outsourced to remote and unaccountable people who do nor understand the church’s needs in this area.
I welcome fresh expressions, church plants and new initiatives, but these should strengthen rather than displace the parish church.
But, whether long-established, or recent church plants, local churches are the primary way through which communities are served and people encounter Jesus, are nurtured in faith and receive the sacraments.
We also need to be more transparent when we set up other structures that are not traditional parishes, like Bishop’s Mission Orders, church plants, mission workers and the myriad other ways we do ministry – to ensure that they are set up with the correct governance structures to prevent things going wrong.
I am deeply committed to parish ministry and mission having significant parish experience working with complex needs: mental health, young people, students, homelessness and creative expressions of church, including church plants.
I feel that my experiences will be valuable as General Synod explores lay leadership and future church growth; sustainability of church plants and small worshipping communities; and wrestles with how this impacts on our engagement with the sacraments.
« Helped establish two foodbanks and been actively involved in three church plants, including one ecumenical project with other denominations.
The team I lead is responsible for implementing the diocese’s vision and strategy, raising and supporting lay and ordained vocations, training of our curates and readers, clergy wellbeing and their continued ministerial development, parish vision planning, revitalisation, mission, evangelism, Children, Youth and Families support and training, and the development of new worshipping communities from new services to large church plants.
I have experienced a variety of ministry contexts including an inner-city resource church, church plants, and more established multi-parish benefices in suburban and rural contexts, and now a growing and diverse town between Bath and Bristol.
Church plants, new worshipping communities and other forms of mission can reach people from different backgrounds while flourishing alongside our parish churches.
While church plants and larger benefices may have their place, they should not come at the cost of smaller local parishes built in faith and love by previous generations.