Licensing of Steve Lissenden and celebration of ministry team

Today we were thrilled that Rev Steve Lissenden was licensed as an Associate Minister in the Wickford & Runwell Team Ministry by the Archdeacon of Southend in a special service which was also a celebration of our ministry team. The service was led by the Archdeacon of Southend and the preacher was former Team Rector Revd Canon Jane Freeman.

At the point in the service where we celebrated the ministry team, the following was said:

Steve, Sue, Emma and Mike, each of you came to new roles and responsibilities here during the recent lockdowns when it was not possible to celebrate your ministries as would usually have been the case. As a ministry team you led this parish through a lengthy interregnum and the time of global pandemic. We give thanks to God for each one of you, your specific giftings, the ways in which you fulfil your roles, and the ways in which you held the people of this parish in the pandemic and led them through the interregnum.

Now you have been joined by Jonathan, as Team Rector, we pray for a continued flourishing in your roles and the flowering of your particular gifts in your roles and ministries.

All We give thanks to God for all you are in Him and for all you share with us. We pray for your continued ministry with us in this parish and for your own flourishing in God.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I, the Lord of sea and sky.

First Team Rector's message for Wickford and Runwell

I'm looking forward to being licensed as Team Rector for Wickford and Runwell on Thursday 19 May 2022. I will be licensed and collated by the Bishop of Bradwell, The Rt Revd Dr. John Perumbalath, and inducted by the Acting Archdeacon of Southend, The Reverend Canon Mike Power. The service will be at St Andrew’s Church, 11 London Road, Wickford, SS12 0AN beginning at 7.30pm and will also be livestreamed online.

I've just shared my first message for the Wickford and Runwell Team Ministry on the website which includes the following:

'I look forward to getting fully involved in the communities of Wickford and Runwell, while sharing in ministry with the congregations of St Andrew’s, St Catherine’s and St Mary’s. I believe churches need to be at the heart of their communities, while being with those on the edge. I am excited to explore what this will mean in Wickford and Runwell. Also, to explore how we can share the riches of current practice and past history within these churches in ways that engage the wider community more fully, whilst also seeing the ways God’s Spirit is already at work in the area and joining in.'

On my first Sunday we have a joint service at St Andrew’s at 10.00 am followed by our Annual Parochial Church Meeting and then a Bring and Share Lunch. All are most welcome to all or part of those events but do consider staying for the APCM to hear about all that has gone on here during the past year in order to understand the foundation on which we are building as we go forward in God’s name together.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ho Wai-On - Blessed.

Resource Church: Licensing of Catherine Duce

Revd Catherine Duce was licensed on Wednesday as Assistant Vicar for Partnership Development at St Martin-in-the-Fields by The Rt Revd Ric Thorpe, Bishop of Islington. Catherine’s role is to further develop HeartEdge in London, while also leading on Nazareth Community partnerships more generally and supporting other key initiatives at St Martin’s. Her appointment has been made possible because St Martin’s has been designated as a resource church by the Diocese of London.

The role that Catherine is now taking on is one which is part of the Resource Church initiative that Bishop Ric has pioneered in the Diocese of London and more widely. Resource churches are essentially those that are able to share with and support other churches in their mission and ministry. Many Resource churches in London will use the model of church planting but, here at St Martin's, the resource that we are sharing is HeartEdge, the ecumenical movement for renewal that we initiated in February 2017.

HeartEdge is a growing network of churches and other organisations in which ideas for and approaches to mission are shared and where the challenges faced by churches today are honestly explored. We have a programme of introductory events, mission model workshops and consultancy days which provide opportunities for mutual learning and support the revitalization of churches and, with Catherine’s help, will plan more London-focused events. Catherine's role is to grow HeartEdge in London, supporting existing member churches and encouraging more churches to join this movement for renewal.

Please do pray that God will take all that Catherine brings to this role from her previous experience and use it powerfully in the development of mutual support between churches, the revitalization of congregations and the growth through those congregations of new worshipping communities.

Catherine can be contacted on 020 7766 1127 or catherine.duce@smitf.org and would love to hear from you. She will be seeking to visit all HeartEdge members in London, so expect to hear from her before too long. We would also love to draw more churches into the movement for renewal that is HeartEdge, so do suggest other churches with which Catherine could share information.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Take O Take Me As I Am.

Licensing Service (2)

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Be Thou My Vision.

Licensing Service

Yesterday I was licensed by the Bishop of London at St Stephen, Walbrook, as (half-time) priest-in-Charge. I was also commissioned by Bishop Richard as (half-time) Associate Vicar for Partnership Development at St Martin-in-the-Fields. I will be welcomed into the latter role during the 10.00am service at St Martins on Sunday. I also led the midweek Eucharist at St Stephens earlier in the day and gave my first sermon.

The service of Choral Evensong was shared by the congregations and communities of St Stephens and St Stephens, representatives from the Worshipful Company of Grocers (Patrons of St Stephens), City clergy and others, the congregation of St John's Seven Kings, representatives of the London Internet Church, commission4mission and Sophia Hubs Limited, together with many family and friends. 

The Bishop of London spoke about "a transforming vision of a wider us." Giving a sneak preview of the sermon to be preached by the Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martins, on Sunday, he said that we have a message of "faith in the face of fear, hope in the face of death, and love in the face of suffering." Sam says that through partnership development "we want to find abundance in scarcity, we want to expand our programmes and deepen our common life so we too can be a blessing to communities beyond ourselves."

In my sermon at the midweek Eucharist I quoted George Monbiot, who wrote in a recent article, that individuation – the focus on the meeting of our individual needs - ‘is exploitable’ and therefore social hierarchies have been ‘built around positional goods and conspicuous consumption.’ As a result, ‘we are lost in the 21st century, living in a state of social disaggregation that hardly anyone desired but which is an emergent property of a world reliant on rising consumption to avert economic collapse, saturated with advertising and framed by market fundamentalism.’

In this messy world our partnership development will seek to "enrich common life and culture, alleviate and in time eradicate poverty and injustice, and promote love, joy and peace." 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Felix Mendelssohn - How Lovely Are The Messengers.