Ministry Leadership Team

Today was our Annual Parochial Church Meeting, which included the following sermon:

Acts 13.1-3 shows us one way in which a missionary church of the first century was organised in the period covered by the New Testament. In the church at Antioch, we see:

• Members exercised different gifts; as there were, at least, prophets and teachers in this church (13.1a);
• Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul were representative of the culture of the area (13.1b);
• They were also part of the worshipping and praying congregation; as they were chosen while worshipping the Lord and fasting (13.2a);
• Set apart for kingdom work i.e. the work to which God called them (13.2b);
• Sent out for apostolic ministry in wider community (13.3); but
• Remained accountable to church leaders and members of the church (14.26-27).

Ministry as Partnership - MaP - is the name the Chelmsford Diocese has given to new models of Christian ministry which were beginning to be developed at the turn of the millennium and which aim to bring us back to patterns of church life that more resemble the missionary church of the first century.

At its heart, Ministry as Partnership seeks to affirm and encourage the calling of the whole people of God. It is about identifying and releasing all the gifts God has given us to be more effectively his church, principles which now underpin all diocesan and national strategies, including the major Mission Shaped Church and Fresh Expressions initiatives.

Within our changing world and culture, parishes are delivering ministry in many different ways. No one way is appropriate for all, but where the God-given gifts of all baptised members of the local church are being identified and used, there is growing confidence and a greater sense of moving forward. Historically, we may not have as many stipendiary posts, but there have never been so many following a calling, whether in a commissioned ministry or more informally.

Ministry as Partnership provides a process for establishing a Ministry Leadership Team within a local church. A Ministry Leadership Team is essentially those who lead, encourage and build up the work of the whole Body of Christ on behalf of the PCC. This year our PCC has taken the decision that we should set up a Ministry Leadership Team at St John’s Seven Kings.

The Ministry as Partnership process has five steps for establishing a Ministry Leadership Team within a local church:

• Building the vision – assessing where we are and discerning where we would like to be
• Making decisions – envisioning a team to suit local needs
• Forming a team – practical guidance for getting underway
• Staying fit – the ongoing life of the team, particularly at transition stages
• Going deeper – theology and ecclesiology for leaders and others

Looking at these five steps, you can see that we have already been working on the first two. We have our Church vision, which we reviewed in the first year or so that I was here:

That led to a renewed focus on our engagement with the local community which has in turn led to new people joining the church. As a result, we have moved onto Step 2 which is about envisioning all of us for ministry. Our Vocations Sunday service led on to the SHAPE course, the faith and work video interviews, and currently the Care and Share Lent course. All of which have emphasised that all believers of all ages and abilities have been called by God and have a vocation to follow. All have gifts to offer for the common good of the church and world.

All of which means that we are now ready for Step 3 which is where we form the Ministry Leadership Team itself. In the coming months, we will be asking you to think and pray about five areas of ministry here at St John’s and which members of our congregation could be responsible for each of these areas. It could be you! The five ministry areas are: Children and Youth; Mission; Pastoral; Peace and Justice; and Worship.

The kind of people that we will be seeking as leaders are those who have a developing spiritual life of their own and who seek to nurture and disciple others. Leadership is a gift for the common good and we will be asking those who become responsible for these areas of ministry to work in partnership with all those who are also involved in that area of ministry. Christian leadership is less to do with command-and-control than with establishing the environment within which others are empowered to use their gifts. The corporate leadership at St John’s (i.e. licensed minister(s), the PCC and the Ministry Leadership Team) are the guardians of God’s vision for this community of faith.

At St John's we will all have the opportunity over the next few months to reflect more on these areas of ministry and what is involved in taking them forward. Working towards partnership in ministry is a demanding and worthwhile challenge within which prayer deserves to be a high priority. In setting new directions, let us seek to keep in step with the purposes of God in the power of the Spirit; joining in partnership as God works in his world and his church.

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Delirious? - Now Is The Time.

Care and share

Over the past six months at St John's Seven Kings we have been talking and thinking through how we are using who we are to serve God in the church, at work, with our family and friends, in the community and our voluntary/leisure activities. We began with a Vocations Sunday in September, continued by studying the SHAPE Course and, most recently, have had a Sunday morning series of video interviews in which members of the congregation have shared ways in which their faith is expressed through their work (paid and voluntary).

We are continuing this thinking into our Lent Course this year by using a Course called Care and Share which looks at the basics of pastoral care. The course aims to enable us to develop our skills in confidence and understanding and listening through five sessions covering: What is Pastoral care? Visiting and Listening; Making Contact; Dealing with loss; and Getting organised.

Many, perhaps all of us, provide care to someone else through work (paid and voluntary), in our family, with neighbours or friends, through our church. So, we can all benefit from reflecting on our approaches and thinking about the resources for caring which our faith provides. St John’s already has a committed group of people involved in pastoral visits, home communions, and prayer ministry. After coming to the Care and Share course, participants might want to think about whether they could be a part of that group or show care in other ways such as the prayer chain or Redbridge Voluntary Care, among others.

As in previous years, the Lent Courses are a shared activity with the other churches in the Seven Kings Fellowship of Churches. This year, Goodmayes Methodist Church, Seven Kings Methodist Church and St Peter’s Aldborough Hatch are all hosting Lent Courses and all are welcome to join one of those groups.

These churches will be studying Rich Inheritance - Jesus' legacy of love, a York Course written by Bishop Stephen Cottrell, the new Bishop of Chelmsford. Jesus didn’t write a will. He left no written instructions. He didn’t seem to have a plan. At the end, as he hung dying on the cross, almost all of his followers had abandoned him. By most worldly estimates his ministry was a failure. Nevertheless, Jesus’ message of reconciliation with God lived on. It is the central message of the Bible. With this good news his disciples changed the world. How did they do it? What else did Jesus leave behind – what is his ‘legacy of love’? This course addresses these questions.

The participants on the Rich Inheritance course CD are: Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols; writer and lecturer in Biblical studies, Paula Gooder; and author and public theologian, Jim Wallis. Dr David Hope introduces the course and Methodist minister Inderjit Bhogal provides the Closing Reflection at the end of each session.

Love is at the heart of both these courses. We love because God first loved us. (1 John 4:19). Pastoral care is at the centre of the church’s mission and ministry because it has one fundamental aim - to help people know love, both to receive and to give. Pastoral care is our response to God’s unconditional love and, through it, we follow Jesus’ command to ‘love one another as I have loved you’.

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Victoria Williams - Love.

All Are Called

"The young are called; the elderly are called. There is no retirement from the Christian pilgrimage … Women are called, and men are called … God ‘has no favourites’ ….We are all called no matter what our occupations may be. There is no special status in the Kingdom for those in ‘top jobs’ or ‘important responsibilities’ " from 'All Are Called'

The Christian faith inspires people to grow as followers of Jesus Christ (discipleship) and to use the gifts and talents that God has entrusted to us in his service and for his glory (ministry). God has given a rich variety of gifts to His people to enable them to exercise a great variety of ministries. This was one of the great discoveries of the early Christians and was an oft repeated theme of St Paul. A calling from God, or vocation to ministry is not the privilege of a select few. It is the experience of every Christian.

Every Christian (irrespective of age) is called by God as a minister and ambassador as a consequence of their baptism. For most, this calling is in the everyday world of work, school, home and leisure. Christians are also called to contribute, in some way, to the life of their local worshipping congregation. Some will be called additionally to serve the church and the world as an authorised minister – lay or ordained. All vocations, although different, are of equal value and all need to be nurtured.

It is therefore the challenge for every Christian to discover the ministry to which God may be calling them and God’s call comes afresh at different stages of our lives. In every congregation, members should be challenged and encouraged to explore their vocation from God. There are also various resources to help us with this. In each Deanery of the Diocese of Chelmsford, the Bishops have appointed a Vocations Adviser, who is available to talk with anyone who wants help in exploring their vocation. They are not just concerned with people thinking about lay or ordained ministry but ministry in its widest sense. They are not part of any formal selection process but are simply available to offer advice.

In the Diocese of Chelmsford people have been selected, trained and licensed for Reader ministry for many years and now the Diocese is offering training for Pastoral Assistants and Evangelists. Reader ministry is ‘a ministry of preaching and teaching in the pastoral context’. The ministry of Pastoral Assistant is ‘a ministry of pastoral care in the church and wider community’. The ministry of Evangelist is ‘a ministry of communicating the Christian faith by word and action’. The diocese is committed to supporting the local church in encouraging each person in their growth and development and does this by offering a range of opportunities for education and training across the diocese.

The Bishop's Certificate in Children's Ministry is a new course run by the Diocese. It offers a quality training programme to encourage, equip, and enthuse those who work with children as part of the ministry of the local church. Equipping is the equivalent course for those involved in youth work. The Mission-shaped Ministry course has a particular focus on the development of individuals and teams for practices of mission that engage those outside the reach of church as it is: initiating, growing and sustaining fresh expression of church. The Course in Christian Studies is a two year course exploring the Christian Faith with others, delivered weekly in local centres around the diocese. CCS has a foundational first year and a more flexible second year and leads to the Bishop’s Certificate.

Exploring these options might well begin with another new Diocesan course Your SHAPE for God’s Service which aims to enable church members to understand the unique SHAPE God has made them, the gifts he has given them and how he might want to use them. This is so that God’s Kingdom may be built up as each person finds the ministry to which God is calling them in the Church and in the world.

Working together by using our different gifts and skills for ministry and mission is to be a hallmark of Christian witness, service and life. This requires valuing experiences, insights and gifts different from our own and being prepared to work across social boundaries whether of nation, race, creed and language or across ecclesiastical boundaries of parish, deanery, diocese, denomination and tradition. Cooperation internationally, ecumenically and locally can build up all aspects of church life and fuel mission effectiveness. In future, we hope to explore collaborative working in a new way at St John’s by thinking about the possibility of developing a Ministry Leadership Team.

Discussion of all of the above is a feature of Stewardship Month this September at St John's Seven Kings and, in particular, a Vocations Sunday service this Sunday where everyone will have the opportunity to explore ideas and opportunities for ministry at home, in the community, in the workplace and in and through this church. Hopefully, as we each reflect and respond to God’s call on our lives, this will enable us to live and serve with more joy, satisfaction and fruitfulness continuing to build a healthy growing church, and will also affect the way each of us engages with our family, friends, job, local community, and voluntary / leisure activities.

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Flyleaf - Fully Alive.