The licensing of the Revd Crystal McAllister, as Interim Oversight Minister in the Launde Deanery Minster Community, was held during morning prayer on Tuesday 1 July at Bishop’s Lodge.
Revd Crystal was surrounded by family, friends, diocesan colleagues and those who have journeyed with her, prayed for her, and championed her along the way.
The service marked the beginning of this three-month role, which sees Revd Crystal move across the diocese from her Ordained Pioneer Minister position in the Framland Deanery.
Talking about this new challenge, and her calling to the role, Revd Crystal said: “I am really excited about the opportunity to lead Launde Minster Community over this interim period.
“My heart has always been to help people discover the love of God and pioneer spaces where they can dwell and experience this for themselves, unlocking their true, God-given potential.
“God places us where we need to be to do His work. Having worked across a larger rural geographical area for the last few years, holding the tensions and tears, balancing the inherited church and new communities, I recognise that God equips us for what is needed to carry out these tasks.”
She added: “There is a weight that you carry in any form of leadership; however, this weight is lifted when I take joy in the messiness of life and seeing God transform it.
“We all falter at times, feeling uncertain, overwhelmed, and confused, too, but my faith is and will always be in the one who calls us, and the obedience that follows will allow me to continue trusting God in the process. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. (Isaiah 40: 28-31.)”
Though the interim period is for three months, Revd Crystal is taking on this role with hopes, plans, strength, and prayer for the Minster Community, its parishes and people.
“My hopes and plans would be a radical outpouring of God’s love for people and the parishes in the Minster Community that is transformative,” she explains. “Three months is a short time; however, time isn't a concern for God! I pray that God gives me eyes to draw people's attention to the importance of stillness and listening, to ask what the Spirit is calling God's people to do today, to explore, enable and equip communities to be communities of hope for current and future generations. I plan to visit parishes, break bread, walk, pray, and encourage others to join me in doing so, too.”
Speaking to her worshipping communities on social media, Revd Crystal said: “God has pivoted me into a new direction; He calls us, we faithfully follow into the unknown.
“I'm excited because doing ‘stuff’ for the Lord is always exciting. I encourage you to stay with me on this adventure... The Holy Spirit has no boundaries and you, along with me, may just discover something wonderful about God in another rural area of the beautiful countryside of Leicestershire. May God bless you.”
