Things are really beginning to gain momentum as we seek to be Shaped By God Together as a diocese, and we are well underway with the first group of churches piloting the process to form a Minster Community.
Schools, fresh expressions and churches from six benefices around the Launde area were invited into this process. Launde is a newly shaped deanery, to the east of Leicester, and a number of meetings have been held with representation from parish churches, fresh expressions of Church and schools.
People from each local church have undertaken some initial work which is enabling local church leaders and wider church communities, alongside diocesan volunteers and officers, to build up a picture of themselves that is honest and grounded in reality.
As they build up this picture, they will learn alongside their neighbouring churches, and as they learn from each other, they will begin to develop their unique identity as a Minster Community.
Conversations are ongoing about future mission including the 3 Key Questions and diocesan Priorities, and consideration of assets – people, buildings and finance. The process of forming as a Minster Community, like the whole of Shaped By God Together, is one of shared discernment.
To shed a little light on what Launde, our first Minster Community, is going through; it is recognised that in the beginning, while there was excitement, there was also confusion and frustration. Many people entered the process with hopes and fears – and many of these feelings are still very real – but through engagement, what is starting to emerge is clarity and creativity. In fact, those people who were full of questions and reservations, are now making contributions and answering one another’s questions.
But what does it mean to have Christian communities in each of these villages?
Stuart Burns, Director of the Parish Transition & Ministry Department Team, says:
“We work on the assumption that God is active in God’s will. We don’t always see it, it doesn’t always feel like it, but that’s why we pray and worship, receive communion and care for each other - because God is active through each of us. This affects the way we discern our next step; and we do this in the presence of God, who forms, leads, sustains, challenges and loves us.”
As a community, Launde is beginning to trust one other, and with this developing trust and deepening of relationship, they are starting to recognise possibilities and new opportunities. Rather than saying, how do we try to sustain something we’re already struggling to maintain? They’re asking, how can we part of this? What is God opening-up in front of us? What does our future look like?
The answers will be very specific to Launde, and likewise to each individual Minster Community, but opening-up conversations enables every church community to say: ‘This is us, and this is what we have to offer.’
There’s already great work going on in Launde and has been for number of years. Minster Communities are building on what they’ve been working on locally already. Now the parishes have started thinking about how they can contribute to their Minster Community, to building the Kingdom on earth, while honouring the 3 key questions and our diocesan Priorities.
There is a strong desire to serve the community, meet people at their need - in worship and in loving service – while integrating into the lives of those on the margins. They want to bring young people and their families into a relationship with God, protect the planet, and explore ways of being inclusive.
Exciting new ideas are circulating, including the coming together of six or seven families in the area, who would like to start an all-age evensong, recognising that this may be held in different locations every time they meet.
There are new faith and fellowship groups for the lonely and bereaved, and for those questioning faith and the some of life’s big questions. There are people going into primary schools and offering tours of their church to multi-faith schools across the diocese.
There are those who like to sit in quiet contemplation, wherever the feeling takes them, and then there are others who want to sing their praises from the church rooftops.
Of course, these conversations have also included the more difficult subjects of finances and buildings.
The Archdeacon of Leicester, Venerable Richard Worsfold, says:
“If we are narrowed and think of ourselves alone – as an individual church - then it compresses what we could actually do together.”
So, it makes sense to create a stronger team - because we are greater together than apart. We know there are people who have the same heart for the same things, living not far away from one another, but who in their own parish feel powerless to make a difference in the matters they feel called to.
There are the admin strong parishes, who could share their knowledge and resources across the villages, and the Open the Book teams who could step outside of their village and declare the Good News within other schools in the area. Often, we don’t even realise we’ve been working in partnership because it just makes sense. After all, so many of us from different churches came together on Zoom to worship - benefice wide and all around the diocese - during the pandemic.
What we can do, personally, is focus on our everyday faith. What difference does our discipleship make to what we see? How are we helping others to become disciples? If we’re in a good relationship with God in our faith, and that faith continues to grow, then surely anything is possible.
Of course, there will be stuff that’s unresolvable – and that’s fine. There are ‘crunchy conversations’ to come, but everyone has the chance to be heard and the door is always open.
So how are the parishioners in Launde really feeling about things right now?
One community member says:
“Up until now I’ve been in a thick fog, to me this has been incredibly difficult, and I’ve not been able to get a handle on any of it. Basically, at one point in a Zoom meeting, the continued question of, ‘What is God calling you to do?’ made me want to run away.
“But now, it feels like we’re getting somewhere - despite the ups and downs and thinking I just couldn’t face another meeting. It’s all beginning to make sense, and I can see the direction we’re going in.”
Another made a point about recognising the here and now, explaining:
“I went to a ‘quiet day’ recently and learnt that our minds spend most of their time thinking about the past, a big part thinking of the future, but rarely about being in the present - and there’s value in the present, in being and doing. We should be thinking about what people are doing right now and the importance of that.”
Encouraging one another to engage and share their thoughts, has been reassuring for those with many questions and reservations, with one man saying: “It’s helpful to recognise the problems we’re all wrestling with, while talking about what’s been done and what needs to be done.”
But the final comment had the most impact, with someone adding:
“We realise that staying as we are without change isn’t an option, but we do have something to offer and contribute, and the future – including what our Minster Community does - is completely within our control. Now it’s all about, ‘what do we need as a community to make this work?”
The conversations to come in Launde will not necessarily be easy - we know that. But they will be held within a process that has structure.
As you may already know, a group of churches around the Coalville area have begun piloting the process as we form a second Minster Community.
Claire Bampton, Diocesan Programme Manager, says:
“We are encouraging all other churches to engage with the Discussion Starter sent out to PCCs in February. The biggest thing we have learnt so far in the pilots is that the preparation, before beginning to think about forming a Minster Community, is really important and takes much longer than you might think!
“The more honestly and deeply any church understands itself, its calling and mission, and its relationships (with local community, with other churches, and more widely) the better prepared the church will be for beginning to form a Minster Community when the time comes.
“Further to this, we encourage churches to consider how they can develop partnerships to support each other in mission and ministry – this might build on what’s already happening or be in response to local opportunities.
“However, we strongly encourage churches and leaders to resist the temptation to jump forwards into structural conversations and pre-empt the diocesan process for forming Minster Communities.
“We must all remember, our diocesan vision is not Minster Communities, our diocesan vision is the Kingdom of God. We will continue to discern together how our diocesan framework of Minster Communities will best support all our churches as we respond to our three key questions of growing in number and depth of discipleship and in loving service of the world.”