It is coming up to one year since the Launde Minster Community was officially launched by Bishop Martyn at a special service at St Peter’s Church, Tilton on the Hill. That means that the churches of the Minster Community have been in Phase 3 of the formation process (‘Living’), during which they have begun to work towards the missional objectives of their Minster Community proposal.
Part of this phase of the process is the formation of a leadership team, supporting and equipping the ministry and mission, across the whole Minster Community. In Launde Minster Community this team is led by their Oversight Minister, Revd Jonathan Dowman. Jonathan recently sat down with Bishop Martyn to reflect upon the formation process and also to talk about his personal experience in this new role.
Although Launde Minster Community’s context is quite unique – the group of churches involved already formed a deanery and Jonathan also holds the role of Growing Faith Minster and Area Dean within the Launde Deanery which is not expected to be the case for other Oversight Ministers – he hopes their experience over the last year offers important lessons and encouragement for other parishes going through, or about to start, the formation process.
Jonathan spoke of the way in which parishes have joined together in new ways through the Minster Community formation process - with conversations and meeting together being key in building relationships and trust. The opportunities for reflection and discussion, he says, have been valuable both for parishes individually and for the Minster Community as a whole.
Jonathan explained that this has resulted in some of the smaller churches beginning to feel more confident as they work together and are supported in trying new things. “You can belong to your local church but also you can belong and help to form something else that complements that,” he says.
One recent joy that Jonathan shared was the way in which treasurers from across the Minster Community came together to have an open conversation about church finances and their roles leading to some new proposals emerging about how they could work together across the Minister Community to support one another practically.
Working in this new way has also enabled the churches in the Minster Community to work towards their missional aims. This includes focused engagement with local schools and the wider community to host services during Advent – in one case, in a church which had not held a Christingle service for years; and in another, with the children leading the worship. Because children from across many parishes attend each of the schools, focusing on ‘Growing Faith’ provides an opportunity for different churches to work together.
Jonathan went on to share some of the challenges of forming and working as a Minster Community. The formation conversations, he said, challenged people’s perceptions of scarcity – they had to consider ‘what if it was just down to us?’ and ‘how deep are we prepared to go together and share with other Christians in other communities around us?’ which are not easy questions to face. The anxieties that many church communities face about the future is also a challenge, particular when leaders don’t have easy answers, although sharing these fears together has proven helpful. The leaders from across the Minster Community gather together monthly to read scripture together and to share ideas, which Jonathan says has been a real joy and has helped him feel supported when he feels not ‘rooted in one place’. This is something that the Parish Transition and Ministry Development team will be working with future Oversight Ministers on, to ensure they feel well-supported. But, it is important to note that Oversight Minsters in other Minster Communities will also hold a local license to a parish or number of parishes within the Minster Community and will therefore be rooted in a locality, whereas Jonathan is licensed to the deanery because of his role as Area Dean.
As a diocese, we are grateful for the generosity of Jonathan and everyone involved in the Launde Minster Community in sharing their feedback about, and learnings from, the formation process. This has helped us refine and improve the process for future Minster Communities. We will continue to learn from the Launde Minster Community as they move through the Living Phase, so that the wider diocese can benefit from their experiences.