With two thirds of our Worshipping Communities now taking part in the Minster Community formation process, lots of people have been busy in conversations, getting to know the churches around them and discerning how they can work together in the future.
In Framland and north Goscote, communities from Syston right up to Bottesford (Area 1) have spent the last 8 months in Phase 2 of the process as one large area. This has meant that a number of people from different parishes have come together to form 4 working groups, with topics such as Ministry, Church Buildings, Finance & Generosity and Schools & Mission, and have been going deeper into the data and learning more about the current realities of church life.
These groups were also tasked with thinking about how this larger geographical area could form into 2-3 Minster Communities. Working Groups shared their findings and have proposed a way that the area could form 2 Minster Communities. PCCs are now considering this proposal alongside the findings. Once this area is in its provisional groupings, they will be able to build upon the work of Phase 2 and begin to craft their Minster Community proposals to share with their PCCs.
In the North and North West of the diocese, including the towns Loughborough, Coalville and Ashby (Area 2), the churches have formed 4 provisional Minster Communities after working as one big group for Phase 1 of the process. Through getting to know themselves and one another better in Phase 1, these groupings have all moved into Phase 2 of the process. Each group has formed a Coordinating Group made up of clergy and laity from across the area. They are all now in the process of gathering as Working Groups which will meet between now and Christmas to do the more detailed exploration of current realities and future possibilities.
These groups have all worked creatively in this part of the process, completing their tasks in ways that best suit their context. For example, the churches in group 2C have decided to gather over two Saturday sessions to complete this work all together, with around 40 people meeting for their first session earlier this month. The other groups are meeting over a series of shorter sessions in the coming months. In area 2D, around 40-50 people engaged in Working Groups in topics such as Minster Community engagement, Liturgy, Worship and Music, and Discipleship, Pioneering & Mission.
The City, Suburbs and Surrounding Villages (Area 3) began their process earlier this year and have travelled through Phase 1 together, completing Storyboards and Conversation Prompts to get to know their own church contexts better, and sharing this with one another.
All of this information is being fed into their Group Discernment as conversations begin about how this area could split into 6-9 Minster Communities. As this is the area with the largest population in our diocese, these conversations will be complex while churches discern what might be the right groupings for their Worshipping Communities and local contexts.
The ‘Pilot 3’ Area of North-East Leicester (NEL) have also opted to join into Area 3 and to join with these grouping conversations. Over the last two years the NEL group have explored and sought to discern a missional direction for this group of churches, whilst remaining true to the existing identity, vision and mission of the local churches. As the process progressed into the later stages of Phase 2, a reference group and a smaller writing group began to craft the NEL Minster Community proposal. It was apparent from an early stage that this was a very diverse group of churches (indeed, as a pilot this was intentionally so), and the process of getting to know each other brought joy and appreciation of each other as sisters and brothers in Christ and a deeper learning of shared contexts and sense of place. Through this work the reference group have come to a point whereby, as things currently stand, the difference of views around the Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF) are a significant barrier to working relationships developing further. The PLF have brought into focus, to a greater extent, the different understandings of vision and mission in this grouping and has exacerbated the difficulty of working together within this Minster Community. Therefore, the Reference Group have come to a mind that it is not possible to continue to form a Minster Community in this current configuration. The parishes in this grouping will enter into Area 3 and continue their process from there. This does not extend the process for the churches of Area 3.
The Launde Minster Community, who went through the pilot formation process and launched as a Minster Community 18 months ago, are learning to live as a Minster Community. Through being a Minster Community, they have seen growth in their connection with church schools, and children and families from the community. They have also begun working together gathering expertise and sharing knowledge. They are still facing financial challenges and thinking about how they can move forward with limited funding for stipendiary ministry across the churches.
The Worshipping Communities that are yet to begin their formation processes are due to start in the New Year. Area 4 will cover the South of the diocese including Market Harborough and Lutterworth, and Area 5 will cover the West including Hinckley.
Both of these large geographical areas will have their introductory meetings with Bishop Martyn in January 2025 and will commence Phase 1 of the process over the first half of the year.
For more information about the formation process and what happens in each Phase click here.
We have a range of FAQs and resources all about the formation process and Minster Communities in general available on our website here.