Seven women were commissioned by Bishop Martyn at a service at Leicester Cathedral on Sunday 28 January to serve as the Diocese’s Women’s Ministry Group.
Revd Sue Frost, Revd Pauline Cummins, Revd Crystal McAllister, Revd Alison Iliffe, Jill Matthews, Florence Gildea and the Venerable Claire Wood were those commissioned to help the diocese realise its vision for all women to be freely able to explore their sense of calling at whatever level and in whatever context, and to be able to carry out their ministry – authorised, licensed, ordained, or lay – in a healthy, safe and supportive environment.
The group brings together women from different areas, different backgrounds and different types of ministry – including self-supporting, PTO, lay, rural and urban – in order to best serve all women serving in the diocese.
The group will accompany, champion, and equip women’s ministry in the diocese by giving women a safe space to share their concerns and experiences of ministry; ensuring the challenges faced by women are heard by diocesan leadership and advocating for change wherever necessary; and hosting talks and discussions which equip women in their vocation and mission.
The first event hosted by the newly formed group will be an online gathering on Monday 4 March. You can sign up for your free space here.
Revd Sue Frost, who chairs the group, said: "This is an exciting new chapter for women's ministry in the diocese, and I am looking forward to working with the rest of the group and women across the diocese to help women feel heard and supported, to flourish in whatever role they feel called to.”
“This year is the 30th anniversary of the priesting of women in the Church of England, and we know that women have been active in different forms of mission and ministry in the years before and since. So, we have much to celebrate, as well as to learn. We hope that, as a mixed group, with lay and ordained women, self-supporting, salaried and stipendiary, we can reflect and represent the full range of vocations and contexts in which women seek to serve and thrive."
Bishop Martyn said: “I am delighted that Claire, Sue, Pauline, Crystal, Alison, Florence and Jill have agreed to come together to form the new Diocesan Women’s Ministry Group. We want to be a diocese where all women are able to flourish and serve God as they feel called. So I look forward to working with, and learning more from the group, over the next months and years”.
You can find out more about why the group has been set up and how it will operate here.