The future of leadership

Shaping confident, collaborative leadership is the 2014 Living Faith strand.

The Door gives three different examples of how churches are doing empowering their congregations.

St Nicholas and St Mary's Church, Littlemore.

Photo Benjamin H Johnson CONGREGATION members are being encouraged to flourish with a new plan for shared leadership at St Mary and Nicholas Church, Littlemore, Oxford.

The church, famous for its founder, John Henry Newman, enlisted the help of the Diocese to create a plan to change the way it works and help members take ownership of their Christian community. The idea started after the Vicar, the Revd Margreet Armitstead, went along to a Leading Your Church into Growth (LYCIG) Conference at High Leigh Conference Centre along with Curate Tom Albinson and churchwarden Wendy Blagden.

They then went along to a follow-up day at the nearby Oxford Academy, a Diocesan sponsored secondary school , with six others from the PCC. They had already had sessions six years ago with the then Parish Development Advisor, Olivia Graham.

Last Autumn, after LYCIG, they had a session with Archdeacon of Oxford the Ven.

Martin Gorick, on how to move the vision forward and a further session with Diocesan Director of Mission, Canon Michael Beasley, two months ago. "It's moving away from the idea that everyone is helping the vicar to the congregation owning the ministry.

People have been really positive," said Wendy.

While the group are aiming to walk together to achieve the vision, they admit they are not all 'yes' men and women, but have healthy differences of opinion.

"There are plenty of people like me who are sort of okay with change but my head is ruling my heart," says Tom Bowden, a PCC member.

"We are all singing from the same hymn sheet but in different parts.

It works for us at the moment because we go back to our vision. "On every step of the journey they have had people from outside helping them, ensuring the core leadership team don't become cliquey or an 'in crowd'.

Tom said: "This church is very good at getting people involved.

A new mum might come into our fun church one week and be leading art activities and telling stories the next.

It's an accepting church and people are allowed to make mistakes, it's a very safe environment to make mistakes. "A scoping document was produced so that everyone knows what everyone else is doing on the various groups; building development, building maintenance, children's work, communications, hospitality, mission, pastoral, resources, social justice and worship and prayer. ". . . we have been given all the gifts we need and we just need to harness that. "Each group has two co-ordinators, most of them PCC members and they meet regularly to discuss the progress they have made and what they need to do next.

Margreet said: "It all means more involvement from more people, drawing on people's gifts and allowing them to fulfil their potential and grow in confidence. "Wendy said: "Through press reports it would be easy to think the Church generally was struggling but if you think of the Church as the body of Christ, we have been given all the gifts we need and we just need to harness that. "It's about the congregation taking ownership for their own faith and making sure they are aware there are all these different things they can join in with.

There is quite a bit of energy in the church, but it is still a small church with a diverse congregation which is a reflection of the community. "So how does it work itself out practically? One example is Pentecost this month.

The co-ordinators of the worship and prayer group have been commissioned to put together a liturgy for that service.

There the co-ordinators of all of the ministry groups will be commissioned and the congregation will be asked to support them. Once a fortnight the pastoral group organises a social event, drawing people in from the local community.

"Elderly people who want to spend time with others can be collected.

It's for those who want to feel part of something.

There is so much energy there.

The communion service here on a Wednesday morning allows people to open up about their lives.

People who don't talk much come here and it's an intimate setting.

That is, in a sense, what it's about," added Margreet. Haddenham By Margot HodsonThe Haddenham benefice has long had confident lay leadership at its heart.

The benefice has been growing through developing a team and network approach to leadership.

Two smaller churches are directly led by their PCCs and these draw in others for particular events and services.

St Nicholas Kingsey runs a monthly breakfast service and a team from the PCC with other church members lead this with ministry support. St Michael's Aston Sandford involves every resident in the village in some aspect of the life of the church.

St Mary's Haddenham is the largest congregation with a membership of about 150.

Here different ministries in the church now have leadership teams to support them.

For example there are at least seven different prayer ministries including intercessionary, healing ministry and reflective prayer.

These are supported through a leadership team of four people who meet monthly to enable these ministries and give pastoral care to those leading and taking part.

This has helped to support existing initiatives such as the prayer ministry (healing) team but has also supported new initiatives. This team has held two "24/7"prayer weekends based at the church centre.

These have transformed the centre into a creative space where people can connect with God in different ways.

The big project for this year is a prayer installation for peace and reconciliation, leading up to Remembrance Sunday in the parish church to mark the WW1 centenary.

St Mary's monthly fresh expression, Caféplus has a number of teams supporting it and is led via a monthly prayer session.

Recently the team leading the «food for thought» has linked up with the team providing craft for children to bring the short teaching session out of the craft activity.

St Nicholas Cuddington has a thriving congregation of just over 80 members led by the PCC and a management team of wardens, clergy and other lay members.

One recent new initiative has been an after school club called "Nic Nacs".

For the last two years the children's ministry team has also led a very successful Easter children's play event. The benefice has a monthly preachers' group and this supports all those who preach and lead services.

This group is able to discuss the upcoming teaching themes and gives mutual support as we seek to make our preaching more effective.

Both Haddenham and Cuddington have been supporting food banks and Haddenham is developing a care in the community project including practical care and bereavement support. Haddenham benefice is looking to merge with Stone and Dinton in the next two years.

Part of our collaboration has led us to take up a project with the schools for collective worship.

The benefices have used the "Open the Book" programme with three teams working over five schools.

So far the feedback is very positive.

In Haddenham and Stone, we are also working with ecumenical partners. Leading a benefice through a network of collaborative leaders has changed the role of incumbent.

I find that I spend much of my time supporting and mentoring those who are leading different ministries and recruiting volunteers - especially into leadership roles.

I lead a benefice ministry team who support the parishes and the various teams and initiatives. The benefices and parishes have been developing Mission Action Plans and seeking to focus their ministry as the parishes go forward.

With Haddenham benefice there are sometimes more ideas than capacity to support them.

It can be difficult to discern which initiatives should go forward, but our Mission Action Plans have helped us to be strategic.

It's a huge privilege to work with parishes with so much energy and shared leadership.

As we move forward into a benefice merger, we hope to learn from our new partners as we share our resources together. Margot Hodson is Priest in Charge of the Haddenham with Cuddington and Kingsey, and Aston Sandford Benefice. Lay team "gives generously" in SpeenA TEAM of lay people have been successfully running St Mary's Speen for over 10 years. With oversight from the Newbury Team Rector, the Revd Will Hunter Smart, lay people Jane Booth, Jo Fageant, John Hughesdon and Julian Shelly take turns at leading services. St Mary's has recently published a vision to outline its aspirations.

Church warden, Jane Burrell says: "Our zeal for a 'broad' church means we are tolerant and welcoming of those who lead us - indeed, we are blessed with a variety of viewpoints. "Our last Archdeacon (Norman Russell) told us we were blazing a trail, one which would be trodden by other churches in the future; again, time will tell. "Jo said: "It's great having someone different every week.

The diversity of leadership enriches our experience of Church. "Twice monthly Holy Communion services are done by the Team Rector, clergy from St Nicolas, Newbury, and other local clergy.

St Mary's had been in danger of closing in 2002, when a retired priest took the reins.

He was joined by another retired priest and a lay team was formed.

The "high church" services became more "broad" and they began alternating between Holy Communion and Services of the Word. The challenges faced by the church now include how to attract more young families and young people. John said: "There's a good congregation but we do want to attract more people, including families from across the community. "The Revd Will Hunter Smarth said: "St Mary's is a wonderful example of what can happen when a congregation pull togther, giving generously of their time and talents, to build the local church.

it's a privilege to have oversight of the church and to help lead them in their ministry and mission in Speen. "