Priest in Charge of Wisborough Green & District Mission Team Leader

In line with the priority for reimagining ministry, a new approach is being tried to the staffing of the benefices of Wisborough Green; Barlavington, Burton with Coates and Sutton with Bignor; Lurgashall, North Chapel with Ebernoe; Stopham and Fittleworth.

House for Duty clergy have been or will be appointed Priest in Charge of the following benefices:

  • Barlavington, Burton with Coates and Sutton with Bignor.
  • Lurgashall & North Chapel with Ebernoe.
  • Stopham and Fittleworth.

These Priests in Charge will have all of the usual responsibilities and privileges of their office. They will be expected to chair PCC meetings, officiate at occasional offices and preside over the regular worship in their churches. They will not be ‘responsible to’ the Mission Team Leader in a formal sense, but will be expected to cooperate in the provision of effective mission.

The Priest in Charge of Wisborough Green, will be appointed on a stipendiary basis and will have all of the usual responsibilities and privileges of a parish priest for Wisborough Green. In addition, She or he will be expected to lead mission across the participating benefices by providing for those elements of healthy church life that cannot satisfactorily be provided by the smaller villages on their own.

Worship

It is expected that Wisborough Green will provide a ‘menu’ of worship to meet the needs, not only of the village, but of a wider body of people looking for the spectrum if experience that cannot be provided for by the small and perhaps elderly village congregations. It is to be hoped that a larger worshipping community can be brought together particularly to serve the needs of young people and young families.

Work with children, young people & schools

The Mission Team will be expected to engage with the children and young people of the district either through existing projects in villages, or by providing ‘critical mass’ for new ventures by drawing together people from across the participating benefices.

The schools of the district are often very willing to engage with the local church and welcome the involvement of local clergy. It is hoped that the Mission Team may provide support for existing participation in local schools and provide a fresh resource where necessary.
Evangelism

The Mission Team should seek to provide for such evangelistic and nurture activity as cannot best be organised by the smaller village communities e.g Alpha or Emmeus courses.

Developing the skills and ministry of others

The Mission Team should take the lead in developing the skills and ministry of lay people throughout the participating benefices, enabling them to serve the needs of their local parish and the wider mission area. In particular the Team should seek to encourage and enable those people with whom it makes contact through the above areas of mission.

The Priest in Charge of Wisborough Green will be assisted by a full-time stipendiary colleague who should be considered to have ‘Team Vicar’ status rather than curate. The two stipendiary clergy will have rights to work within all of the parishes participating in the scheme but will need to build collaborative working relationships with the House for Duty clergy responsible for each of the participating benefices in order to share appropriate resources and support one another’s ventures in a common cause and mission.

It is envisaged that the Priest in Charge of Wisborough Green should give not more than 80% of his time to the strictly parochial aspects of her/his ministry and not less than 20% to the wider Mission. In practise, there is bound to be some significant blurring of the boundaries, especially if Wisborough Green develops a role as the local focus and centre for mission, evangelism and liturgy.

Participating parishes may be open to the possibility of an invigorated parish church in Wisborough Green offering to ‘plant’ new worshippers within the villages in order to reinvigorate them in turn. Notwithstanding the need for sensitivity, the Mission Team must focus intentionally upon evangelism, worship and numerical/spiritual growth across the Mission District.