The path ahead...

Revd. Sophie Weller, Priest in Charge of the Six Village Churches, writes:

Having met with Caroline and the Church Wardens, we have come to a decision on how we can adapt the current rota of Sunday worship. And we are of one mind in our decision.

You may or may not be aware that we have been constantly needing to ask people from outside the 6 Villages to lead services several times a month up until now. This is really unsustainable for us long term and takes other clergy in the Deanery away from their own churches, which is simply not fair to ask. The changes in the rota mean that each church will have two services a month with the Ministry Team (Sophie & Caroline), each church having one communion service per month. Each church will be able to have a service every other week and then we will continue to have a joint service on the 5th Sunday of every month.

We have had to think very carefully about timings. Currently, where the  Ministry Team are leading two services  - one after the other, there is not adequate time to finish one service without running away to the next service. This means that we are rushing into the next service with little time to think never mind pray. It also means that there is not adequate time for Ministry Team to talk with people after the services and be available if any pastoral issues arise, or indeed to properly chat with new people, wedding couples/baptism families. So after much deliberation, we have decided that the new service times will be at: 9am, 11am and 6.00pm (with the 6pm services, we are allowing that to be flexible as we know that some churches will prefer an earlier service, maybe 3.00pm or 4.00pm rather than a later one).

The new service pattern is shown in the graphic below.

The changes that we are making will commence at the beginning of January 2025 and will be for a trial period of 1 year, but with a review at 6 months by the Wardens.
The number of clergy in the church of England is decreasing, meaning that a growing number of churches are going to be put into groups and clusters of churches under one clergy person, rather than having one priest for each church. There will be a greater reliance on having teams within churches that lead services rather than just one individual so that it does not become unmanageable.  
We hope, by making these changes, it will mean that Sophie and Caroline will be able to work much more collaboratively, so that Service leading and preaching can be shared, but also so that there is the chance for us to encourage and train any lay people who are able and willing to lead and preach as part of the team. We are looking to build Sunday Service Leadership Teams throughout the churches which will ultimately enable growth in the long term. This also includes encouraging those who are willing to read and pray too.
We are aware that for some these changes are more substantial than for others, but we really feel that this is going to be for the best. And pray for God’s Grace and patience for all of us as we go forwards.