I have a new job! It is being announced this morning that I’m going to become Team Rector of the Great Baddow Team Ministry. It’s a very exciting and challenging prospect and quite different from my lay education and training role in the Diocese of Chelmsford. This will be a massive change for the family. We’ve lived in our present home for the last ten years, so the children know little else and we will be sad to move from our village church, community and friends in the Leighs. It will also be hard to say goodbye to the fantastic team of people that I’ve been privileged to work with in my present role both in the diocese and at St Mellitus College. Nevertheless, we are really looking forward to what God has in store for us during this next stage of our walk with him.
Great Baddow is a large parish on the outskirts of Chelmsford, with three churches, two team vicars, several associate ministers, and a large team of lay ministers. I will be primarily focused on leading the ministry at St Mary’s and we know some of the congregation, having led a parish weekend for them a few years ago. I also work closely with some of the ministers and congregation through our roles in the diocese and look forward to sharing in ministry with them in a new context.
I’ll be blogging some reflections on my experiences of lay education and training and ordination training over the last ten years in due course. There will also be some observations about the crazy appointments procedures that the Church of England insists on inflicting on parishes and clergy, but that’s for another time.
A date for the installation hasn’t been finalised yet. We would value your prayers for us as a family and for the Great Baddow Team as we prepare for the move over the weeks ahead.
CS Lewis: A Sonnet
11 hours ago
23 comments:
congratulations Phil! sounds like an exciting move for you.
Congratulations!
Prayers and Blessings
Fr. S
Fantastic news! May God bless you in this new & exciting ministry!
Whoa: do you think the Great Baddowites are ready for this??
Congrats and all the best: hope it goes well for you and all.
(sitting here scratching my head and trying to figure out why Great Baddow sounds familiar...)
Congratulations and prayers.
Thanks everyone for your comments and prayers.
Congrats, mate! At least you are not going miles away scuppering any chances of that brekkie!!
Congratulations, Phil. This is good news for you and for the people of the Baddows.
Hey, welcome back to the front line! Have a really good move & start. Looking forward to hearing your reflections on training & appointments - maybe we'll change the process for the better one day?
Many congratulations. I'm sure it will be an exciting opportunity for you and the churches in the team.
Congratulations Phil! Prayers for a smooth move for you all.
Congratulations and I hope the move goes well for you and the family. All sounds good!
(As far as appointment systems etc are concerned, the Church of England's management systems never cease to amaze me!)
Nice one Phil. CCS won't be the same without you
Congratulations! (And dare I say, very brave to plunge back into parish ministry at the moment....) Will your further posts tell us what is being planned on the lay education side? Or is that another area where the Diocese are looking to save money?
PS - having reminded myself of where it is you are going - I wish you every blessing of God's grace in your ministry there. I didn't have that in mind when I mentioned bravery, honest!
Thanks for your comments everyone.
Sam, I don't anticipate diocese trying to save money on lay ministry as the present policy is to encourage as much of it as possible.
Congratulations Phil, hope it proves to be a good move, praying that God will bless and prosper you in the new job.
Congratulations and every blessing, Philip.
I shall look forward to liasing with you about the Induction service and other stuff.
Go well.
In six days' time, btw, I shall be moving to just down the road from where you will be moving! So, we must find a pub midway!?!...
Congratulations Phil! I spent a very happy six years as a teenager down the road in the Dengie peninsula in Southminster - probably drove through your parish from time to time on the way in to Chelmsford! I look forward to reading about your experiences in the new parish.
Congratulations, Phil, and welcome to South Chelmsford.
Andy Griffiths (next door to Gt Baddow)
Only just found this news. Congratulations from a fellow blogger, and welcome to the parish where I have been on the electoral roll for more than 30 years (most of them at the daughter church Meadgate), although I moved away last year. I hope everything goes well with the move and settling in.
Phil Groom, Great Baddow may be familiar to you from my blog or from this story on it, a situation which I'm sure Phil is familiar with.
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