LOCAL MINISTRY NETWORK CONFERENCE

On Friday I arrived at the Coventry Hills Hotel where we are having a Local Ministry Network Conference. The Network consists of lay and clergy members who are serving either as diocesan ministry officers or as members of local ministry teams or both. About 40 people have come from dioceses and the national office from all around England. I am a visitor here.

It was interesting for me when I arrived to see people I had already met during the first week of the journey, and it was also interesting to meet several of the people with whom I will be spending time during the next two weeks as I complete my journey through England.

There have been worship services, large group presentations, and small discussion groups that focus on specific issues relating to local or shared ministry. Some of the people here come from settings with a dozen parishes with only a few ministry team members, and others come from settings with fewer churches but more team members. Each type of setting has different demands and challenges.

I am learning that one of the important roles of the Local Ministry Team is to serve as a "Development" Team. In other words, while the individual team members actually "do" ministry in their settings, they also have the role of identifying, inviting, training, and supporting others in their churches thereby extending or expanding the number of people who are actively doing ministry. Put simply, the goal is to have all baptized members of the church to understand themselves as called, gifted, and sent out in the name of Jesus to be the active presence of Jesus in their everyday world (as well as within the church itself).

Such a goal (100% participation) is obviously not something we can expect to achieve in the real world in which we live and love. But it does open up the real possibility that some who might otherwise not see themselves as full participants in the ministry of the church might start to use their gifts to show the love God has for all people.

How to create such an environment is a matter for future discussion, but it is clear that the goal should be to include all people in the vision of a church that is truly alive.