Our Shared Ministry Teams are aiming to be models of effective Christian teamwork – a shared leadership group in which lay people and clergy play equal parts. They form the focus for discerning God’s vision and developing ministry.

The SMT  will be looking at:  what we, as church, are called to do and be;   what contribution each member of the church can make towards fulfilling our purpose;  how we can as a team help develop and enable the Ministry of each individual Christian.

The following is a précis of the themes we will use in our formation programme.

Growing ourselves

•  learning ‘good learning’ and effective bible study;
•  exploring varied forms of worship and prayer together;   
• learning and modelling the leadership of Jesus and the early Church;  team building and working (e.g. Myers Briggs, Belbin).

Serving our Churches

•  nurturing open community, accessibility and welcome, good communications;  strengthening social and pastoral relationships;  
• enabling the ministry of all and discerning gifts, supporting leaders;  
• developing cell groups.

Connecting with our community  

•  doing a mission audit of the area (one tool is the analysis of census data);
•  studying new expressions of Church (e.g. in the report “Mission shaped Church”);  planning, doing and evaluating different forms of evangelism;  
• connecting faith with the whole of life.