Introducing Lucy Barbour, Trainee Pioneer Minister

St Michael's • 11 November 2020

We are delighted to welcome Lucy Barbour and her family to the St Michael's team. Lucy is training within the Church of England structure to become an ordained Pioneer Minister and, as she lives in our benefice, will be associated with St Michael's for the next three years.

Pioneer ministry is shaped rather differently to the traditional idea of a minister. Their first instinct may well be to do very little except listen – to the community, to God, to the wider church, to the story of a place and community. As they do so, they begin to give birth to a vision for how the gospel can be faithfully expressed in this new place. However, this may not be a fully formed vision, with a five-year strategy and an itemised budget. Pioneers are comfortable with emergence, with seeking to follow the Spirit, and allowing dialogue between the gospel and a community in order to shape their ministry.

Here's Lucy's introduction in her own words: "Hi, We are the Barbour family, Lucy, Pete, Ben (7) and Annie (4), and we are excited to be joining St Michael's Church. Some of you might know us already as we live locally in Gotherington and have been involved in some church activities. For those who don’t, we are really looking forward to meeting you and being able to say hello in person.

Pioneering is not so much about one new way of doing Church, but is instead, a focus on where and who we minister to. It is often a particular call to help the Church flourish on the margins, focusing on mission and engaging with culture. One of our observations of St Michael's is its strong missional heart and we are excited to be getting involved alongside you all.

We are looking forward to getting to know you soon, but in the meantime do get in touch if you want to say hello or ask any questions on lucy@barbour.co

Also, if you are interested in learning more about Pioneering you can visit the website for The Church Mission Society where Lucy is training; https://pioneer.churchmissionsociety.org/ or https://www.churchofengland.org/pioneering

With love

Lucy, Pete, Ben and Annie"

Lucy will be supported in her training by Rev Malc Allen and the Church Leadership Team, and will get involved in various initiatives along the way. Please join us in welcoming Lucy and Peter when you see them around (either on Zoom, Facebook or in person).

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