Your Ministry Leadership Team

Our Ministry Leadership Team (MLT) was licensed by Bishop Pete during our 2006 Confirmation Service. Here they introduce their roles within the church:

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Revd Richard
My role as Vicar is to lead the Ministry Leadership Team.
At the heart of who we are at St Matthew’s is our mission statement:

•Serving God • Supporting the Community.

This summarises our desires as a church: to worship and serve God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – in all we do, and to make a practical difference for the people of Yiewsley as we reach out with God’s love.
It’s the responsibility of the Ministry Leadership Team to work out how to make that vision a reality, and my role to lead the team in that process. That will need lots of prayer, and the gift of discernment that comes from the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, it’s the responsibility of the Ministry Leadership Team under my leadership to develop and nurture lay ministry and leadership across St Matthew’s. Because Christian ministry and leadership is the responsibility of all Christians, not just those of us who happen to wear our collars the wrong way round!
And lastly, I see my role as supporting and encouraging the rest of the team, helping them to grow in confidence as Christian leaders, helping them to develop their own teams and ensuring that they have the training they need.

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Revd Julia
My role on the team is to be responsible for overseeing the worship and liturgy at St Matthew's. It's through our liturgy - the words we say, sing and hear in our worship - that we express how we think about God. It is also a powerful way of communicating to the wider community who we think God is, how we value him, who Jesus is and how he affects our lives. Our worship therefore needs to be as relevant as it is reverent, and to be accessible to all people who may be searching or enquiring about faith: in this way our worship will form part of our welcome.

It will be my role to work towards a balance between the traditional and the contemporary and to look at how St Matthew's serves God and supports the community through its worship. I am open to all ideas and suggestions and encourage us all to look forward to diversifying our welcome and our expression of love for God.

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Monica Johns
Last year I was licensed as a Pastoral Assistant but my role within St Matthew's Church is Pastoral Care and Outreach. I am responsible for developing relationships with Residential Homes in the parish. I visit the sick and take Holy Communion to the housebound.

I am responsible for the Prayer Board for the sick and also care for the bereaved. Last year a Lights of Life Tree was introduced inside the church at Christmas to remember loved ones who are no longer with us.

The social and friendship side is part of our outreach. Different events are organised, especially on the catering side, parish lunches etc – that's when I approach different people to cook something. Sometimes I feel they see me coming and try to run the other way – but if I don't catch them in church I have been known to see them out shopping in Tesco and get them there! But truthfully, everyone is always willing to contribute to these events, which are a combined effort from us all.

It is my intention to incorporate a team of people to help with our visiting, so with your help and prayers I hope this will be possible.

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Robert Jones
I currently hold a license to lead worship here at St Matthew's and assist in the administering of the Holy Sacraments.

Under this new license, I join the leadership team with twin responsibilities, for Young Adults and the Creative Arts within this community.

I see my role with Young Adults as helping them to find their potential and confidence in this Church Community, nurturing the growth of their faith and expression of their gifts in God's Service. With support from St Matthew's we will want to develop an informal forum through which Young Adults can freely express their views on Church life and things that concern them and feel that their views are being heard and represented at PCC level.

We have already started regular youth events with an accent on fun and participation. A number have been honing their skills in Christian Drama working with Outline Theatre based here at St Matthew's, and there have been opportunities for the young adults to help lead worship. From such a nucleus and with an imaginative programme, we are confident that we will draw in more young people from the wider community.

In the area of Creative Arts I shall be gathering a team of all ages to work on new ways of communicating the Gospel through the visual arts, posters, exhibition work, display work and drama, both inside and outside the church that let people know, in innovative ways, what we are in business for as a church. Last year's Christmas Crib in the High Street and this year's Good Friday drama are typical examples. This is about using Arts in mission, in a society which is dominated by image. And with Arts combining with Action such a group just has to be called the A team – in which case they can't fail!

I believe that this is an exciting time in church growth. God is calling all kinds of gifts out of us and wants us to use them in his service.

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Carol Pinnell
My role is Pastoral Care and Healing Ministry. I also administer the Chalice, am a member of the choir and am involved with the preparation of candidates for baptism. Baptismal candidates come to my home where we go through the service together and I answer their questions.

I enjoy meeting with the families as I feel it is very important how we welcome them, that we make them feel that they want to come again and for them to remember the day they had their child or children baptised.

One of the ways I have been channelled is through the laying on of hands and prayer. I have attended healing weekends and, on the second Wednesday of the month, we have a St Raphael service for this. We have also introduced laying on of hands and prayer at our 10.30am service on the third Sunday of the month.

Over the next few months I will be encouraging people to come along to the St Raphael service as I feel we all need the quiet and the prayer we receive at this service. We all leave feeling much more at peace and I always feel very privileged that I am allowed to take part in this very special service. Do come and join us.

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Linda Ryan
My role is to take responsibility for our young people. I see this as co-ordinating and supporting our present team of leaders and helping them to develop our crèche on Sunday mornings, the mother and toddler group on Tuesday mornings and our Sunday School.

We are looking for at least two new Sunday School leaders so if anyone can help, please do speak up and make yourselves known (or I may have to twist a few arms!).

I helped Bryony and George prepare for their confirmations. If anyone wants to be confirmed next year, please speak to either Richard or myself so that your name can be added to next year's list.

This year we held our first Easter Fun Morning. We are holding our third Summer Holiday Club in August, and in November we will be holding an Advent Fun Morning, all of which we hope to continue to develop in the future, and I will make good use of my license to lead worship at these.

If you feel that you can help in any way, please come forward so that we can continue to expand the opportunities for our young people to explore their faith. You will be given all the help, support and ongoing training that is required – all you need is the enthusiasm to help our young people here at St Matthew's.

Our young people are the church's future: they need us all.

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