One of the things that I loved about growing up in a parish that was cared for by the old style Company of Mission Priests was the clergy house. Having a team of clergy working together gave a kind of energy to everything that needed to be achieved. They were happy days!The Parish always had a member of the clergy on hand to help in times of need, and you could always guarantee that when the phone rung there will be a priest to come and answer the call for help. The Parish where I grew up was cared for by three traditional CMP Priests, and of course were paid for by two stipends. It sounds a little like where we are now in current climate we find ourselves in.Fast forward 30 years and it’s been a privilege to be part of a new project which has brought together three parishes and four churches all of whom look to The Society for their extended Episcopal oversight. It has been a long project in the making, and it is still not finished yet, but newly formed Priory Benefice Photos has now started to take shape.The project started when the late Canon Rodney Marshall came up to me and uttered the words that every Priest that knew him dreaded coming out of his mouth “Now then Father, I’ve been thinking!“These were always the words that Fr Marshall would use when he wanted you to consider doing something differently, or something new, or something that you would normally back away from, and following the opening sentence Father Marshall smiled and said “What about you going to Grimethorpe and South Kirkby? They are both in interregnum there is a shortage of Society Priests … I think that you would be a Perfect match”.That was the beginning of a great journey which ended up bringing three parishes together to form the new united benefice known as the Priory Benefice.Having served on General Synod for the past 11 years I’m acutely aware of the current politics within the Church in relation to the Parish structure and the reducing number of Clergy that are available to care for God’s people within them. Regardless of the good work which can be achieved through the Setting Gods people free agenda currently going through General Synod, the Church still needs Priests to celebrate the Sacraments. As the Bishops Representative in the Diocese of Leeds, I was aware that we had many parishes who looked to the Society for their Priests either vacant or becoming vacant, and so after much prayer which began after Fr Marshall famous words, I went to speak with Bishop Tony about the possibility of combining both the South Kirkby and Grimethorpe with Brierley parishes, as well as the parish of Ryhill. All of these Parishes were searching of a Priest and I suggested to him that I would be willing to consider taking the role as Priest in Charge providing I could also work with a Curate. Well as they say, the rest is history. It is no longer one Priest to three parishes, it is a team of five, as well as several retired clergy. Within just over two years since the beginning of the project, the team not only comprises of myself and several retired members of the clergy, there is also a full-time associate priest who is of incumbent status, along with three Curates in training, comprising of a premiant Deacon, a transitional Deacon, and a third who is a Priest who has been placed with us to complete his formation, that is an investment of two Self-Supporting ministers and three Stipendiary clergy (and that doesn’t include our retired permanent Deacon and Priests).The Parishes have learnt to work together and even begun this before the first licencing with some members of our congregation saying that it was more than the parishioners could have dreamed for, but with the new team came changes.It’s not always been plain sailing as the formation of the team has needed a change in mindset for some in our congregations. Gone are the days where it is one Priest for one Parish, and the whole team has worked hard to help people realise that we care equally for all and do not care for a single specific parish. Just like the old CMP house, each member of the clergy is blessed with different gifts. We are still discovering some of them, but we have been able to use the ones we know about to great advantage.Sadly, COVID hit just as things were falling into place, but we have still been able to introduce some new exciting projects to the Parishes. We decided to keep our Churches open as much as possible but also offered an online service along with a daily prayer line which was recorded by the permanent Deacons. At the beginning of the Pandemic we hosted one of the Lenten Service for the Church of England, as well as putting some of our own services online, but as we have said in all of our parishes, worshiping online is nothing link worshiping in person.Having two permanent Deacons gives a different feel to a clergy team, as they are passionate about reaching out to those on the highways and byways and finding new ways of engaging with people who don’t have a relationship with Church and having a clergy team means that there is always someone who we can work alongside or call upon for help and to discuss things with.When I think about the benefits of working within a team I am reminded of Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 that ”Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help.” (NRSVA) One thing I learnt as a new incumbent working in a Parish alone is that it can be a very lonely place and yet now I’m working as part of a team it’s impossible to be lonely.There is the adage that Teamwork makes the dream work, and this has certainly been true within our team. We have found new ways for our parishes to proclaim the Gospel and engage with our communities, as having a variety of gifts means that we are able to divide the day to day care of God’s people. We have introduced an annual outside Carol service in every parish, a series of travelling Messy Church events, a new project under the patronage of Anna and Simeon the reaches out to our indoor members of the congregations who are unable to be with us in person due to their frailty. This was given in an attempt to give a continued worth to those who have previously been attending members of the Church, as well as to improve our prayer ministry. Three of the team sit on several School Governing Bodies which allow them to have a greater influence in all the schools in our area as well as helping to make decisions about the young people who live in our parishes. We are also in the process of introducing Anna Chaplaincy in one of our Parishes as well as a new Alpha Course for those who not only want to consider the bigger questions but for those who are on the periphery of the Church Family.The team is blessed as we all have the same vision for the parishes, and all get on tremendously. We are focussed on allowing people to develop their relationship with Jesus and the way in which we work with each other is God sent (we even have some fun at times). Romans 15:5-6 “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ2.Working as part of a team has allowed people to use their skills to reach out to all members of our community to identify areas where we may have been lacking. We’ve not only brought together our parishes, but we’re also uniting the other Churches in our area bringing Christians together to improve to communities we serve. We are united under Christ, not in competition with one another. Hebrews 10:24-25 reminds “… us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching”. This love and care that we have for our communities has also led us to hosting a training session around suicide prevention and recognition, and we will continue to build resilience around Mental Health which is needed in our area. So what does the future hold?Well, it’s a future that is ever-changing, with new policies always coming out especially around Covid, as well as from the National church and our local diocese, but although we haven’t been set up as a resource church, we see ourselves as a resourcing team, available to help out within our surrounding Parishes when the need arises, and we have already assisted with such things as covering services for illness and funerals during interregnums. I’ve always said that when changes are afoot the best place to be is at the front of the change so that you can help steer and shape it and I feel that we are in a good position as we come out of this post Covid situation, where cuts are more than likely to be made and where things will be done differently within our parishes. Change is not always bad, providing it is built on and underpinned by prayer, but if we do find ourselves in a position where parishes have to become a larger united benefice, I feel that it is important that the right Clergy teams are formed to give greater capacity and support, as can be seen through the writings of St Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:14 “Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many”, and when the body of Christ is formed from many people, truly remarkable things can be achieved.Please pray for our team as we continue to build the Kingdom in our small part of the world.The Priory Benefice team (Diocese of Leeds)The Revd Canon Paul Cartwright SSCRevd Thomas Bates-Bourne SSCRevd Mark BurnsRevd Jonathan Fleury (Pusey Guild)Revd Michael Scholey (Deacon)Revd June Crossland (Hon. Deacon – Retired).
