Reverend Cath Leighton’s Vision for 2026 for the Benefice for Brereton and Rugeley and Armitage with Handsacre. Shared with the congregation during the Benefice Service at St John the Baptist, Armitage, 30th November 2025 Let us pray, Loving God, though our destination is not yet clear, may we trust in Your graceful promises; though we are uncertain of ourselves, may we be rooted in Your loving regard; though our attention is inclined to wander, may we hear the things You are saying; though we often neglect Your influence, may we be convicted of Your power to change by your Holy Spirit, In Jesus’ name, Amen. Good morning everyone, This morning on this Advent Sunday, the first day of a new church year, it is an appropriate time for me to share my thoughts and vision as your Team Rector for the Benefice. Most importantly to begin with, I would like to thank you all for all your efforts and the time that you have given during the past couple of years on behalf of the churches across the benefice. During this time we have had to face many challenges together from financial, to losing some of our much loved congregation members as well as a church building, to changes in service patterns and different ways of doing things, conflict between people and spiritual health too. As an incumbent who has been called to pick up the reigns of being Team Rector for the benefice very soon after curacy, learning on the job has been part of my ministry daily. I’m still learning and finding my way! I want to thank you for the support, love and patience that I have received. Some of the decisions I have had to make over this time have been very difficult and have had to be very much from the top down as swift measures needed to be taken at times. The Code of Conduct was a case in point due to conflicts that have arisen and for me is a temporary measure…all will become clear. My vision for this year to come has three strands:- Firstly: Each of us finding out who we are in Christ and with Christ as individuals through a deepening and maturing of our faith. Secondly: As individual churches, by the setting of values altogether that we will create and seek to live out together. And Thirdly, as a benefice, as we strive for unity and inclusiveness through worship, fellowship and doing ministry together, guided and directed by the Holy Spirit. Looking deeper into my vision and how I see these strands unfolding:- Us as Individuals – what about our faith? How do we mature as Christians? Nurturing our faith and learning to be disciples of Christ needs to be part of each of our journeys, however old or young we are. And it doesn’t just happen! To begin with: We need to be willing to lay things down that we cling to and be open to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. We can’t do this on our own, we need Christ’s help and we need each other to support and encourage us as we all face obstacles from within ourselves. Having a rhythm of prayer and studying scripture by ourselves and with others, fasting sometimes and serving the needs of others around us both inside and outside the church family through love and hospitality are an essential part of our Christian lives. All these enable us to become the disciples as Jesus intended his disciples to be. Look out for more Bible studies starting up, some will be clergy led, some won’t. Some will be in church, some will take place in people’s homes. Everyone should have the chance to join a Bible study to feed their faith, their relationship and walk with Christ. Each Church – what we need to do for us and for our communities. Pioneering Parishes and Values, Values, Values!! What do I mean? We have been engaging as a Deanery – our wider group of local parishes and benefices with Pioneering Parishes – looking at ways of coming alongside the community and being relevant and open to all who are searching for a faith, sitting on the fence with faith, for all who don’t yet know Jesus as their Lord and saviour! We would like to take time to do this and instead of this process being a top down, our values are this, we would like all to be involved in the process. As a start, we need to think about how we view church. I am going to ask you to think and reflect on 2 questions during December 1. What do you love about St Augustine’s Church, St Michael’s Church, St John the Baptist Church, Church of the Holy Spirit, Church of the Good Shepherd, the church @Slitting Mill? 2. What would you like the church to be known for? Are we talking about the church building or the church family? That is for you to decide as you answer the questions. I would like everyone, yes I do mean everyone, every person who comes to church on a Sunday, everyone who may attend a midweek service or group, local schools and community groups, anyone connected to the church – I want all to have the chance to answer these two questions. Your thoughts and opinions matter. How we do this will be in different ways – just write down your answers, using a form to fill in or within a 1 to 1 conversation or group chat setting. This is so that everyone can express their true feelings and opinions without feeling judged. The collation of all the input from yourselves for each church will then form the basis of discussions with the DCCs and PCC @ Armitage for begin to create our values as we need to put our thoughts and opinions alongside how Christ would answer these questions. Would Jesus agree with what we have written in terms of his Way, his Truth and his Life? In February, we will have another Pioneering Parishes evening as part of our Deanery Synod gatherings, to feedback on how we are doing with creating our values as a Benefice, as well as engaging with possible next steps to putting our values together. Benefice- Altogether with Christ – Church Family and our Communities Across the past couple of years we have tried various ways of being and worshipping together through joint benefice activities and services. Benefice services will continue for the moment once a month until members of our laity who have been having a go have received official Diocesan training. This will then enable us to take a step in a new direction where the lay ministers will enable each church to be open every Sunday morning or other time during the day – thinking of Church of the Good Shepherd and at Victory Hall, Slitting Mill. A new type of benefice service is being planned for different times and in different locations across the benefice which will seek to be a time to glorify God together in worship and fellowship, be inclusive, be community focused and be contemporary too. For the Benefice, community are key to the health and faith of our church families. The outcomes of our interactions with the community may not end up with bums on seats at our Sunday morning services as we would like. However, it may be that we find new worshipping communities begin to pop up and grow because of us living out our brand-new values as churches that are Christ driven, not humankind driven. This is a journey which I long to walk with you all on. A journey which is Christ-centred. To finish, some further questions to reflect on that draw themes from our Bible readings from Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew today:- Can we, individually and together, be a people drawn to God’s presence, be shaped by His peace, and be awake to His coming? Can we walk in God’s light, welcoming all people, and living our lives ready for Christ’s coming? Can we learn God’s ways, live God’s peace, and prepare our hearts and lives for Christ’s return? With Christ we can do all things that he created us to be and to do. Let us walk in the light of the Lord together in love, in peace and in unity. Amen.
