The Camelside Benefice

Parishes of: Blisland & Temple, Helland, St Breward, St Mabyn, and St Tudy & Michaelstow

Do you delight in rural ministry and a breadth of traditions? Are you able to hold oversight responsibility and enable lay leaders to find and use their gifts in mission and ministry?

Under the SaintsWay vision, the whole deanery of Trigg Minor and Bodmin has been engaging in the OntheWay process, to seek and discern a fruitful and sustainable future under God. Implementation of the resultant deanery plan is underway, and each benefice is seeking to find its own way to grow spiritually and numerically, recognising its strengths, finding new approaches to mission and ministry where necessary and working more collaboratively across parish boundaries.

In many ways the Camelside Benefice starts that process from a position of strength; the vibrancy of the profile (link below) gives a clue to the rich nature of this rural benefice, its activities and the 'can do' attitude of the churches. There is an honest recognition of the challenges as well as realism in noting that not everything can stay the same; what changes are needed will require wise discernment and sensitive and courageous leadership.

The vision of our Benefice is to welcome as many people as possible in the name of Christ, bringing light and hope to everyone in our community, young and old.

We seek to achieve this by:

• Listening and being open to God's spirit
• Being within and of the community

The challenges we envisage are:

• We need to continue to be supported to work together as a United Benefice
• We recognise the need to engage with younger generations by going out into our communities

With deep roots in Scripture and tradition, Oversight Ministry is in continuity with other ways of exercising priesdy ministry. It is however substantially different from a traditional parish priest role in its focus on enabling the whole people of God to participate in the whole mission of God, rather than on leading individual church congregations.

Underpinning the specific role requirements (see below), all Oversight Ministers will therefore need to be:

-Committed to safeguarding as a foundation for all ministry

-Committed to their own discipleship, learning and life of prayer

-Committed to a model of leadership that releases gifts, encourages others and takes risks for the kingdom

-Committed to mutual accountability; to holding others to account for their responsibilities and being held to account in turn

-Committed to collaboration, partnership and team working

Key purpose of the role:

Oversight Ministers lead a 'community of communities' that includes traditional church congregations. pioneers, new worshipping communities, schools, fresh expressions and other groups and communities. Wherever possible these groups will take responsibility for their mission and ministry and will have an identifiable local leader.

As a Leader of a community of communities:-

• Build a collaborative culture and grow teams.
• Embody a 'we' rather than 'I' way of working.
• Work to implement relevant parts of the deanery plan and diocesan plan for change and renewal both locally and across the deanery.

Equipping the saints:

• Identify and support the gifts of the whole people of God
• Clarify responsibilities and support people to meet them
• Nurture, train and release people for the mission of God
• Encourage and enable people to take risks, learn lessons and try again.

As a Leader of mission:

• In partnership with Local Leaders, develop an overall vision for mission and service
• Develop and lead plans that turn vision into reality, enabling Local Leaders to make them fit for their context
• Lead change
• Supervise and hold people accountable.

Be Faithful in prayer:

• Pray, worship and study Scripture, and lead others in doing so
• Act as a Minister of Word and Sacrament
• Pray with, and for, the people and communities they oversee, and with deanery colleagues
• Support, teach and pastor those they lead, identifying leaders among them
• Look for, and celebrate the signs of the kingdom in the communities they serve.

Closing Date: 27^th November 2023 12:00noon

Vocational Conversation w/c: 11^th December 2023

Orientation and Interviews: 8^th & 9^th January 2024

For an informal chat about the benefice please contact the

Archdeacon of Bodmin, The Ven. Kelly Betteridge on archdeacons@truro.anglican.org