The Tenbury Team Ministry was the first Team Ministry to be formed in the Hereford Diocese in the late seventies. Since its formation it has grown and now includes ten parishes and twelve churches.
Hereford Diocese has a very clear strategy of Local Ministry, which has been encouraged and developed across the parishes of the diocese. The laity and clergy share in leadership together, responding to the priorities set by the parishes and enabling everybody in the local community to share and grow in the Church’s mission and ministry. Tenbury Team has embraced this and, following teaching on local ministry and proper consultation, a Local Ministry Team was called out in 2003. The three licensed clergy members have been joined by seven lay members, Gordon Bailey (St Mary’s, Tenbury), Kath Bills (Whitton), Jane Britton (St Mary’s, Tenbury), Pat Deeley (Nash), Beth Knight (St Mary’s, Tenbury), Peter Mason (St Michael’s, Tenbury), Judith Smout (Boraston). Although each lay member comes from their own parish there is a very real sense in which they, like the clergy, function across the whole Team Ministry.
The Local Ministry Team meets on the first and third Mondays of every month. At the meetings they have developed the pattern of discussing the Gospel for the following Sunday. They also spend time making shared decisions about the Team as a whole and seeing where there are new possibilities for mission and ministry, remembering at all times that their task is not to do everything but to enable others to grow in their ministry. The lay members of the LMT also lead and share in public worship across the Team Ministry, so time is also set aside for training and the sharing of ideas and resources.