THE

PASTORAL

ASSISTANTS

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NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 2016

A QUIET DAY FOR ALL PASTORAL ASSISTANTS

Saturday 1st October

Shireshead Vicarage, Whinney Brow, Forton, Preston, PR3 0AE 10am – 3:15pm

Mandy Stanton, Discipleship & Lay Ministry Development Officer, Diocesan Offices, Clayton House, Walker Office Park, BB1 2QE Email: [email protected] Tel: 01254 503084 Rosie Strachan [email protected] Tel: 01254 503078

FROM THE WARDEN OF PASTORAL ASSISTANTS, MRS MANDY STANTON

Dear Colleagues,

This is a time of uncertainty and upheaval in our nation and worldwide. Please know that I am grateful for everything you do to support those who are concerned for the future, as well as those who have more practical needs.

Meanwhile there are also changes taking place within Blackburn Diocese. Some of you will know that I have recently passed on the role of Warden of Readers to the Revd Canon Andrew Holliday – however, I am still Warden of PAs, and plan to remain so for the foreseeable future! The change of role was made to create more capacity for me to pick up some of the work that needs to be done around the Discipleship aspect of Vision 2026, bringing in new courses and learning opportunities at Diocesan level, and helping churches or groups of churches to work out the best ways to encourage individuals to think about their faith and to grow as followers of Christ.

One project in the pipeline is a new course in pastoral visiting. As PAs, you will of course know that many church members carry out pastoral visiting, without necessarily regarding this as a particular calling or wishing to be commissioned as PAs, and for some time parishes have been asking for a short, practically-oriented course to help people to reflect on what they do and why they do it, and to equip them with some helpful practical skills. We are currently working with Pastoral Care UK, part of the Association of Christian Counsellors, to train two or three people to run their Resourcing Pastoral Carers course, and we hope to roll this out in different locations within the Diocese from early 2017. This should not detract from the important ministry of PAs, but means that we can equip more people to carry out this vital work, without demanding that they engage in lengthy study before they can do so: it follows an increasing trend, within the Diocese and elsewhere, towards local authorisation with Diocesan support for lay people carrying out the church’s work (the very successful Occasional Preachers course has a similar philosophy). I hope that you will offer your support and encouragement, as experienced PAs, to all pastoral visitors: if you are aware of people in your location who would benefit from the course, please let me know.

This summer has seen the end of the Called to Serve course. Following the cessation of the God Our Rock course, which many of you will have completed, those wishing to become PAs have been following Called to Serve, and I know that while it has been quite demanding, several people have benefitted greatly from this. I am particularly grateful to Sister Judith for designing a ‘PA pathway’ for Called to Serve, with an emphasis on pastoral issues. We hope to launch our new Diocesan Discipleship provision, which is likely to be a modular course, by autumn 2017 – watch this space!

We commissioned a number of new PAs in early 2016, and they are listed elsewhere in the newsletter: we welcome them, and look forward to seeing them at Diocesan events.

Thank you for all your work,

Mandy Stanton Warden of Pastoral Assistants

THE AUTUMN QUIET DAY

The Autumn Quiet Day this year will be held on Saturday 1st October at Shireshead Vicarage, Whinney Brow, Forton, Preston, PR3 0AE. It is always helpful to know numbers attending, so please return your booking form to Rosie.

The Quiet Day will be led by Jean Pearson. Shireshead is part of the Quiet Garden movement, and Jean will be leading the day as a Quiet Garden retreat day.

NEW PASTORAL ASSISTANTS

George Thompson from St Mark, Layton & St Luke, Staining was commissioned on 17th January. Barbara Robinson from Christchurch, was commissioned on 24th January. Julie Brown from St Christopher & St Nicholas, was commissioned on 21st February. Tony Dunne and Heather Thomas from St Leonards, Walton le Dale were commissioned on 13th March. Irene Ingham from All Saints, Higher Walton was commissioned on 20th March.

PASTORAL ASSISTANT EMERITUS Since the last Newsletter, Hazel Barnfather from St James, Altham & All Saints, Clayton-le-Moors, Eileen Carter from St Michael, Foulridge and Margaret Lynch from St Mary Magdalen, have been awarded PA Emeritus status. RIP Marian Wood has died. We remember her family at this sad time and give thanks for her ministry

If you would be willing to receive general updates and the PA newsletter by email to save on paper usage and postage, please can you let Rosie Strachan know. You can do this by emailing her on [email protected] or by including your email address on the booking form for the Quiet Day.

A full list of Chaplains and their contact details can be found below:

Accrington Leyland Revd. Lawrence Carson-Featham Revd. Nick Mansfield [email protected] [email protected] 01254 233763 01772 742367

Blackburn with Pendle Revd. Andrew Horsfall The Venerable Dr. Stephen Adesanya [email protected] (see ) 01254 736849 Poulton Blackpool Revd. Stephen Grey Revd. Deborah Prest (see ) [email protected] 01253 353900 Tunstall Revd. Ken Clapham (retiring August Burnley 2016) The Venerable Dr. Stephen Adesanya [email protected] [email protected] 01524 734189 01282 450346 Whalley Garstang Revd. Roger Wood Revd. Stephen Grey [email protected] [email protected] 01200 441154 01995 602162

Lancaster & Revd. Terrie Stott [email protected] 01524 389038