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Local Ministry

Gloucester Local Ministry

The heart of Local Ministry in Gloucester Diocese is the explicit recognition of the ministry of the whole people of God.

This way of being a church is founded on the beliefs that:
1. God calls every person, through their baptism, to discipleship and ministry.
2. God equips each local church with the gifts that are needed for it to be the church in that place.
3. God's mission is shared in partnership with the local church, with clergy and congregation alike.

Local Ministry is rooted and expressed in specific parish/benefice-based localities. There a team of lay and ordained work together, as a 'ministry catalyst', to encourage and support the congregation to take part in the life and witness of the church. Parish churches gather together diverse people of various ages, at different stages of their faith journeys. To become a "ministering community" is a complex task that requires patience and persistence - a long-term change of culture.

The Local Ministry team is the PCC's chosen means of promoting and leading day to day ministry and mission in the parish by:
  • growing in understanding of the purpose of the whole church and investigating what this means for the life of the local church,
  • exploring, deepening, and working out the practical implications and implementation of the vision and priorities outlined by the PCC.
As parishes are all very different from one another Local Ministry is flexible to suit varying situations. Teams vary too, some form in multi-parish benefices, others in single town parishes. They span all traditions and sizes of churches, and some are ecumenical.

The congregation nominate people for the team. Through prayerful discernment a short list is drawn and the incumbent invites those selected to form a team which is commissioned by the Bishop.

What all Local Ministry parishes have in common is clergy and congregation together, taking up the challenge of being co-partners with God's activity in their local place. Learning together to have the confidence to allow God's Spirit to work freely.

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The idea of Local Ministry is as old as the church! The early Christian churches that were visited and nurtured by St Paul may well have looked like "ministering communities". There is no static model of being church reflected in Scripture. The church had many different shapes - but what is common is that it consisted of a gathering of local believers who held a shared belief, who looked out for one another, who cared about their local community and who were concerned for fellow believers in far-flung places. In other words, a group of believers concerned together with both mission and ministry!


God gives special ministers "to equip his people for their work of ministry" 
 Ephesians 4.11-12


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