The Ark pre-school at Abbots Road URC in Leicestershire has, at its core, a team of dedicated lay people who keep the love of God at the heart of all they do. As disciples of Jesus, they seek to offer a happy and safe space for all children to learn and grow at an important, formative stage of their lives. The empowerment of lay people has been vital to both The Ark and the church’s success.
Over the past decade or so, there have been some big changes. The church has been without a minister, dedicated and much-loved members of the congregation have passed away or moved to pastures new, the church has engaged with the Mission-Shaped Introduction course and fresh forms of worship have been trialled at different points throughout the week. All of this has led to a much greater desire to understand the needs of church members and to be more responsive to them.
Along with the challenges and difficulties which such change inevitably brings, it has opened up some great opportunities, especially for lay people to appreciate their worth, taking up new roles of service and leadership which they might otherwise not have considered.
This includes Alison Hadley, manager of The Ark pre-school. Alison believes that, before a church can truly be the presence of Jesus in its local community, it must be strong in its identity and sense of being a family, loving and caring for each other as disciples of Jesus.
Alison is beyond delighted that this renewed sense of family at Abbots Road URC, which has come about through a willingness of dedicated lay people to equip and empower others within the congregation, enables her and her team, not only to see their role as pre-school teachers as a ministry, but to exercise that ministry within the life of their own home church.
‘Lay people bring much of relevance from their everyday experience.’ says Alison, ‘Once empowered, they won’t step back.’
What does your church do to empower people in seeing that their own experience and skills can be used, in everyday life, to build the Kingdom of God? Might Mission-Shaped Introduction help open up new possibilities for your community?
