Welcoming new Rural Deans!

As we continue to develop collaborative partnerships of parishes and ministers across the Diocese, it was a joy to license and commission four of our clergy to particular roles in their local areas this week.

At a gathering of Rural Deans at Edward King House in Lincoln, the following licensings took place during a celebration of Holy Communion:

• The Revd Canon Sudharshan Sarvananthan, Rector of Wyberton & Vicar of Frampton, as Partnership Dean of Boston and Rural Dean of Holland.
• The Revd Julie Donn, Vicar of Immingham, as Assistant Archdeacon of North East Lincolnshire, Partnership Dean of North East Lincolnshire and Rural Dean of Haverstoe and Grimsby & Cleethorpes.
• The Revd Christine Goldsmith, Rector of the Wolds Gateway Group and Rural Missioner for North East Lincolnshire, as Assistant Rural Dean of Haverstoe.
• The Revd Matt Rodgers, Vicar of St Mark’s & St Martin’s, Grimsby, as Assistant Rural Dean of Grimsby & Cleethorpes.

We are hugely grateful to our colleagues for taking on these roles alongside their parish ministries. They will be supporting local churches and congregations in life and worship, and particularly the work of Time to Change Together, as we look to building a healthy, vibrant and sustainable Church across Greater Lincolnshire.

During Communion, we heard from the Gospel of Mark (6.7-13) and Jesus sending his disciples out to preach the good news, and we reflected on Jesus’ call to travel lightly on the road and what that might mean for our own ministries.

Please do pray for Sudharshan, Julie, Christine and Matt in all that they do, and for the people whom God has called them to serve.

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