This is Revd Thomas Brauer who has just begun ministry as our Diocesan Missioner. Thomas has spent the last two and a half years as Rector of our Central Fife Group of congregations. So he knows about the long, slow task of working with people to rebuild congregations.
Of course, when I started out in ministry, there was none of this. The expectation was that I would be a visiting machine. After all, it was self-evident that a ‘home-going priest makes a church-going people’. So in the pastoral ministry tradition of the Church of Ireland, I ‘knew my people and was known by them’. I couldn’t begin to estimate how many doors I have knocked in my time. And it worked until it didn’t really work any more
Since then we’ve been in changing times in ministry – trying out different paradigms. Thomas is there because we recognise that clergy and congregations need support in finding new ways forward – strategic planning, developing worship, exploring spirituality, engaging with community, learning to pray, teaching faith ….