Hi there,

My name is Diane Woolridge and I am the lay pioneer minister of St Mary’s and Moreton and St Lawrence Gnosall. I have been married to Dave for 30 years and we have two grown up daughters. For most of my life I lived on the outskirts of Stockport, south of Manchester, and moved to Gnosall in the summer of 2002.

I have to admit that for the first 24 years of my life I didn’t really give God much thought, although I had been baptized as a baby, as a family we didn’t go to church, not even at Christmas or Easter, so my only knowledge of the Christian faith was what I learnt at school or on the few occasions my mother sent us to Sunday School.

However the birth of my own two children made me wonder if there really was a God and more to life, so I started taking my eldest daughter to Sunday school & I began to go to the church service. It all seemed quite alien and strange to me, but I was curious and interested in the Christian faith and about what took place in church such as communion. I felt left out that I wasn’t able to fully take part in the church services so I decided I would put my name down for confirmation classes. During this time I committed my life to following Jesus and so embarked on a lifetime’s journey of discovery.

My journey of faith has had its up’s and downs pretty much like most people’s  There have been times I have felt very close to God such as during severe financial difficulties and when I was diagnosed with a serious illness and their have been times when my life just seemed to drift along quite uneventfully.

Nine years ago I felt God was calling me to ministry in the church and I trained as a lay minister in the Church of England. I completed my training following our move to Gnosall and I was licensed as an outreach minister for St Lawrence church in 2005.

In February 2009 my role changed when the Parochial Church Council’s of St Lawrence and St Mary’s appointed me to work in this Benefice as a lay pioneer minister.

So what exactly is a lay pioneer minister and what will I be doing in the Benefice of Gnosall and Moreton?

The use of the word pioneer carries with it the understanding that new forms of ministry must be created in order to sustain and develop the life of any church. Such a ministry frees it from any sense of life focused upon a hallowed building.

Part of my role will be to reflect on the ministry of the church in a rural context that over the years has changed and will be adapting to even more change in the future.

I will be pioneering the new and developing the existing, guiding and helping the church to be flexible and pioneering in the face of present and future changes both in the rural landscape in which we live and within the church deanery and diocese of which we are a part.

Some of this work has already begun and other ideas and thoughts are being explored.

To give you a flavour of the work I will be doing:-

• In 2006 the church in partnership with St Lawrence School created a “Sanctuary” room within the school building. I hope to develop the use of the ‘Sanctuary’ as an accessible safe place for children and adults to explore Christian spirituality and faith and to maintain a pastoral link with the young people from St Lawrence school as they move onto secondary school
• Within the wider community I will be supporting the development of work with couples who approach the church for marriage, helping couples prepare for marriage and building relationships to support the couples on an on going basis.
• As a church we want to be able to support people in all stages of their lives so I will also be initiating and developing work with Parents & Toddlers including parenting courses, Baptism preparation, building links with our village nurseries and preschool to explore creative opportunities for worship with this age group.
• In addition to this work I will be seeking to engage with other community groups who wish to; to develop relevant and appropriate acts of worship using both church and other buildings in the villages of Gnosall and Moreton.
• I hope that in helping both children and adults of all ages to explore the Christian faith for themselves some of the barriers and misconceptions of church may be broken down and not only will new worshipping communities be formed but the established worshiping communities of St Lawrence and St Mary’s will also be strengthened and developed.