...more about John Leach, our Parish Development Adviser
John is a genuine Essex man, married to a genuine Essex girl, and was ordained in Norwich Diocese in 1981/2 after training at King’s College London and St John’s College Durham. He served 17 years in parish ministry in North Walsham Norfolk, Crookes Sheffield, Coventry and Jersey, as well as five years in itinerant ministry with Anglican Renewal Ministries in England. He came to Monmouth in 2004.
His passions are Anglican liturgy, music and church growth. Every parish he has led has experienced growth, and he has been used frequently in consultancy work before taking up his current post. He has also written on subjects to do with church leadership and worship. In his spare time he is a Director of Grove Books www.grovebooks.co.uk and Executive Director of the Music and Worship Foundation www.mwf.org.uk In his spare spare time he likes to grow vegetables, swim and cook.
What does a PDA do?
My definition of the role of a Parish Development Adviser is simply to work with parishes towards anything which will lead to life, health, growth and vitality. Sometimes this is simply about acting as a consultant to the clergy, sometimes working with PCCs, and sometimes with churches as a whole.
Some of the work undertaken so far has included:
Vision Statement – leading a day which will result in the church writing and adopting a vision statement, along with a strap-line and logo. Having a clear vision of where we believe God is calling us can be invaluable in helping us get there!
Health checks – using a combination of material from Robert Warren’s Healthy Churches Handbook and Christian Schwarz’s Natural Church Development we have looked together at our church’s strengths and weaknesses, and begun to plan for action to move us forward.
Process Evangelism – I am a great fan of process evangelism courses and have several years’ experience of leading them. I have helped churches begin to think through what might be best for them out of the range of possible resources available.
Planting – whilst I was a vicar we successfully planted a new congregation, and learnt many lessons along the way. I also try to keep up-to-date with
Fresh Expressions – encouraging churches to try new and different expressions of how we live out our church life together www.freshexpressions.org.uk Whilst in Jersey I worked for a short time on a post-Alpha Fresh Expression.
Individual consultancy – over specific issues the parish is facing at the time. I don’t have all the answers but I do have a wealth of experience and an enquiring mind which enjoys getting to the root of issues and learning from the wider experience of others.