Today’s announcement from Ollie:
We are now over two thirds of the way through our formal transition period, and today is the perfect opportunity to update you on how things are developing in terms of future staffing structures.
Before I do that, I just want to reinforce what Malcolm said at the AGM about the plan for me to share my vision for the church in the Spring.
The new staffing structure will reflect that vision. It will also reflect the fact that I’m a different kind of leader to Malcolm. I am incredibly grateful for Malcolm’s leadership over the years at St Mungo’s, and the fact that he is leaving the church in such a healthy and unified state. Our cores values remain the same. We are a Word and Spirit church who love the presence of God, but I’m sure you’ll understand, the staffing structure which suits one leader won’t necessarily be the right structure for the next one.
With that in mind, I’ve been working with the Vestry, Katherine and Derek since the summer to shape things for the future.
Before I get into the specifics of that I want to tell you about Derek’s plans as they have a bearing on the new structure. As many of you may know, Derek served as Operations Director on a part time basis between 2008 and 2012, and then returned to the staff team in 2015 as Executive Director. Derek’s return was a response to a very clear call that he and Lara heard from the Lord to be a source of support to Malcolm in the final years of his ministry as Rector and to help Malcolm finish the race well, or as Derek often puts it, to get Malcolm over the line in one piece! This call, which coincided with Vestry and Malcolm deciding they wanted to create the post of Executive Director, included helping St Mungo’s find Malcolm’s successor and supporting the next generation of staff leaders to emerge.
With Malcolm’s retirement imminent, the succession planning process completed and the transition process well advanced, Derek and Lara believe that he has fulfilled what he was asked to do by the Lord and by the church and it will soon be time for him to step down from his role. We have therefore agreed with Derek that he will finish at Easter. Derek and Lara plan to remain at St Mungo’s and are looking forward to seeing what God has planned for them next.
There will be time to say thank you to Derek for the incredible job he has done in his time as Executive Director. We have been so blessed as a church family to have Derek with all his many gifts and abilities to support, encourage, equip and lead in an ever-changing time of uncertainty. His work with Vestry in regard to the succession planning process and then it’s implementation has been crucial. Thank you Derek, and thank you Lara for all your support and we are very thankful that you will continue to make St Mungo’s your church family.
I mentioned in my introduction that different leaders often need different organisational structures and the best way to explain how we are responding to Derek’s departure is to introduce you to my new staff organisational structure.
I am delighted that Katherine will be continuing as Finance Director. Katherine will remain on the senior leadership team where her wisdom, commitment and faith are such a blessing to us. We have been truly blessed by Katherine’s leadership in an uncertain time as she has led the finance team so well. Lynn will also be continuing as Counselling Director to lead such a valuable resource for the church and the community, and we are very grateful to her for all she brings. Likewise, the pastoral care team, admin/ops team, finance team and 0-18 staff will continue to do their valuable work.
You may however have noticed new titles and roles for three existing team members and three vacancies. I’ll deal with the three new roles for existing team members first.
David Lyons will move into the new role of Assistant Minister lay with responsibility for outreach and will be a part of my senior staff leadership team. David’s new role will pick up many of my previous responsibilities for evangelism and reaching the community. Additionally, David will also take on Derek’s responsibilities for church wide communications and overseeing the smooth running of our Sunday services and events. This will include line management responsibility for Andrew, Fil and Penny. He will also look to develop the family ethos that St Mungo’s values. David’s appointment to this new role is in large part a recognition of how much we’ve appreciated his contribution to so many areas of church life in recent years, and particularly during the pandemic. David, thank you and the Lyons family for all you have done during this uncertain time and we look forward to seeing your flourish in your new role.
Secondly, I’ve also invited Wendy to join my senior staff leadership team in the new role of Office Operations Manager. Wendy is another colleague who has embraced every challenge we’ve thrown at her over the years, again notably during 2020. Wendy’s new role has a wide remit which ranges from supporting me personally in areas such as organisation and planning to including many of Derek’s responsibilities for HR, Mission Relationships, Buildings, Administration and Church Governance, which covers things like all the behind scenes work with the Scottish Episcopal Church and, crucially, supporting the work of the Vestry. Wendy will also succeed Derek as Vestry Secretary in the Spring and has already attended Vestry to help her in the handover from Derek. Wendy thank you for being willing to take up this new role which Derek, Katherine and I believe is such a right and natural next step for you.
Rather than find a new 0-18 Director, I have decided to ask the 0-18 team to report directly into me for the foreseeable future and we will jointly re-evaluate how we handle the 0-18 admin support previously undertaken by Wendy as we prepare for church life after the pandemic.
David and Wendy will commence their new roles on 1st March. As you might expect, they are already working with Derek on the handing over of his responsibilities. In fact, the staff team have known of Derek’s intentions since last summer, so his going has not been a recent surprise to any of those directly affected.
The third new role and title is for Sarah. As many of you will know, Sarah has not just done an incredible job in developing the youth work, supported and assisted by the amazing youth team, but she has also been a volunteer counsellor at the Wellness Centre. Sarah has also given many hours of service both with adults and children and young people and has co-written, developed and co-led our GEMs course for groups of girls from Balerno High over the past few years. She is currently finishing off her degree in Counselling and comes with many years of experience pastoring young people in our church (and elsewhere) as Youth Pastor. Because of your generosity and commitment to giving to support the work of St Mungo’s I am delighted to announce that Sarah is going to head up and develop our BeMe service as “BeMe Co-ordinator”. Her new role which is so vitally important, will offer huge benefit to children and young people in our church and the community! Sarah will be telling the youth of her news on a zoom call at 1pm and will be meeting with the youth team in the coming weeks.
Sarah will also become a teaching associate and a member of the Pastoral team. We will be advertising for a new youth worker in the coming months so that Sarah can start this new role in the summer.
I am really excited by all three of these new roles and we are very blessed as a church to have Dave, Wendy and Sarah stepping into them. I would also like to thank the staff for all they have done during this difficult and ever-changing time, and it would be good to be able to show our appreciation to them all now.
There are two other posts in my new leadership structure which are both presently vacant. Firstly, I will soon be advertising, internally and externally, for a part time Worship Pastor who will take on responsibility for leading the worship team. I’ll say more about that post in due course.
The other vacant position is that of Associate Rector. It is my intention to recruit an ordained minister who will both assist me generally and, additionally, become the dedicated Site Pastor for our Livingston congregation. I believe such an appointment is the next step in growing our Livingston congregation and I’m looking forward to sharing more of the vision for this role when I next meet with the Livingston congregation.
God has continued to work in people’s lives during this period, bringing new people to faith and becoming part of the church family, and allowing others to develop new gifts and opportunities to use them. It is indeed an exciting time for St Mungo’s and I really appreciate your prayers as we continue in this transition process.
Thank you.
Ollie Clegg
Associate Rector and Rector-Elect