This month people from across the country gathered online to give thanks for God’s faithfulness at a special service to celebrate the completion of the set-up phase of the Pioneer Project in Bath and Wells.
The appointment of Revd Gill Sakakini as Artist-Priest in the parish of St Peter and St Paul’s, Shepton Mallet, marks the end of the beginning of the end of Bath and Wells journey to become a pioneering diocese. Gill is the ninth of nine full-time paid pioneers recruited over three years, three in each archdeaconry across the Diocese as part of the project.
With Gill’s arrival all the paid posts are filled, all the proposed learning experiences, networking opportunities, and support frameworks set up, and all finance allocated. Phase 2 – diffusing pioneering more widely across the diocese - can now begin.
‘It felt important to mark the occasion, to raise a kind of standing stone or a cairn, and say that it was all down to God… that God had been faithful in providing everything we needed: money, people, talent, inspiration, energy, guidance, perseverance,’ said Revd Tina Hodgett, leader of the Project. ‘And also to thank everyone who had given time and energy to it. The Project has run on the gifts of a whole range of people from the Diocesan Board of Finance, the Church Mission Society, individual pioneers across the Diocese, and deanery leadership teams.’
At the start of the service those who attended joined together in breakout rooms to share with each other what role they had played in these early phases of the initiative. Bishop Ruth talked about the future of pioneering in the Diocese as we look to discerning the ministries of all. She ended the service with a blessing.
One of those who attended summed up the feelings of many, saying, ‘It was a beautiful balance of witness, thanksgiving, sharing and prayer.’