At yesterday's Diocesan Synod, Doug Chaplin was licensed by Bishop John as the diocesan Discipleship and Lay Training Officer, a role he has been moving into since the summer.
The new role was created as part of the changes at the diocesan office, which also saw Doug's previous role as Mission Development Officer being made redundant. As Discipleship and Lay Training Officer, Doug will have oversight of a number of existing lay training programmes, including both Reader and ALM training and will be working with Barbara Wheatley to build on the Bishop's Certificate Course. He will also be looking to develop new programmes which will best meet the needs of parishes and the wider church.
Doug said:
"Discipleship is a catch all term for what itmeans to be Christian and a follower of Jesus. A big part of my new role willbe about asking people what will help them live out their faith and ensuringthat were developing the resources they need. Im really looking forward todiscovering what kind of training and resources people actually want and tryingto provide that."
Doug is establishing a A Big Conversation about Discipleship, which will link to a campaign around Everyday Faith in the New Year.
"Some people have already volunteered to take part in a conversation with me around discipleship and Im hoping more will join in. We are also considering a simple voluntary questionnaire enabling people to getinvolved early in 2020."
Doug continued.
"The next few years will see a significant need to train people in our parishes to help us live out the life of the church with fewer clergy, but its important that this doesn't take all our energy away from Jesus call to be salt and light in our daily life for the good of our society."
Doug is keen to hear from people who have ideas they'd like to share about discipleship or who have stories to tell about the importance of their faith in their everyday life. He will continue to be available to support parishes on Sundays who have no clergy and would be delighted to receive invitations to talk to parishes on issues of discipleship and everyday faith.
