There have been some changes at our church recently…

On October 10 2010, David Thatcher, leader of Arun Community Church (ACC), passed the baton of church leadership on after 27 years of loyal service. David’s eldest daughter, Becca Jupp has assumed the role of leader at ACC, supported by a wider team of leaders, which includes David himself who will continue to act as an elder and active member of the church.

Speaking about the transition, David likened his role to that of a pacemaker in a cycling race. “The pack leader pushes forward, setting the pace and direction, leading the way, causing a slip stream enabling the other riders to ride with efficiency and cohesion,” he said. “After a while, the lead exchanges, the front man drops back to allow another to lead and maintain the pace.”

“I ask that everybody gives Becca and her team every encouragement and support,” he continued, “knowing that she is taking on a noble but daunting task. I have been delighted at how she has approached this exchange, and delighted at the response from the church.”

Commenting on her new role, Becca said: “It is an amazing privilege to be given the opportunity to lead such a vibrant, exciting church.”

As an employee of Arun Community Church, these changes have had some impact on my work! I am now part of the core leadership team and have been heavily involved in the recent transition, developing systems, communicating changes, project managing the new website, and running the children’s and youth work. In addition, I have also been asked to join the board of trustees for both the church and its charitable company, something I am carefully and prayerfully considering.

From a youth work perspective, I have pulled back from a lot of face-to-face work and am now managing teams of part-time staff and volunteers to run the activities that I used to be hands on with. This has been great as it has freed up more evenings at home, but also brings fresh challenges to fully support the 50+ volunteers each week. I need to get better at this!

So my role has changed somewhat and while I’m still employed to run the children’s and youth work, it’s currently in-between project management, service delivery and strategic vision! However, I’m immensely positive about these changes and very excited about the future. I’ve got some plans for the ongoing development of our Children’s & Youth Work which I’ll post up at some point too.

In the meantime, check out the info on the new website and follow us on twitter (@arunchurch). You can also find our new vision statement here.