The Four Saints Benefice

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The Deanery of Guthlaxton has a history that goes back hundreds of years.  Our deanery includes the small town of Lutterworth to the south and a number of rural villages that are part of the historic southwest Leicestershire countryside, together with the villages which run along part of the southern border of the City of Leicester itself.  We have seen a huge increase in new housing across the deanery over the last decade or so with more new developments on the way.  Our traditions across the churches are, like the area in which we are ministering, rich and varied but with one focus – to be churches in mission for God and the kingdom.



Whilst we value our past, we are a Deanery that is looking forward to the future.  We are actively engaged in reaching out to our local communities, creatively addressing what it means to be the church and a real Christian presence in our rapidly changing world.  Over the last year, we have been engaged in a diocesan process of prayerfully seeking out a new vision as churches witnessing to the good news of Jesus Christ within our local settings.  We have explored how as a deanery, individual churches or as groups of churches, we can build a structure which will encourage and enhance our shared mission and ministry for God and also set in place an agenda for growth.



We see the ministry of the whole people of God as being a key part of our vision.  Within this, we believe that creativity, diversity, risk-taking, and celebration are to be wholeheartedly encouraged and embraced.  We also see ourselves called to be openly available to God, to be honest, and transparent with each other and seek out the poor, vulnerable and marginalised.



For those of us called to leadership we believe that collaboration in mission and ministry is the only way forward both within our individual church communities and as a deanery.  With this in mind, we are looking at appropriate models of collaborative teams in the various settings in which we minister.  We also see the importance of exercising local leadership which enables, supports and encourages others in realising their giftings and growing in these giftings as they offer them to God and the church.



We have identified a number of new local partnerships across the deanery with the aim of encouraging collaboration across parish boundaries.  We have also identified the deanery as the prime mission partnership having a special role in helping us to develop our mission and ministry in our localities and a special responsibility for vocations, training, resourcing, and deployment.



There is still a lot of work to be done in earthing and realising our vision. Both the laity and clergy in our deanery are committed to working together to grow the kingdom for God in our deanery.  We are all looking forward to an exciting future as we follow God’s calling to be churches who are an effective Christian presence in our local communities and who are seeking new ways to reach out to those around us!