On Sunday 8th October, members of St Paul’s congregation and Revd Susan joined Joan Endean at Southwark Cathedral, to celebrate the end of her formal ministry as a Southwark Pastoral Auxiliary (or SPA). Joan has been serving St Paul’s as a SPA since 2002, after selection and training which began in 2000 – so the group that she trained with called themselves the “Millennium Babes”! SPAs are commissioned to care for people in their local area, working with churches and ministers wherever they see need. For Joan, this has particularly involved visiting the elderly, those with dementia, and those in need of support from the social care system, as well as much else to build up the wider life of the parish: helping to set up our data base of contacts, building a pastoral network and organising parish lunches, the Christmas Fair and games afternoons. 

The service at the cathedral was an extremely full and lively one, with churches from across the diocese coming to celebrate people starting, continuing or concluding a whole range of ministries, including as Readers, Pioneers and Evangelists. 

During the service Christopher Chessun, the Bishop of Southwark, prayed that, just as those starting new ministries would be equipped for their work, so would they be equipped for a new stage in their own journey: God is calling them to continue to walk with others in their churches, but in a new way. 

We know Joan will take that seriously, and look forward to seeing what she does next!