Why did you attend?
I am the Churchwarden for The Parish of The Resurrection, Doncaster. We have two churches that have recently merged to form one parish. Both of our buildings, whilst in good condition, will require some work in the near future to guarantee the longevity of the buildings. We have also started merging our finances into parish finances which isn’t an easy process.
Therefore attending the MAST conference seemed like a good idea. Six of us attended from our church, including myself and our Treasurer with the aim to split up and access as many different workshops to gain as much information for our parish as possible.
What were you hoping to achieve/find out?
I knew from the event description that both the Buildings Support Team and the Treasurer Support Team would be in attendance. As a PCC, we felt it would be good to gain information from both the teams. For me, I particularly wanted information around building repairs, maintenance and the faculty process. Our Treasurer was looking forward to the Budgeting workshop and information regarding accounting processes, and our children’s worker wanted to attend the volunteer workshop.
Was the day useful? Why?
I felt the day was very useful, the workshops were very informative and gave us a good opportunity to ask questions regarding our particular issues with the relevant teams from the diocese. It was also helpful to obtain contacts within the Diocese in case any issues crop up in parish.
The buildings team worked through the presentation and were willing to give time for questions and were very knowledgeable when answering them.
The Treasurer team were very helpful and our Treasurer came back with lots of notes on how to make things easier for her.
Our children’s worker also reported back that she had been given some good advice and ideas for the future.
I also enjoyed the worship and opening teaching from the Archdeacon too, his talk was encouraging and affirming in our roles within parish.
What would you say to convince someone to go to the next MAST conference?
I believe we are really blessed in this Diocese to have teams specifically to support what we do in parish. Our parish have found the Treasurer Support Team to be very informative and have already helped us considerably. I wasn’t as aware of the Buildings Team, so I was glad I attended the MAST conference, it raised my awareness of what support is available from the diocese, and how to access it. So, if you have an issue in your church, or feel you need some support to further your churches mission, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Mission Area Support Team; they are lovely, knowledgeable people who genuinely want to support you and your parish. The MAST conference is the perfect place to start that journey.
The next MAST conference is on Tuesday 9th October at The Vine in Sheffield, taking place from 9.15am – 2.45pm. Sign up for tickets here: sheffdio.org/MAST-Oct24