The local church diocese has been re-organising individual parishes and parish groups into Ministry Areas for some years now. A Ministry Area is a group of parishes and their clergy that work together at a larger level than our current group of 5 parishes. Existing Ministry Areas in the diocese have been working successfully for a number of years. The finances, staffing, training etc. are handled at an area level rather than at a parish or parish group level . The current St Arvans group (Devauden, Itton, Kilgwrrwg, Penterry & St Arvans) will be joining the Chepstow Ministry Area, along with Shirenewton, Newchurch, Mounton, Mathern, St Pierre and the two churches in Chepstow - St Marys and St Christophers. There is information about this on the diocesan website here https://monmouth.churchinwales.org.uk/en/clergy-and-members/ministry-areas

There is a Zoom meeting planned with Bishop Cherry to talk through the plans for the ministry area and the transition period - it will probably be a year or more before the MA (as it's known) will be fully functional.

The meeting is scheduled for Thursday 22nd April, at 7:30pm.  If you would like to attend the meeting, there are a number of spaces available so contact Fr. Michael on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..