Living Church Carina: Clarity serves the church

Living Church is deeply committed to seeing men and women leading and serving together at every level of leadership, while upholding their understanding of biblical eldership.

Minister James Snare says the church has appointed elders as well as ‘session co-workers’ who together make up the Living Church Board. The four Living Church elders are the formal governors and overseers of the church and are all male. At the church’s annual congregational meeting, the church endorses three women, called ‘session co-workers’, for 12-month appointments who assist and work alongside the elders.

“The picture of men and women having dominion together in Genesis 1:26-28, and the way that the early apostles worked with their female co-workers, has led the elders to invite these co-workers to work with us as a board,” James says.

The Living Church staff team is similarly made up of men and women. The team is led by minister James Snare and assisted by Izaac Cowling (who focuses on maturing church members). The rest of the staff team is responsible for the week-to-week ministry operations in particular ministry areas as well as the design and implementation of ministry
plans for the future. Andrea Pryde is responsible for Adult Ministry, Chris Pine leads the young adult and youth teams, and Tom Fittell runs the kid’s ministry programs. Fiona Snare is the Office and Operations manager and is growing a team of administrators to serve the growing church needs in this space. New mum Celina Fyffe is the church’s part-time graphics designer and web supervisor.

Living Church is made up of 600 regular attenders with an average attendance of 450 people on a Sunday across its two services. With six full time staff, a ministry apprentice and a part-timer, it’s really important for the church to have clarity about how they work together and who does what.

“We regularly have people who visit church asking about the role of women,” James says. “It’s great that we can affirm that men and women lead together, while pointing people to the scriptures to explain why our leadership teams take the shape that they do.”

Long term staff member Andrea Pryde is often asked to explain what opportunities exist for women in the church.

“Living Church is a place where women are valued, loved and encouraged to participate in all ministries, so opportunities abound. Women’s contributions are at the very heart of our church’s worship of God.”

Night Church at Living Church has a large contingent of Gen Z in their 20s. The way men and women work together is a frequent discussion topic for these young people. Maddie, a young woman and kids church leader in her twenties, says it’s challenging.

“These topics can be emotional for us, as we wrestle with understanding the path and good model God has laid before us, and some of the hurt and damage the wider church has done.”

With many young women considering a future in ministry, the emotional impact of this topic is really important to acknowledge. Living Church wants to present viable options for young women to consider and provide them with concrete pictures of what it looks like for them to go into ministry in the future. In order to address questions and concerns, the church has run several workshops and seminars on men and women in church to talk deeply about these issues.

“We have so many people who join us from different denominations and who have experienced different ministry models in the past,” James says. “So having clarity on why we do what we do, based off the scriptures and the freedom that we have in the gospel, is vital for us.”

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