Revd Tom Mumford, vicar of Ipswich Minster, writes, “Dear all, it is with the heaviest possible heart, that I must announce today, that, in March next year, Laura and I will be moving away from Ipswich.
In recent months, Laura has felt an increasing sense of call to be a parish priest, a call which I recognise and see in her, a call that I know will make her more fully the person God is calling her to be. The Church has recognised that call too, and a separate announcement on Laura’s future will be made in due course.
As for me, well, I know my call, my vocation, to be a husband and to be a priest, are not competing ones. I am a fuller and better husband and priest through the other. But Laura and I know ourselves well enough to know that our marriage would not flourish with us both as parish priests. And, well, I suppose, too, that I’ve ’had my turn’. And what a turn it’s been…
Nearly 5 years ago now I first received the call from Bishop Martin, the former diocesan bishop, telling me of a parish that he wanted me to take a look at. It was in a bit of trouble, he said, such that he wasn’t sure it could survive on its own financially in the long-term, and that as a result I’d have a licence for 3 years, to give both me and the diocese a get-out. He then told me the name of the parish, and said I had 24 hrs to think about it…but I didn’t even need 24 seconds. I just knew it was right, and that was that.
After my interview (with the entire PCC!) he offered me the three-year licence, and gave with it three targets: grow the congregation, turn around the finances, and rebuild the civic links.
But, God did so much more. Because it is always God, through us, who works.
And he didn’t just grow the church, he renewed it. It’s a crude measure of growth, but on a Sunday we can now expect 200 or more across our services. We’ve a flourishing and growing children’s ministry, a pioneering singing pathway, baptisms and confirmations coming out of our ears. In fact, in the last 5 years, we have had both more baptisms and confirmations than funeral and weddings combined. We have grown by every single measure every year.
And God didn’t just turnaround our finances either, he transformed them. We’ve gone from a £90k a year deficit with reserves almost run dry, to, at the end of this year, two consecutive years in the black. We’ve grown our stewardship, gained multiple sustainable income streams, and yes, there’s more to do (there always will be), but the increasing and unfolding generosity of the whole church community has been astonishing. Please don’t lose that. It is a living out of your faith.
And of course God hasn’t just rebuilt the civic links, though he has done that. But he has redirected us and reshaped our heart into that of Christ, to serve the needs of those within our parish, starting the Top Up Shop and community cafe, opening the Sanctuary Centre in 2023. And through all this, has called us to be a Minster, to be a central focus for civic life in this town. He has called us not just to be shaped by our history, but to make it.
I could say so, so much more. God has richly blessed us in this season.
But God is calling us all into a new one. In March, to my genuine surprise, along with Laura, God is calling me to York. It will be a return for me, to a spiritual home where my journey with Christ began. There I will be joining the team at Bishopthorpe Palace, office of the Archbishop of York, to be the Chaplain to the Bishop of Selby as the Lead Bishop in the Diocese of York. And I will be leaving, too, to support Laura as she begins the best job in the world, which is to be a parish priest.
I have to be honest, leaving here will be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I love you all from the bottom of my heart, and I will miss you, and Ipswich, so much. But though I will be leaving, let me tell you: God is not. God is here, his Spirit is with you, with this town, and this is the thing that gives me the heart to say goodbye.
It is expected that my last Sunday will be the 8th March, and more details will be shared about this in the new year. In the meantime, please pray for me, and for Laura, as we will for you. And please pray too that, whoever God is calling to be the next Vicar of Ipswich Minster will hear that call, and know it in their heart. Whoever it is, is the luckiest priest in the world. As ever, Tom”
