TM St Austell

Transforming Mission (TM) is aimed at encouraging and supporting change, renewal, and growth in churches across the Diocese of Truro.

St Austell is one of five deaneries with a TM team. Our team, who are based in St Austell Parish’s Trinity Centre, consists of five staff members, including Lesley Lawther, Heather Batho, Jamie Moore, and Jonny Dant who provide support in areas such as music, worship, evangelism, youth and children’s work, church administration, safeguarding, fundraising, and building management.

TM focuses on helping churches engage with younger generations and make the church relevant, accessible, and attractive to them. The St Austell TM team also hosts vision sessions with PCCs to identify ways to increase community engagement and grow congregations.

As well as working within St Austell Parish in their various different individual areas of responsibility, the TM team have been working to build relationships with other churches in the deanery. By being part of the Deanery Synod and Deanery Implementation Team (DIT), they are getting to be known in the wider area, hosting meetings in different churches as well as in the Trinity Cafe (which opened in November 2023) and Trinity Centre. In this way the team are attempting to break down some of the historic barriers that have existed between the more rural churches and St Austell itself.

The hope is that this will lead to TM being able to help resource some of the new plans that are being developed in different places. One positive result from their input at Tywardreath has led to the setting up of a new Toddler Group in the village. Team members have also spent time at St Stephen, Mevagissey and Goran, helping with specific projects. Through the DIT Poverty Group they are also exploring the possibility of obtaining funding for a parish nurse in the St Austell/Clays area.

The team attend Sunday services in different churches throughout the deanery as and when they can, to better understand the dynamics of different congregations, and offer encouragement as well as more appropriate resourcing. They work closely with the diocese, attending training days, sharing best practice and encouragement with other TM projects and DITs throughout Cornwall.

Transforming Mission St Austell

Heather Batho – Operations Manager

Lesley Lawther – Children, Youth and Communities Minister

Jonny Dant – Pioneer Minister (18s – 39s age group)

Jamie Moore – Worship Minister

Caroline Allsup-Evans – Media & Communications Manager