David Bracewell

I have spent 40 years working in and leading churches in Kent, Lancashire, Yorkshire and lately
in Surrey where the church in Guildford grew to a membership of 1,000+.

I am married to Sue and we have lived in Guildford for 25 years. Our three children also live locally;
Anna is married to Phil (an ordained Youth Pastor), Robert (a Policeman) is married to Louise and Ben
still lives at home. We have 2 grandchildren, Zoë and Sophie.

We have recently retired to Fetcham, a village outside Leatherhead. I am continuing to minister, helping out locally as and when needed , as well as preaching and teaching further afield

 

3 basic convictions lie at the heart of what I offer in Church Leadership Training:

• I believe the local church is the hope of the world and that we are living at a crucial time,
  when the potential of the church to influence society is enormous;
  
• The single most important factor in growing healthy local churches is the quality of the
  leadership;
  
• Whilst good leadership requires skills and techniques it is primarily about vision, wisdom,
  imagination and warmth. Fundamental human characteristics redeemed into the service
  of Christ.
  

Because the single most important factor in growing healthy churches is quality of the leadership, much of my focus is on leadership training. Clearly I can't begin to engage with a church unless at the invitation of its leader! So I am eager to get alongside:

 

People exploring ordained ministry, or those in training

In the past 25 years I have prepared 30 candidates from our local church for ordination.
For 2 years I taught ordinands at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.

 

Leaders who are embarking on a new phase of ministry

This includes those recently ordained as well as those who are beginning a new ministry.
In recent years I have worked specifically with leaders newly appointed to larger churches (350+)

 

Those in existing ministry

Especially leaders who are looking for fresh vision in the midst of demanding work and those who are facing the particular challenge of the final 10 years or so of leadership.

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Where the gift of leadership is exercised well, the local church will grow, the commission to make disciples will be fulfilled, and God’s broken world will be healed and restored.

 

We are living at a critical time, when the potential of the church to influence society for good is enormous. My aim is to help churches to be as effective as possible in fulfilling their calling to bring hope and healing to a broken world.

Behind this aim lies a passionate belief that the local church is the hope of the world, and a frustration that churches, for all sorts of reasons, sometimes fail to reach their potential. I don't have all the answers of course, and there are rarely easy ones, but sometimes a fresh view from outside can unlock situations and enable healing and growth to take place..

Some of the areas where I believe I can offer help are:

Knowing yourself	Who you are and how you operate
Setting vision	Learning to see the big picture
Communicating truth	The leader as preacher, teacher, theologian
Studying the culture	Developing a prophetic ministry
Building Teams	Avoiding the plague of isolation
Leading worship	The public face of the leader
Growing in grace	The inner life of the Leader
Staying the course	Counting the cost of being a leader