Sid Thurlow, left, and Lee Carmichael, who lead Ingatestone Elim together, baptise a church member
We’re proving that two are better than one...
For a small church like Ingatestone Elim, bi-vocational leadership has made outreach and nurturing a diverse congregation possible, say Lee Carmichael and Sid Thurlow
In many ways, Lee Carmichael and Sid Thurlow are like chalk and cheese. Lee has 20 years’ experience as an Elim pastor while Sid spent 30 years in crime, addiction and prison. Yet together, they lead the team at Ingatestone Elim Church – and are proof that bi-vocational leadership can be a perfect solution for smaller churches.
The story began when Lee came to Ingatestone in November 2014.
“The congregation couldn’t afford to pay a full-time salary so we agreed I’d work one day a week in a school and the rest in church,” he says.
Immediately, Lee set out to revamp the church’s tired building, which dated back in part to 1933.
“Ingatestone is proper middle-class commuter territory and the church looked like a run-down village hall,” he says.
“We had a pledge day and people gave sacrificially, which meant we could spend £342,000. We ripped out virtually everything bar the walls of the original church and the roof.”
The church had been growing steadily before the project, with new members transferring to Ingatestone or joining after coming to faith. “We had seven baptisms across the first three years, including a chap called Basil who found faith and got baptised at 92!” Post-Covid and with the building work completed, the church grew rapidly as lockdown restrictions lifted. Lee decided to continue working bi-vocationally and recruit a part-time assistant pastor.
Sid diverts here to explain the miraculous way he and Lee crossed paths.
“I came from a background of addiction, crime and drugs. I spent many years in prison, which is where I came to know Jesus,” he says.
“I didn’t experience the immediate transformation and freedom that some people have, though.
“When I was released I started going to church but struggled with old behaviour for many years.”
Sid experienced breakthrough when he moved to New Hope Church in Guildford. The small, pastor-less congregation of 14 needed everyone to pitch in, so Sid and his wife Laura were welcomed and urged to get involved.
Here, Sid met Lee, who was helping the church consider its next steps. At this point, Sid had enrolled on the Ministry Foundation Course, having sensed a call to ministry, and Lee started mentoring him.
Sid and Laura’s plan had been to go on the mission field to Paraguay, but his criminal record made this impossible from a visa point of view.
An alternative mission opportunity arose when Sid and Laura agreed to renovate the manse at Leigh-on-Sea Elim and take on an 18-month internship at Ingatestone.
From here, Sid became assistant pastor in 2022 and began his MIT in June 2023. He and Lee devised a bi-vocational working pattern that suited the church’s needs and finances.
Since then, Ingatestone Elim has continued to grow and develop a rich community outreach.
The revamped building now houses its Hope Café and foodbank.
“This is a middle-class area where it can be embarrassing to ask for help. Yet we’ve seen people with good jobs and incomes struggling as mortgage rates spiked,” says Lee.
Sid and Laura have also launched a local meeting within the Believers in Recovery network at Leigh-on-Sea Elim from which a number of believers have started attending Leigh-on-Sea, Ingatestone and Southend Elim.
“We walk alongside those struggling with the very things we struggled with; marriage problems, addiction, mental health, relational and financial issues. We bring the freedom of Christ as a result of having been there ourselves.”
The result is a diverse congregation drawn from a wide radius.
“We have young families, 20-somethings with jobs, 40-year-old addicts in recovery, people with green hair, piercings and tattoos and people in their 80s and 90s,” says Sid.
Now Lee and Sid are considering the way forward for the 85-seater church, which is more than 80% full on most Sundays. The church recently set aside its usual programme for four weeks to stand beside members facing health and life challenges and to bring its future before God.
“Rather than building a bigger building or adding another service, we’re seeking God for a missional way forward; planting something new, inputting into struggling churches, creating a mini network or commissioning others into new areas of ministry,” says Lee.
“In the last prayer meeting, we felt called to reconsecrate ourselves, to take this posture of setting ourselves apart for God in order to move forward. Just a couple of weeks later, Mark Pugh sent his email which committed Elim to a similar act.
“Whatever our next steps, we’re trusting God to guide us as we reconsecrate ourselves in this next season.”
Bi-vocational ministry in action
Lee and Sid have devised a bi-vocational way of working that is perfect for them and their church. Here’s how it works.
LEE
Church role: pastor
Work life: typically Lee works for church on Wednesdays , Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays and for safeguarding organisation Thirtyone:eight on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Why it works:
“I have set office-based hours. Two days a week working elsewhere is really manageable if your church has realistic expectations of what you can do and you create a culture where the pastor doesn’t do everything. I find working for Thirtyone:eight gives me an experience of life that puts me in the same place as many people in the congregation too.
“It helps me connect with people in the workplace when they know I’m also being line-managed, I also come to church meetings after a day at work, and that I have to practise in my workplace on Monday what I preach on Sunday.”
SID
Church role: assistant pastor
Work life: Sid and Laura do two days’ worth of hours for the church, split flexibly across the week. The church also supports them to run Believers in Recovery.
Why it works:
“The way we work makes it possible for me to be available on the phone whenever I’m needed – I don’t have to go to work in the way that Lee does.
“If someone is thinking of taking their life or doesn’t know what to do because they can’t stop drinking or their home life has hit a crisis, I can be available at all times to help.
“We feel passionately as a church about doing all we can to be Christ’s hands. God has made it possible for Lee to represent the workforce and for me to pick up other things and be on the end of the phone.”
This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.
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