New Church Leadership

The rumours are true! We have a new church leadership team...

Who leads the church?

If you go to Frontline, you may have heard a few rumours about our senior leadership structure changing... Well I can announce that those rumours are entirely founded!

Yes, there have been some significant changes to to the team in the last couple of months and we’ll be announcing these more formally at our Annual Members Drinks Reception on March 9. But you keen online readers can get a sneak preview now. 

Why change... again? 

Well, after Dan and Bel Reynolds moved on we started a consultation process over how Dan’s role at Frontline (CEO) should be replaced. A large part of that discussion centred on the difficulties of having 3 separate leadership teams – Vision Team, Trustees, and Management Team.

Having three teams has the potential to lead to communication challenges, confusion over lines of management, and a loss of focus in overall direction. While it may have been possible tweak it to make this structure work better, a new idea emerged - why not have a single leadership team by merging Trustees and Vision Team?

New Senior Leadership Team

So that is exactly what we’ve done. We now have a single group called the ‘Senior Leadership Team’ (SLT) at Frontline, who are also Trustees. They will manage and oversee the Frontline’s vision, direction, and legal and financial responsibilities.

New Executive Team

The Executive Team will handle the day-to-day management of Frontline’s staff body and the implementation of our 4 year Strategic Plan (This’ll be available at the Members Drinks Reception on March 9).

As Executive Pastor, I’ll be leading this team, joined by Anna Claridge as Church Life Director, as well as the new Operations Director (when we appoint him or her). This Operations Director will replace the role previously filled by Dan Reynolds.

Meet the Senior Leadership Team

Nic Harding (Me!)
I lead the team from more of a vision and strategy perspective and will continue to lead the church as co-Senior Pastor alongside Dave Connolly. I am also the Executive Pastor within Frontline’s Executive Team (a team dealing with day-to-day running of the church, but more of that below...)

Dave Connolly
Dave brings prophetic wisdom and pastoral concern (not to mention the legendary Connolly wit) to the team. He is also co-Senior Pastor of the church alongside Nic and has a specific focus on our expanding Frontline Church network.

Chris Holcombe
Chris chairs the team from a legal Trustee perspective. Chris has boundless patience with idiosyncratic members and our occasional heated discussions, and thankfully we always seem to get to an agreement at the end of the day when he’s chairing (praise God!)

John Harding 
As leader of the evening service and one of our most loved preachers, John brings a more youthful and yet discerning contribution. His leadership training in the education sector stands him in good stead, as well as his Bible School experience.

Graham Sharples
Graham comes with a wealth of experience in business and employment matters. He brings a financial brain and relentless logic to the proceedings, as well as being a great ‘ideas person’ with spiritual maturity.

Alastair Watson
Alastair is a retired solicitor with a huge wealth of experience in legal and charitable issues. He is involved with other churches and charities, including Spring Harvest and although not a regular Frontline attendee himself, (he lives in Surrey!) he has followed our progress over the years with keen interest as his son Phil is a key church member here. Alastair is only able to be with us at our bi-monthly meetings and occasional other times, but has brought an invaluable contribution to the team with his knowledge, experience and the unbounded spiritual common sense he brings to every discussion.

NB An obvious observation is the lack of women currently on the team. I want to make clear that this is not deliberate and we hope to expand the team with the inclusion of one or more women in the future. Julie Connolly and Jenny Harding will continue to preach and contribute to the leadership of the church.

Final words

Please pray for the new leadership team and for Frontline as we continue to build on the solid foundations God has given us. In all this Dave and I have a conviction that we are becoming wonderfully fit for purpose for the next 10 years. We are so excited about the growth coming through new Communities being launched right now.

This truly is a season of new beginnings for us at Frontline, and you can be assured that the best is yet to come!

Thank you so much for your contribution in time, energy and participation, and for standing with us throughout this season.

Nic Harding
28/01/2010