The new Discipleship Adviser and Strategy Enabler within the Diocese of York's Mission and Ministry Team will be Sammi Tooze. The role will involve enabling both individuals and churches to deepen our discipleship – a key element in helping us become more Christlike.
Sammi will become a champion for discipleship across the Diocese, and will be developing and curating resources which embed faith in everyday life as well as those which help us to pray. She will also be involved in enabling the Mission and Ministry Team to support the delivery of “Re-imagining Mission and Ministry”.
Sammi is already well-known in the Diocese of York; she currently co-ordinates the work of the Generous Giving team and has brought to that role her energy, enthusiasm and capacity to enable others. Before that, she was Stewardship Adviser in the Diocese of Leeds where she also worked as a Church Growth Project Developer. Sammi is one of the Diocese of York’s lay representatives on General Synod, and is an appointed member of the Liturgical Commission. She combines her passion for discipleship with one for the centrality of worship in the life and mission of the Church.
Director of Mission and Ministry the Revd Dr Ian McIntosh said, “Sammi’s passion for enabling churches to become more generously engaged in God’s mission, her deep commitment to deepening discipleship, her own spirituality and enthusiasm will all be real gifts to receive both within the emerging Mission and Ministry Team and in the wider Diocese.”
Sammi responded, “It has been a joy to serve the Diocese of York in recent years, and a privilege to work with so many churches in that time. It’s an honour to be appointed to this new creative role, and I am really looking forward to enabling our communities to grow in Christlikeness and to further become the churches God calls us to be.”
Sammi will take up her new post on the 7th November (after Generosity Week).