People
LMT Logo
Dymock was at the forefront of the 'Local Ministry Team' movement, having had ministry shared by Ordained and Lay persons for over 30 years. This shared concept was formalised into 'Local Ministry Teams' (LMT) where spiritual care and management of the parish is shared by both ordained priests and lay persons acting as a recognisable 'Team'.

We currently have a full-time priest (Rector) in charge of the "United Benefice of the Leadon Vale." He is the only full-time stipendiary (paid) priest in the Team, but is assisted in the Dymock area by one other 'Associate Priest' who is retired from a career in commerce, as well as by 3 non-ordained (Lay) assistants - 2 'Readers' and 1 'Lay Pastor' as well as several regular members of the congregation. There are also 4 PCC Appointees: Secretary, Treasurer, Organist/Choirmaster and Bell Tower Captain.

The Ministry Team serves the whole of the Benefice, which comprises 9 parishes with 9 churches, so there are several other members: 2 more 'Associate Priests' and several Lay members, but they all tend to focus on other parishes in the Benefice and don't have a regular role in Dymock.

For details of Dymock's officers, click here: Priests, Readers, Lay Pastors, Churchwardens, PCC Appointees
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Priests
People trained in theology and ministry and 'set apart' (ordained) to serve God in Holy Orders
Picture, Rev Tony Lomas
Rector: The Rev'd Anthony Lomas is married to Ingrid and they have four grown-up children, Jamie, Tim, Verity and Alexandra.  Tony graduated as an agricultural engineer and then spent most of the next 15 years selling agricultural machinery in Africa, including a short period as an ex-pat in Morocco.  Following a short period as parish administrator and bookshop manager for the parish of Cirencester,  he worked until ordination as a sales and management training consultant. (Return to top)

Ingrid is head of Religious Education at Sir William Romney’s secondary school in Tetbury, Gloucestershire, and first met Tony while they were training together as Readers on the West of England Ministerial Training Course (WEMTC).  They were married in 2000. (Return to top)

Tony has been involved with his local churches since childhood and his path to ordination spanned some 10 years,  including a very fulfilling time as a Reader in parishes in and around Cirencester, over which time he developed a particular interest in the challenges of rural ministry.  He went on to train for ordination, again at WEMTC, and served his curacy in the Coln River Group of Parishes, a benefice of 7 rural parishes just outside Cheltenham.  (Return to top)

In his leisure time, Tony enjoys DIY, cooking, travel and is a self-confessed gadget-freak. (Return to top)
Assistant Priest
Picture, Rev Andrew Perry
The Rev'd Andrew Perry is married to Janet and they have two daughters. He became a lay member of the Dymock Local Ministry Team (LMT) at its formal inception in 1981 and was ordained in 1994 as a Non-Stipendiary Minister (NSM*). He is licensed as an associate priest to the Benefice as a whole but has special responsibility for the parish of Donnington and regularly assists in Dymock. Trained as an Agriculturist, Andrew first worked as a manager of farms, but then worked for 20 years as a Grain Trader, managing a local Grain Co-operative before retiring. He is currently project leader for the Rotary Club of Ledbury's "Tobago Diabetic Foot-care Project" which is assisting medics in the Caribbean to be aware of, and better treat, those suffering from Diabetes, thereby reducing the previously high number of foot and leg amputations per year... and fanatical about his lawn! (Return to top)

*NSMs are now called SSMs - Self-Supporting Ministers. They are full priests but earn their living and practice their ministry by working in industry or commerce. They are a nation-wide ministry so can be asked to serve anywhere, which may mean they have to move house and job, although that's unusual as they usually serve in a Benefice near to where they live. (Return to top)