The Reverend Leisa Potter is Team Vicar for the West Wight with responsibility for the Parishes of All Saints and St Agnes Churches, Freshwater; St James Church, Yarmouth and Christ Church, Totland.
Leisa studied Psychology at Plymouth University and spent several years working in the care sector, before setting up and running a well regarded child care business. A big change came in 2011 when Leisa began her degree course in Christian Theology for Ministry through Exeter University and as part of her training for ordination found herself working with St Mary Magdalene Church, gaining valuable experience in running services and ‘Life Groups’ across a wide spectrum of ages and backgrounds, focussing especially on those people with particular needs – expressed through a range of addictions and other life issues.
Leisa was ordained in 2014 and worked as part of a team of 12 churches at Ottery, St Mary in Devon, mentoring and enabling leadership and skills for ministry and exploring lay and ordained ministry with all those called by God to serve in communities and churches.
Creative and contemplative worship for all people is a great passion, as is accessible worship, with an honouring of the traditional church.

Who’s Who and what we do

Christ Church Totland Bay is in the Isle of Wight Deanery and the Diocese of Portsmouth.  It is the westernmost parish in the Diocese. It includes the tourist attractions of Colwell Bay, The Needles, Alum Bay and Tennyson Down.  Although the church is located at the geographical centre of the parish, the heart of the village is nearly half a mile down the hill, site of the church hall.  It is situated in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and has many SSSIs within its borders.  In addition to the church and church hall, we have a wooden annex behind the church with a fully equipped kitchen.

Find out more about us by following these links:

Lay Ministry Team

Several of our congregation have undertaken Lay Leadership training through the IW Deanery to enable  them to support Leisa and the wider Church community.

MISSION

Our Mission Strategy – Live, Pray and Serve

The last command given by our Lord was to go and make disciples of all nation (Mark Ch.16: v.15) and Christ Church seeks with God’s help to take its part in this mission.

To Live, to Pray and to Serve is our strategy for church growth.

To Live:

Christ Church seeks to equip people to live as disciples of Christ, growing in faith, responding to God’s call, bearing witness to the Gospel, and connecting our faith within our local, national and Global contexts.

To Pray:

To pray individually and together as members of a vibrant, open, faithful and growing worshipping community, where gifts are recognised and shared in ministry; paying particular attention to drawing young people, and new Christians into communities of faith.

To Serve:

Christ Church seeks To serve our local communities and society together, seeking the transformation of the world in justice and in peace, speaking the gospel in the public sphere, and promoting the common good.

There are four ways in which Christ Church hopes to play its part in promoting the themes of Living, Praying and Serving:

1. Making Disciples

Engaging disciples in prayer, worship and study.

2. Growing Churches

Engaging our church with the local community.

3. Learning for Life

Equipping people for lifelong learning as Christians  by engagement with schools in terms of ethos, relationships, life skills, worship/assemblies and governance.

4. Transforming Society

Promoting the common good. Promoting community stability, investing in community life and human relationships, seeking out the lonely, marginalised and giving them support and bringing them into a supportive community.

Mission at Christ Church, Totland Bay

“It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” (Eph 4:11). “From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph 4:16).

We are not all evangelists in the formal sense but we have all received gifts that we can use to help fulfil the responsibility of sharing the Gospel message, God has provided Christ Church with the means to do so through a wealth of God-given resources in and through its membership, for which we offer Him our humble and sincere thanks. Faith, practical skills, spiritual gifts, knowledge, wisdom, musical talents, spiritual gifts, encouragers, prayer warriors and financial expertise. With this wealth of  resources, God has given us many ways in which we can fulfil His command to preach the Good News of Jesus to all people. As part of our financial stewardship, Christ Church Parochial Council has set up a Mission Fund and has resolved to commit at least 10% of the church’s unrestricted income to charitable giving.

Home Mission and Collaborative Working of West Wight Churches

For more information on home mission and Collaborative Working click on either of the following links:

http://christchurchtotland.org.uk/about-us/west-wight-cluster/

http://christchurchtotland.org.uk/about-us/mission/at-home/

Overseas Mission

http://christchurchtotland.org.uk/about-us/mission/overseas/

West Wight Mission Community

Collaborative Working

Christ Church Totland Bay is just one of eleven Anglican churches within the West Wight Cluster of churches.  Following detailed discussions with PCC’s from the  eleven churches the recommendation from our Archdeacon was that the parishes form themselves into a ‘Mission Community’. This allows a combination of parishes to work together with a common goal. This model of mission and ministry was developed in the Diocese of Exeter and has been introduced in the Diocese of Oxford. Collaborative working enables churches to do things together that they cannot do on their own. This form of working also encourages lay ministry with the clergy exercising more of a ministry of oversight, rather than doing everything themselves. For legal and practical reasons (including clergy housing and travelling distance) there are two groups (or clusters) of churches in the West Wight Mission Community; the ‘Towns’ (Freshwater, Yarmouth and Totland) and the rural ‘Country’ parishes (Brighstone, Brook, Calbourne, Mottistone, Newtown, Shalfleet Shorwell and Thorley) and each cluster will have a full time priest in charge. In addition, there will continue to be a either a house-for-duty (part-time, non stipendiary) priest or full time curate to serve all the parishes in the Mission Community in various degrees. All eleven parishes in the cluster are encouraged to work ecumenically through Churches Together In West Wight and other arrangements with non-Anglican churches in the area.

The West Wight Mission Community

St Agnes, Freshwater Bay.

St James, Yarmouth

All Saints, Freshwater.

Christ Church, Totland Bay

 

 

 

 

 

 

The West Wight Mission Community is intentional in Mission and outreach, collaborative and supportive, it is enabling of people’s gifts and ministries and includes a variety of churches and styles. It establishes new expressions of church alongside the traditional and ensures a Christian presence, witness and care in every place. Not all parishes can or should offer every aspect of the church’s life and ministry but by joining in partnership with neighbouring churches and forming a Mission Community we can work together more effectively.

CTWW

Youth Work

In conjunction with Youth for Christ and in collaboration with Churches Together in West Wight, Christ Church supports a part time Youth Worker, Dan Wells. For more information about what Dan and the West Wight Churches Youth Project are doing follow this link.

Loving God – Loving our Community