On the surface, the Thrift Shop is a place where local people can get cheap goods—clothing, household items, toys, books—without travelling to an urban centre and paying higher retail prices

In a rural community where almost one in five children live in poverty, that is a significant incentive for the Thrift Shop to be present in the community.

In its new, more visible and accessible location, the Thrift Shop offers us a front-line opportunity to assess community and individual needs. As the base for many of our ministries, the Thrift Shop is a warm, welcoming space for people of all abilities and socio-economic circumstances. This is especially important in the offering of our weekly Brown Bag Lunches and Meals to Go and our seasonal fresh produce exchange. An unexpected benefit of the Thrift Shop was how we support home-based and other small businesses who use Re-new Creation as a source for online sales or upcycling.

While many community members value the availability of low-cost goods, they also appreciate having a local, ethical place to donate items. St. Luke’s Leeds promotes the re-use and repurposing of items as part of our commitment to the 5th Mark of Mission, “To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.” An Australian study estimates that the average charity shop receives 339 tonnes of donations in store annually – that is a lot of material diverted from landfills!

The proceeds from Re-new Creation Thrift Shop are shared between the operating fund for St. Luke’s Leeds, which enables our many other ministries, and outreach at the local, national and global levels. Due to the pandemic, the first full year of operation for the Thrift Shop was 2023 during which $60,000 in sales were made. From these sales, over $30,000 was donated to causes that met our values: feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, caring for the environment, nurturing children & youth, responding to needs amid disaster.

Re-new Creation Thrift Shop is entirely volunteer-run. As our Thrift Shop Manager, Susan Duncan observes, “we have a great group of dedicated volunteers who truly enjoy their time at the thrift shop. The biggest reason they like volunteering is that they get to see firsthand the good work we are doing in the community, for example assisting people who may need some help just to get by, and also the Meals 2 Go program. We all enjoy our regular customers and look forward to greeting them week after week.” The volunteers are integral in identifying community and individual needs and how we can improve the space to make it more inviting.

The evolution of Re-new Creation St. Luke’s Thrift Shop didn’t happen overnight. It was through intentional discernment, listening for the movement of the Holy Spirit and trusting in God to bring us to new places where we are being called to be the hands of Jesus in service to others.

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What are some of the benefits of shared clergy leadership? At its heart it is relational – a kinship that reflects the image of our relational Triune God as a model for our parish leaders. Especially during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been a blessing to be in this clergy kinship to lessen feelings of isolation and to share the burdens of ministry. Shared clergy leadership also offers a fertile ground for creative collaboration. We learn from each other and can interactively build on ideas to resolve problems or develop new ministry initiatives. That collaborative nature extends to all parish teams leading to new, vibrant expressions of the gospel in our part of the vineyard. 

Sounds great, right?! Spoiler alert: shared clergy leadership won’t work in every context. What makes LAM work isn’t the sheer will of the clergy to make it work. Rather, the parishes entered into this area ministry covenant through prayerful discernment and continue to develop their relationships with one another as they live out their calling in this ministry. It also helps to have clergy who bring different gifts and experiences but have a shared commitment to the ministry as servant leaders. And of course, communication is critical – both in expressing thoughts and ideas as well as intentional listening. 

LAM is grateful to Bishop Michael for his leadership and in trusting the Spirit to lead us through this emerging model of area ministry. And as clergy in LAM we give thanks for the inspiring gifts our lay leaders share in bringing good news of God’s Kin-dom to our communities and beyond.

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