Paul Harcourt will be handing over of the baton of National Leader of New Wine England to Rich Johnson.
This follows a period of prayerful discernment and a Trustee-led interview process. We are deeply grateful for Paul’s seven-year service through extra-ordinary times, and we look forward with great joy to Rich’s leadership. Both Paul and Rich are serving church leaders, in congruence our vision to be “local churches changing nations”.
Paul has led New Wine England through two changes of site for our summer United conference, the challenges of Covid lockdown, introduction of New Wine Online. He has overseen exceptional fundraising and essential restructuring of the New Wine staff, to whom we pay immense tribute for their dedication in the challenges we have faced.
“Paul has always been humble, gracious, seemingly unruffled by the unexpected and yet expectant of God’s direction and provision. He has consistently taught from the Bible about God’s generosity and willingness to pour His Spirit on those who ask; signs and wonders, salvation and healings have been a hallmark of his New Wine meetings whether at United, in local churches or at other NW International gatherings. This means the New Wine Network is now better placed to unite churches to ‘train everyone, mentor leaders and plant churches’, to see the nation changed by and for Jesus.”– John Coles, chair of New Wine
Rich has been part of the New Wine family since he came to faith in Jesus as a member of Trinity Cheltenham. His time serving in churches in London and New Zealand have given him an understanding of the breadth of impact of the New Wine Network. He has demonstrated wisdom, grace and significant leadership skills as All Saints Worcester which God has grown into a vibrant multi-faceted church “joining with God in the renewal of all things and practising the way of Jesus in community.” He has helped lead the Hungry venue at United in an informal and faith-filled manner which enabled many to encounter God in fresh ways, and he has contributed significantly to developing the strategy for networking church leaders around the country.
“Rich brings vision, prayerfulness and strategic clarity. We were unanimous in our decision to appoint him. Team is vital to him and our passion to grow younger and more diverse was already on Rich’s heart.”- Bishop Jill Duff, Trustee
Paul will continue to be New Wine National Leader until the end of April with Rich as New Wine Leader Designate. Rich’s immediate priorities will be our staff team, building his National Leadership Team and oversight of the United 23 summer conferences. He will be seconded 45% time from his role as Vicar of All Saints Worcester. We are deeply thankful to All Saints, and grateful to Bishop John for his whole-hearted support. This is a different time commitment to Paul, so an important part of this transition is enabling new sustainable patterns of working; and we hope a new approach to leadership in New Wine, with more people carrying responsibility than before.
This means that appointing a National Leadership Team to complement Rich’s gifts is one of the next stages. Since last Summer a wide group of leaders have been working together and we continue to be really grateful for their commitment. Out of this, a new NLT will be appointed, no later than the summer.
In inviting Rich to consider the National Leader role, we have invited Kath to consider what her involvement might look like. We have seen the way they lead together in their local church, and the way they led the New Wine Hungry Venue, and we would love this to be expressed in the wider leadership of New Wine going forward. Recognising this the Trustees also interviewed Kath and we invited her to become part of the leadership going forward alongside her role with IJM (International Justice Mission).
We also want to acknowledge the huge contribution that Becky Harcourt has made to New Wine over the last 7 years as a member of the leadership team. In particular, Becky’s deep prayerfulness and therapeutic wisdom have been hugely significant and we want to express our heart-felt thanks to her. We are delighted that Paul and Becky will continue to have a leadership role in New Wine.
Please join us in thanking God for his provision of such rich leadership, praying for the flourishing of the New Wine network and seeking the visitation of the Holy Spirit on our nations
John Coles & Jill Duff