A Looe priest has become a new rural dean as part of an ambitious plan to reach out to communities.

Reverend Ben Morgan Lundie was commissioned as Rural Dean for West Wivelshire, which is one of the 12 deaneries that make up the Diocese of Truro and includes Liskeard, Looe, Menheniot, St Cleer, St Ive, St Neot, Duloe and Lanreath.

Rev Morgan Lundie himself was last year appointed as priest in charge of the benefices of Looe and Morval and Duloe and Herodsfoot. He continues those duties at the same time as assuming his responsibilities as Rural Dean.

His appointment follows the Anglican Church in Cornwall agreeing this spring to an ambitious new plan to reach out to communities, families and young people. Central to that plan is the role of the Rural Dean.

Right Reverend Hugh Nelson, Bishop of St Germans said: “With so many good things and so much change going on, our new Rural Deans will be there to give vital support and direction.

The Venerable Kelly Betteridge, Archdeacon of Bodmin added: “Rural Deans are important because they provide stability and encouragement in times of change, and because they offer a strategic lead and keep us on track with the implementation of our plans,”

Rev Morgan Lundie was born in St Austell and brought up in the village of Grampound.

He studied biology in London, and then took a further degree in law, before practising for ten years as a solicitor in Birmingham. In 2005, he and his wife relocated to his native Cornwall, where they’ve raised their three children.

Rev Morgan Lundie then spent a couple of years working for a law firm in Truro, before moving on to work with an energy business based in Helston, developing international projects involving renewable technologies.

All this time, his faith had been essential to his life. He’d been brought up going to church, and had attended a church school. During his time studying law in London in the early nineties, he’d taken a course in Christian discipleship to explore the essence of his faith.

“It was then that it became very personal,” he says. “It stopped being abstract. It was the realisation that Jesus had died for me.”

But it wasn’t till 2013 that he came to recognise his calling to ministry. He and his wife had been involved in a faith group at Kea Church, to the south of Truro. Rev Morgan Lundie recalls standing at the front of the group giving a talk.

“I just had a sense of what a privilege it was,” he says. “My next thought was whether I should do this full-time.”

Rev Morgan Lundie trained for his ordination in Oxford, and went on to serve his curacy at Budock Church, as well as supporting church projects around Falmouth.

Having been appointed to oversee Anglican worship across four parishes in the area of Looe, he has become a great champion of pioneering forms of ministry.

“What it means is going outside the church and developing new ways of worshipping,” he explains. “It’s about encouraging people who aren’t necessarily ordained into ministry.”

He is deeply committed to bringing the Church up to date with the challenges faced by people in its parishes.

He says: “I’m passionate about the church thriving and being relevant. I want each of my parishes to be authentic, to celebrate the local and to relate to its community.”