St.Mary's Brownsea had fallen into disuse, but was revived and restored in the 1960s. A Family Service is held there at 3.00pm, every Sunday from May to September, when the island is open.

The present incumbent, Nigel LLoyd, came to the team in 1992. The churches in the team were very much alive and the previous incumbent had had a long and distinguished ministry. Noticeable in 1992 was the centrality of the ordained priesthood. At St.Peter's the morning services consisted of an 8.00am Eucharist, a 9.30am Eucharist with hymns and a 10.45am High Mass - all rite B.

St.Peter's owns some very fine Vestments and it was always the case that the "high mass set" of chasuble, dalmatic and tunicle, were filled by three priests. Lay people were allowed to read the prayers, but only ones previously written by one of the clergy. One or two lay people were licensed to administer the chalice, but could only do so if robed.

The major thrust of development since 1992 has been to dramatically change the whole pattern of ministry away from its past clergy dominance to a collaborative style which sees ministry as belonging to the whole people of God. We still use the glorious vestments, on special occasions, but only lay people are allowed to dress as "Subdeacons". We have 27 Eucharistic Administrators (unrobed), who administer both bread and wine and often take communion out to the housebound. Intercessions are always written and led by lay people. The liturgy has been transformed into a modern catholic style, using all the new liturgies. The pattern of worship was changed to:

8.00am Holy Communion (Order One Traditional)
10.00am Parish Eucharist (Order One Modern)
3.00pm Family Service on Brownsea (Summer months)
6.30pm Choral Evensong - 1662

The old clergy staff meeting of four ordained people has given way to a ministerial team of twelve, in which lay people outnumber clergy. As well as the Rector, we have an NSM Priest, a full time Curate and two OLM clergy. About a dozen people have been trained as LPAs. Since 1992, nine people have gone forward to test their vocation as reader or to the ordained ministry.

At St.Osmund's, a great deal of unrest was generated at the time the issue of women priests came to the fore. There was a pastoral breakdown in the ministry at St.Osmund's and two thirds of the congregation were lost, never to return. The church was no longer a going concern, but out of crisis came the opportunity to further restructure the ministry of the team, with a greater emphasis on enabling the ministry of the whole people of God.

In November of 2000 the regular quinquennial report revealed serious structural damage to St.Osmund's Church. The church was constructed out of weak and corroding concrete and some of the vaulting was declared to be unsafe.  The building faces a repair bill of about a third of a million pounds to make it safe again. On the advice of our insurance company the church was closed after Remembrance Sunday 2000 and subsequently the PCC voted to ask the Diocese to make the church redundant. The congregation of St.Osmund's has successfully moved down to St.Peter's. At the same time we were involved in a plan to set up a new ministry with a person appointed as half-time minister of the local URC congregation and half-time chaplain to the Civic Centre. As all this ministry falls within the geographical area of St.Peter's Parkstone, and as the successful candidate was an Anglican priest, we signed a Covenant to form a Local Ecumenical Partnership with the URC congregation and Jonathan Martin has been licensed as an NSM priest in our team.

Scouting began in the parish, with the first ever scout camp being held on Brownsea Island, and we have strong uniformed organisations. We also run a highly successful pre-school, as well as a mid-week mother and toddler group and a Sunday school. We have engaged in the question of how we can make disciples and encourage and nurture each other "on the way" and we now have a social outreach programme under the heading of "Love your Neighbour".

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