BAXENDEN vicar, the Reverend Mark Ireland, is leaving his Hyndburn parish in a move to the Diocese of Lichfield.

As Diocesan Missioner, Mr Ireland will be responsible for leading a team of officers on the Board of Mission and Unity in one of the largest dioceses in the country.

Mr Ireland, aged 37, who has been Vicar of Baxenden for more than eight years, will leave in December.

He said: "It will be a great wrench to leave a parish of gifted and wonderful people, where I have been immensely happy and fulfilled.

"However I am really excited - and daunted - by the prospect of this new challenge and very different kind of responsibility.

"If this is God's leading, as I'm sure it is, then I am sure that God will also bring to Baxenden the right person to lead the parish forward in its worship and mission."

The new vicar will be appointed by the Bishop of Blackburn, in consultation with two representatives elected by the Church Council.

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