Always One?

Speak to your vicar & PCC, & inform them that if this individual is allowed to continue to carry on this way that you - & probably a lot of others will be finding another place of worship.
I would sound out others who may have had her treatment too. Then you need to stick to it & if nothing improves find another church.
You cannot let her carry on this way. I am no longer a churchgoer but I do know how situations like this can cause huge problems. Good luck!

I've just had a mischievous thought..............perhaps the bully and the vicar are enjoying some after service activities! ?? Just saying!

I think this is the vicar's job. He needs to take this woman aside and tell her she is upsetting other people with her behaviour. So it isn't personal, perhaps you, along with two or three others who agree, go to see him together. It isn't right that anyone feels like leaving, or feels intimidated by anyone else.

The Church of England recognises bullying and some Dioces have proceedures for dealing with this already in place.
Maybe asking the Vicar who your Safeguarding or Harrassment Officer is in your Church, might encourage the Vicar to be more proactive, themselves, in your situation.
Good Luck

Remember it takes 2 to have an argument so don't be that second person.

If there are enough of you who feel the same way about this person then.....
* Agree to sit together on the opposite pews so it is noticeable that the congregation is lopsided.
*Approach the vicar en masse with a list of complaints, stating times and things said and done, and inform him that, unless the situation improves after 2 Sundays, it will be forwarded to the hierarchy. If nothing happens then, leave en masse too.
*If he/she starts shouting at one person, then agree to step in and stand together, as a human shield saying nothing, causing her to step backwards- never be the ones to retreat- then turn together and just talk to each other as a group as if nothing has happened. Ignore anything going on behind and crowd together so no one can 'muscle' in.
* Set up a 'by invitation only' facebook group to publicise events your group is involved with. That won't exclude anyone attending, just controlling how you publicise it, as this other person seems to be doing .
* Personally, I think I'd want to have a water pistol in my bag!!!! It would be self defence then if the shouting was in my face. However, any physical touching should be reported as an assault to the police- there will be enough witnesses.

Luckily, I'm an atheist so don't have to put up with church politics but acknowledge it can happen in any group. I do think that the strong, silent and concerted approach is better than confrontation. If he/she ever behaves well, on occasion, you can comment how lovely it has been to chat today with a beaming ( forced! ) smile - positive re-enforcement.

Sounds as if there are many others, apart from you, who are fed up with is woman - she is only one, although she seems to have the ear of the vicar & other officers. If you ALL threatened to leave, &/or notify to the higher authorities that you were thinking of doing so, & why = I wonder what would happen.....

Sorry you have to deal with this.

I suggest you film one or more of her outbursts and send to Bishop

I would just smile and ignore. You get difficult people in all walks of life.

I am in charge of the church notice boards, but of course others are welcome to stick their stuff there too. Having said that, if this idiot insists on removing your notices, find somewhere else for them - a shop, the church bulletin boards, the sub-post office... and also, the Vicar must know that unless he puts his foot down, the whole lot of you may even stop going to this church, and move en messe to the next one. I think she needs the feeling of power, because she has issues, though - it is not normal to shout in people's faces.

Maybe it's the vicar that needs to go.

Could you possibly just tolerate her, as long as she does not hit anyone or slash their tyres, or slander other people?

Time the vicar asked the bully to return the key to the notice board to him

Is this individual male or female ?? Have you and others made a formal written complaint to your vicars superior ?? If not then it’s essential that you do .... I would state that they frighten and intimidate you and then tell them that if it happens again you’ll report them to the police !! It may be in church that they are currently intimidating you but if they spoke to you like that in the street would you tolerate it ... I think not ! You have to stand up to bullies !!!

As a practising Christian l am very sorry to hear that you are going through these difficulties. I agree with many of the previous suggestions about going to the PCC and getting together with others and writing to the vicar and bishop. Ultimately, though, l think you might find that changing churches might be the best path in the long run. After all, if you were in any form of difficulty would you feel comfortable confiding in the vicar after this experience?

Sound s as if she has a personality disorder and will carry on behaving like this regardless of what measures you take. These people are very difficult to deal or cope with and reap havoc wherever they go. I am not a church goer but would consider putting in a complaint if thats possible? The vicar sounds gutless tbh!

If she shouts at people just calmly say to her ‘ Stop, now. Do you realise you are being a bully and I am going to have to report you to the PCC if you do not change your ways. And please do not remove anyone’s notices from the notice board or this will be reported too. You are meant to be a Christian so start behaving like one please ‘.

Leave, cut them loose, not worth the hassle, keep your sanity

Write to the vicar, setting out your concerns and demonstrating that they are shared by others, and copy it to the bishop. Nothing like letting the boss know what’s going on.

Find another church ... some things you can’t change.

Could this be a safe guarding issue??? If she is bullying vulnerable people then i think it is. Someone may know the answer. If it is the it certainly needs to be taken higher. She is defo bullying the Vicar by the sounds of it and if he is not strong enough to deal with her then someone with more authority may be able to sort it all out and even offer him more support.

What is known about this woman, she is a member of the
Church community in a village, does she have family, friends,
does she upset her neighbours?

Lots on here have said leave the church and move elsewhere but then bullies are left to thrive and upset others in the original church. The bullies should be stood up to. Sometimes they actually do not even realise how bad they are. And look at Gordon Ramsay. He was treated badly by his father and you can see how he then mimicked that behaviour with his kitchen staff, etc.

well tell the vicar you want in on the next commitee meeting ...maybe she can attend a meeting run by you ladies and let her air her views there.but really it up to your vicar to calm troubled waters .maybe this lady has mental health problems.try praying to. maybe she wants a friend.if i had a problem with someone in my church i would tell my pastor/.vicar.....its not a good idea moving away from the church you like .this needs to be sorted....

also when she starts arguing ,just stand there and imagine her naked ,that will make you either cringe or smirk. mine is to smile /smirk then she will wonder why. dont give in to her bullying you ,stand firm and united with friends.if you are happy in your church then stay ....vicar needs some counselling if he cant sort it out ,he cant just let things roll.maybe a rota could be got up as to who puts the things on the notice board...

I agree with Teetime - contact the Bishop. Your vicar is letting his entire congregation down (including the bully) either out of laziness or through being intimidated themselves