Appendix: Durham Diocese Guidelines for Deanery Pastoral Committees on 'localities'

1. A locality needs to create and reinforce pastoral units which can deliver effective mission, ministry and pastoral care.
   
2. A locality should also be more than just a convenient ecclesiastical unit from an administrative point of view. It must relate to one or more communities which cohere sufficiently through culture and economy, distance and history to make a locality recognisable to people outside the Church.
   
3. A locality must be financially viable overall, even if smaller units within the locality are struggling. Financial viability means the ability to pay the parish share assessment now and the expectation to continue to meet these obligations in the future through a genuine commitment to stewardship. There will be continued support for locality ministries which require a largely subsidised stipendiary ministry where there is recognised social and economic need.
   
4. A locality needs within it congregations sufficiently large and active in their working together to provide centres of celebration, active mission and shared ministry in teaching and preaching and pastoral care so as to attract and nurture new disciples as a natural development. This should apply in all areas and across all traditions.
   
5. A locality needs the size and vigour to be able to recruit and support the training of an active lay leadership which could, over time and with training, take on much of the administration of the locality. There could be an effective concentration of expert roles across a locality, with on trained treasurer looking after the finances of the whole unit and perhaps with on 'locality office' from which lots of the day-to-day administration could be carried out by lay administrators.
   
6. A locality is likely to have more than one stipendiary priest ministering in collaboration with other clergy and accredited ministers for mutual support and more effective working across existing boundaries. This means that priests and lay ministers might be able to play to their particular strengths, one person taking responsibility for education across the locality, while other concentrate on worship, leading in evangelism, etc.
   
7. A locality may have a number of church buildings and congregations but they will share stipendiary ministers who will reside in different parts of the locality but close enough to each other and to other accredited ministers to meet regularly for prayer and mutual support.
   
8. Buildings within the locality must be capable of being sustained by those who use them.
   
9. It is hoped that each locality which has sister churches within it will look to create an ecumenical dimension to the locality mission plan even if it has to remain only an aspiration until beyond March 2002.
   
10. Currently running and well-developed Group Ministries and Team Ministries provide two existing models of co-operation between clergy and laity and different churches. It is conceivable that these groupings might become localities or be enlarged into them, although such a decision lies with the deanery.

Contents

• Foreword by the Bishop of Ely
• Introduction by the former Bishop of Huntingdon
• Chapter One Context and Challenges
• Chapter Two Licensed and Authorised Ministry
• Chapter Three Local Ministry Teams
• Chapter Four Resourcing Ministry
• Chapter Five Structures
• Recommendations
• Bibliography
• Appendix

Downloads

• Report in PDF Format
• Report in Word Format