Chapter Three - Local Ministry Teams
- In the light of our first chapter we now make our main recommendation.
We recommend that local ministry teams become the normal means through which mission and ministry are undertaken in the parishes and communities served by the diocese of Ely.
Our thinking draws upon ideas and experience, both theological and practical, which have become increasingly evident over the last thirty to forty years. We feel that this is the right time for the Diocese of Ely to take further significant steps in this direction.
- The factors that have combined to create a climate welcoming local ministry teams are biblical and theological insights, practical experience and current circumstances. Central to this developing climate are the themes of co-operation and inter-dependence.
- There has been a rediscovery of the church as the whole people of God (as
in 1 Peter), called to mission and ministry. In such a church, every member
is part of living out the vision of God's purposes of transforming love for
the world, using the gifts of all. There has also been a rediscovery of St
Paul's image of the church as a 'body' which many 'limbs and organs' who are
called to be the Body of Christ for the sake of the gospel.
- The ecumenical movement has provided a significant contribution, through
the World Council of Church's Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry (1982) process,
in seeing that ministry arises from baptism and from our ensuing common discipleship.
Ministry is a shared activity undertaken by the whole baptized people of
God. A recent International Anglican Liturgical Consultation, meeting in
2001, bases its discussion of the development of Anglican ordination rites
on this theological approach.
- That same Consultation statement also builds upon the rediscovery the doctrine
of God as Trinity as another basis for seeing mission and ministry as a co-operative
calling. "The whole of creation is called into being through the abundant
love of God, who in Christ participates in the world's life so that we may
share in the triune life of love and joy. Through the Holy Spirit, God baptizes
us into the life and ministry of Christ and forms us into the laos, the people
of God, who as signs and agents of God's reign participate in God's mission
of reconciling humanity and all creation to God. This is the ecclesia, the
church, the new community called into being by God." A General Synod paper,
A Time for Sharing (1995) provides another example of basing 'collaborative
ministry in mission' on our understanding of 'God as a Trinitarian relationship
of creative love'.
- There has been a rediscovery of a New Testament emphasis of ministry that
is based on the gifts of all. 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, remind us that
'Each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift'. Here
we are exhorted to use those gifts, including the ones where particular people
receive explicit authorisation in the church, 'to equip the saints for the
work of ministry' in which all are called to participate.
- Concepts of inclusiveness, community, co-operation and mutual sharing
of gifts are replacing notions which separate clergy and laity and emphasise
institution and hierarchy. Over many generations, the Church of England's
understanding of hierarchy has been one of the most significant barriers
to mission.
- These changes have found practical expression in many ways in the life
of the local church over recent decades, as a quick glance at any parish
magazine from the 1950s would reveal. Our typical image of parish ministry
is no longer that of a sole (male) incumbent working alone or occasionally
with his curates. In parishes and benefices throughout the diocese today
mission and ministry are shared by clergy (stipendiary, non-stipendiary
or retired), other licensed ministers (Readers, Church Army Evangelists),
elected officers (such as church wardens) and a whole variety of others
making their contribution locally - pastoral assistants, youth and children's
workers, parish administrators, people involve in evangelism, in local
schools, in community projects of many sorts. Our main proposal aims to
affirm and build on this trend in order to strengthen us all on our task,
'for the building up of the Body of Christ'. (Ephesians 4)
- If our main recommendation is adopted we shall need to consider the nature of locality, ministry, leadership, and the diocesan contribution to implementation.
What do we mean by 'local?
- Mission and ministry take place in all sorts of contexts. Most of us think
first about the parish, with its incumbent, other ministers, church wardens
and parochial church council and the various formal and informal aspects
of community life, including in some places a church school. Another significant
context is that of a working community, such as a university/college, hospital,
prison or other place of employment with a chaplain and/or ministerial
team. More generally, there are all those contexts that might be labelled
as 'home', 'work', 'community', 'leisure' where Christians are seeking
to live out their discipleship, and where occasionally there may be a 'minister
in secular employment' who has a particular authorisation for ministry.
We believe that our report is relevant in all these contexts.
- The 1995 Ministry Strategy Report recommended that "Teams should
be developed which are sympathetic to the area which they will serve" (p.4,
para 3.3), noting the existing variety of ways in which parishes and deaneries
are structured across the diocese. The Diocese of Durham has tackled this
task of introducing local ministry teams and has used the notion of 'locality'
as the main first step in deciding the areas where such teams will serve.
This involves a process carried out within deaneries, crossing current
deanery boundaries as appropriate. They have developed diocesan guidelines
appropriate for their situation. Although it would be important for further
work before they were adopted for use in Ely, we suggest that they provide
a helpful basis for the task of implementation. The Durham guidelines form
an Appendix to this report.
- It will be important to incorporate into a Diocese of Ely version of such
local ministry team guidelines an affirmation of the importance of developing
a 'mission statement' and development plan for each emerging locality.
In some cases this will build on existing experience of this, in response
to an earlier diocesan initiative. For others this will be a new task.
We attach great importance to being a church which gives priority to the
whole of the life of its locality as it thinks about mission and ministry,
of being a church that is outward-looking. This builds on a long Anglican
tradition that parish churches are there for the parish as a whole, rather
than exclusively for those who are currently the active members of the
'gathered church' in that place.
- We also think that the diocesan guidelines for establishing local ministry
teams need to give attention to one aspect of the situation where a locality
is made up of more than one community, say several villages each with its
parish church and regular congregation. We are concerned that the ministry
team should nominate one of its members in each community to be the minister
widely known throughout the community as the first person to contact.
- We wish to affirm one of the central values within the task of identifying localities and beginning the formation of local ministry teams within them, namely, that this process must give priority to local considerations. It will be a process that is affirmed by the diocese and managed within the existing Pastoral Committee framework, but in order to be effective it needs to be owned and worked out in the localities themselves. The Diocese can provide encouragement and guidance and through its guidelines a common approach and assistance in the task. Nevertheless, the move into, and in many cases, further into mission and ministry based on co-operation and interdependence, relying on mutual trust and open communication is in the hands of people locally.
What understanding of 'ministry' are we recommending?
- Given a particular locality, and a local mission statement, the question
is then, 'What ministry do we need to offer here?' The lists drawn up in
different localities will have many items in common. One such list in Robin
Greenwood's The Ministry Team Handbook, which the Task Group recommends
as a resource in this process, includes: 'worship, witnessing in the workplace,
preaching, evangelism, neighbourhood and global issues, healing, spiritual
guidance, administration, preparation for sacraments, pastoral visiting,
community projects' 1. The church, as the whole people of God, in any locality
will need a number of functions to be carried out and a number of tasks
to be done. We are proposing that priority is given to the tasks that need
to be done and the gifts that are needed to carry out those tasks. The
development (calling, selecting, training, authorising and supporting)
of people to carry out particular ministry puts these functions (like those
in the 'Ephesians 4' list: preaching, evangelising, pastoring, teaching
and so on) before orders or offices (such as priest, Reader, evangelist).
Indeed we need to be clear that a local ministry team, chosen on a gifts-linked-to-tasks
basis, could include not only clergy and Readers licensed by the diocese
but also locally authorised ministers, elected office holders and other
church members. Nor need the team necessarily be exclusively Anglican.
- Nobody will be starting from a blank sheet in this process, even in the
case of establishing a ministry team in a locality which includes major
new housing expansion. This will be a matter of development undertaken
within the localities.
- However, there are some matters relating to deployment of licensed clergy and ministers, to selection and training, to the determination of which additional forms of accreditation for ministry are to be available, which need to be decided at diocesan level.
What sort of leadership should we expect from a local ministry 'team'?
- Different traditions within the church express the theological model
of leadership differently, but in various ways they express the importance
role of accountability and oversight. We wish to promote the view that
this aspect of leadership should be seen to reside with the ministry team
as a whole in a locality rather than in an individual. This particular
model already exists in formal Team Ministries, which contains a 'chapter'
of those who share in the incumbency with the Team Rector. The Measure,
which sets out this way of constituting a formal Team Ministry acknowledges
that shared ministry, involves shared leadership. We would wish to see
local ministry teams set up on a basis that allows the team together with
a designated team leader to hold the authorisation and responsibility for
leadership in the locality, expressing an effective balance of gifts related
to tasks. This will have practical consequence for the licensing of local
ministry teams and the services when new members join the team.
- If there are assumptions that leadership has to focus exclusively on an individual, or on an ordained member of a team, or on a stipendiary member of a team, then there is work to be done in moving to a corporate model of shared leadership. The attitudes and expectations of the people involved in the local ministry team, of the congregations and communities they are serving will affect how this works out in practice.
What sort of leadership should we expect from a local ministry 'team'?
- It is clear that although the Task Group's main recommendation is quite
specific and although the main principles that have guided our thinking
lead in some quite particular directions, much of what we are saying
is still quite general. This represents the point that the Task Group
has reached in the process of consultation and discussion. We are also
concerned at this stage to test out our proposals through the Bishop's
Council and the Diocesan Synod. If the Synod adopts this report there
will need to be further consultation and work as we move towards implementation.
- We are recommending that the Diocese appoint (through the Bishop's
Council in co-operation with a Council for Mission and Ministry2 and
the Board Education and Training) a Local Ministry Teams Advisory
Group,
whose tasks will include:
- to assist in any further process
of consultation, discussion and reception of the Ministry Strategy Task
Group's report
- to produce diocesan guidelines
for the implementation process
- to facilitate the integration
of diocesan support services in the implementation process
- to recruit, train and support
a panel of voluntary advisers to assist the process locally
- to help parishes and deaneries
undertake the process of identifying the localities for ministry teams
throughout the diocese
- to facilitate events that
enable the production of mission statements and development plans for
each locality
- to advise in the setting up
of local ministry teams
- to advise on training and
development needs
- to help draw up local terms
of reference
- to facilitate reviews of existing local ministry teams to advise the Bishop when a team is ready for recognition.
- to assist in any further process
of consultation, discussion and reception of the Ministry Strategy Task
Group's report
Notes:
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