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Accreditation Sub-Committee Maintaining the roll of ministers, this sub-committee accredits those applying for inclusion after training and those coming from other denominations. It is concerned with numbers and recruitment. Church Related Community Work Central Management Sub-Committee It is responsible for managing the Church Related Community Work Programme under the terms agreed in the Church Related Community Work Covenant. Lay Preaching Support Sub-Committee It is responsible for the advocacy of lay preaching and support of lay preachers in the United Reformed Church. Maintenance of the Ministry Sub-Committee Advises on the level of stipend and ministers' conditions of service through the Plan for Partnership. It is also concerned for pensions through its associated Pensions Sub-Committee. Retired Ministers Housing Sub-Committee Works in association with the United Reformed Church Ministers Housing Society Ltd. Committee Members Convener: Revd Graham Long Secretary:
Revd Christine Craven 1 Personalia 1.1 There have been a considerable number of changes since the committee last reported to General Assembly. The Revd Robert Way has been succeeded by the Revd Ken Chippindale as convener of the Accreditations Sub Committee. Mr Brian Evans has been succeeded as convener of the National Assessment Board by Mrs Darryl Sinclair, and the Revd Susan Flynn as convener of the Church Related Community Work Central Management Committee by the Revd Alison Hall. We are most grateful to Robert, Brian and Susan for the service they have given. 1.2 On the main committee we have said farewell to the Revds Brian Jolly and Martha McInnes, and Miss Margery King, and we have welcomed the Revd Peter Noble, and Mrs Alison Biggs. Mr John Ellis has also joined the committee as convener elect. 1.3 Particular mention must be made of two commitee secretaries who have retired since our last report: Mr John Boddy acted as secretary to the CRCW Central Management Committee for many years, and Mr Clive Willis served as secretary to the Retired Ministers Housing sub committee. In their separate ways both have given exemplary service to the national church. 1.4 Ministries is served by a number of paid staff members, and by a much greater number of people who give their service to the church. The many and various matters the committee is bringing to General Asssembly this year could easily mask the extensive ongoing work done by our committees and staff. We are indeed most grateful for the valued contribution they have made to the Ministries Committee and to our wider life together. General Assembly owes them all a great a debt of gratitude. 2 A massive agenda 2.1 The greater part of our report to General Assembly this year is carried in the many papers and resolutions the committee is bringing to General Assembly on its own behalf and on behalf of the sub committees. These include > the strategy for lay preacher recruitment in response to the needs identified in the countrywide survey conducted at the end of 2000; > provision for the fuller inclusion of church related community workers within the revised plan for partnership with associated pension provision and access to retired ministers' housing; > provision for the issue of a new category of certificates of limited eligibility for ministry in certain circumstances; > the presentation of ministers and church related community workers from other churches recently inducted into the ministry of the United Reformed Church to General Assembly in the same way that our own ordinands and missionaries serving amongst us are presented; > a new structure for dealing with retired ministers' housing; > and the interim but major report from the working party on future patterns of ministries. 3 Working Party on Deployment Issues 3.1 The working party was formed to examine and evaluate the current practice of calling and deploying ministers of word and sacraments, and other deployment related matters, and to offer recommendations for future policy, in response to general concerns within the Ministries Committee and issues raised in Mission Council by the Yorkshire synod. 3.2 The working party presented a progress report to the February meeting of the Committee and was encouraged to press on with its work. It aims to present an interim report to Mission Council in October and to report to General Assembly in 2003. 4 Minister numbers 4.1 Among the responsibilities included in the remit of the Ministries Committee is oversight of minister numbers and recruitment. In order for the Ministries Committee to fulfil that responsibility the first task has been to establish an up to date and accurate record of the ministerial roll of the United Reformed Church and the minister's status and form of service. 4.2 In 1995 General Assembly instructed the Ministries Committee to maintain relevant records on a database. The database was developed in Microsoft Access by an outside consultant and all known details of Ministers and Church Related Community Workers have been entered onto it. Mrs Judith Johnson has carried out this latter task meticulously and admirably since 1996. She receives updated information on the movement and service of the ministers from the Synods every two months. 4.3 In addition information relevant to minister numbers arrives in Church House through the Communications and payroll offices. An accurate record of minister numbers and the forms of service they exercise at any one time results from co-ordination of information between the Ministries, Communications and Finance offices. We are indebted not only to Judith but to Stephanie Honey, Mary Williams and Alison Peberdy who crosscheck their information and thereby maintain the current accuracy of the records. 5 Minister statistics 5.1 From this account of the process of data collation we can turn to the frequently asked question 'How many URC ministers are there?' The answer is not so straightforward as people might expect. A further question needs first to be answered. 'To which category of minister do you refer?' 5.2 If the question is about the total number of ministers listed in the Year Book the answer is 1868. If the question is about those in full time stipendiary service in the United Reformed Church the answer is 643. In addition there are several other categories of service and status between those two figures. The full picture is shown in the following table. 5.3 Minister Numbers as at the end February 2002 Non-Stipendiary Service
Full-Stipend 643 Total on Roll 1868 (* 66 under 65, 22 over 65) 6 Minister numbers, deployment and the stipend budget 6.1 Paragraphs 4.1 to 4.3 provide the facts about the way information about numbers is processed. The purposes for gathering that information are threefold. a) With the information about present and predicted numbers of ministers who will be in stipendiary service the Ministries Committee contributes to the production of the budget for stipends in the United Reformed Church. b) The figures are also used as the basis for the deployment quota for each synod. The Ministries office is responsible for applying the deployment formula in order to divide the number of full time equivalent posts between the Synods. Knowledge of the pastoral needs and mission requirements of individual churches lies with the local churches and the Districts and so that part of the deployment exercise belongs within the conversations between the Synods, District and Area Councils and the local churches. c) So far this account has made no mention of the management or control of the future number of ministers. Over the last thirty years various reports to General Assembly have acknowledged the difficulty in managing and controlling minister numbers. General Assembly has never stated how many ministers in stipendiary service the United Reformed Church can or should deploy at any one time. Discussions in the past have centred on the actual number at any time, the perceived lack of ministry and the various forms of ministerial service rather than what the number of ministers should or might be. 6.2 However within the Growing Up report of 1999 was the recommendation that minister numbers should track the overall rate of increase or decrease in membership number by half the rate. Monitoring and predicting the relationship between minister and membership numbers has become part of the oversight of minister numbers carried out by the Ministries Committee. 6.3 This is no easy task since every year brings a certain number of unpredictable changes to the predicted numbers of ministers based on retirements and ordinations. Nevertheless the Ministries Committee is monitoring current trends and seeking a clearer understanding of some of the categories of change previously recorded as unpredictable. 6.4 However during 2001 minister numbers did not track membership numbers as recommended and the result was a higher number of ministers on the payroll than had been predicted for the budget. The Committee is working closely with the Finance Committee to address this situation. It believes that measured use of the current procedures, strengthened by the Mission Council proposals relating to the age of retirement which will remove an area of considerable uncertainty, should prove sufficient means to deal with the situation. 6.5 This account of this aspect of the work of the Ministries Committee is presented in the context of the interim report of the Future Pattern of Ministries Working Party and anticipated report of the Deployment Working Party. It will provide some of the background information General Assembly will need when making decisions in the future. 7 Chaplaincies 7.1 General Assembly last year asked Ministries to conduct a review of the support given to chaplaincies. Because of the considerable weight of business carried by the committee during the past year this piece of work is only now commencing. The committee aims to report to General Assembly in 2004. |
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