|
|
|
|
THE UNITED REFORMED CHURCH Minutes of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church 2004
Monday July 5 2004 Second Session.The Assembly Clerk presented the minutes of Sunday 4th July. The Assembly approved the minutes.
Eastern Synod
The Eastern Synod made its presentation.
New Ministers and CRCW’s
Synod Moderators introduced ministers and Church Related Community Workers who had been ordained or commissioned since the previous meeting of the Assembly, or transferred from other denominations. (Those whose names had been reported to a previous Assembly but who were received at this Assembly are marked ¯.) Each of those present was greeted in turn and received by the Assembly with applause.
Northern Synod (Moderator: Revd Peter Poulter)
Revd Ed Butlin Felton, Longframlington & Glanton with Revd Robert Sheard North Cumbria Group Mrs Helen Stephenson Grindon URC, Sunderland
North Western Synod (Moderator: Revd Peter Brain)
Revd Kate Gray Wythenshawe Revd Janet Sutton Alkrington & Providence Revd Mike Walsh Heald Green
Mersey Synod (Moderator: Revd Howard Sharp)
Revd Christopher Tolley Norwich URC and Over URC
East Midlands Synod (Moderator: Revd Terry Oakley)
Revd Richard Eastman South Leicestershire Group Revd Brian Norris South Derbyshire Team, Derby West Group Revd Edward Rawlins Northamptonshire District
West Midlands Synod (Moderator: Revd Elizabeth Welch)
Revd Dr Deborah Anderson Banner’s Gate URC & Hodge Hill LEP Revd Franziska Herring Blakenall & Broadway URC’s, Walsall
Revd David
Poulton Trinity Baddesley Ensor LEP, Trinity
Mr Dennis Neville CRCW, Bloomsbury Mission Project
South Western Synod (Moderator: Revd David Grosch-Miller)
Revd Carla A
Grosch-Miller Synod Racial Justice Advocate & Staff
Wessex Synod (Moderator: Revd Adrian Bulley)
Revd Lynda Spokes Reading & Oxford DC minister Special Projects in assoc with St. Mary’s URC, Banbury
Revd Robert Weston Park URC, Reading
Thames North Synod (Moderator: Revd Roberta Rominger)
Revd Susan
McKenzie Barnet, Wood St and Barnet, Revd Ann Woodhurst Upminster
Southern Synod (Moderator: Revd Nigel Uden)
Revd Peter Clark North Kent Group Revd Christine Jefferies Folkestone & Hythe URC’s
Synod of Wales (Moderator: Revd Peter Noble)
Revd Kate Gartside Bay of Colwyn Pastorate Revd Ruth Browning Dee Estuary Pastorate
The Moderator greeted the new ministers and CRCW’s and invited the Chaplain to lead the Assembly in prayer.
The General Secretary named those ministers who were celebrating ministerial jubilees during the year:
Ordained 1934 Ordained 1944 Ordained 1954
Kenneth Raymond SAINSBURY Alyn Lloyd DAVIES Granville DAVIES Edward Philip EASTMAN Sidney Samuel Thomas EVANS Stanley Horner HODGSON Thomas JONES Ronald Martin WARD Eric Stanley ALLEN Anthony John BRADSHAW John Ewart FRANCIS Colin FURSE Gordon Ewart HARRIS Malcolm HILL Cecil JONES John Derek JONES Albert Frederick JORDAN Sydney Graham LONG David Edward MARSDEN Stephen Harold MAYOR Jeffrey Room PLOWMAN Brian Edward RANFORD Roy David ROBINSON Robin John SLEIGH Ronald Dougall SPEIRS Kenneth Fred Dennis TRUNKS Anthony David TUCKER Those present were greeted by the Moderator, to the warm applause of the Assembly.
Training Committee
The Revd John Humphreys presented the Report of the Training Committee
Mr Humphreys, on behalf of the Committee, moved adoption of Resolution 34:
Resolution 34 Review of Training Needs
General Assembly encourages the Training Committee in its review of training needs, to explore further the pathways A-E contained in the Reports to Assembly 2004 and in order that it might sample opinion and consult widely before reporting with proposals to a future Assembly requests councils, institutions or individuals to submit any comments to the Secretary for Training by the end of November 2004.
After discussion, Resolution 34 was carried.
Mr Humphreys moved adoption of Resolution 35:
Resolution 35 Revd D A L Jenkins
General Assembly acknowledges the enormous debt that it owes to the Revd David Jenkins for his services to Training for Learning and Serving offered over the past 9 years and on his retirement from this post records its gratitude to him.
Resolution 35 was carried.
The Moderator greeted Mr Jenkins to the warm applause of the Assembly.
The Revd Principal Jack Dyce, on behalf of the Committee, moved adoption of Resolution 36:
Resolution 36 Sabbaticals
General Assembly resolves to rescind the following restriction on Ministers undertaking a sabbatical after the age of 60. ‘…Ministers are offered…a sabbatical term of up to three months.... but not after the age of 60. A…two month sabbatical will be available… between the ages of 60 and 63’ (CME ‘Learning for Life Leaflet’ 2001, page 4). Applications will now be processed as with most CME requests, via the synod-training officer who will assess the proposal.
Resolution 36 was carried. Mr Dyce moved adoption of Resolution 37:
Resolution 37 Education for Ministry
a) General Assembly agrees that all training for Ministers & CRCWs be reconfigured in a single framework called Education for Ministry (EM) in three phases with initial ministerial training as EM 1, Post Ordination and Education Commissioning and Training as EM 2 and Continuing Ministerial Education as EM 3.
b) General Assembly agrees that Education for Ministry 1 and 2 be reconfigured as a coherent programme, with the learning of Ministers of Word and Sacrament and Church Related Community Workers in EM 2 remaining under the care of Synods and the Continuing Ministerial Education sub Committee until the completion of EM 2.
c) General Assembly welcomes the review of the POET Programme and the implications for the development of POET as spelt out in the text of the Training Committee’s Report.
Mr Andrew Francis proposed that the Resolution be now put. Several members of the Assembly indicated their willingness to second.
Resolution 37 was carried.
The Revd John Waller took the Chair
Ministries
The Report of the Ministries Committee was presented by Mr John Ellis.
Mr Ellis, on behalf of the Committee, moved adoption of Resolution 28:
Resolution 28 Entry Qualifications
a) General Assembly reiterates its belief that ordination to the stipendiary Ministry of Word and Sacraments should take place by the age of 55 and to non-stipendiary Ministry of Word and Sacraments by the age of 60. The same ages should apply to the commissioning of Church Related Community Workers.
b) General Assembly notes that given the current candidating and training procedures, these maximum ages imply that the large majority of candidates will need to have made formal application five years before. Thus normally the latest date for application for stipendiary service will be age 50 and for non-stipendiary service age 55.
c) General Assembly nonetheless recognises that occasionally candidates have prior qualifications and experience that might shorten training. If any Synod wishes to present an application from a candidate who is already less than five years from the maximum age of ordination, Assembly requests that Synod contact the Secretary for Training before doing so, in order to gain an indication of whether a shorter period of training is a realistic option.
d) General Assembly, having set minimum ages for commencing training for the Ministry of Word and Sacraments, confirms the minimum age for commencing training for Church Related Community Work ministry shall be 21 years.
Resolution 28 was carried.
Mr Ellis moved adoption of Resolution 30:
Resolution 30 Plan for Partnership
General Assembly amends the Plan for Partnership by inclusion of the words in italics, as follows:
Para 6.1.4 Pulpit supply fees: when the Maintenance of the Ministry Office has been advised that a minister remunerated under the Plan is unable to work due to ill-health or is on maternity leave or is absent on a sabbatical term which lasts for a period of more than four weeks or is suspended under the Section O Process or is the Moderator of General Assembly, the actual pulpit supply costs incurred by the church arising because of the absence will be reimbursed to the limit shown in Appendix A. In group pastorates and part time pastorates, reimbursement will only be in respect of services which would have been conducted by the absent minister. Claim forms for the reimbursement of pulpit supply costs can be obtained from the Maintenance of the Ministry Office.
Para 6.3.4.5 Where, following an introduction by a Synod Moderator, a minister / Church Related Community Worker visits a pastorate or community post in vacancy other than in connection with a preaching engagement, the cost of travel shall be paid by the pastorate visited. The pastorate shall be reimbursed from the Ministry and Mission Fund the actual costs of travel, not exceeding the recommended lower Inland Revenue mileage rate, of the minister / CRCW and spouse within the UK for a maximum of two visits.
Para 7.1 (currently Para 7) Ministers / Church Related Community Workers are entitled to 5 weeks holiday in each calendar year and one further Sunday away from the pastorate. When a minister / Church Related Community Worker only serves for part of a year the holiday provision should be pro rata. One week of holiday may be carried forward to the following year. Holiday entitlement is not affected by sick leave, in-service training courses or sabbatical leave. Such periods of leave / absence may result in more than one week’s holiday being carried forward into the following year.
Para 7.2 If a minister / Church Related Community Worker resigns from a pastorate or post immediately following any such period of leave / absence, stipend should be paid for any outstanding holiday entitlement untaken at the date of resignation, which may include outstanding holiday entitlement from the previous year, always provided that District Council concurs with the arrangements.
Para 9.1.2 Except at the time of a minister / Church Related Community Worker’s initial induction (when a full resettlement grant is payable) where the pastorate is part-time the grant shall be pro rata according to the scoping of the pastorate to be served. A full retirement resettlement grant will be paid to ministers / Church Related Community Workers who have completed 10 years service up to their retirement date, whether this is at the age of 65 or earlier. The grant will be reduced pro rata where the minister / Church Related Community Worker has not been in stipendiary service for 10 years, or the years of service have not been full-time.
Resolution 30 was carried. The Moderator resumed the Chair.
The Moderator greeted the Revd Elizabeth Nash, retiring from her post at WARC.
Church and Society
The Revd Martin Camroux presented the Report of the Church and Society Committee.
Mr Camroux, on behalf of the Committee, moved adoption of Resolution 20:
Resolution 20 Israeli Separation Barrier
General Assembly:
a) views with deep indignation the Separation Barrier currently being constructed by the Government of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories; b) believes that the Barrier is causing profound social and economic problems for the Palestinian population as well as seriously hampering efforts to find a just and long lasting peace in the region; c) condemns unreservedly terrorist attacks upon innocent Israeli civilians but believes that the best way for Government of Israel to provide long-term security for its people is to engage in a peace process that will result in the end of the occupation in accordance with long-standing UN resolutions; d) calls upon the UK Government to use its influence to see that construction of the barrier is halted, that existing sections are dismantled and that confiscated land is returned to Palestinians along with compensation for any damage caused; e) pledges itself to support the work of peace groups within Israel and the Occupied Territories and UK based advocacy groups, such as Christian Aid and EAPPI in their work in the Occupied Territories.
The Revd Steven Faber moved the following amendment:
‘that paragraph (c) become paragraph (a), and subsequent paragraphs be redesignated accordingly’
Seconded by the Revd Ruth Allen
The amendment fell.
The Revd Elizabeth Welch proposed that the Resolution be now put.
The Assembly agreed.
Resolution 20 was carried.
‘Assets for Life’
The Moderator welcomed the Rt Hon John Battle MP, and invited him to address the Assembly. During his address, Mr Battle introduced the action pack ‘Assets for Life’.
Inter-faith Guests
The Revd John Parry, Convener of the Inter-faith Relations Committee, invited the Moderator to greet guests from other faith traditions:
Prof. Ramez Delpak of the University of Glamorgan and a member of the Baha’i community, and Mrs Delpak.
Mr Alan Schwarz, M.B.E., a member of Cardiff Inter-Faith Association and a Lay Minister to the Cardiff United Synagogue.
The Moderator invited Mr Schwarz to address the Assembly
The Moderator greeted Sally Thomas as she ends her term of office as Secretary of the Ecumenical Relations Committee.
After prayers led by the Chaplain, the Assembly adjourned.
Monday 5 July 2004 Third Session
|
Dates of Sessions Saturday 3 July 2004 First Session
Saturday 3 July 2004 Second Session
Sunday 4 July 2004 First Session
Sunday 4 July 2004 Second Session
Sunday 4 July 2004 Third Session
Monday 5 July 2004 First Session
Monday 5 July 2004 Second Session
Monday 5 July 2004 Third Session
|