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Ministries
The Committee is responsible for the ministry of word and sacraments, church related community work and lay preaching. It is concerned with central care and conditions of service, chaplaincies in industry, higher and further education and in the armed forces and ‘special category’ ministry. It has concern for the pastoral support of ministers, church related community workers and lay preachers, including supervision, appraisal, self-evaluation and counselling. It oversees the work of the National Assessment Board. It is assisted by five sub-committees.
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 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 Committee It is responsible for the advocacy of lay preaching and support of lay preachers in the United Reformed Church.
Maintenance of the Ministry 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 Works in Association with the United Reformed Church Ministers Housing Society Ltd.
Committee Members
Convener: Revd Graham Long, Secretary: Revd Christine Craven Members: Mrs Sally Abbott, Mr John Ellis, Mr Brian Evans, Revd Brian Jolly, Revd Sandra Lloydlangston, Revd Martha McInnes, Revd Tony Ruffell and Revd Graham Sweeney.
1 Personalia
1.1 At the 1998 General Assembly the Committee took leave of the Revd David Hannen who had convened the Retired Ministers Housing Sub Committee, the Revd Vaughan Jones who had convened the Church Related Community Work Central Management Committee, the Revd Hazel Martell who had been secretary to the Accreditation Sub Committee and the Revd Christopher Baker who had been Secretary to the Ministries Committee. Shortly after Assembly we also took leave of our Church Related Community Work Development Officer Mr Graham Ghaleb. Changes also occurred in the office with Mrs Grace Ntiamoah moving to work in the book shop and Mrs Sandy Hurter coming in as personal assistant to the Revd Christine Craven. In line with the policy of termed service on central committees a number of other changes also took place. The Committee is immensely grateful to all who have served on its committees and within its administration.
1.2 Michael Harrison. It was in 1990 that the MoM Committee, then one of the Committees in the Finance Department, reported that Michael Harrison had been asked to convene a sub-committee to look at future stipend policy. It was in 1990 also that Michael was appointed to the Committee as the representative for the East Midlands Province, and in 1993 Assembly appointed Michael as Convener of the Committee.
In July 1990, the basic stipend paid to ministers was £7704 pa. Largely due to the guidance of the sub-committee set up in 1990, under Michael’s convenership, the MoM Committee set about raising stipends and setting in train the processes which means that the MoM (now) Sub-Committee of the Ministries Committee are recommending that the stipend for budgetary purposes in 2000 shall be £16,224. Michael retires at Assembly after a stint of duty that has lasted, in one way or another, for nearly 10 years.
We are glad to thank Michael for this long period of distinguished service to this Committee.
2 Special Category Ministry
2.1 The report to the Assembly last year indicated that in the near future it would be necessary to prioritise applications because of the increasing number being received. That time is almost upon us. At the time of this report going to press there are 28 full-time equivalent posts approved compared with a maximum of 30 and with no reviews due in 1999 there will be not be any posts leaving the list in the year 2000.
2.2 From the response to last year’s report on this matter, it seems clear that the Provinces believe the management of Special Category Ministries is a task for an Assembly Committee. The Ministries Committee has therefore considered the situation and has agreed to work to the following general principles and procedures for the foreseeable future.
2.3 General principles on the nature of Special Category Ministry
2.3.1 Special Category Ministry posts were never intended to be a way of supplementing deployment figures, nor of dealing with difficult situations that sometimes arise. Their function was clearly set out in the original Assembly report. "Such ministries are those to which ministers are appointed by the District or Synod, as distinct from those to which ministers are called by the local church. Such special ministries include industrial and educational chaplains, ministers to new towns and special mission situations. Some ‘special’ ministries may be half scope the other half being taken up by the oversight of a small church or by secular employment."
2.3.2 The Committee upholds certain other principles set out in the last review of Special Category Ministry undertaken in 1993.
• Special Category Ministry should remain allocated to, (a) Higher Education Chaplaincy, (b) Industrial Mission, (c) New areas and mission posts, and (d) innovative ministry in unique situations in roughly equal proportions.
• Each application must be judged on its own merits.
• New areas and mission posts are set up with the intention that, once established, they will become part of normal deployment. We uphold the principle that such posts may be renewed for a second term making a maximum of ten years. In the second term part of the remit should be a movement towards inclusion within the standard deployment for the District.
• It is recognised that chaplaincy posts in education or industrial mission are unlikely to move into normal deployment.
2.4 General principles on procedure for approving Special Category Ministry posts
2.4.1 Applications will continue to be submitted, assessed and approved as at present.
2.4.2 If, after 18 months from the time of approval, a post has not been filled, there needs to be a re-examination of the post. If it seems likely to remain unfilled then it will be removed from the list of special category posts. This will provide vacancies for new applications. This is not a new proposal but until now it has not been necessary to adhere strictly to this part of the special category process. A Synod may make future applications in respect of the post so removed.
2.4.3 Vacancies will also be created as new area special categories become part of standard deployment.
2.4.4 The approval of new special category ministry posts is a time consuming exercise and so the committee does not believe the application process for any new post, which involves a visit or visits on behalf of the Ministries Committee, should begin if all the posts have been allocated.
2.4.5 Enquiries will be placed on a waiting list in order of enquiry. As soon as there is a vacancy on the list the first enquiry will be invited to make a formal application. This process implies good channels of communications between the local situations considering special category posts, Synod offices and the Assembly Ministries Committee. We propose to send regular updates of the Special Category Ministry list to all Synod offices.
2.4.6 If more than one potential application comes from any one Synod when the waiting list is in operation, the Synod will be asked to prioritise these applications.
3 The Ministry in Retirement
3.1 The Committee has received the report of the working party into the Ministry in Retirement. This now needs to be integrated with other areas of concern around this subject not within the remit of the working party. The completed report will be brought to General Assembly in 2000. In the meantime the Committee is grateful to the Revd Nelson Bainbridge and his colleagues for their work.
4 Year of Recruitment
4.1 Following the decision of last year’s General Assembly to make 1999 a year of recruitment to ministry, the Committee has continued its concern to present a much sharper challenge to the churches. In January all churches received a summons to consider both how ministry is raised up amongst us and to assist in under girding the whole process of ministry formation through prayer. At the time this report is being written there has been little response to this but what we have received has been largely positive. The Committee would emphasise its view that recruitment to ministry in all its expressions will only occur when far more of our churches accept responsibility for fostering the overall gift of ministry and identifying and encouraging individuals with personal ministry gifts which should be exercised more widely.
4.2 With the co-operation of the Provinces an extra Enquirers’ Conference is being arranged. An additional Conference centred at Yardley Hastings will heighten the challenge to ministry to those in the younger age groups.
5 Deployment
5.1 The Committee is working closely with the Resource Advisory Planning Group, and in association with the Moderators, to produce an agreed basis for deployment. This is a continuing task of which more is said elsewhere in the Reports to General Assembly.
6 Review of Non-Stipendiary Ministry
6.1 The Committee has embarked on a major review of the Non-Stipendiary Ministry. There was a very good response to the working party’s invitation to all non-stipendiary ministers, Districts and Synods to submit evidence and an initial report has been prepared. This has indicated a number of areas that require substantial further work to be done. Arrangements are now in hand for this to be undertaken with the intention of presenting a full report to a future General Assembly.
7 United Board - Chaplains to the Forces
7.1 The number of United Reformed chaplains in place has dropped to two with the completion of her service by the Revd Jackie Petrie (RAF). The Revd Steven Whiting (Army) is serving in Northern Ireland and the Revd Michael Meachin is chaplain to the 1st Submarine Squadron based in Scotland. United Board Chaplains, of course, minister to all the Free Church Denominations. We are grateful to the chaplains from the other denominations that minister to those of our own tradition in the Forces. Once again the annual reports of the chaplains are available at the Ministries stand and your prayerful support for their ministry is requested.
7.2 The Committee would draw attention to the opportunities for local ministers to develop chaplaincy links with Cadet Corps and part-time posts.
8 General
8.1 Through its Secretary the Committee has been involved in discussions with ecumenical partners on the subject of diaconal ministry. It has also shared with other Committees in matters covering training and local church leadership, and has been much involved in the discussions leading to the new mission programme ‘Growing Up’.
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