Ministry meanderings

Bishop Alan (not one of ours but one of theirs) has been pondering the things he’s learned in ministry. They make for good reading. I especially like number 2.

Fr Kelvin has been saying what he wants in a new bishop. You can add to the list here.  Of course we are very happy with the one we’ve got. (If you’re reading this Bishop B, good morning!)

A week of reflecting

It has been a busy old week. One of those weeks when you work from 8am to 8pm or later most days but achieve lots.

On Wednesday I had my Ministerial Review with the Bishop and it was really good. The preparation took a couple of days last week spending time reflecting on my ministry, my strengths and weaknesses, the time spent with family, friends and the job I love, where I am now and where I want to be, and more. +Brian was good at digging into the bits that needed more investigation and incredibly supportive. I came away feeling very affirmed which was good. And with some thoughts to ponder on personal development.

On Friday I spent the day on the Crisis in Ministry course looking at working with the elderly. We had to bring along an ‘issue’ to share and I had a list. Mostly it is to do with people who are not managing in their own homes and it is clear to me that they need help but frustration that as we are not ‘family’ we don’t have the right to phone GPs, Social Workers, Community Health teams and discuss how they can be helped. We had a social worker in attendance who helped us with answers to the problems. Inevitably the subject of my dad came up and I’ve come away feeling angry at the poor care he gets and guilt that I don’t see him as often as I should. Lots to ponder.

Today it is our Overseas Sale and lots of underlying politics which I fear may mar the day. Money raised will go to Links and Mary’s Meals. It is also our Cafe so you will be fed well if you pop in to St Mark’s today. Money from the Cafe will go to our Organ Appeal.

Mission and Ministry in Edinburgh

Last night our Mission and Ministry committee met to discuss Ministry Review as part of our 2008/9 goals.  A few issues arose for discussion and, as ever, I’d appreciate your input folks…

The first question we discussed was:
What do we in Edinburgh Diocese mean by ‘ministry’ and how does it relate to ‘discipleship’?

I realise that we in Edinburgh may do ministry differently from those elsewhere. Ministry has first and foremost to be contextual. And ministry in the city of Edinburgh will be different from ministry in the Borders, and West and East Lothian (all part of our diocese). For you it will be completely different but I’d be interested in your opinion.

There has been much debate in our wee church about ministry of late. Local Collaborative Ministry (with capitals) has caused some clergy to feel uncertain about their future role. This has been covered on blogs in the past.  Our committee recently studied The Mission and Ministry of the Whole Church, C of E FOAG Report 2007. One of the questions it raised was the use of the words ‘ministry’ and ‘discipleship’. There seems to have been a shift in recent years towards the use of ‘ministry’ to cover all sorts of jobs that people do in the church: from welcoming people at the door to playing the organ to visiting the sick to arranging the flowers. But what the report was suggesting was that these jobs are really ‘discipleship’ – things that we all should be doing as Christians. Each of us will have strengths in certain areas of discipleship and those should be affirmed and nurtured and undertaken to the best of our ability.

Ministry, or rather ‘ordained ministry’ also contains the role of leadership, as well as enabling and nurturing. But never in four years of university or three years of Theological College were we taught those skills. Now it may be that in our selection process those skills were discerned but having leadership skills in the secular world can be very different from the skills needed for working within a congregational setting. We concluded that continuing training in this area was long overdue.

How can we support both clergy and lay ministry better?

ES, who wrote the paper we were discussing, says ‘…the term ‘ministry’ is notoriously greedy and almost impossible to define. A definition that is too limited may exclude and offend laity; a definition that is too broad may leave clergy feeling devalued and demoralised. At General Synod this year, one priest spoke of his hurt at hearing stipendiary clergy being described at a Provincial Conference as a burden on the Church’s finances. Other clergy refused to vote on occasions at this Synod apparantly in protest at the power of LCM in the SEC.’

I would agree with this statement and it is a very difficult subject to discuss. Clergy morale is low for those and other reasons. And a common complaint, not just in our diocese, is the lack of continuing personal development and  lifelong learning. It seems to many of us that a huge amount of resources have been recently put into the training and development of LCM but little for stipendiary and non-stipendiary clergy. There was a recent article in Inspires about the training offered to lay people to be Continuing Congregational Development Companions. These companions are invited into congregations to lead congregational development days and help the congregation discern where changes might be made. They are trained to tackle issues which a church as a community might face and to discern gifts in the laity. My question is this: why is this training not just given to clergy? I have never been offered further training in this area and would be really interested in developing those skills.

Is our training in those of authorised ministries in IME, CMD 1-3 and CMD 4+ adequate and would its improvement increase clergy morale and vocations?

Well you may have already gathered that my answer to the first part of that question is ‘No’ and to the second part ‘Yes’! As long as continuing resources is put into lay training and programmes clergy are going to be more and more demoralised and dissatisfied. Our Diocese has an excellent programme called Adventures in Faith which offers training courses and one day events for lay people (and clergy) to attend. And I have. But these are not specifically aimed at clergy development and that area is like a barren land. To be fair, our diocese did indeed put on a couple of one-day events for clergy last year but the take-up was so poor that one had to be cancelled and the other cut short because only two of us turned up. Perhaps the organisers need to look at the topics being offered and ask what is really wanted or needed?

I know of one diocese that has monthly clergy development which is mandatory and has my full support. But at the present time each diocese is responsible for its own training and there are huge differences in the approach.

In this week’s Church Times there was an excellent article by Rev Brian Cranwell entitled ‘Head off stress by getting feedback’. He suggests that clergy need better appraisals and training to prevent problems leading to stress, breakdown and even some leaving the church altogether. In my past job I had annual reviews and had to undertake regular training as part of my contract. Although the SEC has a Clergy Appraisal Scheme, I think, it is voluntary and as ever those who perhaps need it most don’t take it up. And it is such a well-kept secret that many don’t even know of its existence. And while peer appraisal can indeed be valuable there is something to be said for regular appraisals with a senior clergyperson in one’s own diocese. For example, nobody has ever spoken to my Vestry or congregation to see how I am functioning. I might be the worst preacher in the world and who is to know?

So there we have it folks… over to you for comments.

Who stole the time?

Don’t ask me why, but I have been soooo busy this past fortnight and barely a moment to blog – hence the silence. This week I had a meeting on every night, an all day conference today, prep for a baptism tomorrow, prep for a prayer group that I’m leading, prep for The Alternative Service, plus all the usual stuff that goes on around here. I’ve not had a minute to myself and it just occurred to me that I haven’t laughed a lot lately. I seem to have lost my sense of humour.

Has anyone seen it?

Staying Power

If you ever doubt your decision to enter the priesthood, then read this. I found it at Christian Century and reckon every priest should be given it to read.

That was the week that was

It got even busier last week and even more emotional.

Prayers for Lou’s family and friends after a glorious funeral and purvey. She would have loved it!

Prayers for Helen as she prepares to go into hospital. A wonderful warm woman, much loved by all who know her. Let us pray that all shall be well.

The Children’s Mission day on Fair Trade was a resounding success. Not as many kids as we would have hoped for but it all worked out well in the end. The church looks resplendent with palm trees, spices, bananas and chocolate. We even got some folk to dress up on Sunday in costumes from around the world. And you’ll never believe it but I taught and sang the Peruvian Gloria. Yes, I sang!  On my own! And nobody left. A miracle!

Then last night was our Healing Service for St Lukestide. Not a great turn out but the Holy Spirit was there for sure. An emotional evening.

Off now to the Borders for a couple of days R&R.

The ups and downs of ministry

It has been a weird week. One of these weeks when your emotions go from high to low within a matter of minutes. A week of sorrow and joy: preparing for a funeral of a much-loved friend and rejoicing when one of my little flock finally got home after a long stay in hospital. It has also been a week of listening and feeling frustrated that I can’t do more. And a week when I was deeply hurt by exclusion.

The ups and downs of ministry are sometimes a joy and sometimes a pain. You just expect better from colleagues.

Enough said. Time to move on and send Lou to her final resting place. Time to prepare for the Children’s mission tomorrow. My little flock have worked so hard transforming the church into a world where fair trade would make everything so much better. I think we should keep the palm trees.

Book review

I have finally finished Lifelong Learning (Theological Education and Supervision) by Frances Ward. I got it to learn a little more about theological education for the Continuing Ministerial Development which I co-ordinate for our curates. I’m not sure that I really learning much that will be of any help. In fact, I suspect this book may have been a Dissertation or PHD once upon a time and has been adapted.

The first third of the book is Case Studies of curates in training and there is lots that resonates amongst those pages. Then comes the academic stuff which occasionally refers back to those Case Studies (but no page number references so not much use if you read the Case Studies a month or so ago and then picked up the book again as I did.)

Really there were just three things which I were of benefit in a practical sense.

1) Keep a journal of your curacy: people met, quotes, poems and prayers found or used, feelings, hopes and fears, that sort of thing.

2) Good supervision with your training rector is vital. This should not be counselling, or planning meetings but proper supervision.

3) Guidelines for training rectors include: making a commitment to staying in post for the duration of the training period; is willing to undertake further training; self-awareness, strengths and weaknesses in own ministry; doesn’t just want an assistant; will make CMD a priority for the curate; is capable of allowing a curate to develop in ways different from his/her own; etc.

I didn’t find it an easy read and I’m not exactly sure what audience it is aimed at although there are little exercises to do which seem to be aimed at curates. You’re welcome to borrow it before it goes on to Amazon Sales.

The greatest job in the world

Donald Coggan said that the greatest job in the world was being a priest. I agree. I can’t imagine doing anything else now. What a privilege it is to share in people’s lives when they are vulnerable or happy or grieving or celebrating. What a joy it is to hold the mystery which was placed in my hands at ordination. I am just bubbling over with it today!

Holy Spirit or Seagull?

Drove down to Eyemouth yesterday evening for a CMD 1-3 session. (Continuing Ministerial Development, that is.) Two of my little CMD flock are from St Ebba’s Eyemouth and, understandably, get fed up always having to come to Edinburgh for meetings. So last night we took it to them. Sadly one was ill and the other was playing golf so we had to spend 40 minutes standing outside the rectory on a rather blustery evening while we wondered what to do. Luckily I had a phone number to hand and we managed to find a lovely man who let us in where we fed and watered ourselves until a rather apologetic part-time golfer turned up.

After our session on Ministry to Children, led ably by our latest Canon, we had a wee look round the church. St Ebba’s is a lovely wee church looking out over the harbour. J had a go on the organ. I think he is trying to get into the Guiness Book of Records for playing the organ in every Piskie church.

I did note one curious thing. On top of the font there were two birds. They looked very like seagulls to me. Why should it be a dove? A seagull or two is fine. Right?