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Deanery Pastoral Committees. Training Session 1 November/December 2005. Re-Shaping our Church for Christ’s Mission. Setting the Scene. Why have Deanery Pastoral Committees? Stipendiary clergy numbers “Fresh Expressions” Refocusing resources on mission and growth Pastoral reorganisation
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Deanery Pastoral Committees Training Session 1November/December 2005 Re-Shaping our Church for Christ’s Mission
Setting the Scene • Why have Deanery Pastoral Committees? • Stipendiary clergy numbers • “Fresh Expressions” • Refocusing resources on mission and growth • Pastoral reorganisation • Deanery Pastoral Committees • What needs doing - and when?
Visions of Church? • Seeking God • Energised by faith … • Outward focus • Inclusive • Faces the cost of change and growth • Works as a Community • Clear about its vocation
Over the last Thirty Years … • Congregations have shrunk by 30% • Stipendiary clergy numbers have fallen by 45% • We have more church buildings than stipendiary clergy • We have more communion services on Sunday morning than stipendiary clergy • Change has affected the Church seriously
For the foreseeable future … • More stipendiary clergy will retire than will be ordained • Manchester Diocese anticipates losing 25% of our parish clergy numbers between 2003 and 2013 • Some dioceses expect to lose up to 35% • Already, without Readers, NSMs, OLMs and retired clergy, we could not staff all our Sunday morning services
The Opportunities ... • Over 1.9 million people live in the diocese • Hundreds of thousands work and play here • Currently, we deploy 1 parish priest for every 9,000 of population • Over the next few years this will rise to 1:11,500 • We have 293 parishes and 327 buildings • By 2006, we will have about 220 parish priests
Mission-Shaped Church • As cultures in the UK change, people are less concerned withtraditional communities, morewith networks & relationships • The report identifies an “Emerging Church” connecting with today’s new cultures • It suggests we need a mixed Church that allows new sortsof churches to develop withinand alongside parish churches.
Mission Support • The Bishop, with Synod’s support has agreed to find a mix of different “ways in” to the Church, and to appoint someMission Support Clergy… • … to work in “emerging” ministries • … to growing churches and church planting • … to unique opportunities for mission
The Heart of the Matter ... How do we encourage congregations to ... • be mission-minded • to grow and thrive • while the number of stipendiary clergy available is reducing … • … and patterns of attendance and spirituality are changing … ? How will ecumenical approaches to ministry and mission affect all this? Realistically - and faithfully - how many traditional and emerging churches can we sustain?
… so, for the Future … • We need to be clear about how we will focus resources on mission and growth • We need to be realistic about the number of parishes and churches we can support • We need to consider how we support our traditional parish and new emerging churches • We need to develop the right local strategy for each area of the diocese • The Bishop and Diocesan Pastoral Committee need people who know their locality to join in
Possible Solutions … • Spread the stipendiary clergy more thinly • Change our pattern of services • Ordain more OLMs and NSMs to balance the loss in stipendiary clergy • Develop lay leaders to take on more work • Focus resources on helping more parishes to grow & thrive • Close some church buildings • Trust one another and share resources
Thinking “Strategically”? • Teaching my children they can spend their pocket money once … • Realising you can’t “eat” the cake - and still “keep” it … • How you live and decide reveals how you value people and what you think of God …
What is the Diocesan Pastoral Committee? • Consult appropriately on reorganising ministry (benefice, parish, deanery, deanery, archdeaconry) to make pastoral care and mission as effective as possible in the circumstances • Consider appropriate spheres of work, terms and conditions and remuneration for the cure of souls • Take account of the traditions, needs and characteristics of individual parishes • Draft proposals for the Bishop The Diocesan Pastoral Committee is a statutory committee whose role is to advise the Bishop on arrangements for pastoral supervision across the diocese, including sharing agreements. It must ...
What is Pastoral Reorganisation? Major Points • Changing the boundaries of parishes, deaneries and archdeaconries (including dissolving them) to make more sense • Creating or amalgamating benefices and parishes to deal with new situations • Giving proper legal structure to co-operation between churches by • advising on ecumenical sharing agreements • creating or dissolving pluralities • forming or dissolving Group Ministries • forming or dissolving Team Ministries • uniting parishes or benefices to form new ones
Deanery Pastoral Committee • Advisory group responsible to the Synod • Consider all the issues affecting ministry and mission in the deanery • Make recommendations to the Diocesan Pastoral Committee • Lead local consultation, ensure it is real and make recommendations that are both realistic and faithful.
Sources of proposal • Bishop Nigel's view is that "there should be no surprises in pastoral reorganisation ” • The proposal to form Deanery Pastoral Committees came out of … • Bishop Nigel’s concern • The Clergy Deployment debate • Diocesan Pastoral Committee’s need for good local advice and a faithful working-through of issues.
A Need and an Invitation "This Synod believes that it is expedient for there to be established by each Deanery Synod a Deanery Pastoral Committee with a membership and remit as set out in the paper DS103/04 and invites all Deanery Synods to establish such a Committee by 31 October 2005 and report this to the Synod on 19 November 2005. "
Constitution of Deanery Pastoral Committees • There is a Deanery Pastoral Committee in each Deanery • The Deanery Pastoral Committee is to be accountable to the Deanery Synod and separate from the Deanery Standing Committee • The Deanery Pastoral Committee shall consist of : • The Area Dean and Lay Chairman, Area Bishop and Archdeacon (ex- officio) • A representative (either lay or ordained) from each parish within the Deanery, elected by the PCC • A member of the Diocesan Pastoral Committee, determined by the Diocesan Pastoral Committee • Appropriate ecumenical membership as determined by the Deanery Synod. • The Deanery Pastoral Committee will meet at least four times per year
Terms of Reference • The role of the Deanery Pastoral Committee is to determine a Pastoral Strategy on behalf of the Deanery Synod, for consideration by the Diocesan Pastoral Committee. • The Strategy should cover: • Alteration, creation, or dissolution of benefices and parishes • creation or amendment of team ministries • amendment to deanery / archdeaconry boundaries • appropriate provision of church buildings – determining those church buildings areno longer required for worship and where new or altered buildings are required • the potential for working ecumenically and the impact of this work • parishes where a "Minster" style of ministry would be effective • most appropriate ways of deploying clergy in "Mission Support” roles • The initial Strategy document should be presented to the Diocesan Pastoral Committee by July 2006.Thereafter a pattern will be set for the Diocesan • Pastoral Committee to review each Deanery Strategy on an annual basis.
Timetable June 2005 Diocesan Synod invites formation of pastoral committees July-Oct 05 Deaneries form pastoral committees PCCs elect one representative each, and notify the Deanery Synod of contact details Diocesan Pastoral Committee appoints representatives Deanery Synods agree on ecumenical membership 31st Oct 05 Deaneries notify committee membership to Nigel Spraggins Nov / Dec 05 First training session – two venues per Archdeaconry Nov 05-Jan 06 First formal meeting of the deanery pastoral committee
Timetable Nov 05-Jan 06 First formal meeting of the deanery pastoral committee Jan / Feb 06 Second training session – two venues per Archdeacony March 2006 Second formal meeting of the deanery pastoral committee April onwards Further formal meetings of the deanery pastoral committee June/July 06 Initial strategy document finalised by the Deanery Synod and sent to the Diocesan Pastoral Committee. This date may become flexible – some deaneries have been working on their strategy for some time and will make progress rapidly; others may need longer. At this stage, aim for June 2006! July-Oct 06 Diocesan Pastoral Committee reviews initial submissions
Suggested Workplan • First, some preliminary work will need to be done. Deanery pastoral committee members will be provided with an information pack about their deanery at the first training session. • More information at the second training session will include the allocation of stipendiary clergy for the next year and estimates for subsequent years. These figures are likely to change from year to year. • Each deanery pastoral committee will need to come to a clear understanding of the number of stipendiary clergy and other ministers available to the deanery as a whole and begin working out how changes over the next five-to-ten years could be handled.
Suggested Workplan • Second, for every parish there needs to be a series of assessments that deal with its overall viability. • Are there any parishes that need to be looked at urgently? • Can each parish be characterised clearly as thriving, sustainable, viable or non-viable or is more information needed? • How strategically located is each Church building? • How fit for purpose is each Church building? • Would withdrawal from any Church building compromise or enhance the mission of the Church? • What signs of hope are there in the mission of each parish?
Suggested Workplan • This should help the committee to identify the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats to each parish and Church building and to discern • non-viable parishes and how they should be reorganised • what each parish needs to move it on to sustainability or to become a thriving parish or to grow further • how strategically located and fit for purpose is each Church building • on which Church buildings – if any –resources should be focused, and from which – if any – resources should be withdrawn • from which Church buildings – if any – we should withdraw • how stipendiary ministry should be deployed across the parishes of the deanery and what implications this has for the organisation of benefices and parishes in the deanery.
Tools for the Job • Tools help you do the job, they don’t do the job for you … • The way you use the tools depends on the job … • The tools we provide are more like jeweller’s screwdrivers than a sledge-hammer … • They need to be used with care!
Tools for the Job • Information about the legalities of the Pastoral Measure including advice from the archdeacons • Information pack about your deanery and its parishes • Some suggestions for analysing parishes, their people, buildings and situations • Some suggestions on how to approach the work • A dealine to concentrate our minds!
Back to Tonight ... • Any Questions …
