THE numbers of ministers placed into parishes and the decline in church attendance are not as easily linked as we might think. Groups such as Save the Parish have made the call for a greater focus of ministry leaders on parishes, as a shape for growth and renewal (sometimes as an alternative to the costs of diocese’s other strategic priorities). I do not altogether disagree. Indeed, there are some patterns of clergy deployment which seem to make mission less likely than more. But is there evidence to underpin a singular argument for more stipendiary clergy and less structure?
The chances for parish renewal are nuanced and considerable, being much more complex than clergy numbers alone. At the end of 2020, there were more than 10,000 clergy of either stipendiary or self-supporting status. What proportion of these leading clergy have a single parish to minister to? It certainly is not the majority, but it is also not a few. In my own deanery, there are six out of 14 parishes of this shape.
This is an important question, because “one clergy, one parish” suggests an optimal situation for visibility, ministry, and sustainability. Historically, we know that there were many more such parishes that should have been able to claim this apparent advantage, and yet the patten of decline, over decades, has remained steady, all the same. The Church of England has declined for complex reasons; so we need to be careful not to oversimplify matters with broad demands about ratios and numbers of clergy alone.
What is more certain is that local leadership is crucial to the health of the parish situation. Hidden within the contrasting claims of central mission strategy against clergy numbers is the sound principle that, if you do not have people and skills to lead and serve locally, then no amount of strategy will make much difference.
UNTIL 2006, I worked in software technology — a highly skilled industry, but one with notoriously high staff shortages and failure rates. Every project leader knew that the key to successful work was to have the people and the skills, and to look after them well. My project assessments always said the same thing: “If you have the people and skills, you have a chance, but if you don’t, you have no chance.”
Let me be the first to say that there is plenty of distance between software development and parish ministry; but, for me, the same point about people and skills still rings true after 15 years of parish ministry.
Investment in skills and training, particularly leadership, is rarely wasted. There are not many areas in the Church of England where investment will provide a near-guaranteed return, but, I believe, training and skills is one. The provision of a wide variety of accessible training schemes at diocesan level is money well spent. Here, in Guildford diocese, this is seen in parish needs-based courses for laity and clerical vocations across the age spectrum. This is seen not as a means of replacing clergy: it is more like clergy support.
Two years ago, my own parish took time to look at our visions and aims for the years ahead. With help from the diocese, one of the questions asked was: “What would you stop in order to start something new?” The gathered group struggled to answer, because there was not much to stop. If the question had been “What would you like to prevent in order to start something new?”, however, there would, I think, have been more answers.
All leaders, regardless of how many talents that they have to count on, will be adversely affected by the difficult conditions brought on by burgeoning regulatory and organisational weight, fear, and risk. Even a well-financed parish can struggle in that environment.
I THINK of ministry as an ecosystem that I must help to flourish. Good conditions are where people can feel encouraged and challenged, perhaps by starting something new. Equally, I have to try to keep at bay the effects that might prevent that.
The leader-helper model is at the core of all ministries. For each leader in my team, I might be able to encourage five helpers, who, later, might be encouraged in the direction of further leadership themselves. I find that much of my core day-to-day ministry is supporting my leaders who, together, have a range of skills and experience far beyond my own.
A parish that promotes service, with training available to which to invite people, also promotes faith. Those in my parish who undertake diocesan-run training courses find themselves surrounded by like-minded people from other parishes. This leads to affirmation, faith formation, exchange of ideas, and self-supportive cohorts that last for years.
My job as Rector is to create the conditions for people to serve in that way. Across all traditions, there is the need to be able to set the right conditions for leadership, besides selecting the right programme for growth. The task of the parish leader is to advance these right conditions for the whole people of God to bring their skills and experience to the ministry.
The argument for training and skills for the whole people of God sits alongside the call for more stipendiary clergy. That is the support that parish clergy need and should expect from Church House, Westminster.
The Revd Chris Bessant is the Rector of Haslemere and Area Dean of Godalming in the Guildford diocese.