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Michaelmas ordinations: Pulled in all directions in a multi-parish benefice

by
04 October 2024

Is effective ministry possible, asks Pam Macnaughton

istock 

THE conversation in the next set of train seats was intriguing: a group talking about their multi-parish benefice (MPB). “No one can look after that many churches — no wonder the clergy are all having nervous breakdowns,” said one. Something of an overstatement, but sobering none the less.

Was she right? After all, the current reality is that most of our churches are in groups of one kind or another, sharing ministers — ordained, lay, stipendiary, self-supporting, retired.

Moreover, many of those ministers are nonplussed at finding themselves with multiple churches. Some try to take patterns of ministry from leading a single church, and replicate them for each of their churches (which is, truly, a recipe for burnout). Others recognise the need for new approaches, but consider themselves ill-equipped for the challenge of five, ten, or more churches.

In addition, each church has its own strengths, demands, charisms, and back stories. Each church has its own community, its own expectations, rotas, church officers (or lack of them), financial issues, buildings, unsatisfied naysayers — and faithful pray-ers. The list goes on.

So, given that this is the situation, what can be done?

After many years of working with ministers in multi-parish benefices, I have seen many of them grow their churches and grow themselves as minsters and leaders. I am grateful for all I have learned from them. Here are nine of those lessons.

 

Accept the necessary ministry changes

Those coming new into MPB ministry will need to accept that their previous patterns of working have to change. Much of MPB ministry is about equipping, encouraging and supporting others. If these are previously underdeveloped skills, then training or coaching might be needed. Yes, licensed ministers of all kinds still need to model how to do the tasks of ministry, but helping many others to share the responsibilities is the only way forward.

Even those experienced in MPB ministry may need to accept, again and again, that change and agility are essential, as the churches flex and grow.

 

Pray faithfully

Often, it is easier to make a commitment to a course of action and activity rather than to regular and committed prayer for a group of churches. To start with praying, however, on our own and with others, is an essential foundation for everything else.

In some MPBs, leaders have written a prayer for growth and fruitfulness for all the churches. It is then used in the intercessions regularly in every church. They have invited the children to pray for the churches, too.

 

Seek God’s will

A great question to ask leaders and congregations alike is (in whatever wording seems most appropriate): “What is God’s will for each church, and for this group of churches together?”

Perhaps the history has been a complex one: have churches been added to and removed from the group, leaving people rather bemused and weary?

As Christians, our responsibility to God is to find his good purposes for us as churches in this present moment. How can everyone, together, put the past safely to rest in God’s love, and embrace all that he wants to do in them, and through them, today?

None of this is easy, but it is important to step back from all the activity, with members of the various churches willing to engage in the conversation. It is an opportunity to pray, discuss, dream, and pray again. A time to pray for God’s Kingdom to come and God’s will to be done in this group of churches.

 

Explore welcome

It can be enormously helpful for leaders and congregations to spend time together exploring the vital theme of “welcome” — and revisiting it often. It is easy for a church to believe itself to be welcoming, but not actually to be so.

Questions to explore could include: How easy is it for newcomers to venture through the doors of this church/ these churches? How are they helped to understand what goes on in church? What can this group of churches learn from each other’s practice of welcome? How can these churches gain a reputation for being friendly places, easy to settle into, warm and welcoming? Gains in this area will help many others.

 

Explain, explain, explain

Circumstances differ, but being open across the churches about the challenges and possibilities of MPB ministry is essential. Some churches will be well used to sharing an incumbent, but for others it might all be new.

Patient, repeated conversations with individuals and congregations will be needed to inculcate a new culture of creativity and mutual support.

Explain any changes or experiments with new systems or ideas, using as many forms of communication as possible — to reach as many generations as possible.

 

Celebrate often

Everyone loves a good news story. So, take every opportunity to promote and celebrate faith-building stories that emerge across the group. Encourage your congregations to collect stories of God at work, and share them — with the permission of those involved, obviously.

It’s easy to forget how much has been done over, say, a six-month period. So, reviewing and celebrating the good can inspire everyone.

 

Gather teams with whoever will play

Building relationships and mutual support between churches in an MPB can help them to grow. For example, it can increase the pool of volunteers for shared events and initiatives such as Messy Church, an enquirers’ group, or wedding preparation.

Gathering a team of people representing as many of the churches as possible to meet regularly can be transformative. The meetings could include praying, sharing food, dreaming of what God might be doing across the churches and communities, learning, and planning. Such a team of people, willing to work across the whole group rather than just in their own church, can release creativity, fun, growth, and fruitfulness.

Some MPBs have looked for friends in their communities to create teams to help with church buildings — people who care about the building, or who have relevant skills for helping in the upkeep of them — but who are not, at present, interested in joining the church community.

As long as everyone understands that the PCC, or group council, holds the final responsibility for decisions on church buildings, such people can be of significant help. And, for them, it could be a way to begin to belong.

 

Play to your current strengths

It is very easy in MPB ministry to get stuck in a mindset of “lack”: the lack of people, money, resources, and so on. Being resolutely hopeful, however, and exploring the strengths that exist can begin to change the culture.

If there is one teenager in one church and a couple of teenagers in another, would it be possible to get them together for Youth Alpha, or other explorers’ courses? What small steps could those running a regular coffee morning take, to help those who come to find out more about the weekly services, or to have a chance to make a prayer request?

Such tiny steps forward can start to change bring change, and create new opportunities.

 

Cultivate the younger generations

In the midst of the unrelenting demands of MPB ministry, it all too tempting not to bother with the younger generations. But churches are impoverished without all ages’ taking their place in the Body of Christ. The children, young people, families, and young adults in churches and communities have much to offer.

So, a group council or planning team might explore questions such as these:

  • How could volunteers get to know one or more schools in the benefice better?
  • Would the schools value having an “Open the Book” team coming in?
  • How about starting Bubble Church for toddler-group families?
  • How can teenagers be drawn in to the life of the churches?
  • How about starting something new, such as a parenting course, a children’s or families’ choir, a café church for young people, or a Bible study group?
  • What businesses or grants might help to fund a CYF minister?

As the aim to “double the number of children and active young disciples by 2030” is the priority of priorities in the national vision for the Church of England, opportunities to learn more about ministry to children, young people, and families are increasing. Make the most of them.

And, finally. . .

Had I had the chance to speak with the people on the train before they disembarked, I would have argued that, although ministry and mission in an MPB are hard work, in ways that are often very different from working in one church, they can be both fruitful and hugely rewarding.

 

Pam Macnaughton is the author of the Thrive resources for multi-parish benefices: a book, a course, a prayer guide, and sessions for PCCs. She currently works in the C of E’s national Ministry Development Team.

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