THE Jobs section of the Church Times is a place of interest, intrigue, and uncertainty. Advertisers can take advantage of the “until filled” option because is not known how long the process will take, or whether it will need repeating. Some will run to the timetable, candidates will be interviewed, and an appointment will be made. Others will take longer. Some may not be filled at all.
In October 2024, the article “Vocations down, vacancies up” (Features, 18 October) looked at the dilemma of more posts than available clergy. Some dioceses are running at about one quarter of their posts currently in vacancy. It is understood that numbers in many places are “below budget” — meaning clergy posts are on hold, or vacancies extended, in order to make the books balance. Most dioceses deny this as a deliberate tactic, but the reality on the ground shows that it is happening, and it has an impact.
The strategy of keeping clergy posts open has risks. Parishes know that, at some point, they will experience a vacancy, but very few want it to go on for longer than is necessary. They also know that “keeping the show on the road”, as one bishop has described it, requires a great deal of effort. Questions over “what the Vicar actually does” find the answers presenting themselves unequivocally during a vacancy, and that is without the various bits of pastoralia which drift through the average clergy diary each week.
“Vacancies are a time for discernment,” the Archdeacon of Ludlow, the Ven. Fiona Gibson, says. “It is when people can step forward, find new roles, and think about what the future could look like.” She also refers to the emotional dimension. “It’s important to be able to say goodbye to the last vicar, to move on into a new phase, and look forward to the arrival of a new incumbent.”
Some are not minded to soul-searching. The churchwarden of a parish in central London has recently undergone the experience of a second vacancy, having handled one in a previous parish. “We knew what we were looking for, and we just wanted to get on with it. But there was a lot of process, and things don’t always go as efficiently as you think. People kept asking what was happening, and there’s only so much you can say.”
Many PCCs and congregations express confusion about the reasons that a new appointment cannot be teed up more promptly. “You know when a person is going — usually well in advance when it’s a retirement — and you can start the system then to reduce the vacancy time,” one PCC member says. “Surely you can?”
Archdeacon Gibson suggests that it is not always so simple. Legally, a parish cannot have two incumbents at the same time: one must vacate the benefice before a successor is licensed, collated, or instituted. Likewise with the parsonage house. “The comparison with industry comes up often,” she says. “But clergy are not in secular roles, and it can help all involved to have a bit of time and space for reflection between one incumbency and the next.”
The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, has strong views on the vacancy cycle: “Up to six months you can survive; six to nine is difficult; and, after nine months, you can fall off a cliff.” He classifies any vacancy longer than 12 months as “a revitalisation plan: by that stage, it’s no longer a standard situation, and you’re into a scenario where interventions are required”. With 18 vacancies on the go at the moment, the Blackburn target for filling each post is eight months, and it is proving tricky.
Bishop North’s assessment comes from research by the Revd Bob Jackson. He has specialised in parish data since his retirement in 2009. A government economic adviser before his ordination, his interest has been in parish growth: how to encourage it, maintain it, and safeguard it.
Back in 2010, he analysed growth and mission statistics for the period 2003-10 for the diocese of London’s report Another Capital Idea, with the Revd Dr Alan Piggot. They found then that churches “with an incumbent in place continue to grow, but there have been sharp falls in attendance for those churches experiencing vacancies of over six months”.
In 2013, Mr Jackson reran the exercise for the Church Pastoral Aid Society (CPAS) with a broader data set. “The six-month rule was confirmed once again. But, at that time, the average vacancy lasted ten months, and now it is more — often well over a year.” This places more and more churches in Bishop North’s “revitalisation” category. Mention of his name is a happy association for Mr Jackson, who recalls when he and Fr North used to play on opposing sides in the Church Times cricket cup. Now, they are concerned with a different kind of wicket race.
CPAS is patron to almost 700 parishes, and handles about 150 vacancies each year. Its patronage secretary, Mike Duff, believes that, when it comes to process, “the quickest it can take is seven to nine months.” He concurs that “any amount of time in vacancy feels too long for the PCC and congregation. But, in fact, it can be quite helpful to give space between one leader and the next. The way the process is structured means there is about nine months’ work to do — some of it can happen before an incumbent leaves, but sometimes not.”
The Society for the Maintenance of the Faith is another patronage body with 95 parishes in its portfolio. Its General Secretary is the Revd Philip Corbett, a parish priest himself. “It is fair to say for any parish that any length of vacancy can seem too long,” Fr Corbett observes. “It is important to remember how vital it is to get the right person as priest for the parish. This can take time, and may take several rounds of interviews.”
Left: The Ven. Bob Jackson, a former Archdeacon of Walsall and missioner in the diocese of York, offers guidance. Right: The Archdeacon of Ludlow, the Ven. Fiona Gibson, suggests vacancies can provide time for discernment
Although the average CPAS experience of a vacancy is about nine months, Mr Duff explains that it can easily go on for longer for various reasons. “Depending on the congregation, it’s not impossible to handle twice that length, but congregations with less confident or divided leadership may find that a struggle. Confidence is the real issue, and discouragement is the danger. It can be difficult seeing congregation members leave. Similarly, if issues come up during the vacancy, such as problems with buildings, that can be difficult to navigate without a vicar in post.”
Mr Jackson emphasises that six months is optimal. “Appointments used to be made more quickly — perhaps within three months 30 or so years ago — but that didn’t necessarily mean they were always right, or the process was better through speed.”
Conversations and aspects of the process can begin before the vicar leaves, he says, and certainly in the case of retirement. But some time in vacancy is to be expected all the same, returning to Archdeacon Gibson’s theme of emotional transition and the need for the housing to be refurbished, “which is usually required”.
Bishop North also has his eye on the bottom line. “Holding parishes in vacancy is a false positive, and there are financial implications. The sooner you fill, the more likely the parish-giving level will hold up. People give to a priest in charge of the parish, who is both minister of the sacrament and income generator. When that ministry goes shallow, people don’t feel cared for, schools aren’t visited, pastoral care depletes, and attendance falls away. By that stage, it’s no longer an appointment, but a turnaround process.”
THE timing factor equally applies to the toll that it can take on the parish through anxiety. “The danger is people become tired and discouraged,” Archdeacon Gibson explains. “When it goes on too long, they can get disillusioned and start thinking there is a problem with the parish itself, not functioning well, not attracting a new vicar. I try to remind them it’s not a moment for panic, but for taking stock, and that God is at work in all this.”
For Fr Corbett, “seeking support from neighbouring parishes and being patient with your brothers and sisters in Christ” is essential. “Vacancies are run by volunteers, and it is a huge burden, particularly on churchwardens. They deserve everyone’s support and prayer. I would also really encourage placing prayer at the heart of the process. As a parish, pray that God will send you the person who he is calling to serve your community.”
Mr Duff agrees: “Above all, pray. Pray more together than you were doing before.” He is keen to emphasise that “God is at work during that vacancy. He may be working on bringing things to the surface, strengthening unity, or the confidence and discipleship of individual members of the congregation. All of that time is important. Some vacancies are times of growth, and that is tremendously exciting.”
“On the whole, clergy have not prepared their people to run a vacancy,” Mr Jackson observes. “So, training, and handover, all that pre-vacancy prep, is often key to how everything goes.” He refers to the “co-operative model of ministry” as the one that usually bears fruit during a vacancy, where people have been empowered and feel involved.
“Conversely, where everything revolves around the incumbent, it can quickly translate into loss of numbers and life when they leave.” He has also seen parishes where the incumbent was unpopular, and the vacancy shrinkage was less than expected, “probably because your hard core remains, and a number of people have left already.”
A number of positions are actively involved with a parish during a vacancy. “The key people are the patrons, the appointing bishop, archdeacon, and PCC — especially the reps. Lots of people are involved, and keeping the pace up is very important,” Bishop North says. Blackburn diocese appointed a Clergy Vacancies Officer, “and she’s had a massive impact.” This has entailed “a plan for every parish and someone with oversight for it. With so many people to coordinate in the parish, it can all slow down; but crack on with things, particularly the parish profile. It’s even good practice to keep it fresh, as a living document alongside the MAP.”
For Fr Corbett, the main players “within the parish are the churchwardens”. The patron in many parishes is the bishop, but where it is not — and the Church of England offers many examples of this, through history and quirk — the patron can bring some valuable external perspective, Fr Corbett says. “Patrons have a huge role to play, as they stand outside the diocesan structure and can be looked to for advice and counsel.”
The advice from CPAS is similar. “The churchwardens and the PCC are absolutely key in leading a congregation confidently through a vacancy,” Mr Duff says. “The Parish Representatives they appoint will also be key in the appointment process.” When it comes to the patronage dimension, he indicates how the importance of “a good relationship with the patrons will really encourage and strengthen their approach to the appointment process. Our Patronage Team will enable the parish to have all the conversations they need and can offer helpful support around process. Not least because every process is different.”
Mr Jackson reflects on the pace of change over the past decade, even with the experience of the pandemic years now behind us. He is, he says, “interested in the life of 15,500 parish churches which can be turned around and allowed to thrive within the current structure” — referring to a tendency to try rethinking the local context too frequently through pastoral reorganisations, church-plants, and resource relationships. “Most places tend to thrive when they have their own, hands-on leader. Look at schools, shops, ships: they aren’t that different to parish churches.”
A benefice does not have to be suspended, he says: the situation in which the bishop pauses presentation to the living of the parish, with recruitment and sustainability implications. “Yes, a vacancy can be a good time to make interventions and help churches to be healthier in the future, but be prompt and efficient with this. Vacancies shouldn’t become a thing, and we seem to have fallen into a culture of long vacancies over objective realities,” he says.
Archdeacon Gibson seeks to be realistic about how “there are fewer people ordained and therefore looking for jobs, regardless of how many vacancies we have.” One year, she was handling 11. At the moment, she has three on her desk. “Lay vocations and self-supporting ministers are very important here, because it’s about leadership within the Church, wherever we have it.” She is both confident and optimistic. “It might be a different leadership territory from where we thought we would be, but the Church has endured challenges like this before.
“See a vacancy as an opportunity, not just something to be feared. It is a time to take stock and discern, not a time to rehearse the past, but to look forward to the future with some excitement and joy. Use the time to discern what God is saying.”
There is no need “to be discouraged”, Mr Duff says. “Don’t see this as the end, but, rather, a beginning. Think of it as an exciting opportunity rather than a struggle. And don’t just mark time until the next incumbent is appointed, but, rather, get on with doing the core work of a church that is living for Jesus. Be excited to see how Jesus might answer prayer in new and vivid ways during the vacancy.”
Bishop North underlines the diocesan commitment, in that the future lies in “not creating undoable jobs in ever-larger parishes. I don’t believe that the only way is down. We are seeing an improving situation in Blackburn, and there’s nothing more important for a diocese than getting appointments right.”
Fr Corbett cousels: “Don’t be worried if only one person applies; if they are the right priest, that is all you need.”
All those parish clergy posts that are currently open, my interviewees suggest, will need that blend of prayer and pragmatism, acumen and application, sense and strategy, commitment and collateral. They also call for partnership and energy as new purposes are worked out, ideally within six months. The future of the parish system and its volunteers could depend on it.
15 factors for any parish to help a vacancy to run well
Bob Jackson’s 2013 research for CPAS was published as Growing Through a Vacancy: A brief guide and is available from CPAS. Based on 40 interviews, he identified 15 factors for any parish to help a vacancy to run well:
- Stay united as a team and deal with conflict where there is disagreement over anything.
- Where staff are employed, value them, but don’t expect them to compensate for the vicar; be clear on roles and responsibilities.
- Spread the load: most people underestimate the amount of work involved; so, trust them with tasks and responsibility.
- Be clear about who’s in charge in the parish, which is the churchwardens.
- Don’t stop changing. Resist the old advice of never changing during a vacancy: otherwise, it could lead to stagnation and shrinkage.
- Look for quality and continuity in leading worship (congregations tend to prefer two to three people over an extensive rota) — don’t just make do, if you can help it.
- In the case of a major issue, or the likelihood of a long and difficult vacancy, think about an interim minister.
- Organise pastoral care: make sure that “everyone has someone” so that no one drifts away unnoticed (newest arrivals are often the most prone to this).
- Welcome the newcomers, and have a clear system for integrating them.
- Encourage regular attendance, because some will fall away without a vicar’s attention on them.
- Review the programme, maintain what you can (essentially the spine of church life), but let go of peripheral things.
- Communicate, communicate, communicate: listen and talk to congregations all the time, don’t let them become demoralised or feel out of the loop.
- Deal with transitions and acknowledge emotions: there will be residual loyalty to the old incumbent.
- Maintain good relations with the patrons, deanery, and diocese.
- Pray for the health of the church during the vacancy: leaders, community, PCC, and the appointment process itself.