I HAD the privilege last week of delivering a sermon at the 371st Festival of what is now called the Clergy Support Trust.

With a history going back to the foundation in 1655 of the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy, which is one of the six support organisations now amalgamated in the Trust, this remarkable charity provides a lifeline to Anglican clergy — whether they are in training, serving, or retired — and their families and households, both here and across Europe.

While we would ideally live in a world without the need for such charities, the reality is that, with increasing global instability, a continuing cost-of-living crisis, and underfunded mental-health and social-care provision, financial and well-being support is more necessary than ever.

This year, the Trust has received more grant applications than ever before; the number of retired clergy applying for funding has grown sixfold in the past five years.

We know that the weight of ministry is heavy, but it is incumbent on all of us to uphold and affirm our clergy — particularly through difficult times.

ST JOHN tells us that Jesus shocked his disciples when he poured water into a basin and began to wash their feet — a job that would normally have been carried out by a servant.

In that moment, Jesus was modelling servant leadership, the sort of leadership which is both sacrificial and costly. He calls his followers to be a servant people, who wash the feet of others. For clergy spouses and their children and households, that call often means supporting a family member in their service and vocation.

But these demands can be exhausting. For those working to look after the elderly, the sick, and the alienated in their parishes, ministry is often rewarding, but, at times, it can also feel relentless.

For this reason, it is imperative that we do our best to support our clergy, as they support so many of us. Those who serve in parishes, chaplaincies, and cathedrals up and down the country provide important care for their parishioners and others whom they serve, but they truly require care in return.

Clergy Support TrustArchbishop Mullally preaches in St Paul’s Cathedral at the 371st Festival of the Clergy Support Trust, on Tuesday of last week

They cannot keep on giving, loving, and serving if they are not also being loved, cared for, and served by others. If they are to wash the feet of others, they must also be able to have their feet washed in return. If they are to sit and listen to others, they must also be sat with and listened to. Indeed, some of the most enriching times of my life as a parish priest were when I could lean on peers for pastoral care, being reminded that we do not do this work alone, and we can go further when we travel together.

THE well-being of our clergy is incredibly important, which is why charities such as the Clergy Support Trust are essential. Coming from all walks of life, those who are called to ministry have circumstances as unique and individual as the places where they serve.

For Nik, an army chaplain, this means needing a wheelchair suitable for the needs of his six-year-old daughter, who lives with spina bifida. Thanks to the Trust, she now has a specialist sports wheelchair, which, her father says, has changed her life.

For Jun, a vicar in Northampton, it means an emergency grant to fix his car and laptop, in addition to a well-being grant that went towards a much needed family holiday in Cornwall. And, for Rebecca, a curate in Coventry, a health grant enabled her daughters to receive child ADHD and occupational-therapy assessments.

Many of us will have received care from our clergy and their households in times of both joy and sorrow — from our happiest days to our darkest moments — and support for the Clergy Support Trust is just one way in which we can help to repay that debt. 

The Most Revd Sarah Mullally is the Archbishop of Canterbury.

clergysupport.org.uk