When we gathered as Synod in Chelmsford on 11th October we contributed to our Pastoral Committees consideration about Pastoral Consultants. The results of the Mentimeter poll and the text of the paper follow.

If you have any contributions to make, please email: pastoral@urceastern.org.uk

Consultation: Pastoral Consultants

Currently the primary providers of support to local churches, to their members, elders and ministers, are the Moderator and the Pastoral Committee Convenor (who serves in a voluntary capacity alongside fulltime ministry).

For specific tasks and situations, we have been supported by elders, retired ministers and stipendiary ministers. (Some stipendiary ministers as Synod-directed. In the case of the STM 100% and for others around 25% of their scoping.) There are also Pastoral Advocates who coordinate meetings of the Area Partnerships and attend Pastoral Committee bi-annually.

With the move to Mission Partnerships, they will become the focus of local church cooperation which is geographically close, and Area Partnerships will be disbanded. With the constant downward pressure on the Synod deployment target, it is also less likely that new opportunities for existing stipendiary ministers to be Synod-directed will occur. (Any capacity would be absorbed by the Mission Partnership in which they serve.)

We are grateful for all the support that has been offered in a voluntary capacity. Yet it must be acknowledged that the need and variety of support that local churches now require could be an unreasonable burden on our limited number of Synod volunteers.

We will still have plenty of opportunities for those volunteers willing and able to serve, but moving forwards, we need to provide more dedicated and directable resource to support local churches. This will create space for the Moderator and the Pastoral Committee Convenor to prioritise and respond strategically. It will also broaden and deepen the engagement between local churches, of the Pastoral Committee with local churches, and the tasks necessary to underpin our life together.

To this end, we propose to develop a team, spread around the Synod, who are available to support churches by:

• Being the initial point of contact for a group of Mission Partnerships.
• Accompanying the Moderator and/or the Pastoral Committee Convenor on visits.
• Undertaking particular projects, as agreed by Pastoral Committee.
• Serving as Interim Moderators.
• Acting as County Denominational Ecumenical Officers if required.
• Representing their county / group of Mission Partnerships on Pastoral Committee.
  • Maintaining links with local churches through their ministers, local leaders and church secretaries.
  • Coordinating training, discussion and other events to build relationships.
  • Occasionally attending meetings of the Partnership Groups / Leadership Teams.
  • Occasionally attending events of the Mission Partnerships.
• Sharing their skills as an experienced elder, minister or from a related professional background.

It is envisaged that these would represent on Pastoral Committee the areas of: Norfolk & Waveney, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Essex & Herts.

There is the possibility that these roles could be filled by volunteers or Synod-directed ministers, but if employed would be: Norfolk & Waveney 0.25 FTE, Suffolk 0.5 FTE, Cambridgeshire 0.5 FTE, and Essex & Herts 1 FTE.

This has been discussed at Resources, and Trust suggested that initially, one post be advertised and assessed for capacity before expanding further.