Or perhaps that should be 'care taking' in the sense of clearing up from yesterday and putting out the chairs, setting up the sanctuary and all those little jobs that need to be done to make the building look right for the morning services.
Doing it today is a real pain in the back (literally) as I picked up a solitary chair and, as I moved it, have done something that makes turning an interesting experience! Think I'll have to be a bit careful and avoid leaping about during the service.
The best bit of Sunday mornings comes when someone or other will make the odd remark about how something isn't in the right place or comment on the positioning of the chairs or such like. These days I point out that there is always room at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning for anyone else to come and help move things around. Sadly thought this is never their calling :-)
Yesterday we unveiled a Jubilee mural which we have been co-ordinating with a number of other bodies and people. Some are names on the paper and others, like the head teacher of our local infants school and the Guiding lady, are there and doing the stuff with a vengeance as they come alongside and support our Pioneer Minister.
The weather was pretty awful but the event was rewarding and fun (I'll post pictures some time today as time permits), just like Church being at the centre of community should be.
And so on to an encounter with Ezekiel (17: 24 - 24, a trip to Corinthian (1 Cor 5: 6 - 17) and a bit of seed sowing with Mark (4: 26 - 34)
Happy Father's day to those so inclined (or blessed) - remember it's not just a name but a job description!
Showing posts with label Pioneer Ministers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pioneer Ministers. Show all posts
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Thursday, 14 July 2011
Pioneer Ministry - What People Want!
conversing with a colleague on their journey towards having a Pioneer Minister, this outline document came to mind:
JOB DESCRIPTION
Working with others to plan, develop and sustain a fresh expression of church for those who are non-churched. Task and roles includes:
1. Exploring and engaging with the culture and context of the community where the fresh expression of church is to be established. Consulting and liaising with others who are working both within the local church community and in the wider community.
2. Leading the emerging Christian community in ways which are culturally relevant and authentic having an obvious connection with the church and subscribing to the views and practices of orthodox Christianity and the Anglican tradition.
3. Assembling a team of committed volunteers who subscribe to the vision and who have the suitable gifts and potential to assist in establishing the fresh expression of church. Supporting, pastoring and mentoring those team members as they grow in personal and Christian formation and in effectiveness in leading a fresh expression of church.
4. Establishing suitable processes for mutual and individual accountability within the project.
5. Reflecting prayerfully on the most appropriate ways to establish a form of church for non-churched people (adult and young people) within that community.
6. Co-ordinating appropriate worship (having due care for the need for an appropriate sacramental life), prayer, fellowship, outreach and social engagement within the life of the community.
7. Putting in place a strategy for the continuing development and future sustainability of the project. Identifying and securing the necessary resources for all, and any, new forms of church.
8. Drawing up and managing the budget for any fresh expressions of church that may come into being.
9. Convening and facilitating the management group for the project.
10. Sharing within the wider parish/diocesan/denominational setting the experience and learning gained from the project as might be fitting.
11. Contributing to the evaluation of the project as required, preparing such reports as may from time to time be requested.
12 . Acting as coach/mentor to other pioneer mission leaders within the project/area [optional - depending upon experience and skills]
13. Engaging in any continuing professional development or other appropriate ongoing training as is required.
14. Any other duties reasonably requested by the incumbent or project manager (where applicable).
Not a job for the fainthearted when it is put on paper like this is it? More than just sitting in cafés and dossing around with non-Christians, more like a load of work (often without the support structure that a standard parish role which perhaps indicates some benefit in a curacy of sort being with those starting out?)
Pax
V
JOB DESCRIPTION
Working with others to plan, develop and sustain a fresh expression of church for those who are non-churched. Task and roles includes:
1. Exploring and engaging with the culture and context of the community where the fresh expression of church is to be established. Consulting and liaising with others who are working both within the local church community and in the wider community.
2. Leading the emerging Christian community in ways which are culturally relevant and authentic having an obvious connection with the church and subscribing to the views and practices of orthodox Christianity and the Anglican tradition.
3. Assembling a team of committed volunteers who subscribe to the vision and who have the suitable gifts and potential to assist in establishing the fresh expression of church. Supporting, pastoring and mentoring those team members as they grow in personal and Christian formation and in effectiveness in leading a fresh expression of church.
4. Establishing suitable processes for mutual and individual accountability within the project.
5. Reflecting prayerfully on the most appropriate ways to establish a form of church for non-churched people (adult and young people) within that community.
6. Co-ordinating appropriate worship (having due care for the need for an appropriate sacramental life), prayer, fellowship, outreach and social engagement within the life of the community.
7. Putting in place a strategy for the continuing development and future sustainability of the project. Identifying and securing the necessary resources for all, and any, new forms of church.
8. Drawing up and managing the budget for any fresh expressions of church that may come into being.
9. Convening and facilitating the management group for the project.
10. Sharing within the wider parish/diocesan/denominational setting the experience and learning gained from the project as might be fitting.
11. Contributing to the evaluation of the project as required, preparing such reports as may from time to time be requested.
12 . Acting as coach/mentor to other pioneer mission leaders within the project/area [optional - depending upon experience and skills]
13. Engaging in any continuing professional development or other appropriate ongoing training as is required.
14. Any other duties reasonably requested by the incumbent or project manager (where applicable).
Not a job for the fainthearted when it is put on paper like this is it? More than just sitting in cafés and dossing around with non-Christians, more like a load of work (often without the support structure that a standard parish role which perhaps indicates some benefit in a curacy of sort being with those starting out?)
Pax
V
Wednesday, 13 July 2011
Pioneer Ministry - Gloves Off?
Following on from my post yesterday on the issue of Pioneer Ministry, I received this response:
"Too many clergy assume that they can do the work of a pioneer minister because they have done church but this isnt the case. Pioneering is church at the cutting edge rather than the dull edge of declining church."
Wow! 'Church at the 'cutting edge', now that's a challenge to all those poor souls who merely manage things at the dull edge I guess. I 've been thinking and praying a lot about this topic because the church I go to have a Pioneer Minister and wonder what she does and why we have one and she tells me and shows me areas of engagement and considers things like accessibility and opportunity and the like where others talk of 'services' and 'ministry'.
During a moment of reflection and prayer I realised that of course the world we occupy is a tardis-like creation that is, minute by minute, hour by hour, taking us through time. The result of this is that some of the congregation of my local big church tells me of days when everyone knew the Lord's Prayer and how they were packed every Sunday evening for Evensnog! The problem is that ministry in this established church (been there in some form for around 1,500 years) is to the older, established, folk and the newer, don't actually know about church or come in, folk. This means that even in the established and ordered churches there is an element of pioneering!
The scenery doesn't change but the people within it does and rather than 'settle a region' the minister needs to 'settle a people' and this, whether my correspondent likes it or not, is pioneering. So let us have a go at modifying the Pioneer Minister definition:
A 'Parish Minister' (PM) is 'a person who is among those who first engages or settles a people, thus opening them up to the inspiration and acceptance of God through Jesus, His Son. Therefore, Parish Ministry is 'doing and being Church where no Church is to be found'.
Now some PMs are engaged and effective in evangelistic zeal and practice. Some are content to live in a parish that neither grows or declines and maintain the status quo (and oddly they are applauded because they pay their Parish Share and never post negative numbers). Other still are ?????? [insert label from: lazy, incompetent, overworked, under-equipped, unlucky, disengaged, battle-weary or (add your own label here) and they sit within their dwindling numbers and await retirement with the same hope that others have for the parousia!
Pioneer ministry cannot exist without established church and established church cannot exist without pioneer minister who bring expertise, evangelistic zeal and a desire to build the kingdom. BUT - some of those who would be Pioneers wish to do so on their own terms and in isolation from the established or settled church. Some of those who wish to be Pioneer ministers have the zeal but lack the understanding and the tools and abilities, the experience of ministry and the theological sense that is required.
Both groups have their weaknesses, but in partnership we are strong. Can the eye say to the hand I have no need of you? if it does we will never dry our tears will we?
Pax
"Too many clergy assume that they can do the work of a pioneer minister because they have done church but this isnt the case. Pioneering is church at the cutting edge rather than the dull edge of declining church."
Wow! 'Church at the 'cutting edge', now that's a challenge to all those poor souls who merely manage things at the dull edge I guess. I 've been thinking and praying a lot about this topic because the church I go to have a Pioneer Minister and wonder what she does and why we have one and she tells me and shows me areas of engagement and considers things like accessibility and opportunity and the like where others talk of 'services' and 'ministry'.
During a moment of reflection and prayer I realised that of course the world we occupy is a tardis-like creation that is, minute by minute, hour by hour, taking us through time. The result of this is that some of the congregation of my local big church tells me of days when everyone knew the Lord's Prayer and how they were packed every Sunday evening for Evensnog! The problem is that ministry in this established church (been there in some form for around 1,500 years) is to the older, established, folk and the newer, don't actually know about church or come in, folk. This means that even in the established and ordered churches there is an element of pioneering!
The scenery doesn't change but the people within it does and rather than 'settle a region' the minister needs to 'settle a people' and this, whether my correspondent likes it or not, is pioneering. So let us have a go at modifying the Pioneer Minister definition:
A 'Parish Minister' (PM) is 'a person who is among those who first engages or settles a people, thus opening them up to the inspiration and acceptance of God through Jesus, His Son. Therefore, Parish Ministry is 'doing and being Church where no Church is to be found'.
Now some PMs are engaged and effective in evangelistic zeal and practice. Some are content to live in a parish that neither grows or declines and maintain the status quo (and oddly they are applauded because they pay their Parish Share and never post negative numbers). Other still are ?????? [insert label from: lazy, incompetent, overworked, under-equipped, unlucky, disengaged, battle-weary or (add your own label here) and they sit within their dwindling numbers and await retirement with the same hope that others have for the parousia!
Pioneer ministry cannot exist without established church and established church cannot exist without pioneer minister who bring expertise, evangelistic zeal and a desire to build the kingdom. BUT - some of those who would be Pioneers wish to do so on their own terms and in isolation from the established or settled church. Some of those who wish to be Pioneer ministers have the zeal but lack the understanding and the tools and abilities, the experience of ministry and the theological sense that is required.
Both groups have their weaknesses, but in partnership we are strong. Can the eye say to the hand I have no need of you? if it does we will never dry our tears will we?
Pax
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
Pioneer Ministry - 1
Mention this and you usually get the question, "What is it?" or perhaps, "Who does it?"
The most common definitions appears to be that a 'Pioneer Minister' is 'a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others' and so pioneer ministry is 'doing and being Church where no Church is to be found'.
The reality is that once this country knew the Bible stories, understood the times and seasons and was the physical embodiment of the Christian message. Then, following a couple of World Wars, this situation started to change and secularism and its servant consumerism began to rise up. The situation now is that amongst the indigenous british citizen (and they are white multi-generational british not immigrants as many seem to assume) the situation is the many have no idea what Christmas of Easter is truly about and the stories some assume as being commonplace are untold and thus unknown!
The problem is that some, not all, of those in the organised church assumes that anything new must look like it and must bring people into it (and quickly!) whilst others in the pioneer church assume that whatever it is it must not look like organised church and thus they are free from the constraints and demands of the former. This causes some to sneer when dog-collars in 'organised church' say that all are pioneers, because, "If they were, where are the new members, where are the new congregations!" Some claim that the organised church dog-collars are merely archaic protectionists who are frightened by the new breed of bright young (and not so young) things that are coming to do Church in a new and 'real' way!
In return, there are many established dog-collars who see the unstructured, 'let's do coffee', abstract efforts of some of the pioneers as unproductive, elitist and separatist. "They want Church on their terms and set themselves us as something different and better that us," whined one cleric recently. The reason for this being that they'd tried to embrace (not physically) someone doing 'pioneering' and been totally blown off by them!
The aim of pioneer ministry is to create congregations (gatherings) of people who know Christ, accept that He died for them and live within all the traditional tenets of the Christian faith but perhaps in ways that are not traditional or within traditional buildings. The hope is that at some stage the two will coalesce - but in partnership not ownership! The work of pioneering is carried out in people that are wild and separate from God (just like the open prairies of the Wester US). The desire is to see them 'become Church' not 'Come to Church' and you know when a pioneer settlement has become Church because it will possess within it it the two Anglican sacraments (oooh, using the term sacrament often throws some into a flat spin - too possessive, too controlling, 'not what we are about man!') of baptism and communion.
Pioneer ministry is about doing what Church has always done, meeting the people where they are and helping them to recognise the hand of God on their lives and come to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is not the panacea for that formidable parish share, neither is it a declaration of independence from the rest of the (tired, old and irrelevant) Church - it is yet another facet of the ministry of the Church and, as per Eph 4:11, gives us:
Apostles (ἀπόστολος)
Prophets (προφήτης)
Evangelists (εὐαγγελιστής)
Pastors (ποιμήν), and
Teachers (διδάσκαλος)
Not in isolation but in partnership. In an army you need bayonets (infantry), bridges (engineers), communications (signallers), medics, people who can 'soften' up the enemy and their positions before the bayonets go in (artillery), understanding of the enemy, their strength and tactics (Intelligence) and some AFvs too (why walk to war when you can ride?). Some of these are regular, some of these are volunteer reserves - but we need to have a 'one army' approach if we are to fight well and work together.
Seems this is a lesson some within Church circles could do with learning!
Pax
The most common definitions appears to be that a 'Pioneer Minister' is 'a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others' and so pioneer ministry is 'doing and being Church where no Church is to be found'.
The reality is that once this country knew the Bible stories, understood the times and seasons and was the physical embodiment of the Christian message. Then, following a couple of World Wars, this situation started to change and secularism and its servant consumerism began to rise up. The situation now is that amongst the indigenous british citizen (and they are white multi-generational british not immigrants as many seem to assume) the situation is the many have no idea what Christmas of Easter is truly about and the stories some assume as being commonplace are untold and thus unknown!
The problem is that some, not all, of those in the organised church assumes that anything new must look like it and must bring people into it (and quickly!) whilst others in the pioneer church assume that whatever it is it must not look like organised church and thus they are free from the constraints and demands of the former. This causes some to sneer when dog-collars in 'organised church' say that all are pioneers, because, "If they were, where are the new members, where are the new congregations!" Some claim that the organised church dog-collars are merely archaic protectionists who are frightened by the new breed of bright young (and not so young) things that are coming to do Church in a new and 'real' way!
In return, there are many established dog-collars who see the unstructured, 'let's do coffee', abstract efforts of some of the pioneers as unproductive, elitist and separatist. "They want Church on their terms and set themselves us as something different and better that us," whined one cleric recently. The reason for this being that they'd tried to embrace (not physically) someone doing 'pioneering' and been totally blown off by them!
The aim of pioneer ministry is to create congregations (gatherings) of people who know Christ, accept that He died for them and live within all the traditional tenets of the Christian faith but perhaps in ways that are not traditional or within traditional buildings. The hope is that at some stage the two will coalesce - but in partnership not ownership! The work of pioneering is carried out in people that are wild and separate from God (just like the open prairies of the Wester US). The desire is to see them 'become Church' not 'Come to Church' and you know when a pioneer settlement has become Church because it will possess within it it the two Anglican sacraments (oooh, using the term sacrament often throws some into a flat spin - too possessive, too controlling, 'not what we are about man!') of baptism and communion.
Pioneer ministry is about doing what Church has always done, meeting the people where they are and helping them to recognise the hand of God on their lives and come to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ. It is not the panacea for that formidable parish share, neither is it a declaration of independence from the rest of the (tired, old and irrelevant) Church - it is yet another facet of the ministry of the Church and, as per Eph 4:11, gives us:
Apostles (ἀπόστολος)
Prophets (προφήτης)
Evangelists (εὐαγγελιστής)
Pastors (ποιμήν), and
Teachers (διδάσκαλος)
Not in isolation but in partnership. In an army you need bayonets (infantry), bridges (engineers), communications (signallers), medics, people who can 'soften' up the enemy and their positions before the bayonets go in (artillery), understanding of the enemy, their strength and tactics (Intelligence) and some AFvs too (why walk to war when you can ride?). Some of these are regular, some of these are volunteer reserves - but we need to have a 'one army' approach if we are to fight well and work together.
Seems this is a lesson some within Church circles could do with learning!
Pax
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