Planning for an Effective Engaging Ministry
Ken Bates

1 Introduction

Most Dioceses in the Church of England are presently facing a quite severe financial crisis - compounded by declining and ageing congregations, the growth in secular culture, and changes in social attitudes - which is raising some fundamental questions about structures and the most effective use of its clergy. These factors, together with changes in the Church’s place in the world are also giving rise to levels of uncertainty about the role of the priest in today’s world and this, in turn, has implications for the training and education of ordained ministers The present search for solutions seems to be concentrated on finding ways in which the parishes can be sustained with fewer stipendiary, ordained ministers - more parish clergy having to minister in several parishes rather than one, clergy working in deanery/locality teams and more lay involvement in parochial ministry.

This concentration on meeting the needs of the parishes is understandable. For centuries the Church’s ministry has been rooted in the parish, though this fact, in itself, ought not to preclude our consideration of alternative styles of ministry which could prove to be more appropriate in today’s world. It is also often said that "it’s the parish and its congregation that raise the money" but our acceptance of Christian stewardship as a basis for our giving surely implies a parochial responsibility for the ministry and witness of the whole Church, not just for the parish. So, it is fair to ask at this critical time whether the predominantly parochially-based structure, as we have known it, is still the one most appropriate to present day needs. Can the Church really expect to be successful in its ministry today if that ministry continues to be focused primarily on the few who come to church rather than on the many who never come? The real challenge for the Church will be to find ways in which it is going to be possible to both sustain small and effective congregations and, at the same time, meet and minister to the growing number of non-churchgoing people where they are - and not where we might like them to be!

To say this is not, of course, to imply that the parochial ministry is no longer important! Of course, it is true that our sense of community and network of contacts are no longer defined by the same parish boundaries as even just a few years ago but the sense of local community still figures highly in our lives - after all, the one thing that almost all of us have in common is that we reside in a locality. We vote locally for local Councils, take a real interest in local planning issues and expect a high standard of local services; we attend the local medical centre to see the doctor and send our children to local schools and so on. And this does not only apply to the less mobile members of society! The Church surely needs to affirm, encourage and celebrate what sense of community we are able to retain and this makes preservation of the parish structure important - even though boundaries and arrangements may have to change.

The development of Chaplaincies - Sector Ministries - which minister to people in professional or leisure based, as distinct from geographically based, groups, have been suggested as one way of helping to meet today’s needs. Such Chaplaincies are undoubtedly an important extension of the pastoral, parochial ministry into what might be envisaged as "non-residential" parishes They cannot, however, offer a comprehensive and practical solution to the Church’s problem - if a chaplain to one police force or to one retail centre, why not to every force or every retail centre; if to police, why not to solicitors or teachers, and so on?

The main problem is that seeking to deal with the crisis solely through changes within the parochial system is likely to result in proportionately fewer clergy in non-parochial ministry at the very time when the indications are that the balance ought to be changing in the opposite direction. There needs to be a radical shift in priority from the parochial to an alternative, less congregation-centred, "engaging" style of ministry coupled with a radical re-appraisal of the role of the ordained clergy in the ministry of the Church.

2 Models of Ministry

A model of ministry which is a useful aid in the consideration of these questions was suggested in a report to the Churches in the North East in 1994. The Report proposed the creation of The Churches’ Regional Commission in the North East - a new and unique ecumenical body, headed by all the Church leaders in the region - to "give focus and integrity to the Church’s engaging ministry and to stimulate the Church’s thinking about the importance of this work as part of its whole ministry, mission and witness". The proposed Commission came into being in 1995.
The Report identified three different categories of ministry - the pastoral, the enabling and the engaging ministries. The pastoral ministry is the ministry of spiritual care. It is concerned particularly with the administration of the sacraments and spiritual leadership in a Christian "congregation" which might, for example, be a geographical parish, a hospital, a prison or university. It is the style of ministry with which the Church is most clearly identified and proclaimed.
The enabling ministry is that which stimulates, feeds and encourages the growth and development of the church and its members. It is primarily concerned with the building up of the body of Christ by, for instance, invigorating the missionary life of a congregation or of the Church generally, teaching the faithful or developing ecumenical relations. It is the ministry we recognise in the work of (for example) the Diocesan Mission Advisor or Youth Officer. Such a ministry is likely to increase in importance as ‘localities’ or deanery-based ministries are developed and lay persons are trained to take on some of the roles hitherto fulfilled by the parish priest.

The ministry of engagement might be thought of as the Church’s ministry in the secular world and its institutions. Through this ministry, the church seeks to witness to the universal relevance of the Gospel to the daily life of the whole community and, indeed the whole of creation. It witnesses to the church’s concern for all the major areas of human activity by developing a holistic involvement in the important sectors of secular social life, building up a wide-ranging network of contacts and developing sufficient expertise and respect to be able to speak authoritatively about the issues and to relate the Gospel to them. It should not be seen as simply a ministry of outreach to individuals and groups so much as a witness to the Gospel in society - a witness which celebrates and affirms all that is good, enriching, life-giving and dignifying, condemns what is bad and works with others to right what is wrong

Put very simply, the pastoral ministry might be thought of as a caring and healing ministry within a defined community or fellowship; enabling ministry as ministry for the building up of the institutional church and its worshipping congregations and engaging ministry as a ministry within the wider, secular community.
Of course, defining three such styles of ministry, is far from suggesting that any individual Christian minister can be concerned with only one - or even two - of them. In practice, all three categories of ministry are essential, to a greater or lesser extent, to the fulfilment of the Church’s mission as a whole and to the ministry of any individual Christian. All ministers are, in part, pastors, enablers and engagers - as probably every parish priest can testify from experience. Thus, in an urban parish where there is much concern over a proposal to dump nuclear waste, the vicar joins protesters, becomes Chairman of a local Action Committee which lobbies the government and local council and, in this role, makes a creative contribution to the satisfactory resolution of the problem. Whilst the vicar, charged with "the cure of souls" of those in the parish might generally be considered to be a pastoral minister, the ministry in connection with the protest is most certainly one of engagement. Furthermore, this involvement and concern in the affairs of the wider community (this engagement) influences the minister’s teaching and understanding of redemption and so feeds back, in a variety of ways into the local congregation, strengthening it spiritually and creating in it a stronger base for Christian mission. So, the parish priest, as pastor, is also to some extent an engager and an enabler.
In the same way, the Arts and Recreation Chaplain, as an engaging minister will sometime be pastor and sometime enabler - or the Diocesan Mission Adviser, as enabler, will also sometime be engager or pastor.
The particular style of any person’s ministry, then, will be defined according to the extent to which each of the three categories of ministry contribute to and make up the sum total of their personal ministry. So parish priests might consider themselves to be primarily pastors; Arts and Recreation Chaplains primarily engaging ministers; the Mission Adviser primarily an enabling minister. They are distinguished by the differences of emphasis or of focus in their ministry which, in turn, ought to depend on their personal calling, gifts, flair and expertise.

Using this concept, the overall ministry of a diocese (or, equally, the deanery, parish or individual!) can be visualised in the form of three circles - each circle representing one of the three categories of ministry. The size of the individual circles might represent the numbers of ministers who are designated (or are licensed) to have the main focus of their ministry within that area. But the important point is that the three circles are not separate and self contained - as, unfortunately, is too often thought to be the case. The circles intersect and the degree of overlapping represents the extent of the sense of partnership and sharing which exists between pastoral, enabling and engaging ministries in the total ministry of the church. Thus the diagram as a whole, shown below (fig 1), emphasises the unity of the Church’s ministry within the diocese, to which every minister is making an individual, valuable and constructive contribution. It might be contrasted with Fig 2 which shows the divisive and competitive way in which the Church’s ministry is unfortunately so often envisaged.

Figure 2

Of course, the use of such a diagram does not of itself answer all the questions about the work and disposition of ordained clergy within the Diocese (or clergy and laity in the parish!) but it does create a more appropriate basis for consideration of such matters. It moves us on from questions such as "how do we share out the diminishing number of clergy among the parishes in this diocese (or deanery)?" to more challenging and potentially more constructive questions such as "how do we get the right balance between "pastoral care", "enabling" and "engagement" to suit the needs of today’s world?" or "how can we encourage and develop a true sense of partnership in a comprehensive ministry?" Only when we have addressed and answered these more fundamental questions (ie have decided upon the relative sizes of the three circles and the extent of their overlap) will we be in a position to make the appropriate, important but secondary decisions about the deployment of ordained ministers.

The use of the model also helps to show that there are several alternative ways by which a desired change in balance between the three different styles of ministry might be achieved. Thus, for example, an increase in engaging ministry at the expense of pastoral ministry (if it were thought to be appropriate) might be achieved either by encouraging parish priests ("pastoral ministers") to be more engaging and less pastoral or, alternatively, by increasing the actual establishment of non-parochial "engaging ministers" relative to parochial ministers

Further, use of the model helps us to shift our concentration from the job of particular ordained ministers to the purpose of their ministry; it encourages us to find more scope for the special, personal gifts and calling of the ordained minister. It thus helps us to see the process of change as one of liberating the ordained clergy rather than one of simply shifting part of the current demanding workload from parish priest on to the laity.

3 The Need to Specialise

If the ministry of the pastor (parish priest) is also partly an engaging ministry, why do we need non-parochial engaging ministers whose work is partly pastoral (or diocesan enabling ministers whose work is partly pastoral and partly engaging)? At its simplest, the answer is that each style of ministry, to be effective, requires its own relatively high degree of specialisation, gifts and calling. Engaging ministry which is seen solely as an additional element of a primarily pastoral/parochial ministry will inevitably be only partially effective and ad hoc. Such engagement, quite properly, will be with those issues which are of special concern to the particular parish priest - reflecting the nature of the parish or the personal interest of the minister. Thus, the parish priest with a personal interest in the arts will naturally have a particular concern for what goes on in the local art gallery, museum or theatre. They might be expected to have contact with, and a pastoral interest in, people who work in these establishments or people they meet in the local arts club or associations and they will naturally feel concerned about the provision made for the arts and for the way in which they are funded. They will make special use of the arts in worship in their church.

All of this amounts to a very valuable ministry of engagement. It is relevant and it is important but is it adequate? The problem is that, from the point of view of the wider church, such a ministry to the arts will be ad hoc, piecemeal and all too often unresourced. It will lack integrity and wholeness and it will not present the necessary visible and respected point of contact between the Church and the secular community as a whole. Viewed from outside of the church it will not really be seen as an expression of the church’s real concern for the arts as a vital component of the cultural life of the community as a whole. The minister will be seen as "the parish priest with a proper interest in the arts" rather than the Church’s minister in the field of the arts.

So the Church needs both parochially-based clergy who engage effectively within the fields of social activity most appropriate to their parish and specialist, non-parochial ministers engaging over a diocesan or regional area. And the same could be said about the ministry of enabling.

4 A Strategy for Change

The Church, as part of its response to the current crisis, should endeavour to bring about a positive shift in balance from pastoral, parochial ministry towards a more engaging style. In part, though by no means wholly, this can be achieved within deaneries or through the present process of development of localities or in team ministries. For example, one element of the planning of clergy roles within deanery or locality should be to make provision for effective and formal engagement, by the ordained clergy, with appropriate areas of social concern in that locality. However, as stated above, this in itself will be inadequate without the appointment of, and proper support for, a number of licensed, dedicated and specialist "engaging" ministers working across the Diocese (or, perhaps, region).

The aim of these "engaging" ministers would be to provide a visible focus for the Church’s concern for the issues of the secular world and to be an effective, respected bridge between the Church and the secular community.

The general objectives of such a ministry would be:

a) to promote and witness to the church’s concern for a particular field of secular life and the relevant, associated, issues;
b) to develop a respected dialogue between the church and secular society and to build bridges between them;
c) to take the initiative in sponsoring and supporting relevant projects;
d) to feed back knowledge and experience into the Church;
e) to develop relevant theological insights;
f) to minister to individuals and groups in special situations, in partnership with parish clergy and other diocesan ministers.

It is important that every field of social activity is covered if the engagement is to be meaningful and complete, so the fields need to be defined with care. Too narrow a definition (eg town centre, theatre or radio) would require more ministers than, in present circumstances, the Church can make available; too broad a definition (eg social responsibility or deprivation) would result in a lack of focus and expertise. However, a number of appropriate fields can easily be identified to meet the requirements and might possibly include: "Industry Science and Technology", "Arts and Recreation", "Politics and Government", "Health and Welfare", "Law, Order and Justice" and "Environment".

The Arts and Recreation Chaplaincy has managed to perform a successful ministry of this sort for over thirty years with one full-time Senior Chaplain, one half-time Chaplain in the Durham Diocese and two half-time chaplains in the York Diocese. It has never pretended that it has been able to do everything that could have been done - or that Chaplains would like to have done - in the field of the Arts. However, by carefully seizing opportunities as they have arisen, by being imaginative and entrepreneurial and by forging working partnerships and networks with organisations from the parish to the national level it has become a nationally (some might say internationally!) respected focus as a model ministry of engagement. It should be possible to do the same in other fields such as those listed above - making a very significant shift towards a ministry of engagement with as few as nine or ten full-time ordained ministers across a region.

But this can only be achieved if recognition and attention is given to other needs of these ministers. They cannot be expected to work alone or in isolation. It is essential that a formally recognised management group should exist for each designated field of activity, to support the ministers in their work, to account to the Diocesan Boards for use of Diocesan funds, and to give a sense of corporate identity and integrity to the ministry. It is also essential that oversight of Diocesan non-parochial "Engaging Ministry" be lodged in some clearly recognised way within the Diocesan Board structures so that the ministry is "owned" by the whole Diocese and manifests a mission and witness of the Church as a whole, undertaken in partnership with the parochial and enabling ministry of the Diocese..

5 Conclusion

The crisis facing the Church today presents both a challenge and a threat. The challenge lies in the opportunity to rethink and, if necessary, to change both the style of ministry and the role of the ordained minister. The threat is that, giving priority to the need to sustain and reorganise parochial ministry might actually frustrate the emergence and development of alternative, and more suitable, forms of ministry.

There can, in fact be no simple, and unique answer to the question of what is the most appropriate style of ministry for today. There is much room for flexibility of approach and the Church should be ready to experiment and to welcome variety. So it is not the purpose here to propose a detailed prescription - and most certainly not to disparage the pastoral/parochial ministry. On the basis of over thirty years experience as a unique engaging ministry, however, the Arts and Recreation Chaplaincy does wish to plead the case for a more engaging style of ministry and to offer some suggestions for action which might encourage a positive approach to the challenge for change. To this end we express the hope that:

1 all deaneries and localities involved in reorganisation and forward planning will be encouraged to recognise the importance and validity of the engaging and enabling, as well as pastoral/parochial ministry; will identify within their area the most appropriate spheres of secular activity with which the local church should engage and will make some proper and formal provision for their ordained clergy to minister within these spheres;

2 dioceses will consider appointing and licensing designated (regional) ministers to engage in spheres of secular activity such as those mentioned in Section 4 (above) and ensure the existence of an effective infrastructure of formal support for such ministries.