Mother Ruth wrote movingly recently on the collection of decrepit hoovers that her congregation has amassed over the years. It is a subject dear to my heart.
It occurred to me this morning during the coldest Diocesan Council meeting in all of Christendom, that we collect other things like this too.
Take mission plans, for example.
- The Purpose of Your Church
- The ANDREW vision (in St Andrew’s diocese)
- Mission 21
- Journey of the Baptised
I’ve been in the church long enough now to have seen them come and seen them go. What was the one that came before The Purpose of Your Church? I cannot now remember, but I bet someone can. There was just a hint this morning at the Council of what we might do next in this diocese. It sounds quite good to me and it is interesting as it appears to suggest that there is life after Journey of the Baptised after all. However, we do collect them.
We have a similar collection of ways of thinking about ministry too.
- Ministerial Review – discussed fully about six years ago at General Synod, I think and not yet implemented.
- Continual Ministerial Development – now with its associated Individual Development Plans – just like living in perpetual TISEC. (Did the Pope not abolish Limbo a couple of weeks ago?)
- Collaborative Ministry aka Local Collaborative Ministry, Whole Body Ministry, the People of God Movement, Full Body Ministry, The Ministry of All the Baptised, Total Ministry and any number of other acronyms and names.
The cold icy tendrils of Collaborative Ministry were starting to creep through the Diocesan Council this morning. The trouble with Collaborative Ministry is that it is a package which some of us in the church believe in as though it were a religion and some of us just don’t get. The presumption of the former is that the others are power crazed megalomaniacs. (The presumption of the latter is that the others are power crazed megalomaniacs too).
Notwithstanding the state of the wider Anglican Communion, the real point of schism in the Scottish Episcopal Church is over Collaborative Ministry, or whatever it is called this week. It is clear to me that several of our current bishops don’t agree with it at all and are starting to be a little bit more assertive about that fact. (It isn’t hard to see why they should be anxious – the dioceses which were early, enthusiastic adopters of all of this are now in dire straights).
The confusing thing to the bystander is probably that there is a difference between collaborative ministry and Collaborative Ministry. Working collaboratively seems to me clearly to be a good thing. However the presumptions of the Collaborative Ministry agenda go far beyond that and they are far from having been agreed by the whole church.
Perhaps a little reflective debate within the SEC Blogsphere would be interesting.
Discuss.
Oh yikes, Kelvin……I think I just stepped into the twilight zone. However, just to rattle the bars of your educational experiences cage, can I just say that TISEC is nothing like Limbo. It’s initial point of reference is vocational (ie lifelong development) rather than a vacant, eternal, unbaptised state. I think purgatory might be a better metaphor?
The trouble with lifelong initiatives is the participants will keep having crises and conflicts in them (Honestly, you’d think they’d know better)…which is a real nuisance if you’re attempting to design a pedagogical strategy that can cover phases of life, variable educational expectations, different intellectual stand points, and spirituality. ‘TISEC tries to do an impossible job, herding ordinand cats into a fragmented ecclesiastical basket’ Discuss.
There you are…get your teeth into that 🙂
ps I think working collaboratively is a great idea as long as it doesn’t actually mean getting rid of the preisthood
Yes, definitely in the twilight zone.
Would anyone care to define ‘Collaborative Ministry’ (I think I can figure out collaborative ministry) for the uninitiated?
Vicky – thanks for your comment. The question of whether TISEC is more like Purgatory than Limbo entertains me greatly.
Elizabeth – there is quite a good description of Total Ministry/Collaborative Ministry by someone who believes in it wholeheartedly here:
http://www.motherflash.com/spirit/faq.html
Other people may be able to point to other descriptions, I don’t know whether there are any that are available from a Scottish context.
It is also worth looking through “Journey of the Baptised” on the diocesan website. “New Century, New Directions” is also on there – this was the report that I remember voting in favour of, because it was going to stop TISEC from delivering education programmes.
Both here: http://www.episcopalglasgow.org.uk/downloads.shtml#cmd
Out in the sticks some form of collaboration is necessary if we are not to be in even more dire straits (sic) than we are at present. Every time I participate in a clergyless service (on average once a month) I am aware of the yawning gulf between (say) what I can contribute by way of a sermon and what a properly educated professional can do. However, I am aware that in some ways this state of affairs has been beneficial for our congregation in terms of education (of the few) and pulling together (of the rest) – so it’s not all black.
And as for continuing development: it’s the norm in teaching and in business these days – why should you guys escape? 😉
Well, Fr K, you certainly got my attention! A subject dear to my heart – and I don’t just mean the hoovers. I have taken the discussion over to my Blog to keep give it a wider audience.
Could I ask, Chris, whether the people facilitating your continuing educational development were volunteer parents from the school?
oh, and another thing, whilst we are at it, I don’t think you should assume, Chris, that anyone every taught us to preach. In TISEC, the idea that people should be educated in how to preach was a definite no no. Odd really, as preaching is a skill that is relatively easy to teach someone how to do better.
Kelvin, me thinks you are a CPD cynic. Have you considered reflecting on this in terms of (1) how you see your relationship with God; (2) what the implications for your vocation are; and (3) the theological stand point of cynisim within a monotheistic liberal tradition? If you haven’t, do so immediately, in triplicate and get it signed off by your bishop. If you have, what formal development programmes do you think you might need to help you explore the cynism and make it a positive aspect of your ministry. And, where can you get a grant from for that?
It may be that I am a CPD cynic. However, it appears that I am not the only one.