Framework for Ministry for Mission
(M4M)
Mission is God’s activity in the world. Ministry is our co-operation with God.
We offer ourselves in partnership in God’s mission. Jesus calls us to proclaim and to serve, to evangelise and to witness, to reach out with imagination and commitment. That is our Ministry for God’s Mission.
The ministry we offer through the Church of England in the Diocese of Portsmouth needs to be relevant to all age groups and to each of our different local communities. It must be effective in engaging with the challenge of proclaiming and embodying the Gospel message in the realities of the communities where we are and the society of which we are a part. In short, to fulfil our calling within Christ’s mission here, our church must be both ‘vital’ and ‘viable’.
I am inspired and excited by both the understanding, and the evident commitment, of people all across this Diocese to this vocation. The impressive consultation and preparatory work that has been undertaken over the last two years under the banner of Ministry for Mission has clearly served to enhance this awareness and sense of common purpose. The time is now for us to put in place plans at every level to turn that commitment into action.
The Ministry for Mission (M4M) Framework helps us to do this.
We will build on it together, in partnership.
Effective partnership will mean working across church traditions, parishes, and other boundaries. It will mean intentionally including all lay and ordained members of our church, and also having full regard to the ecumenical opportunities at diocesan and more local level. Effective partnership will be outward looking, and all opportunities for social engagement will need to be explored. God’s mission is for the world not for the church.
Of primary importance to effective mission in the years ahead will be leadership. The M4M Framework identifies this and commits us all to calling out and equipping the people whom God wants to be leaders in ministry. The M4M Framework is not a blueprint for ministry: its aim is to provide a springboard for action. This means growth in effective discipleship and ministry, growth in training, and growth in Christian vocations to ministry in all forms. We pray God will bless us with growth in terms of both numbers and spiritual depth.
In the light of the M4M consultation stage, the Framework also identifies core initial elements of support that will be needed. Steps are already in hand to put this in place.
I commend the M4M Framework and the motion associated with this paper. It will give the structure for our more detailed local plans which will make this framework live.
+ Christopher
Background
This Framework for Ministry for Mission has developed over the last 2½ years, the following is a summary of the various stages of that development :
· It began with the June Synod in 2008. The Synod motion passed overwhelmingly was :
‘This Synod recognises the challenges involved in planning for provision of Ministry and is committed to growth. Synod directs that Bishop’s Council conducts the necessary research to enable the development of strategic options for the future support and delivery of Ministry across the Diocese.’
· This was followed by a memorable cover of Pompey Chimes with the ‘mug shots’ of the individual members of Synod saying ‘Something must be done!’
· The baton was passed to the Bishop’s Council and in the Autumn of that year 5 teams (involving all the members of the Council) visited 5 other dioceses (Bristol, Durham, Canterbury, Exeter and Gloucester ) to discover how they were developing strategies and shaping their ministry and resources.
· The outcome of these visits and the findings made by the members of the Council was presented to the first ‘Shedfield Day’ which involved Area Deans, Lay Chairs and others . This explored how as a Diocese we could ‘enable the whole people of God to fulfil their calling’.
· There were then 3 Archdeaconry Days in the summer of 2009 .
· A working party was established to draft some proposals for the Diocese to consider. These were then sent out to the Diocese for consultation which sought to find how we can assess ‘vitality and viability’. This consultation took place during the winter of 2009/10 (including meetings in the midst of the snow and ice!).
· These meetings and other feedback (from 7 Deaneries, 27 Parishes and 17 individuals) were then summarised and presented to Bishop’s Council meeting at Shedfield in May and then to the Diocesan Synod in June 2010.
· After the Bishop’s Council in July a small working group was given the task of taking forward the development of the Ministry for Mission (M4M) framework. This group comprised David Brindley, Lucy Docherty, David Isaac, Wendy Kennedy, Debbie Sutton and Bob White, who has been the convenor. Following some initial work the group shared its proposals with the Bishop’s Staff and Heads of Sections at a meeting which led to an increased membership to prepare material for a third ‘Shedfield Day’ The Group welcomed 4 further members Chris Feak, Alex Hughes, Will Hughes, and Ben Mizen
· The 3rd ‘Shedfield Day’ took place on Oct 9th 2010. Those present approved the principles which follow, and the content of the 4 key areas of the framework.
· The working group has drawn on the material produced on that day and the proposals arising from it to draft this framework which was approved by the Bishop’s Council on Jan 18th and is now to be considered by the Diocesan Synod on 19th Feb 2011.
Issues the framework seeks to address
As a result of all the consultation that has taken place many people are aware of the issues and concerns that lie behind the Framework. The Synod in 2008 stated that ‘something must be done’. It is important that we do not lose that sense of need for action and response, and must be aware of the consequences if we seek to avoid facing the challenges that face the Church and its ministry. The Framework seeks to establish the basis of our response as a Diocese and ensure that we have the vision and resources to share in God’s mission over the coming years. The following are some of the key factors and issues that have shaped the Framework:
· Responding to the KAIROS call for a Church that was ‘broader, deeper and leaner’ – especially in our ministry as the people of God - and to God’s call to help build his Kingdom by
· deepening our lives of worship, prayer and discipleship.
· Recognising our ministry in a broader context of daily life and work for all God’s people
· Ensuring our structures and processes are leaner and serve the broadening and deepening of our lives of prayer and service
· The growth of our engagement with the wider community, society and world
· Growth in numbers; our growth in giving (financially and in service), and a growth of people responding to God’s call to them to serve him in their lives.
· The essential need to celebrate and build on a sense of our unity in diversity ( the ‘catholicity’ of the Church) in our ministry and life
· The need to balance the bishop’s authority and oversight with local decision making
· The necessity of focusing our resources on the essential elements of our life and mission
· Developing the confidence in ourselves and in each other to plan for growth; to enable deaneries to produce a vision for what ministry is needed; and develop plans for the provision and equipping necessary at the local level.
THE FRAMEWORK for Ministry for Mission
The proposed framework is designed to enable vital and viable ministry. It comprises
a) theologically- founded core of principles to inform and guide decision making and by
which to test diocesan life and ministry
b) key strategic areas for development
a) Theological Foundations and Principles
The Framework is based on a clearly understood and expressed theology of mission and a carefully developed spirituality. This must be the foundation of our ministerial strategy (There is a further reflection on that theology at Appendix 1.)
We believe that the work of the diocese, its parishes and chaplaincies, is a response to the creative love and call to mission of the God who makes himself known as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This relationship of ‘love in shared action’ is the very nature of God and must be at the heart of any plans for mission. The ministry of Jesus was expressed through the drawing together of a group of women and men to whom he would entrust the creation of his Church – a group which, then as now, possessed a wide variety of gifts and sometimes misunderstood what they were meant to do and proclaim.
In the Diocese of Portsmouth, our response to this call during the recent past has focussed on the KAIROS process. We discerned that we were being challenged to develop a Church which is
(a) Deeper: A Church that encourages a deeper and more meaningful spiritual life, both for its congregations and for those coming into contact with its activities more loosely;
(b) Broader: A Church that has a broader base in the community and orders its worship to make it accessible to a wider group of people;
(c) Leaner: A Church that is leaner in its structures to ensure it can react quickly to the rapidly changing world in which we live.
As we continue to respond to this challenge and after a significant piece of work carried out by, and on behalf, of the Bishop’s Council, these are the core principles by which the Bishop and Synod will challenge and test the life and ministry of the Diocese.
b) Key Strategic Areas for Development
The strategic development that builds on these principles will need to be primarily about calling out and enabling ‘leadership’ which will equip and deepen all Christians as disciples in their lives.
The framework will enable the Diocese to focus its resources on :
· a deepening of lay and ordained discipleship,
· the equipping and liberating of leadership (lay and ordained)
Four key areas for strategic development have been identified following the 3rd Shedfield Day.
The appendices contain summaries from each of the groups formed on that day: their ideas, and the proposals that they made. The style varies for each group – reflecting the involvement of a wide cross-section of the Diocese in that day and the thinking that took place. The four key areas are :
Called for Growth Vocation
Trained for Growth Training and development
Structured for Growth Deployment Supported in Growth Mission Support, boundaries and permissions
Underpinning each area is the understanding that all Christian are disciples and are called to know and love God and to share in his mission to the world.
Called for Growth
We will make available programmes for spiritual development of individuals and congregations, together with support for discerning and drawing out vocations. These will recognise that to sustain and deepen our own discipleship requires growth in prayer, in faithful living and in understanding how that call may be expressed in service. In order to awaken that call in others requires sensitive perception of God’s activity in their lives and confident clarity in helping them discern that.
Trained for Growth
We will seek a single continuum of training for all involved in the Christian community; interweaving the strands of ‘Christian Life and Ministry’ and ‘Understanding the Faith’. This needs to be a flexible resource able to be delivered at a ‘local’ level (Deanery, Cluster or Parish). Emphasis will also be placed on training and equipping those with leadership roles, including the ‘modelling’ of good practice by those who hold Diocesan posts or are involved in the delivery of training.
Structured for Growth
We will develop our ‘models’ of the Church to promote forms of collaborative ministry, whether in groups, clusters or teams, so that our structures and ways of working encourage people to understand their discipleship as being a 24/7 reality and to consider how they ‘minister’ in the community and other aspects of their lives. There also needs to be both affirmation and broadening of ‘recognised ministries’, without de-skilling or de-valuing the contribution of those whose gifts are used without formal recognition In considering proposals for deployment of ministers Archdeaconry and Deanery Mission and Pastoral Committees will need to review the deployment of all available resources; lay ministers, ordained self –supporting ministers, those with permission to officiate, as well as those who are stipendiary. We will aim to create more flexible structures within the context of the Diocese, being one body in Christ.
Supported in Growth
We will develop a ‘vitality audit’ which will focus, not on success or failure, but on potential for development and growth, alongside faithfulness. This arises from a common theme in all four key areas of the need for some form of ‘review’ or ‘assessment’ of the strengths and weaknesses of Parishes or Churches, either singly or as a group. This will be carried out at the request of the Bishop’s Staff or Mission and Pastoral Committees or as part of a cycle of Church life – during vacancies or as part of the Archdeacon’s Fabric/Parish visitation. Being strategic in nature, these audits will ask robust and challenging questions and, when necessary, will include the provision or procurement of resources and support to secure appropriate ministry and mission of the church in that place and community. Support may also be provided through the sending of groups of lay people by the Bishop to a particular place, perhaps as part of a Mission Order. These will give support and energy to a local community, for a focused period of time. There needs to be some consideration given to how vacancies could be creative periods with a variety of resources provided – and consideration given to interim ministers, or ‘diocesan ministers’ trained and skilled in such ministry, as agents of transformation.