NATIONAL ARCHDEACONS’ FORUM serving the Church of England and the Church in Wales The Ministerial Development Review of Archdeacons Many organisations find that review is a very useful tool in developing responsibility and encouraging growth in members of staff. Effective review provides an affirmative place to celebrate what is going well and also a safe space to reflect on what is going less well and to explore what might be needed for those contexts. It is crucial that review is a positive and valuable experience for all concerned, encourages the person being reviewed in their ministerial development, and helps them to be the best ministers they can be, for God, for the Church and for the communities they serve. As Pavlina Wilkin has observed on recent research into MDR: It is apparent from the report’s findings that effective MDR practice has a positive impact on clergy, the diocese and wider Church and that there is much to be gained in enhancing the effectiveness of MDR across all dioceses. Pavlina Wilkin: Ministerial Development Review October 2014:1 We are clear that to achieve the aim of encouraging and developing an archdeacon’s ministry, review must have an ethos which is affirming, celebratory, exploring, appropriately challenging and confidential. It requires a relationship between bishop and archdeacon which is one of fruitful co-operation and which avoids friendly collusion. If this ethos is missing, then the process will not deliver on its purpose. National Expectations In the Church of England, review is required as part of common tenure, and the Archbishops’ Council issued guidance in January 2010. This guidance describes the purpose of review as follows: (1.) Ministerial Development Review (MDR) facilitates a guided discussion framed around an office holder’s ministry. The purpose of the review is to look back and reflect on what has happened over the last year or two of ministry and, informed by that, to look forward to plan, anticipate and develop a clearer vision for what lies ahead. In looking back there is an opportunity to acknowledge all there is to be thankful for and anything that is a matter for lament, and in looking forward to anticipate the changing demands of the role, identify future objectives and areas for potential development. (2.) MDR is founded in the assumption that all office holders are responsible to God for the ministry entrusted to them and that they are accountable to the Church and to one another for the way in which it is exercised. Ministry is a gift and a trust for which each individual holds account. Accountability includes a preparedness to grow and develop on the basis of experience and the learning gained from it. It is about affirmation and encouragement as well as challenge. Ministerial Development Review Guidance 2010 Our recommendation is that review happens every year, even though the regulations require review at least once every two years. Given the nature of the archdeacon’s 1 role, and the different responsibilities archdeacons hold, an annual review is clearly best practice. For archdeacons, their annual review should be with their diocesan bishop, on a one to one basis. Preparation Review is founded on the two key principles of affirmation and accountability. Review is founded on the assumption that we are accountable to God for the ministry entrusted to us, to the Bishop for our licence in the diocese or church, and to one another as fellow members of the Body of Christ. Ministry Review 2011 To ensure that it fulfils these principles, and is searching and enabling, both bishop and archdeacon will need to prepare carefully beforehand. Below you will find a suggested preparatory paper and a suggested external feedback form. They provide a template which you may wish to develop for your situation. Both documents are deliberately not focussed around particular tasks, but designed to give a framework which allows creative exploration and honest discussion. For the external feedback, the archdeacon should choose six people, with a balance between lay and ordained, who between them represent different aspects of their ministry. The following list of possibilities is not exhaustive: • an area dean, • a lay chair, • a member of the Bishop’s Staff team, • a couple of people active in the local community with whom the archdeacon regularly works, • a member of the diocesan staff, • a member of the DAC, • a churchwarden they have worked closely with in the past year, • a sector minister from their archdeaconry. A useful way of doing this is for the archdeacon to approach the six people selected personally, send them the feedback form, receive these forms when they are returned and add their own response before sending them on to the bishop. The review meeting There are many useful guides to good practice in review, to assist both the reviewer and the reviewee to gain most from the process. A very helpful summary is provided in Ministry Review: principles for use in the Anglican dioceses of the SCRTP October 2011, which includes an insightful reflection on scripture and tradition. (see page 3 for more details) The summary record As with all review, the only record will be the summary of the conversation which is agreed by both the bishop and the archdeacon concerned. All other papers will be shredded. The archdeacon should follow up any development needs which have been identified as appropriate, which may include either approaching the person with 2 the CMD responsibility in the diocese or contacting the Archdeacons’ National Executive Officer. Sources Ministerial Development Review Guidance approved by the Archbishops’ Council January 2010 Ministry Review: principles for use in the Anglican dioceses of the SCRTP October 2011 http://www.scrtp.org.uk/policy-documents-and-guidelines/ Pavlina Wilkin: Ministerial Development Review, the top five dioceses A paper of the National Continuing Ministry Development Panel October 2014 http://www.ministrydevelopment.org.uk/case_studies/62 Our thanks to the Diocese of Salisbury and the Diocese of London for sharing material which has greatly aided the production of this guidance. NB 06.03.2015 3 NATIONAL ARCHDEACONS’ FORUM serving the Church of England and the Church in Wales THE CORE DUTIES OF AN ARCHDEACON The work of an archdeacon varies from diocese to diocese and even between archdeacons within dioceses. Each archdeacon should have a role description which is available and reviewed as part of the MDR process. But there are core functions which rest with archdeacons and skills and abilities which most archdeacons need. This document seeks to assist the MDR process by • providing an introduction about the ministry of an archdeacon, copied from the report Sustaining Leaders in Mission and Change OXCEPT 2011 • listing the Legal Responsibilities (copied from the document produced y the Legal Office) • identifying some core skills. THE ROLE OF THE ARCHDEACON “The role of the Archdeacon is a senior leadership role in the dioceses with an important contribution to mission and strategy. It is a key support to the clergy, their families, to Churchwardens, and Area/Rural Deans. The consistent image is of an intermediary, an interpreter, a channel through which the diocese’s strategy is communicated and implemented in the local church. Archdeacons are seen as needing to be spiritually secure and strategic thinkers. In all but a few cases, they have a statutory role with the jurisdiction of an Ordinary. The role is based on handling the tension between encouraging mission and creativity and ensuring that the order of the Church of England is maintained. Conflict is a regular feature of their work in their interpretive position between a range of different worlds and viewpoints. This means that developed people skills are essential. The role can be very busy and stressful. However, many Archdeacons use their statutory functions to encourage imaginative, mission based thinking amongst local clergy and churches.” OXCEPT 2011:3 LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF AN ARCHDEACON The office of archdeacon has its origins in the early history of the Church. An archdeaconry is a legal division of a diocese for administrative purposes within which the archdeacon exercises an ordinary jurisdiction. The essential nature of the role has been described as ‘being a good steward so that others are freed to be the worshipping, witnessing and ministering Church’. The legal responsibilities of an archdeacon are summarised below. 4 Diocesan governance 1. The archdeacon is a member, ex officio, of • the Diocesan Synod (Church Representation Rules 2011, Rule 30(4)); • the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) (Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1991, Schedule 1); • the Diocesan Parsonages Board (Repair of Benefice Buildings Measure 1972, s.1(4)); and • the Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Committee (Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011, Schedule 1). Parochial governance 2. An archdeacon has a duty to hold visitations in his or her archdeaconry as provided in Canon C 22, paragraph 5. 3. On receiving a valid request to convene an extraordinary meeting of a PCC, the archdeacon must do so if he or she deems there is sufficient cause. The archdeacon must also chair the meeting or appoint a deputy to do so (Church Representation Rules 2011, Rule 23(1)). 4. At the direction of the bishop, the archdeacon inducts a priest who has been instituted to a benefice into the possession of its temporalities (Canon C22, paragraph 5). Although the archdeacon has no statutory role under the Patronage (Benefices) Measure 1986, in practice he or she is usually actively involved in guiding parishes through the appointments procedure. Buildings and property 5. In his or her own archdeaconry, the archdeacon is a key player in the operation of the faculty jurisdiction under the Care of Churches and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1991 and the Faculty Jurisdiction Rules 2013.