Congregational Life Commission (CLC)

Northern Waters Presbytery

Congregational Life Commission (CLC)

Report on Consultations for

Innovative Cooperative Ministries

Prepared by: Bruce Gregersen, Ann Harbridge, John Neff

September 14, 2016

160920 CLC approved

Backround:

From September 2015, through June 2016, the Congregational Life Commission (CLC) of the Northern Waters Presbytery extended the following invitation to communities of faith (CoF’s) within the presbytery:

“For communities of faith the times and context in which we live and live out our ministry has changed and continues to change. This has left many ministers serving communities of faith wondering about their future. As many of you are beginning to ask “how long can we survive in the current trends?” Northern Waters Presbytery and the Congregational Life Commission are committed to supporting you.

Many of you are asking questions around options different than reducing ministry time, amalgamating, closing, or becoming larger multi-point pastoral charges. This raises the possibility of some sort of “cooperative innovative ministry”.

The Congregational Life Commission would like to invite you to a meeting to explore the future of part time ministries and a facilitated discussion to explore cooperative innovative ministry options.

It is the intent of the Congregational Life Commission to have such a meeting with ministry personnel and governing bodies of the communities of faith.

You may feel that you are not in need of looking into cooperative innovative ministry possibilities but you are requested to attend to see how you might be informed and support such a ministry in the surrounding communities of faith.”

Four meetings were held in regions of the Presbytery with attendance ranging from 10 to 63 people and with an overall participation of 70% of pastoral charges.

Presenters for the CLC outlined concern for the growing number of part time ministries within the Presbytery and the implications for ongoing ministry. The CLC shared its belief that moving to part time ministry does not need to signal a downward spiral. However, without alternative and innovative models of ministry, it is often the first step in such a decline. The CLC further shared its belief that the closing of congregations should be avoided if at all possible. The church is in a period of significant change and communities of faith need to be supported and encouraged in the transitions into new forms of ministry. In some cases, the CLC acknowledges, this will involve repurposing or selling buildings. In others, it might involve alternative uses of buildings. In all cases it will involve a careful articulation of the mission of the community of faith.

The presenters representing the CLC outlined a range of options being explored by the CLC.

Participatory Technology Model: An initiative exploring the use of technology to provide a video link between local ministry units. The proposal involved building on the experience of Trinity United Church,Thunder Bay in establishing a virtual link between a number of worshipping centres. The technology allows for a real time sharing of leadership and participation between the churches. A lead minister, with the participation of lay leaders, provides worship leadership, including communion, to a range of communities linked virtually in real time. The technology allows for contributions to the worship event to flow from all participating communities. See video here:

This model can be coupled with other models described below.

The CLC sees this technology as one option in addressing part time ministries. The CLC indicated that it is prepared to undertake a pilot project of the model, and significant funds have been set aside to support this project somewhere in the presbytery.

Regional Team Model:The CLC further shared its exploration of regional team models of ministry. In these models, a team of ministry personnel serve a cluster of congregations. The model differs from a multi-point pastoral charge in that the congregations remain independent units with their own governance structures, and contract (contribute) for the services of the ministry team. The ministry team, it is envisaged, could be employed by the Presbytery. The team would have a coordinating/supervisory team leader and overseen by a ministry and personnel committee composed of participating congregations. The model would depend on significant participation of lay leaders in all the communities of faith. It would also allow for appropriate use of full and part time ministry personnel and the possible employment of specialized ministries such as a parish nurse or youth worker. The CLC shared its expectation that a regional team model could be enhanced by the use of technology as outlined in the participatory technology model.

Sharing Resource Model:The CLC also indicated its belief that other forms of cooperative and innovative sharing of resources could strengthen ministry in the Presbytery. This could involve, for example, the sharing of secretarial services across several communities of faith, or a wider pastoral relations oversight body, supported by the Presbytery. These various models could be designed to assist small communities of faith to continue to function with a core focus on its mission, without having to cover all the required functions usually expected of a pastoral charge.

Supervision Model:Another model involves the contracting of pastoral charge supervision to a nearby minister already employed on a less than full-time basis. This could allow the use of a non-United Church (i.e. not recognized) ministers to be employed in ministry leadership.

(We need to think about the need for a supervisor to attend all meetings of governing bodies.)

Community Model: The CLC also expressed its desire to assist small communities of faith who desire to maintain a church building for local and community use, but who do not have capacity to employ ministry personnel, nor to continue to the usual functions of ministry. It described a number of initiatives underway in the Presbytery to explore options for these kinds of situations.

What the CLC heard in the consultations.

There was significant interest in the technological section of the presentation. Technology has changed dramatically and it was noted that technology has changed our society significantly and the church needs to be far more adaptive in its use. Some concern was raised about the loss of personal contact implicit in this option, with several people indicating their preferred option would be a local minister living in the community. Others raised concern about limited access to high speed internet in rural areas of the Presbytery. It was explained that technical options do exist to address this, and that the Trinity UC, Thunder Bay example includes rural regions with limited internet access.

Interest was expressed in the various team and shared service models that were described. It was noted that a number of the options require the participation of a larger “anchor” congregation. Concern was expressed about the willingness of such congregations to “share their minister”. It was noted that regional team models do not necessarily involve a larger full-time ministry congregation. While the shared ministry through technology does need a larger anchor congregation, it would benefit from the technological capacity to share its services with shut-ins, travelling members, or as outreach to potential new members.

Requests were made for the CLC to intervene and encourage or direct congregations to enter into wider cooperative ministries. Concern was also expressed about the gaps between the leaders of communities (those present at these meetings) and the wider members in understanding the need for these kinds of initiatives. The CLC was asked about its capacity to assist in building support and awareness of these options.

Overall there was significant support for the focus and intention of the meetings.

Is there anything missing from what we heard? If so please contact John .

Next Steps – Requests for Proposals

The CLC proposes to proceed through a Request for Proposals to communities of faith within the Presbytery. It recognizes its own limitations in capacity to initiate cooperative options without solid support with the communities themselves. It believes that significant preparatory work must be done first within the communities. To assist in this, the CLC will endeavor to assist in explorations of the possibility of innovative cooperative ministries through participation in meetings that involve more than a single community.

The CLC is particularly interested in exploring a combination of options as outlined above. It would welcome proposals for Presbytery support in developing innovative cooperative ministries, for example:

for a cooperative regional team initiative supported by technological sharing of services. This could involve a cluster of congregations which seek to support a team of ministry personnel (possibly employed and supervised by the Presbytery) and financial and technical support in developing a virtual on-line link for facilitating worship sharing among the congregations.
for the development ofcapacity including training and equipment to support on-line sharing of services across a number of communities of faith
for policy flexibility that enables innovative arrangements between communities of faith

What the CLC can offer.

CLC members and staff assistance in exploring options for cooperative ministries between a cluster of congregations.
Staff support in exploring on-line technical capacity.
Grants to assist in the purchase of equipment and technical set-up of on-line services.
We would like to proceed with one major project and are interested in a proposal for a cooperative innovative project that could pilot an approach to future projects. (This does not exclude concurrent minor projects.)

For further information contact: .