Eastern Region CME

Eastern Region CME

NEW POSTS CONFERENCE

22nd to 24th May 2012

Belsey Bridge Conference Centre

Ditchingham

Bungay

Suffolk, NR35 2DZ

Ministerial Context Analysis

EASTERN REGION CME

NEW POSTS CONFERENCE

Ministerial Context Analysis – Introduction

In your new post, probably without having done any formal research, you will already be aware of how things are going and be forming a picture of the local community, as well as of the life of the congregation(s) among whom you are ministering - or the broad scope of the job if you are a sector minister or in a diocesan post.

The questions in this Ministerial Context Analysis have their origin in those used for some years by the Urban Theological Unit, Sheffield, and by the Rural Theology Association. However, they have been heavily adapted for our specific use.

The overall aim of the analysis is:

To help you build a systematic picture of the context in which you minister, its geographical, social, physical and human characteristics, and of yourself in relation to these factors

The objectives of the analysis are:

a) To help you clarify what you already know;

b) To enable you to conduct some specific research to test your impressions against facts;

c) To provide you with information and conclusions based on research that will be valuable to you in your new post, irrespective of its value in the conference itself;

d) To help you to discern things that you want to find out more about;

e) To begin the process of reflecting on your situation.

In relation to the New Posts Conference itself; it will be from this Ministerial Context Analysis that you will be asked to draw the material that you present to your conference group.

The Conference is based firmly on reflective, analytic work (using prior detailed research) in peer-support groups. It is not factually input-based (like much of the Incumbency Skills Course).

It is crucial to the effective working of the Residential Conference that you have completed the Analysis before the conference.

It is also important that you take the opportunity to do some serious research, rather than relying on general impressions. You will find it helpful to discuss some questions with colleagues, and/or parishioners. It can be an effective way of not only gathering information, but also of involving others in your reflection on the situation of your new post for their benefit and yours. If you have been given a Role Description, Parish Vision or Mission Action Plan please make use of it in your discovery process.

Your own particular interests and situation will mean that you will probably do more on some questions and some sections than others. Very few people will give full answers to every single question, but it is important that you make some responses to each of the four sections. It will be useful to read all the questions through before beginning to make your response, and to use separate sheets for your responses to each section.

Whilst the material you produce is your property and remains so, it will be shared and used in the small group work which forms the core of the conference. The information will be kept within that group and the staff as a pre-requisite of confidentiality of our work together. It will further form the basis of your presentation, for which guidelines are included towards the end of this document.

MINISTERIAL CONTEXT – ANALYSIS OF THE RESOURCES

GOD HAS MADE AVAILABLE TO YOU

SECTION 1: IN YOURSELF

Looking at your present job and how it affects you personally

1. What do you see as your present job description? Describe your main tasks and responsibilities

2. In your new post, what is going well for you personally?

3. What is heavy going (or difficult) for you?

4. What are the tasks you really enjoy doing?

5. What do you dislike doing?

6. What do you wish was different?

7. Where do you get your professional/spiritual support

8. What have been the major changes involved in taking up your new post in a) the type of place/community, b) the type of congregation(s) or work situation, and c) your personal/family circumstances?

9. Is time or stress management in the new post a problem for you as you find your way into patterns of life and new relationships?

10. (Personal – how are your family managing the change? – an area of questioning which is clearly completely personal to your self)

11. Do you have satisfactory personal support in place – eg Spiritual Director? Support Group? Mentoring? Work consultancy? (which is clearly completely personal to your self)

SECTION 2 : IN THE CHURCH AND COMMUNITY

How do wider church structures (eg diocese, URC synod, Methodist circuit, deanery,) affect local church life?

In what ways does the local church recognise that it is part of the larger church scene?

1. The Situation

· Which major faith groups are represented? What links are there between them? e.g. an Association of Faiths – any local ministers’ networks or fraternals?

· Which Christian denominations are represented in the area (specify the Roman Catholic parish, the Methodist Circuit, Anglican Deanery, Council of Churches, Churches Together etc;

2. The Context(s) in which you work

· Who are the leading people and what role do they play? What is significant about them as leaders?

3. Electoral Roll/Church Membership & Adherents

· Number resident and non-resident (indicate on the map where most parish residents live, see page 6 where we suggest the use of a map for other matters as well).

· Identify what proportion of your church membership and adherents live within 2/4 and 6 miles of church boundaries.

4. The Activities

4.1 Worship

(a) Monthly pattern of Sunday and weekday services

(b) Average number of attendants and/or communicants per service (look at figures for last calendar month and same month last year); age and sex distribution at different services;

4.2 Other activities

4.3 Church buildings

4.4 Financial position

5. Portrait of Church Community

5.1 Recent history – churchmanship, congregational ethos, buildings, groupings, events, enterprises;

5.2 Decision making – theoretically and practically;

5.3 Relation of leadership to congregation;

5.4 Cliques or affinity groups;

5.5 Relationship of church and community in local events and activities;

5.6 Ecumenical activities;

5.7 What is going on that has surprised you?

5.8 What were your first impressions of the religious ethos?

6. Folk or Implicit Religion

6.1 What do people hold sacred outside the church?

6.2 In what way do people hold the church sacred?

6.3 What foci of commitment/worship can you detect?

6.4 What customs and ideas are held dear in community or church?

6.5 To what extent do people practise the same religion as you?

SECTION 3 : ACTIVITIES OF SECULAR GROUPS IMPINGING

ON PARISH/NEIGHBOURHOOD LIFE

In listing information, you might want to comment on some of the following, although not necessarily under every sub-heading.

1) Parish Council

2) Play Groups and Nursery Schools

3) Schools

4) Community Associations

5) Residents and Tenants Associations

6) Holiday Play Schemes

7) Working Men’s Clubs

8) Sports Clubs

9) Leisure Centres

10) Others

SECTION 4 : IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNITY

1) In the life of the local community, are there any effects on people’s quality of life because of good or bad provision of services?

2) What are the patterns of employment? Are there adequate facilities for leisure pursuits? In what ways are people engaging in social concerns of local or wider interest? What moral and theological issues do you discern here?

3) Do national or world events influence the community or church life?

4) Have you, the church, the local council, or any local group taken any action in response to the issues in 1-3? Specify.

5) Choosing your area

For those in local church ministry it would probably be best to work in most detail on the geographical area of your ministry context(s), with other relevant material about the surrounding area (eg the rest of the town, borough or district).

6) Making your Map

One of the aids is either to make or find an outline map of your area up to flipchart paper size (A1) perhaps in simplified form. Mark the distinctive areas within it: farms; industry; the various amenities available like parks; public buildings; shops; roads and railways (including anything you think is important to local people); housing (ages, types, whether rented or owner-occupied); natural features like rivers, hills, woods and forests.

What similarities and contrasts are there between a cross – section of the parish residents and those who come to church? (Base this on census data and parish returns if you can e.g. groups, housing, where they work, where they play).

7) How do people see the area?

· Is there a difference between the way outsiders and locals feel about it?

· What is the reputation of the area?

· What stories are told and what are the complaints people make and the things they are proud of?

8) What is happening at the moment?

· Local issues, events

· Who has been active?

· How has the Church been involved?

· How have the Local Authority been active in the community?

MINISTERIAL CONTEXT – GUIDELINES

FOR THE PRESENTATION

Introduction

Towards the end of your sixteen hours, your thoughts will need to turn to preparing your presentation. The aim of the presentation is as follows:

· To give you the opportunity to focus your analysis of your ministry context in a short presentation to others, as a way of moving into deeper reflection on the implications of your research for your ministry

Outline for the Presentation

The following are the key elements of your presentation, which should last no more than 20 minutes in total, allowing for 15 minutes group discussion and reflection on what you have presented.

1. Briefly set the scene giving people an overview of your context.

This part of the presentation should last no more than five minutes. The aim is to give other members of the group just enough information about the environment in which you minister to make sense of the second part of your presentation. The map that you have made as part of the Ministerial Context exercise will form a basis for this part of the presentation, enabling you to point to key features of your location.

2. Introduce and explain the six most significant characteristics of your context (You may see them as either positive or negative features)

This part of the presentation should last no more than ten minutes. The aim is to draw out of the four sections of your analysis the six most significant features of the resources that God has given you in your ministerial context. These six features will be the most important facets/factors/issues which you have so far experienced or observed. They will be characteristics of your human, social and environmental context. They may include significant people or organisations, or aspects of the history of the church and wider community, or social and/or geographical features. They might include thoughts on your own place in this situation, but the main focus is on your setting rather than you.

You should bring with you five copies on one side of A4, listing these six most significant resources within the human, social and environmental context in which you minister, to give to other members of your working group.

3. Briefly identify any questions you have at this stage.

This part of the presentation should last no more than five minutes. This is your opportunity to identify questions which you would value reflecting further on.

Diagram of the place of the course in your first years of ministry

(Anglicans)

1. Selection and Appointment to post

2. Initial impressions

Important relationships

(i.e. people you may like to talk to)

Parish, Parish Officers Deanery and people Chapter

& Diocese

Bishop Local

Rural/Area Dean Community

or Archdeacon etc; Leaders

Parish profile

Research undertaken and relevant key features identified

Conference begins

Members present in turn in a small compact team

the key features of their parish/post

Theological Reflection by a member of the staff team

On Current Context of Ministry

Members in the light of the reflection above are invited to consider

the present reality of their Ministry – and their vision for the future

Thinking about change – an opportunity to reflect

on biblical models and ways of managing change

Members are invited to think about the Challenges and Opportunities

for them in their New Posts and share with colleagues

Members after private thinking are invited to share the plans

that they will discuss with their parishes and the Bishop

Conference Ends

Prepare report for Parish and Bishop (if appropriate)

Parish, Parish Officers Deanery

and people Chapter

and Diocese

Bishop Local Community

Development of Parish

Yourself