CRANMER HALL

ST JOHN'S COLLEGE DURHAM

MINISTERIAL

PRACTICE

HANDBOOK

2016 - 2017

1


Page

Introduction4

Where is God in all this? Pointers for Theological Reflection5

Ministerial Practice Programme7

Framework9

Overseas Placements – General Information10

Expenses11

Assessment of Placements13

Faith Sharing Weekend16

Personal Safety

It is important to be mindful of your own safety during placements. Further information can be found in a document entitled, ‘Personal Safety at Work’ which is available on DUO. We recommend you read this document prior to attending your placement.


Welcome to the handbook for Ministerial Practice! ‘Ministerial Practice’ is the bridge between academic study and the ministries that members of Cranmer Hall will exercise once they leave.

You could find yourself involved in a large thriving congregation or a struggling urban estate; in a brand new church plant or a church which has been in existence for over a thousand years; in a hospital, prison or steelworks. These are just some of the ways in which you can get involved in the life of the church through Ministerial Practice – learning much about God, your gifts and your calling in the process.

There are three main aspects to Ministerial Practice:

-Term-Time Placements to churches and chaplaincies in the north east

-Block Placements anywhere in the UK or abroad

-Mission Studies Blocks(MSBs): two weeks immersed in a particular aspect of ministry - such as rural ministry, inner city ministry, digital communications or church planting.

I regularly receive reports from churches which have had Cranmer students saying how much they’ve enjoyed and gained from the ministries of those students. Equally, Cranmer is greatly blessed in having a network of highly skilled supervisors in stimulating contexts. Many Cranmer students find their placements and MSBs to be one of the highlights of their training. I hope that will be the same for you.

Have a good look at the details in this handbook and during the next few weeks we’ll be meeting up for a chat about the best pathway for you through the programme of Ministerial Practice. If you have any questions, please have a word with me.

David Goodhew

Director of Ministerial Practice

Room B10

Etchells House

16 South Bailey

St John’s College

Durham

Tel: 0191 3343863


Theological reflection is the most important part of placement and often the hardest part. Sometimes we start by looking at theology and asking what theological patterns might be found in a particular context. On the other hand sometimes we start by exploring the context of a church and things which happen there, and asking what theology is represented. Here are two sets of pointers to gauge the deep theology embedded in the practice you witness.

1. Starting with Scripture or Tradition

Significant scriptures or scriptural blind-spots

How does your placement church use (and not use) scripture? Which passages or books are emphasised and which are avoided? For instance, how much does your church preach from the Old Testament, or does it connect the Gospels with the rest of the New Testament?

Trinity

Which person of the Trinity is most central, or is one ignored? Peter Adam’s Grove Booklet, Living the Trinity, shows how churches can over-emphasise one or other person in the Trinity, forgetting the other persons. Is your church a church of the Father, or of the Son or of the Holy Spirit? Is your placement context rooted in the trinity in its fullness? And if not, in what ways are its Trinitarian thinking and practice deficient?

Default doctrines

George Morley, a former staff member of Cranmer Hall, coined the very helpful phrase ‘default doctrines’. We all have them – and so do the churches to which we go. Which doctrine or doctrines does your placement church focus on? And to which ones does it need to give greater prominence? A church may, focus on the cross and atonement, passing over the doctrines of creation and resurrection – or vice versa.

Tradition

Church tradition can be taken as ‘Methodist’, Anglican’, ‘catholic’, ‘evangelical’, and so on. But it means much more. There is ‘deep tradition’, those things which are implicit, embedded, but not stated. There is ‘contemporary tradition’: more recent thinkers like Gregory Dix or Donald Soper, John Stott or John Wimber, who have left a lasting impact. There is ‘local tradition’: people and communities who may be obscure to the wider world but whose faith–for good and ill–has left a lasting impact on the place where you are on placement. What is the tradition where you are?

2. Starting from Context

Relationship to the surrounding culture

Is your placement church accommodating to surrounding culture or resistant to that culture or are they trying to engage with it and yet transform it? Look beyond the rhetoric – it is possible to sound ‘inclusive’ and yet exclude; or to sound sectarian and yet connect. Practice is embodied theology. What does the practice of your placement say about its relationship with the surrounding culture?

Decision making

How does a church go about making decisions? Are you aware of how specifically Christian values are brought into decision making? Is there a sense of Christian discernment, or are decisions made in the same way as any secular organisation?

Critical Incidents

One place where pressures emerge is when critical incidents occur: happenings which break the normal routine, and expose weaknesses or vulnerabilities. What is revealed in your placement church when such things happen? What do they tell of the values which direct and guide the church? Are there responses which need to be challenged? (See Grove Booklet P84 Growing in Ministry: Using Critical Incident Analysis, by Charles Chadwick and Philip Tovey.)

Action

What is done by or on behalf of the church in your placement setting? What actions have you witnessed, and what values do those actions embody? Are they related by clergy or church members to Biblical or Christian themes, or do you perceive such links and relationships yourself? Do action and theology relate in the minds of church people, or is there a disconnection?

There are three elements in the Ministerial Practice Programme, all of which need to be completed by Anglican ordinands. The Term-Time Placements are undertaken during the first two terms, the other two elements during vacations.

  1. Term-Time Placements
  • Anglican ordinands are required to do Term-Time Placements; these are optional for undergraduate students.
  • Students are placed in churches and other institutions,e.g. hospitals, prisons, schools, industrial mission.First year students are allocated places in parishes on the basis of the information sent in on the Background Form before arriving.Second and third year students are asked to suggest preferences on the basis of previous placementsand discussions with tutors.
  • Term-Time Placements take place during the first two terms.The commitment is for 120 hours contact and preparation time.
  • The rest of the programme can cause pressure on term-time placements. Here are some guidelines to help you make the most of placements AND avoid overloading your schedule. We encourage you to consider using the week which follows the end of term for placement activity, especially if they are finding it difficult to fit everything into term. This would allow you to achieve the 120 hours without getting overly busy. We recognise that not everyone will be able to do/wish to do this, but that this could be a sensible strategy for spreading the load. You might do extra placement work in a week in January before the beginning of term, or even get a taste of Christmas itself in your placement church if that works geographically for you. Whilst it is important that the placement consists of around 120 hours, we are happy for students and supervisors to work flexibly in achieving this. In all this, it should be remembered that you need to ensure you do have a substantial break from college work during the vacation.
  • There is a Term-Time Placement Pack, which will be given to students and supervisors at the beginning of the year. Please read it carefully.Supervisors are part of the training team and meet together twice a year to review their work with the students. You need to agree an initial list of Learning Outcomes with the supervisor in the first 3 weeks, and a final one at the end of the first term. The Learning Outcomes are very important: once put in place, they help you make the most of the experience.
  1. Block Placements

Anglican ordinands on a three-year course are required to undertake:

  • 8 weeks of supervised Block Placements

Anglican ordinands on a two-year courseare required to undertake:

  • 6 weeksof supervised Block Placements

One of your Block Placements must be of four weeks in a parish and will be offered for assessment, either through TMMC 2137/41 or TMMC 3057 Reflective Practice in Contextor for MATM students a written paper marked by an external assessor.

  • Do pray over the best way to use the opportunities which placements provide. Then discuss your training needs for Block Placements with your tutor. Then talk to David Goodhew, who will be able to offer a choice from the wide range of placements available.
  • For overseas Block Placements, see the Director of Ministerial Practice as soon as possible, because this takes more arranging. See page 8 for more details.
  • There is a Block Placement Pack, which will be sent to your supervisor; you will also be given a copy when your Block Placement arrangements/details are finalised.
  • Please note: Continuing students need to be back in college for ‘Induction Week’. Check this date before arranging any block placements for September.

3.Mission Studies Blocks (MSB)

An MSB is generally a two week unit, containing the elements of a short placement and a course of academic study, offering the opportunity to observe and reflect on a specific issue or institution from a theological perspective.

Anglican ordinands on two-year courses are required to do one MSB, while three-year ordinands are required to do two MSBs. Ordinands have the option of doing their MSB for assessment. MSBs may also be offered for assessment by non-Ministry Division students.

Provisional dates for MSBs in summer 2016-17are as follows:

Sunday 11th/Monday 12th June for two weeks.

Details of the MSBs will follow.

The term-time placement in the first year is arranged, necessarily, on the basis of information about you prior to your arrival at Cranmer, utilising experienced and gifted local clergy. Thereafter, you will be able to design the placement programme to make the optimum use of your time at Cranmer. A good placement/MSB programme will do the following:

  • Build on existing gifts – how God has already used you.
  • Stepping out – College is brilliant opportunity to step outside your previous experience and discover fresh forms of mission and ministry.
  • Godly Play – it is ministerial practice. No-one is expecting you to be perfect. Mistakes can be redeemed! And when you give of yourself it is amazing what can happen.

Five Principles for Placement Programmes:

  1. To always be on placement, or preparing for one
  1. To widen and to deepen ministerial experience, pastorally and missiologically
  1. To develop skills in reading the context

(in combination with the Theological and Practical Reflection module)

  1. To consider three dimensions of the context: social, theological and geographical

In which of these do you need to gain experience?

  1. To provide equivalent amounts of placement experience, specifically tailored for each person. This is managed through conversation between ordinand, tutor and Director of Ministerial Practice.

Four specifics to keep in mind:

  1. The first Term-Time Placement is in a parish
  1. To engage with both parish and non-parochial ministry
  1. Consider overseas block placements where possible
  1. Obtain experience of new forms of church for all ordinands. Already this has included:
  • Church plants and network churches
  • Involvement in new forms of worship
  • Helping to encourage new groups within existing congregations
  • A two-week course on Fresh Expressions, run by Cranmer in York (which can count as a MSB or two-week placement)


It is one of the aims of Cranmer Hall’s training that every student will, as part of their ministerial formation, spend some time engaged in reflection and learning with people of other faiths and cultures than their own. For many, this may be done through a MSB or Block Placement in this country. But each year a significant number of people have found great benefit in going on placement overseas. The perspectives of the world-wide church are increasingly important, and some awareness of the church in another country (as well as another culture) – particularly in the Two-Thirds World – can form a valuable part of preparation for ministry.

Why should you think of going overseas on placement?

  • To observe and feel the impact of a country and culture other than your own.
  • To seek ways of bridging the gap between different cultures so that greater understanding results, rather than conflict.
  • To discover how God is at work in different ways in different countries and cultures.
  • To help you learn what is cultural rather than Christian about your own faith.
  • To learn from different styles of worship, mission, church structure, leadership, and so on.
  • To research into approaches to theological teaching and learning in other cultures.
  • To try and understand more about how to share your faith more effectively with those of other faiths and culture.

Overseas placements are NOT designed to:

  • satisfy an itch to travel and see the world;
  • provide overseas experience to somebody who has no exposure to parish ministry in this country: the overseas placement should be part of a balanced programme that includes placements in this country.

Making the arrangements

You will be responsible for taking the initiative in sorting out the location, supervisor, domestic and travel arrangements, and financing for your placement. The Director of Ministerial Practice is able to make suggestions on all these matters, and will also undertake the formal arrangements with supervisors.

Overseas placements are an enriching and exciting part of college life. However, we need to stress that doing an overseas placement is entirely optional. The person doing the placement must accept responsibility for finding the funds to do so and for ensuring their safety and well-being during the placement. Overseas placements are done as ‘formational’ and are not a formal part of the BA in theology and ministry programme.

Claim forms can be obtained from the Cranmer Admin Office or downloaded from DUO:

Theology and Ministry/Ministerial Practice (Placements)/Cranmer Placement Packs and Forms/Student Expenses Claim Forms.

TERM-TIME PLACEMENTS

Use the green form to claim for transport and other expenses. The rate for private car use is:

30p per mile for the first 50 miles per week

20p per mile thereafter.

Where applicable, an additional 2p per mile will be paid for each student passenger you take with you.

College is responsible for meeting student travelling expenses but has been helped by parishes in the past, which greatly eases our limited budget.

These expenses are usually claimed at the end of each term. However, if you need to claim earlier or in advance, that is fine.

BLOCK PLACEMENTS AND MSBs

Accommodation and Food

If you are living in your usual ‘52 week’ accommodation then no allowance for accommodation is payable to you.

If you are staying in other accommodation for the purposes of the Block Placement, the cost of which is not covered by other sources, then your placement hostcan claim up to£60per week contribution towards your accommodation and food. For the MSB your host can claim up to £10 per night per student.

Allowances for Block Placements/MSBswill normally be claimed directly by the host. Hospitality Claim forms for Block Placements/MSBs will be sent to hostsby the Cranmer Admin office.

Travelling Expenses

If you are living in your usual ‘52 week’ accommodation then you may claim your travelling expenses at the same rate as for Term-Time Placements.

The rate forprivate car use is:

30p per mile for the first 50 miles per week

20p per mile thereafter.

Where applicable, an additional 2p per mile will be paid for each student passenger.

The rate for a bicycle is £5 per 50 miles.

If you are staying in other accommodation for the purposes of the Block Placement/MSB, then you may claim for one return journey to the placement within mainland Britain. Food during travel will be the responsibility of the student.

The College does not pay for mid-placement break travel.

Overseas Allowance - For Block Placements outside of mainland Britain you may claim up to a maximum of £150 towards travelling expenses. This overseas allowance can be made only once during your training.

Travelling expenses should be claimed after the block placement/MSB, except in cases of hardship, where an advance may be made.

Expense forms can be collected from the Admin Office or downloaded from DUO: