What is the make-up of the Pastorate you have served in?

• Three churches: Two ministers. One town centre ish; one less than centre ... small UM [United Reformed/Methodist] one village.
• 5 congregation LEP (Baptist, CoE, Methodist, URC)- 4 Anglican & 1 United Reformed Minister
• 50 member URC; 65 member URC/CoE LEP (Local Ecumenical Partnership); a village church and 3-way Ecumenical church plant. 1 URC Minister and an Anglican at the LEP's
• 20 member village chapel; 70 member church and 30 member Presbyterian Church of Wales
• Town Centre CoE/URC LEP; one village chapel; one small town church. One minister.
• Three Church Joint Pastorate, 1 Minister
• Four churches: two in industrial areas, two in villages.
• Three church team -160, 60 & 40 members, one non-stipendary and two stipendary ministers.
• Three congregations, 170, 25 and 35 members.
• Three churches in two market towns and one village. The market towns are 18 miles apart and the village 12.5 miles from the Manse.
• 3 churches 90, 25 and 40 members
• 5 churches, 4 in the town, one in a neighbouring village, membership ranging from 10 to 80 - 2 stipendary and two non-stipendary ministers.
• 1 town, 2 villages nearby.
• Town Church (URC/UWI) 11 members; 2 village churches 22 and 12 members.
• Three rural churches. I live in [A], It's 16 miles to [B] amd 9 to [C]

What were the reasons for those churches creating a multi-church Pastorate?

• Historical
• Ministerial deployment
• Guarantee support and a slice of ministry
• Expediency. To keep all three afloat
• Large new mixed housing development ... Developers insisted on no more than one church building in each 'village' area, so Anglican, Baptists, Methodists and URC agreed to plant and build ecumenically
• Financial
• Falling membership numbers
• To make it possible to provide a full-time stipendary minister

To what extent did the churches work together?

• Not a great deal in either case - mostly just administrative, with a few joint services and activities
• The pastorate was facilitated/enabled by a Pastorate Council (3 members from each congregation) which organised regular joint services and social events
• We have been able to get people together for a limited number of social and worship events but sadly there is considerable resistance to this
• Shared magazine
• Each identifies with different larger communities and schools. There are 2 joint elders meetings per year, and on the 5th Sundays joint worship. I have concentrated on building up ecumenical relations in each community.
• Shared a joint, key decision making council. Ministers worked very closely as a team. Monthly evening gathering for united worship. Occasional joint mission activities. Some parish wide training. A shared office and administrator.
• The biggest link is financial [X] pay half the [assessment] for [Y] and [Z].

Do you think this is the best way for those churches to work? If yes, why? If not, what alternative would you suggest?

• No. It would be better for local leaders to be appointed and for these leaders to be given oversight by a full-time minister.
• Yes. Pooled resources make each component of the Pastorate stronger.
• Probably. The problem is that none of the churches has a great deal of resources to share with the others. The group started from a position of weakness which meant that some kind of grouping was essential, but the benefits of a more positive grouping ... were always going to be difficult to achieve.
• I am convinced the way forward is ecumenically in each village. 2 churches have sold their buildings and worship in their local parish churches.
• At present I think the two remaining [churches] could only work like this.
• Yes. The two smaller churches would not be in existence without the help of the larger.
• No. Not on the traditional understanding and expectations of the minister's role. Given the rural nature of the pastorate I would suggest a different pattern of working for the minister. ...one way forward might be for the appointed minister to work for a set length of time with one of the churches at once with minimal oversight of the other two, to establish the next phase of mission in that church then to move to one of the remaining two and so on. This would mean perhaps three months intensive input and six months oversight for each church in turn.
• A local united-church constitution, in which all previous congregations are dissolved and a new name found, preferably before the next minister is called would be preferable. Denominations have to face up to the absurdity of superfluous buildings housing tiny congregations within walking distance of each other, served by fractions of different, harassed ministers working up large travel expense bills.
• I doubt it. The evidence of the Church censuses in England and Wales is quite clear - churches that grow need to have an identifiable local leader who is not shared with another church, and certainly not with another, different community.
• Seems to work OK, but it is hard to ensure missionary edge.
• Yes, because it gave more life to small churches.

Within any Pastorate, what do you see as the role of the Minister?
To what extent were you able to fulfill that role with the multi-church pastorate?

• Enabler within church and community; teacher/trainer; listener; advocate.
  With difficulty. You can't be a Community Minister in three places. People are not prepared to travel or don't have transport, so everything is x3.
  
  
• To care for, train and encourage the existing congregation(s) in such a way that they become an effective missionary church.
  At Pastorate (a) with considerable success. At (b) So far, much more patchy, though we are getting there. More slowly because of poorer resources.
  
  
• Enabling, teaching, preaching, leading, having vision, bringing the wider church to the local[church].
  To about as great an extent as I think I would in a single pastorate - to some extent admin roles were taken by others, since there was more skill around, but, inevitably, multi-church means more meetings etc. and more of 'keeping the show on the road'
  
  
• As encourager to outreach
  Not at all
  
  
• Pastoral link and the Teaching Elder
  It is a difficult role to fill, but made easier if there is a willing group in each church who will meet and discuss the worship within the group. The Pastoral side was mainly left to the Minister ... Huge expectations! Not able to be fulfilled.
  
  
• a missioner, enabler, visionary, prophet and pastor.
  In two town churches because they are just 3 miles apart it is possible, I sometimes feel, only because I am a workaholic and desperate to see the Kingdom grow.
  
  
• Encouraging people to express their Christian faith in the context of their daily lives supported by the worship and teaching programme of the church.
  This has been a large part of my ministry but the growing awareness of the minister's role as the 'face of the church' in the community and the wider church and the attempt to fulfil that as well has meant that the pastoral side has been less effective than I would have wished.
  
  
• Representing the whole Church to the local church. Providing and enabling pastoral care. Sacramental functional leader. Prophet of outside concerns. Someone to say no where nobody else will. Someone to say yes when nobody else will. Listening when nobody else will. Subverting local power structures. Advocacy. Civic presence. Education of congregation. Ecumenical advocate. Provider of opportunities for exploration and growth. Peacemaker in internal disputes.
  Probably I have fulfilled the above roles well enough. What needs to be considered is that congregations have a role in making the best use of the ministerial role. Taking up the opportunities offered by full-time ministry to a congregation is a different matter and is diminished where people hold on to their previous congregational identity.
  
  
• (a) To use his/her training and experience to preach the gospel, administer the sacraments and offer pastoral care, especially to those approaching death and the bereaved - these things are difficult to do without some "professional training".
  (b) To foster self-confidence and gifts of the other members, especially to encourage those called to eldership, youth leadership and other particular ministries.
  (c) To foster ecumenical links and co-operation within the one Body of Christ.
  (d) To offer professional expertise in dealing with church and secular bureacracy.
  (e) To lead the church in serving the wider community in the name of Christ.
  (f) To lead the church in serving the wider community in the name of Christ.
  (g) To lead the church in serving the worldwide church and community.
  In practice, I think I spent more time on (d) than I should have done, and less on (b). The multi-church nature of the pastorate was not as inhibiting as it would have been in a larger pastorate - I could be in all 3 churches on the same Sunday, which was very impootant for (a) and (b) above. (e) above was slighlty inhibited, but I repeat I was fortunate with the pastorate.
  
  
• Worship, pastoralia, community.
  Overlapping worship times limited continuity of worship. Pastoralia time obviously affected by multiplication of meetings. Absentee minister limited involvement in village communities.
  
  
• Agent of change, mission enabler, prophetic voice.
  Tricky

What do you see as the benefits for a minister working within a Multi-church Pastorate?
What are the problems?

• The ability to create space (can't be everywhere at once) gives the opportunity not to be anywhere (metaphorically speaking). The opportunity to build up Local Church Leaders.
  Each church really wants "Their own" minister; The duplication (or triplication) of meetings; Dominant figures within a group; Not able to follow a close teaching pattern with the pulpits often filled by folk you never hear or meet yourself (sometimes of oblique religious views)
  
  
• Sticking plaster on the deployment problem
  Overlapping worship times limited continuity of worship. Pastoralia time obviously affected by multiplication of meetings. Absentee minister limited involvement in village communities.
  
  
• They don't all get stroppy at once so there is always somewhere to find encouragement. I have had the benefit of learning three styles of ministry within one pastorate so I feel I have had a rich experience of ministry.
  Lack of time; lack of energy; lots of frustration. Not able to identify with each local community in a meaningful way which has caused tension for the churches as well as for me. Juggling three different ways of working, thinking and being church all at once.
  
  
• If this is done ecumenically there could be a ministry team: using and deploying our various skills. Only benefit has been to keep 3 churches open for 6 more years.
  Fight to disabuse image of one minister for one church role. There are only 7 days in a week, and 24 hours in one day!
  
  
• Variety, ... the possibility of more skills available. The possibility of moving from an unfruitful piece of work to a more fruitful one - it is rare for all the churches in a group to be 'down' at the same time. ... in a team there's the benefit of colleagueship.
  Meetings. Juggling time. Difficulty of being the 'right' person for widely differing groups of people. Juggling different demands.
  
  
• Sometimes one church is nurturing you when the other is undermining you. Some variety in presentation and in scale of worship. Basically not much.
  Multiple stress overheads (geometrical progression) due to multiplication of local and denominational meetings. It is highly irresponsible where denominations assess scoping on number of worshippers alone. For colleagues, there is the stress of moving around. Loss of relationship with local people, loss of developmental opportunities through consistent input. Difficulty of maintaining continuity or making developments in worship ... Financial selfishness of rich congregations. Difficulty of opening up gaps to be creative (every preaching slot is tied down).
  
  
• The greatest benefit is undoubtedly variety. When I found the stuffy middle-class attitudes of [D] rather stifling, I could retreat the the earthiness of [E]. When I found their lack of intellectual gifts frustrating, I could enjoy the high-powered Bible study group at [D]. My close links with ... Primary School were a great gift to my sanity and would never have developed had I lived in [D].
  Trying to be visible in 3 places at once! Meeting different expectations in different churches without becoming schizoid; Being fair about finance and administrative matters when I was the only person with an overview of the needs of the whole pastorate
  
  
• As one of the [F] elders said on one occasion, "We have plenty of people who can do almost anything - we can and should therefore release the minister to provide extra support in the other congregations".
  However, the reverse side of the picture also surfaced ... when another elder remarks "I am quite happy to see the minister helping other congregations, but I expect to see my minister in my pulpit at Easter and the other great feasts."
  Multi-church pastorates CAN work, and work well - but only to the extent that the congregations fully accepts their responsibility for the other churches in the group. In [F], skills were shared, but predominantly from [F] to the other congregations (naturally - they had a much larger pool of talent to draw on!) As a newly ordained minister, I perhaps failed to see the importance of finding skills at [the smaller churches] to be used by [F]
  
  
• A change is as good as a rest. In this situation the advantages of a colleague leads to guaranteed days off.
  Keeping your eye on the ball. For the village church it is a major problem that neither of us lives there.
  
  

• I see the minister ideally as an enabler, a resource for others to draw on, whether in terms of academic training, pastoral skills or simply time. "All Christians are called to live with Him and to minister; but those ordained and appointed are given time, in a way that others are not, constantly and continuingly to [pray, study and share!]" (Geoffrey Nuttall: The meaning of ordination: an address to the New College Old Students Reunion, 1968) The multi-church pastorate should allow this function more scope, if the local church members will accept that others have equal (and sometimes greater) demands on "their" minister.
• Several ministers of groups in this district find it difficult to even get one day off. Many of us get very tired and relationships suffer. Surely the problem of encouraging vocation and getting the money to fund more posts should be seriously tackled.
• Reports to Assembly and elsewhere talk of local leaders generated by URC. Certainly in a poor rural area, I doubt that people exist to do such a task.
• We need a change of consciousness with an emphasis on the purely provisional nature of denominational arrangements, and an emphasis in deployment on locally resident ecumenical ministry.
• The key is whether we are choosing to enable local churches to resource one another or whether we are responding to decline. My own experience suggests that the former (albeit more or less demanded by outside pressures) can make for a very healthy situation. But that doesn't mean that the latter can't be made to work.
• Contrary to what you might think from the foregoing, I've enjoyed my time here. Good relationships with local clergy, community initiatives. We are in a mission situation and ... need to take bold decisions.

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