Heald Green United Reformed Church

reforming structures
Tell - Teach - Tend - Transform - Treasure

Introduction

One important task all organisations have to do from time to time is to take a reflective look at the leadership and decision making structures of the organisation. The church as an organisation is no different, we also need to review our organisation in order to ensure that the structures are serving the church and enabling our mission, rather than the church serving its structures which then hinders our mission.

During the last few months the Elders and some members of the Outreach Group have been working through the ideas in a book called ‘Ministry for Mission’ by David Peel, (former Principal of Northern College and the Moderator of the United Reformed Church for 2005/6). In his book David sets out an exciting strategy to help revive the life of local churches, helping us to take stock of the situation we are in, celebrate what God has done for us, discern what God might have for us to do and plan how best we can achieve God’s purposes.

During the meetings and discussions we discovered some simple but important changes we feel we can make to our structures which will help us become a church better equipped for the challenges ahead. Some ideas will be new, but many are tried and tested methods either from our past or shared from other URC’s in our District.

Though ‘Ministry for Mission’ explores many areas of the church’s life, (which we will explore on another occasion) the main focus of this paper is to look at how we organise our Eldership and the duties they are responsible for: worship and leadership, practical matters and pastoral matters.


Reforming Elders?

In the United Reformed Church there is a team ministry at the heart of every congregation: the Eldership. Our model of Eldership is a precious gift, perhaps one we could offer other denominations. Elders are local, lay, ordained and non-stipendiary (unpaid) and as such provide the basis of 'bottom-up' leadership. However, the United Reformed Church feels several changes are needed for our practice of Eldership to be at the same standard as our theory!

First, in many of our churches the Elders meeting has become little more than a church management committee, far from a group of ordained people meeting under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to exercise oversight and leadership of the churches worship, pastoral care, nurture and mission. When the two hour debate about the drains grinds on it's hard to believe Elders are ordained ministers of the church!

Our current structures outlined in the United Reformed Church Basis of Union are clear that the many practical roles in a church should be maintained by persons of suitable experience and expertise. It is the responsibility of the Eldership to ensure the practical functions of the church take place, not necessarily that they should be undertaken by the Elders themselves. By delegating maintenance tasks to others, the Elders meeting is freed to fulfil its true role. So how do we best achieve this?


A More Detailed Look at the Issues

• the agenda of the Elders meeting is to broad

The current function of the Elders meeting is to be responsible for the worship, leadership and mission of the local church, the pastoral care and nurture of the congregation, and the day-to-day administration, finance and maintenance tasks in addition to any legal issues and wider church responsibilities! It doesn’t take long to realise that this can become a huge agenda, often far too big for one group of people to effectively manage.

As a result Elders meetings can often lack focus and be far too long. More importantly, it is also regrettable but somewhat inevitable that all the little day-to-day issues tend to take priority and push much more important issues down or off the agenda!

One further issue is, that with an agenda so broad the church over the years has rightly elected people of different skills and abilities so that the meeting as a whole has the expertise needed. However, this can add to the problem of lack of focus in the meetings. To put it in an over simplified way, Elders with worship skills are frustrated when the meeting is about drains and Elders with maintenance skills are bored when we talk about mission. This is not the most effective use of people’s skills and time.

• much of the above can be true of church meetings

Many of the above issues can also be true of the Church Meeting. This perhaps contributes to lower than hoped for attendance, lack of interest from many members and ultimately the life of the church is hindered. Once our Elders meeting has been refreshed, we’ll look at some new ideas to improve Church meeting.

• too many Elders for an effective/efficient meeting

In contrast, the number of Elders we have is simply too high for the meeting to be as efficient and effective as it could be.

• many simple duties done by Elders could/should be done by others

Many of the tasks which take up an Elder’s time can and should be undertaken by others in the church. This is already happening with others helping with door duty on a Sunday morning, but maybe we can identify other areas where the burden of the Elders could be lightened, giving our Elders more time to concentrate of the leadership, worship and mission of our church and the many challenges ahead.

• changes needed in pastoral care provision for church

Finally, taking this opportunity to review our structures provides us with the opportunity to explore some different ways of ensuring effective pastoral care of our congregation, both physical and spiritual.

Considering all these issues we need to discover a way of lifting the maintenance task from the Elders meeting and sharing the pastoral responsibilities with others.


Proposed New Structure

With the role of Elders more focused we then need to revisit our stance on deacons and pastoral visitors. This also recognises that some have gifts and callings which are not suited to the enhanced Eldership. A deacons meeting may be the place to deal with issues of maintenance and a pastoral visiting team for pastoral work. As a result, Elders, deacons and pastoral workers could give greater focus to their assigned ministries and vocations. After all, no one is good at everything … not even ministers!

The three new groups with an outline of their main areas of responsibility are:

Elders – Leadership, Worship, Nurture and Mission
Deacons – Administration, Maintenance and Finance
Pastoral Team – concentrating on home and hospital visits

Next we need to decide a ‘job/person description’ for each new meeting and a method of selecting suitable people to serve on them.


Elders Role

To work with the Minister to lead the church, sustain its worshiping life, the spiritual nurture and care of the congregation and develop the mission and outreach to the community.

The qualities which are essential for an Elder are:
spiritual maturity leadership qualities
people and political skills theological insight
an understanding of the Mission and Purpose of the Church

Therefore the kinds of questions we should be asking ourselves of potential Elders are: Do they have an active relationship with the Bible? Can they communicate their faith to others? Do they pray? Do they have good relationships with a wide spread of the church? Do they possess common sense? Are they willing/able to explore these types of issues with other Elders?

Within our church we have many such people in our Bible Study Groups, Worship Group, Outreach Group and others.

If this list seems a little daunting, remember we are talking about ordaining people into a recognised ministry of the United Reformed Church!

o other points to consider

• The Eldership should be a breeding ground for ministers of Word and Sacraments, which is also a reminder that the age range, abilities and experience of the Elders meeting should be as wide as possible.
• Within the Eldership there should be at least one person suitable to undertake further training to be appointed as local church leader and some given authorisation to preside at the sacraments. Alison, Ed and Carol currently do this, but there may be other suitable people in our church.
• Each candidate should be willing to complete a basic course of 'in-service' preparation, and ongoing training as opportunities arise.
o Term of service and sabbaticals - The 3, 3, 1 system!

In refreshing the Eldership it would be sensible to also implement a system of fixed terms of service and sabbaticals which is now regarded as good practice across the URC.

The 3, 3, 1 system is popular in lots of churches. Every Elder is elected for a three year term only. (People are more likely to be willing to serve it they know there is an end to the post, and a relatively short commitment). This person however is then eligible for re-election and will appear on the list. If elected they again serve a three year term.

After six years continuous service an Elder is not eligible at the next election, and must take at least one years sabbatical. That persons name is not to be on the list. This ensures no one feels trapped in the job, and other members know they will also get the opportunity to serve their church in this way. Also, Elders on sabbatical might like to use the year to do further training or develop new skills. After this one year sabbatical the person is eligible to stand for election again.

With this new system in place, (working on a model with six Elders) an election would be held every year with two Elders standing down and four remaining in post. (For the first two years this will mean that two Elders will have only served for one year, and two for two years. However, after this all Elders will be elected for three year terms). This may sound like dozens of people will be needed to be Elders with everyone having a year off so often, but actually the system still works with as few as 8 Elders, 6 serving and two on sabbatical at any one time.

o a final point

The Church Secretary should be an Elder, but the treasurer does not have to be an Elder, but can be invited to attend meetings when appropriate.


Deacons

Deacons are the more practically minded members of our church, of which we’re also blessed with many. (Some of you will remember a group like this existing in the past). Deacons, under the authority of the Elders and Church meetings carry out all the practical aspects of maintaining a church. Once appropriate deacons are selected/elected they simply get on with it, no need for the Elders or Church Meeting to double check everything. The deacons can always ask advice from the Elders or Church meeting if they have a problem which needs wider discussion, but we don’t all have to be consulted on the best way to fix the gutters!

With a system of Elders and deacons, people with appropriate time and skills can serve the church in ways best suited to them. The creation of a deacons meeting will not add more meetings to our structures as it will remove the need for the Buildings and Finance committees.

The Treasurer, existing Elders with practical skills, people on the finance and building committees and others are people who may like to serve on the deacons. The number of deacons does not necessarily have to be set, all those with suitable skills are appropriate, but a meeting of no more than eight, with one nominated as chair/secretary is probably appropriate. Others with specific skills can be asked to help when appropriate.


Pastoral Visitors

Over the years the type and need for pastoral visiting in the church has changed. When our churches had much younger congregations the majority of pastoral visits were by the minister and Elders and were more often conversations about faith and church related matters as well as other personal issues when appropriate. With most congregations now much older, the type and need of pastoral care has shifted mainly to visiting people who are sick or lonely. This too is vital work for the church, but should not necessarily be confined to the role of Minister and Elders, but open to all those with appropriate gifts.

Many churches have benefited from splitting these two distinct roles. The Elders still have a list of members that they are responsible for, but this is to have faith and church issue conversations from time to time, which may or may not require a home visit.

In addition a team of pastoral visitors is set up consisting of those with the time and skills required for this vital ministry. The pastoral team can be as big as the number of people who are selected by the list system, and the visitors themselves can state who or how many people it is appropriate for them to visit. This way we are all taking responsibility for looking after each other which should also deepen our fellowship. Also, with this new system, those who would like more regular visits than possible at the moment are more likely to be accommodated. Once elected, a chair or Pastoral Secretary should be chosen to help coordinate the system.

The pastoral team can also have conversations with the Elders and Minister at any time, pass on information, ask for help, or request the minister visits someone in particular, either with their pastoral visitor or alone. The Minister will continue to visit those in hospital whenever possible.


System of Election/Selection

This fresh start is also an opportunity to revise the way we elect people to serve in our church, the system of nomination and ballot (which is a system better suited to the secular world) is not the only system in operation within the wider United Reformed Church to discern whom we believe should be elected to serve! Many churches have now adopted a list system, which has many benefits.

o The List System

A list is produced of the names of all church members (and adherents), all members (and adherents) are eligible for election. Everyone will then receive this list as a ballot paper and be asked to mark next to the names of every person they feel would make a suitable Elder, Deacon or Pastoral Visitor, marking as many or as few names as is wished, regardless of the number of vacancies. You can also nominate the same person for more than one position.

The ballot papers will be collected in at an appointed time and the votes for each person counted. (by the minister and secretary) The person who received the most votes will then be approached and asked to consider serving. Then the person with the second highest number of votes will be approached, and so on, until all six places are filled.

Similarly, if anyone approached should decline, the next person shall be approached. In the (unlikely) event of a tie for the final position(s) the Minister and Secretary will have a private conversation with those concerned to resolve the issue.

However, for the Elders (and Deacons) elections it is important to have a cut off point that no one with very few votes be approached. For example it would be improper to elect someone who only received one vote, especially as they may have voted for themselves! An Elder is an ordained position and therefore a person should be elected only if a suitable proportion of the church, guided by the Holy Spirit, recognises a person’s calling. This cut of point will also be at the discretion of the Minister and Secretary.

o The benefits of this system

• Nobody is put under pressure to stand for election, knowing that that almost inevitably means they will be elected.
• A person who may never have considered becoming an Elder may find a large proportion of the church thinks them capable. This could be very encouraging for some people, and a good opportunity for them to grow.
• There is still only one ballot; other alternative voting systems require more than one ballot and complicated maths!
• Current serving Elders who may feel they cannot resign because “who will take over”, can do so without pressure.
• Some of the current Eldership are very likely to be re-elected to ensure continuity, with maybe one or two new faces to offer new perspectives, experiences and gifts to our Elders meetings.

All the elections should be an annual event, usually at the AGM, however, if this idea is accepted, the first election is likely to be in the late summer or early autumn.


Conclusion

This restructure is intended to give focus and time to our Eldership, as well as better involve other people and recognise already existing contributions to the life of our church.

With this system in place, the Minister and Elders will be freed to work as a more effective and focused local leadership, working on worship, nurture and mission, with the many practical responsibilities devolved to others more suitable for the task. The Minister and Elders will also have a pastoral team to work with (perhaps bringing some theological expertise), while Alison will contribute in her new role as Local Leader, particularly with bereavement support.

If we achieve the aims of this proposed restructuring here at Heald Green, I believe we will also be much better prepared for any future changes in ministerial deployment across the district.

Finally, these proposed changes are probably more difficult to explain than they are to simply put into practice! The transition should be smooth, and the only difference you should notice is a more effective church as the end result!