Features (April 2010)
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Deaneries can work better together
The Rev. Dr. Chris Knights, who is Deanery development officer for Newcastle West Deanery.
What can the deanery do for the parish? What is the new diocesan “Guide to Developing Deaneries” hoping to achieve ? Why do we need to develop deaneries anyway? These are some questions that parishioners are asking of the Developing Deaneries task group, which has been considering the future role of deaneries. Link asked the Revd. John Sinclair, a member of the group and Area Dean of the Newcastle West Deanery, to explain what it’s all about.
How important do you think the Deanery role will be in the future mission and ministry of the Church?
JS: Because of the changing patterns in clerical ministry in parishes, the large increase in OLM ministry, lay ministry, local ministry groups, and house for duty posts, the deanery, of necessity, is going to play a vital role in delivering sustainable leadership. The deanery can give a lot of flexibility in a small concentrated area. The deanery – as opposed to the diocese – can create relationships at a deeper level. Trust and communication can be more easily built up, and are both essential for the future.
What are the most important issues for Newcastle West when planning for the future?
JS: Newcastle West has been looking at ways we can do things better together as a deanery rather than as individual parishes. For the past 18 months we’ve been focusing on mission, and each Chapter and deanery synod has a slot where we discuss mission action plans, sharing experiences and good practice around the deanery. Newcastle West is aware of the important of finance in the diocese and we take very seriously the way in which we can best provide for mission and ministry in the future. We’ve recently held a session with all deanery treasurers where again we’ve shared good practice. For example, some had tried the out the idea of the “Bride’s Charity” where a bride would be asked to nominate a charity for the collection at her wedding. Fifty per cent of the money collected at the wedding would be given to their chosen charity. This makes it much easier to mention a retiring collection at the wedding. The minister can say something like “On this happy day, we want to share with others.” In our church we’ve found that our wedding collections have gone from an average of from £30 to £180. We take half of that, so we’ve increased our collections three-fold.
We’ve also shared our experience of Mission Action Plans. My own church held a community event called A Trip Down Memory Lane and we reported on that. Then I heard that Holy Cross, Fenham, had done the same thing. Similarly St. John’s Walton had produced specific gift aid envelopes for baptism families which were given out by the baptism visitors. It’s all making it easier for people to give, and it’s an idea other parishes can use.
At a deanery evening on finance we had a presentation by the deanery treasurer who made clear to us all that money was just the means to an end, the end being God’s work. We were all made aware of the importance of keeping our eye on God’s work. Although we take finance seriously, we have to remember that it’s what we do with it that counts. As a deanery we’re also looking at vocations and we’ve planned a morning together with input from the Readers’ Board and Lindisfarne, and from Audrey Elkington, the vocations advisor. Judy Hirst will also be with us looking at local ministry teams and lay ministry generally.
I should also say that the West Deanery already employs two people, Sister Val Legg, the deanery evangelist, who works with parishes across the deanery. Then there’s the West Deanery Urban Regeneration officer, the Revd. Dr. Chris Knights (pictured), who has brought together a large number of church based projects in the West End. We had a special deanery synod with a market place, where eight or nine projects displayed.
To sum up, the West Deanery sees three things that are important for us to tackle together – mission, finance and vocation.
How will the new Deaneries Development Guide help you?
JS: The guide provides a planning framework for the coming years. It will enable us to engage with key areas of church and community life across six areas: Ministry Planning, Supporting Mission Action Plans, Financial Planning, Collaborative Working, Supporting Parishes and People, and Discipleship and Learning.
What feedback have you heard from Parishes and Synod members in Newcastle West?
JS: The presentation that was given to diocesan synod by Carol Wolstenholm has been given at deanery synod too and it was very warmly received. People are positive and wanting to contribute. We’ve set up a deanery development group, and we have no vacancies on deanery synod. We’re aware that it will take some time for parishes to move their focus from looking at themselves to looking to the deanery. It’s noticeable that the deanery becomes involved during an interregnum. As soon as a priest says they are moving, we meet with the church wardens and the PCC members so that people don’t feel they are alone. As parishes go through the experience, the support that’s offered through the deanery will increase. The deanery will also have an input on preparing parish profiles in the future.
How do you think Deaneries might involve and enthuse people at parish level in the process?
JS: This is a vital area. Deanery synods need to show they are committed to the deanery, and that needs to feed through to the PCC members, who in turn need to feed through to congregations. The new website forum would be a way of getting people across the diocese to share concerns and seek advice.
What would you like to see the newly formed Deaneries Development Task Group do to support you?
JS: We would welcome a light touch. We want to be encouraged, and to have positive feedback on things that are good. If the task group came to visit a deanery, it would be good if they wrote up what they saw. They need to become a conduit for sharing good practice from other deaneries. They can also provide mentors – a very useful idea. It would also be good to have help with admin for recording what we’re doing. We want the deanery to live its natural life, not to be encumbered by the need for lots of paperwork. We need to be left to get on with it. This initiative mustn’t add to our workload.
Finally, why should congregations start to think deanery instead of parish?
JS: Because deaneries can work better together than parishes can do separately.
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Faith and Life – Building confidence
The Faith and Life course continues to roll out across the two dioceses of Newcastle and Durham, with many people finding their commitment to and understanding of the Gospel strengthened and enhanced by attending the sessions. Alastair Macnaughton, Developing Discipleship Officer, reports
Malcolm Hall worships at St Mark's, Shiremoor, and he has this to say of the Faith and Life course: “One evening a week is a small amount of time really, to spend on learning and growing as a Christian. The structure of the course is really good and set at a pace at which everyone can participate. Each part of the course gives you a chance to discuss things in depth and get a better understanding, albeit of a small section.
“I got so much out of the module on the psalms that I wrote an article about my own personal thoughts on the psalms for the parish magazine. The unit really brought the psalms alive for my own prayer life and for when we say them responsively in church.
“Faith and Life can and does build your confidence as you grow spiritually to be able to talk to non-church goers about your faith. At my place of work my work colleagues are always inquisitive as to what goes on in church and why certain things happen. At this time of Lent they always ask 'what are you giving up this year?' - to which I reply it’s not just about giving up, things but taking on extra tasks.”
Malcolm works as an estimator at an Accident and Repair Centre. He's a family man with two grown up children. He's on PCC and Deanery Synod, he's on the team for the Coffee Project at Northumberland Park, and he's a server at St Mark's .
Bishop Martin commends the Faith and Life course: “It has already proved very helpful to people from across the Diocese who have wished to make the connections between life and faith. I warmly commend it to all who wish to explore Christian vocation and discipleship in the world today".
There are now plans for Faith and Life groups in the Alnwick, Ashington/Blyth, Tyne Valley/Hexham/East Newcastle/Ponteland/Tynemouth areas. Please let me know if you are interested: we might be able to bring the venue nearer you if we had early warning! Tel. 01912340371 alastairmacnaughton@lindisfarnertp.org
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Faith and Life – Living Theology Today Course
Living Theology Today is new to the diocese this September, and it is altogether different from the Faith and Life course.
LTT is one group in one place - North Shields - while the Faith and Life course is widely spread across the diocese.
LTT will be especially helpful for: those wanting to explore theology without commitment to a long academic process; any who look for something less interactive and more subject-based; those wanting to explore the faith in depth with head and heart; any adults young , old, or in between who wish to reflect on how the various parts of their faith and tradition fit together.
LTT Co-ordinator, Audrey MCCartan says: “ LTT comprises three areas - Christian roots – which will explore church's calendar and liturgy; The church in the world which will consider some contemporary issues such as rural ministry and climate change; and spirituality and Christian growth which will include a retreat at Shepherds Dene. Each session will be presented by a leader in the diocese, for example Archdeacon Peter Robinson will speak on Baptism, The Rev. Dr. Chris Knights on The Gospels and the Rev. Glyn Evans will talk on chaplaincy. After their presentation there will be time given over to discussion.
If you’d like to know more, please contact Audrey on 01661853142 or the course chaplain, Gloria Cadman on 01912846729. There are also details on the Lindisfarne website www.lindisfarnertp.org in the section ‘Exploring questions of Faith’.
There will be: eight Tuesday evenings in Autumn 2010, eight in Spring 2011, six in Summer 2011, and a retreat at Shepherd’s Dene (a full part of the course) on 4-6th June 2011.
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Vocations
Michelle Dalliston
I am writing this from Cranmer Hall, Durham where it seems impossible to believe that I only have a term and a half left before ordination! I have been studying on the full-time Theology and Ministry course, travelling in daily from Newcastle which has meant that I can still live at home with my family, although it makes for very long days and a certain amount of boredom with one stretch of the A1!
I came to Newcastle nearly 7 years ago when Chris became Dean of Newcastle and we moved up the east coast from Boston, Lincolnshire with our three children, Tom, Georgie and Isabella. I was born in St Albans and grew up in North Essex - both Chris and I have family roots in East Anglia - particularly Norfolk. Previously I have worked in fundraising and principally, with children and young people in churches and schools, and I have taught a lot of people how to do Godly Play! With colleagues from Newcastle and Durham Dioceses we set up Godly Play North, a Diocesan Task Group, offering support and training for those working with Godly Play in the northern region. I have always been passionate about sharing the gospel with children and Godly Play both helped me do this and ultimately brought me to recognition of a call to ordained ministry.
I began training at Cranmer Hall in September 2008 and the last two years have seen academic and other pressures in the Dalliston household as GCSE's and A-levels as well as essays, seminars, presentations, sermons, and live radio broadcasts have all come to pass!
It has been a deeply enriching time for me and I have enjoyed the studying, particularly grounded as it has been in real life through the focus here at Cranmer on formation and the integration of theology and practical experience. As such, the placements we do while at college are especially part of this process of growing and forming as ministers and I have been privileged to work in the Benwell Team Ministry, the United Benefice of Stamfordham with Matfen and Ryal and at the Chaplaincy at the RVI. I am looking forward to spending a week working as part of the community at Alnmouth Friary in Holy Week.
After ordination at the Cathedral in July, which will, of course, feel very special for me, I will be curate at St Nicholas Gosforth, which is the next door parish to where we live in Jesmond. Gosforth is already our domestic focus because Tom and Georgie are at the High School and Bella at Gosforth Central Middle School. I am excited and nervous about the challenges that lie ahead and yet another change of daily life, but during this whole, amazing vocational journey, I have gradually learnt to trust God more and recognise that I am given the strength to do what he is calling me to do, as he does for each one of us. So more than anything else, I am full of expectation as I look forward to the beginning of a new stage of ministry and a new role in the Diocese of Newcastle, of which I am very proud to be a part.
John Swinhoe
Thinking that you might be called to priesthood can be a scary thing: the thought that God might have picked you, is daunting and frightening at the same time. I remember my initial sense of vocation as though it was yesterday. It was by no means expected and came as a massive shock to the system. I was very young in my faith journey and although I accepted that sense of vocation to ministry straight away, I struggled with that aspect of me being a “priest”.
Although most of my working career I’ve held a leadership role and a number of priests have been a great influence on me, I am aware of my weaknesses as well as my strengths, and I just couldn’t see myself as a priest.
So with encouragement and guidance of the Church, we travelled together along the path of drawing out what God might be asking of me. The realisation that God might be calling me to the diaconate came when we looked at what ordained ministry is. Deacons, like all ministers, have a calling that is distinctive. But, of course, there are aspects of ministry which are not exclusive to the deacon.
Many of the deacon’s duties can be, and are, carried out by those ministers to include also priests, readers and pastoral assistants and so on. What’s different about deacons is the sacramental nature of the ministry. A deacon’s ministry exists as a kind of image for the rest of the church to look at.
In fact, I see it as a two way image. Firstly, by their pastoral care and service of the poor, the weak, the sick and those oppressed and powerless as out-lined in ordinal, the deacon acts as an image of Jesus, who came among us as one who serves and who was moved to care for others. The deacon is ordained to care and serve in a Christ-like way in the churches and homes and streets of the parishes and to be a living image of Jesus for others to see.
But, there is a second image too. When the bishop identifies service to others, pastoral care, teaching and proclaiming the word of God, etc, as things a deacon should do, that doesn’t mean to say others do not do those things. The opposite is true. Rather the ministry of the deacon should also be in an image which shows the whole Christian people an example of service and care of others.
That ministry of care and service and of teaching is focused in the work of the deacon, but it suggests the kind of life and ministry that all Christians should have. This is why it is right to think of the ministry of the deacon in a sacramental way: by their life and work they should show us something of Christ’s life and work and the life and work that all Christian people should have.
I’m now coming to the end of my initial three year course with Lindisfarne, with the expectation to be ordained to the permanent diaconate in July. Training for ministry can be challenging, frustrating and exciting all at the same time too, as you come to terms with your vocation and an understanding and deepening of your faith. Class work is undertaken during the evenings, weekend residentials and summer schools.
It is a demanding course over three years requiring 15 to 20 hours study per week. Relationships will be formed amongst contemporaries due to the common situation you’re in. Most of all though, support of the family is of the utmost importance and preparation for the time scale of the course and the commitment to it has to be understood from the outset.
Angela, my wife, our three children and two grandchildren can seem neglected at times which is no witness, so time with the family must be set aside. It is also important not to neglect responsibilities in the workplace. I work for the global fashion label Burberry, within their Asset and Profit Protection team and thankfully, they have been very flexible and understanding toward my training schedule.
Benjamin Carter
It is very good to take this opportunity to introduce myself in Link.
I am coming to St. Mary’s Monkseaton after two years of ordination training at Cranmer Hall in Durham. I am originally from Silverdale, which is village in North Lancashire on Morecambe Bay. My family are mostly academics, my father has recently retired from the Engineering Department at Lancaster University, and my mother was a Primary School Teacher and subsequently researched and published on Dyslexia. Before entering training I was following the same path. I was an undergraduate at the University of Exeter, and then studied for a Masters at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. This then led me to London and a PhD on the 17th Century English theologian and philosopher Ralph Cudworth at Middlesex University. Following this I took up teaching posts at the University of Bristol. The fruits of my research are going to be published in a book of Cudworth’s theology and philosophy.
My real passion is music. I have sung in church choirs all my life; as a boy at Lancaster Priory, through various Choirs whilst I was at University, and finally as a Lay Clerk in Bristol Cathedral Choir. It was through this link that I first met Steph. She came to Evensong at Bristol Cathedral with some mutual friends who were studying for a PGCE in music at Bristol. Steph, who is originally from Sussex and then studied music at Hull, decided to study for a PhD instead of going into teaching and is currently completing her doctorate on seventeenth-century English music publishing at the University of Manchester. She is now balancing that research with some part time music teaching in the Music Department of Newcastle Cathedral.
When I felt the call to ministry the decision to move from one University and Cathedral city, to another in Durham was an easy one. Steph and I were married in Bristol Cathedral in the summer, and Steph moved up to Durham from Manchester to be with me. We were particularly happy to move back to the North, where both have family roots. Since moving to Durham we have both fallen in love with the North-East, particularly all the opportunities it gives us to get out onto the coast, and into the hills for walking. We are delighted be moving to Monkseaton, to be at St Mary’s, to serve with Canon Robin, and we hope that we will make the North East our home for the foreseeable future.
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A Holy Land Pilgrimage with a difference
by Pat Devlin
After nearly 10 years sharing the lives of the people on Pendower Estate, living and working in the project started by St. James Church, (following on from their trail blazing work at Cornerstone ) I took retirement and headed for the hills of Haydon Bridge. However it wasn’t long before the next call came, although, I can trace its origins to an experience almost 15 years ago On March 15th, I will be setting out for the Holy Land, but not primarily to visit the sites associated with the Old Testament and the Gospels. I have had this opportunity before and my current ‘pilgrimage’ was inspired in part by some chance encounters in Bethlehem in 1996.
I met, for example, young Palestinian graduate who could no longer find work as a guide and interpreter, because independent travellers now find it so difficult to access Bethlehem and the West Bank, that only organised tour buses come with their own guides. I also encountered children, whose father’s work in the construction industry was now so irregular because he was often unable to get a permit to cross in the other direction from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, where there are jobs in the construction industry
So, this time my visit will be for three months as an Ecumenical Accompanier, standing alongside some of today’s living communities in the Holy Land as a witness to their present sufferings. The Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) was set up in response to the Church Leaders in Jerusalem in 2001, who were requesting international observers to come, as they saw violence and human rights abuses escalating and the situation of their communities deteriorating.
Ecumenical Accompaniers provide a protective presence, for example at checkpoints which control the movement of Palestinians within the West Bank and between the West Bank and Israel and where the screening process can be both aggressive and humiliating. In rural villages, where farmers have to cross the Separation Barrier, erected by Israel, to access their olive groves and crops and where crops are frequently sabotaged by settlers, there is also a need for observers. And for school children who are regularly harassed by Jewish Settlers on their way to and from school, the presence of protectors can be reassuring.
The Ecumenical Accompaniers also serve to show solidarity with the Palestinian communities in which they live, sharing their daily sufferings and joys, with the Christian communities with whom they worship, and with Israeli Peace and Human Rights groups with whom they work. A further task is advocacy, achieved by reporting any human rights abuses and infringements of international law observed to the United Nations, British politicians and Church leaders, by sending eye witness accounts by e-mail during the stay in Palestine and Israel, and by giving talks and writing articles after returning home.
If you would like to receive eyewitness accounts by e-mail, or if any parish would like a talk after Pat’s return in mid June, please contact her on patdev48@btinternet. The following websites give further info about the programme:
www.eappi.org and www.quaker.org.uk/eappi
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