WHAT DO THE CLERGY DO ALL DAY?

"We never see the Vicar. I don't know what he does all day." - Mr Reginald Objector

Article by Rev David Eaton, when Rector of the United Benefice of Leatherhead & Mickleham, in the Guildford Diocesan Herald

Mr Reginald Objector said ...

"We never see the Vicar. I don't know what he does all day. He never visited Mr Braithwaite in hospital."

"We've got a Parish Office to do all the admin. Why can't he be amongst the people? Old Mr Grimshaw was great. He was always visiting. We don't want the Vicar to organise things. We want him to be holy and spiritual and different, if you know what I mean."

For a lot of people it remains one of the great mysteries of life what the clergy do all day.

Whatever it is, it probably isn't the same as their predecessor, and it certainly isn't the same as the Vicar did a hundred years ago. And, for the clergy themselves, it probably isn't the same as they thought they would be doing when they were ordained. So what's going on?

The ordained ministry today finds itself engaged on three fronts: firstly, there is the Pastoral Ministry which arises from Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals, as well as personal contacts. It will involve people in crisis or illness as well as social issues like housing or unemployment, depending on what kind of parish you are working in. It is a concern about people and their well being, spiritual and material.

Also included in pastoral ministry is preaching and the planning and leading of worship, which for 300 years was focused on one Prayer Book and relatively few liturgies. Today the range of services, their style and music, is endless and present a much more demanding challenge to ministerial leadership.

However, a priest engages with the pastoral ministry, you can be sure it will not be in exactly the same as his or her predecessor. Each priest brings their own gifts and inabilities to their work. In any case a greater emphasis is now apparent in church life on the whole people of God and the ministry they share. Their gifts are complementary and the ministry is collaborative rather than focused on one person. This is much more demanding approach. It is easier to be a dictator than a democrat.

Secondly, in addition to this traditional pattern of ministerial life, a new horizon has opened up. It is what in the commercial world would be called promotion or marketing and concern for brand. In the church it is called Mission. Time was when going to Church was a matter of course for many people and the Church did not need to worry about who was going to turn up on a Sunday; plenty did.

This is not now the case. The church is on the back foot and most clergy will have it on their heart that it is, in some way down to them to make their Church a success. They may deny it, but scratch a Vicar near you and he or she is likely to be worried about numbers. It is a considerable added burden for ministers and difficult to get the measure of . You are seeking to strike some kind of realistic balance between over optimism on one hand, and pessimism, on the other.

The third area of ministerial focus is the burden of admin and organisation associated with shared pastoral ministry and church mission. This will be lightened by able lay leadership, but in relatively small organisations, like parish churches, the incumbent will find him or herself involved in, or knowing about, most of what goes on, and what makes it go on.

The skill which clergy now need is the managing of these three areas of ministerial life.

They tend to over­work, and suffer the consequences. They find boundaries difficult to manage. A significant minority find themselves stumped by the demands ministry now imposes.

They would like to be more spiritual then they actually are.

They recognise that success is elusive and wonder how it should be defined. They find their work both stretching and stressful. In this they are probably like many others because we live in a work-orientated culture, which means a preoccupation with giving out, and not enough attention to be sustained and therefore renewed and recreated ourselves.

Clergy also find their work fulfilling. There are clearly good things to say about Church life, some of which are: the quality and goodness its members, their thoughtfulness and concern for others, the quality of worship at its best. But there is also denial, about the Church and what's happening to it, and where that leaves the clergy. Scratch a vicar and you may well find someone who is faithful and chin up, but who is tired and not a little frayed at the edges.

I have outlined three areas of work for clergy today. There is a fourth which is not exactly work, but it is a necessary part of vocation and a priestly way of life: it is the spirituality of the clergy, which necessitates them having time and energy to pray, read, reflect and study. It is at the centre of all else that they do. The pressures and demands of the other three all militate against it. It is an area which requires the self­discipline of clergy to achieve, so it is no use blaming the system. But there is no doubt that the pace and demand of life today make a prayer-centred life difficult for everyone, the clergy no less than anyone else.

A reshaping of the ministry is taking place. There is likely to be in the future a smaller stipendiary ministry working with a larger non-stipendary grouping. The reduction of professional ministry is being driven by a short­fall in funding and a rise in expenditure, particularly the cost of pensions.

It is possible that a mammoth response in giving will thwart this trend. The task is to find ways of being Church, which are an expression of faith and belief that can be sustained. It is these tasks and issues which preoccupy the work of clergy at the current time.