United Reformed Church Ministries Report to the General Assembly 2005

The General Assembly of the United Reformed Church in the UK is set to meet at the University of Warwick from 2nd-5th July. Some reports to the Conference 2005 have been submitted. John Ellis, Convener of the Ministries Committee, briefly described the report.

The Ministries Committee offered to last year’s General Assembly the report Equipping the Saints, which aimed to help the transformation of local churches. The Assembly encouraged each local church to assess how far its activities were connecting with its community. Many churches have put the suggestion into action and have experienced many breakthroughs in their ministries.

In addition, Equipping the Saints recognised that a crucial element in local churches moving forward is how various ministries are used. After a consultation was carried out among the ministers and elders throughout 2004, several resolutions specifically about elders will be brought to the General Assembly 2005. For instance, the spread of best practice in relation to the selection and personal development of elders is highly recommended in order to maintain the health of the Church internally.

Concerning the ministers, the report would suggest that "a full-time paid minister for each congregation is remote from URC reality as only one in ten congregations today have this leadership pattern." Therefore, the new resolution this year will be designed to encourage the more flexible use of ministers, related to the mission challenges in different settings and their own gifts.

The report shall propose expanding the Special Category Ministry scheme. The scheme allows a controlled number of URC ministers to be deployed outside the usual Synod quotas in a variety of pioneering and boundary edge roles.

By expanding the Scheme, it is expected to make more resources available for Districts and Areas who want to develop new models of ministry. For example, some churches are looking for ministers who can help congregations worship in more than one language. Sometimes the best people for some specialist roles in the life of the URC will not always be URC ministers. The Ministries Committee therefore suggests making the new posts open to ministers from other denominations or, in some circumstances, lay people.

The financial aspects of expanding the Special Category Ministry Scheme is to be further addressed as these posts will need to be paid for and there will have to be a clear limit on the number working under this scheme.

The last part of the report mentioned the Ministries Committee’s strong support to the URC’s policy on financial giving. This includes the request to every member to regard as a norm the giving of 5p in every pound of take-home pay to the Church. The offerings from Church members are hoped to relieve the financial burdens of the development of ministries.