Priests should be 'released from overload'

Clergy and parishes should work together to release priests from the overload of parish life and enable them to work more effectively using the gifts and talents God has given them - that’s the message from the new director of ministry development in the Diocese of Lichfield, who began her new role on Saturday.

The Rev Lesley Bentley, who was licensed during a service in Lichfield Cathedral on Saturday, will be responsible for developing more than 400 clergy through training and resources; assisting the transition to new terms of service for clergy; and helping shape the future patterns of ministry within the diocese.

She describes her role as “helping the church to be the church”.

“I want help clergy to work with their parishes to release them from overload, to step back, and have the freedom to act using the gifts and talents God has given them. But this isn’t just about priests; we need the whole church, clergy and laity, to develop their discipleship together. And this will mean new roles for lay people and new forms of lay leadership."

She stressed the importance of working under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

“There is no clear blue print for how to do this successfully - it is a time when we need to be discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit through individual prayer and worship together, through understanding of our culture and through seeing God’s working," she continued.

"The ministries of clergy and lay alike are developing, and will continue to need to develop, in new ways to enable us to work with the working of his Holy Spirit. It is this development that I hope to be part of in this diocese.”

The introduction of new terms of service for clergy, which has been approved by Synod and is current awaiting parliamentary approval and royal assent, will see some changes to the way clergy are appointed.

Rev Bentley, who spent 10 years as a member of the Archbishops’ Council’s Deployment, Remuneration and Conditions of Service Committee, says the changes could be good for clergy by providing a "mechanism" for their development.

“The new rules aren’t about laying out rigid job descriptions, dictating how clergy will operate, what they will do and the targets they have to achieve," she said.

"Clergy have always been seen as office holders, rather than employees, and these new job descriptions will be permissive, rather that restrictive. They will give clergy the freedom to act and to serve their parishes with the gifts God has given them."