Self Assessment

Ashill, Barrington, Broadway,Chillington, Cudworth, Curry Rivel, Donyatt, Dowlish Wake, Fivehead, Horton, Ilminster, Ilton, Isle Abbotts, Isle Brewers, Kingstone, Puckington, Shepton Beauchamp, Stocklinch, Swell, Whitelackington

1 Why do you want to know how’s your local ministry group?

In 2004 the diocese asked each Deanery for a strategic plan for the implementation of the Green Paper’ Changing Lives: Changing Churches for Changing Communities’. Local Ministry Groups (Groups) have been forming and within a ‘no one size that fits all’ approach. Local flexibility continues to be the order of the day in the formation and development of Groups.

Now Bishops Peter have asked the School of Formation to make available to clergy and lay leaders of Groups this self-assessment form which helps Groups to

· Reflect on their journey of development so far

· Think about the next steps

· Work out the kind of support which might be needed along the way

2 How do we use this self assessment?

These form provides the questions.

The first task for the Group is to decide how to complete the questions? Our advice is to read all the questions first and then to decide a way to answer them that will work for your Group.

There are a number of ways a Group might decide to use to answer the questions. For example a Group could decide that

a) the leadership team, perhaps up to a dozen lay and clergy people, would meet for about 90 minutes with an external facilitator. The facilitator would lead the team through the questions and complete the booklet after the meeting, sending it to the Group’s chair for agreement. (The School of Formation can supply external facilitators)

b) one of the clergy and a lay leader were best placed to work together to answer the questions on behalf of the Group and to lead a discussion on the findings with the Group

c) it would ask each incumbent to work with a group of lay people drawn from his/her parish/Benefices to answer the questions. The incumbents would then meet together to share views and collate a Group wide response.

d) that none of the above were appropriate and to use a completely different process for answering the questions which better suited the Group.

3 Questions

3.1 What signs can we see within our Group, in whole or in part, of change and transformation?

Please list and briefly describe some examples for which we can give thanks to God.

3.2 What kind of a Group are we now?

Read the three descriptions of different forms of being a Group. You have thirty points to allocate across these three descriptions to reflect your present Group. If you think that your Group is best described by one of the models, allocate all your thirty points to that model. If you think your Group shows the characteristics of more than one model, allocate your thirty points in the proportions you think best describes your Group

Entity

The LMG has a formal structure constituted in such a way as to help it grow and achieve its ambitions. These may involve helping it to fulfill its work by forming a recognizable leadership and organization. It may want to employ staff, define boundaries, and/or be recognized by other formal bodies. The participants find a unity by agreement, ratified by the parent body enabling a platform for further creative work.

Strength: stability and organization

Weakness: can become rigid and slow moving

Covenant

The LMG meets in a social setting for fellowship, mutual embrace and organic growth. The purpose of each participant may vary, for example in churchmanship, demographic background or mission and ministry expectations. These may be diverse, causing variant ways of being the church; however, meeting on neutral territory and agenda enables friendships to be forged, exchange of views to be explored, deeper learning, and an enriching of the lives of the participants.

Strength: warm and rich relationships

Weakness: can lack purpose and direction

Strategic Alliance

The LMG finds a strategic project or purpose to achieve. This may be a mission imperative or support of local school initiatives for example. The participants and leaders meet to identify, plan and support the projects. The LMG may find support through participants being diverse, even though they support a common aim, for example different social background, churchmanship or age. This may increase the sense of collaboration as the project unites a variety of surprising partnerships.

Strength: purposive and active

Weakness: can lose motivation by not attending to relationships

3.3 What kind of a Group would we like to be by 2012?

Allocate thirty points to show the kind of Group you wish to be by 2012

Record your answers to both 3.2 and 3.3 in the table below.

Group Model Now 2012

Structural/formal

Purposeful/pragmatic

Relational/informal

Total 30 30

3.4 Where are we in terms of the 2004 Green Paper?

A number of statements from the 2004 Green Paper are shown below

Considering the Group as a whole, how are you placed now? Place ‘X’ to mark where you think you are now.

Calling

The LMG would be staffed by ordained and lay ministers who are working together and who are both stipendiary and non stipendiary. Their commitment would be to the LMG as a whole, enabling individual members to play to their strengths and making their expertise available across the LMG.