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Implications of Motion 79 - Pathways to Ordination for Lay Supply ministers
Assembly also passed notice of motion 79 which arose out of an Overture from Mataura Presbytery. This affirmed the contribution of lay ministers and asked that a custom-built process be developed whereby people in lay ministry can be assessed, trained and ordained. The motion particularly sought a process that would recognise existing qualifications, take into account previous experience, avoid duplication of training and require minimum disturbance by allowing candidates for National Ordained Ministry to continue in their current position wherever possible. The Equipping the Leadership Policy Group was commissioned to design and implement such a process and to report back to the next Assembly.
The substance of this motion needs to be carefully weighed against the provisions for forms of local ordination approved by Assembly [see more details here]. On the face of it the new provisions seem an adequate answer for much of what motion 79 is asking for. The one area that is novel to motion 79 is that it seeks an in situ path that recognises prior experience and learning for a lay minister to transition directly to a National Ordained Minister.
The new provisions already enacted provide well for a lay minister becoming a Local Ordained Minister, or a part of a Local Ministry Team. The report Future Ministry Together does propose that "if the LOM sense a call to NOM then he/she would go through the normal assessment procedure for NOM, although their experience in a LOM position may be taken into account in determining requirements in the Ordination Studies programme."
In other words, the burden of motion 79 and the provisions for local ordained ministry are very closely aligned. What motion 79 seems to want is a more clear and appropriate set of requirements to be prepared to be a pathway to National Ordained Ministry.