LoginHome » Knox Centre for Ministry and Leadership » Local Ministry Teams » LMT FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions about Local Ministry Teams
1. Our parish is interested in finding out more about Local Ministry Teams? Where do we get information?
Visit Local Ministry Teams. Consult your Presbytery Ministry Committee Convenor. You may also contact the Mission Resource Director John Daniel, or John Roxborogh at the School of Ministry.
The framework for setting up Local Ministry Teams is outlined in the new 2006 Book of Order. Earlier regulations can be found in the Student Regulations in Appendix E13 of the old Book of Order. See also Local Ministry Resources and Guidelines and Four Strands of Ordained Ministry.
Clarification of these processes is ongoing.
2. We are a Presbyterian Parish with a Lay Supply Pastor and we are not sure about the future. How do we know whether a Local Ministry Team is right for us?
Do you have a vision for involving as many as possible in the ministry of the church?
Is the congregation willing to fund a Resource Minister at 20% of stipend and allowances?
Is your lay supply pastor willing to be part of the team and is the parish willing to call and support them as a member of the team?
Have you explored with the Presbytery and others involved the alternative of calling your lay supply pastor as a Local Ordained Minister and would he or she be willing to commit to the training involved?
Is the presbytery prepared to extend the existing contract for a period to enable all parties to discern whether this is the model of ministry they are called to follow?
Is the Interim Moderator able to help the parish and presbytery work through these issues?
3. What Presbyterian Guidelines should a Cooperating Venture use?
The Presbyterian Local Ministry Team guidelines apply. These may need to be updated in the framework of the 2006 Book of Order.
Following a ruling by the Assembly Executive Secretary in June 2006, it is likely to be generally accepted that in Cooperating Ventures involving Anglicans, Presbyterian members of the Ministry Support Team / Local Ministry Team called to preside at communion and baptism will be ordained by the Presbytery whether or not they have already been ordained as elders. The ordination and commission service used at Waihao is a model. Order of Service (word) or pdf
4. Is there a fuller version of the Presbyterian guidelines somewhere?
The guidelines currently available will be added to as our experience develops. It is wise for a parish and a presbytery or uniting church council working with the local ministry options to check with the National Mission Advisor. With regard to the regulations these are the requirements which have to be followed unless and until the Assembly approves any amendments to the regulations in the same way that any other regulations relating to ministry and to parish life and mission which may be changed from time to time.
5. Does the Presbyterian Church have a job description for the Ministry Enabler or, as the LMT guidelines calls them, the ‘Resource Minister’?
The Resource Minister is the coach of the team but not the leader. A draft template is being prepared for the Ministry Expectations for a Resource Minister. Each parish with a local ministry team will have particular needs and expectations with regard to its Resource Minister so each agreement will need to be tailored to the particular situation but the template will provide a model which should be easy to write up as required.
6. The LMT guidelines refer in several places to national guidelines which are to be prepared to cover some aspects of this particular model of ministry. Are those guidelines available yet?
Unfortunately no. They are still in the development phase.
7. From a Presbyterian point of view, would the Ministry Enabler/Resource Person need to be ordained, or could that Person be Lay?
In a Cooperating Venture, yes; in a Presbyterian parish usually but not necessarily.
The expectation has been that the person fulfilling that role would normally be a NOM approved by the presbytery. The minister might be a minister of the presbytery, or from a neighboring presbytery, or, the case of a co-operating venture, it might be appropriate for the presbytery, after appropriate negotiation with the relevant groups and individuals, to appoint a minister from one of the other partner churches.
The Presbytery should be able to decide. The aim is to facilitate ministry and sometimes the particular person who is best able to do that is not ordained.
8. What do we need to be aware of in drawing up an implementation process for LMT/Locally Provided Ministry in a Co-operating Parish?
Because this is a new model for our church some of the processes at the moment are evolving and we realise that this can be frustrating for the pioneers but pioneers are the ones who help get new models and methods into current practice!
We need to respect the regulatory framework of the partner churches, but there may be differences to be navigated for co-operative ventures, there is a certain amount of extra negotiation which will need to happen including with the JRC.
9. In the case of an LMT parish, it seems that ordination is for a defined period, to be reviewed by Presbytery. In the case of Anglicans ordination is for life as with the case of all those ordained in the Anglican ministry. How does Presbytery see this being worked out in the case of a Co-operating Parish?
There needs to be quite a long answer to this question.
- There is a distinction to be drawn between ordination to the ministry of word and sacrament and the authorisation to exercise that ordination.
- In the Presbyterian Church ordination to the ministry of word and sacrament happens once and is for life. It is the same for ordination to the eldership.
- However, in order to be able to exercise the functions of that ordination a person has to be appropriately authorised.
- In Anglican terms this would be to hold a Bishop’s Licence.
- In Presbyterian terms it requires an appropriate authorisation by the presbytery which is normally induction or commissioning to a particular appointment.
- The situation of a person who is ordained to the ministry of word and sacraments as part of a Local Ministry Team (in terms of Presbyterian authorisation) is very similar to that of an elder.
- The person is ordained once.
- The person is inducted or commissioned into office, either as a part of a local ministry team or as an elder of a session or parish council.
- If and when a person leaves the team or the session/parish council the authorisation the person holds then lapses.
- If the person moves to another place and then is identified and elected to be an elder in another congregation or a member of a Local Ministry Team he/she does not have to be ordained again but does have to be inducted as a elder on the session/parish council or commissioned as a new member of a local ministry team so that the authorisation to officiate is properly established.
10. Should not the 2002 Assembly papers have included reference to and recognition of locally provided ministry in Co-operative Venture Parishes? Is there a Presbyterian document that addresses this issue?
The needs of co-operative ventures were very much in the minds of those in the Presbyterian Church who worked on the local ministry provisions. However, the Presbyterian Church is also mindful that there are other partner churches in the Forum of Uniting Congregations as well as the Anglican Church.
It was felt that the appropriate place to address the issues of local ministry in co-operative ventures was through the Forum. Some discussion on local ministry has already taken place at the Forum Standing Committee.
11. Is there a ‘step by step’ document for this process available?
The following pdf graphic provides an outline for processes in a Presbyterian parish. In a Cooperating Venture, the Joint Regional Committee and the partner denominations involved also need to be consulted and adequate time allowed for this.
LMT Processes In Presbyterian Parishes.pdf
12. Will training be local?
The principle behind local ministry is that training will be tailored to the needs of the individual people who are being trained and the needs of the situation for which they are being trained. So the training needs and the provision of that training will vary.
The intention is that most of the training will be done locally and provided by the Presbytery or the School of Ministry staff. Some may also be done through distance learning eg through the Ecumenical Institute of Distance Theological Studies (EIDTS), the Bible College of New Zealand or the University of Otago.
Some of the block courses at the Presbyterian School of Ministry may be suitable for some LMT members.
Sometimes attendance at a conference in another part of the country might be a useful part of someone’s training. Obviously, attendance at training events away from home involves some expense but it would not be unreasonable for a parish to budget for its ministry team to attend, say, one conference or training event away from home base each year. Apart from anything else, this would help keep the ministry team connected with the wider church of which the parish is a part.
Training needs analysis and a training record for members of the LMT will be needed.
13. Is the training model envisaged for LMT going to be appropriate to the LPM (locally provided ministry) model in a co-operative venture?
The goals of training for both models are similar i.e. to equip those in leadership to fulfill their roles. Obviously, in any particular co-operative venture, there may need to be some discussion and negotiation among the parish and the partner churches to work out details.
14. What freedom does the LMT model give to encompass and train all denominations involved in the parish?
By negotiation all can be involved. Sometimes the situation for a co-operative venture is a bit more complex than for a single denomination parish but you have the advantage of being able to make best use of all the facilities for training on offer from the partner churches.
15. Will the ordination process be carried out through the JRC or directly by each participating denomination?
The role of the JRC is to co-ordinate processes and events. It has no authority to ordain or appoint. Ordination will be by the relevant partner church. In a co-operative venture this may be one of the partners or several of them.
If more than one person is to be ordained they may be ordained by one of the partner churches or one may be ordained by one partner church and one by another partner church.
The people being ordained may have a preference for being ordained by one of the partners if they have been part of that tradition and that would be taken into account during the discussion, or so I would assume.
16. In a CV does oversight have to alternate e.g. between Presbyterian and Anglican? Or should it not be based rather on finding the person best qualified for the task, regardless of denomination?
The question of the role and term of the church of oversight is a matter for the Forum to determine, after consultation with the partner churches. The Forum would then make provision, in the Guide to Procedures, for whatever process is to be followed.
There may be some confusing of the role of the church of oversight and the role of the Resource Minister/Ministry Enabler. Generally, it might be expected that the Resource Minister /Ministry Enabler is appointed by the church of oversight and that the Ministry Enable/Resource Minister would be from the same denomination.
A church of oversight might well decide, after appropriate consultation and negotiation with all concerned, to appoint a minister from one of the other partners to be the Resource Minister/Ministry Enabler because that person would be the best person for the job.
17. How does the LMT relate to Session or Parish Council and other courts of the church?
The LMT functions as the minister and the other courts of the church continue as they are. As we develop experience there may be more guidelines which are needed.
18. My understanding is that becoming a marriage celebrant goes with ordination and induction into the ministry of word and sacrament, but does that apply to all members of a LMT?
Only one person on the team needs to be a marriage celebrant. The basic idea is that key functions are covered, but that does not require all members of the team to do everything. It is a team not job sharing.