Southwark Diocese were recently promoting the fact that it is 60 years since the ordained someone as a “self-supporting minister.”
As they explain, these are ordained clergy within the CofE who do the same things as any other clergy but are not paid a stipend by the church. This means that they are likely to be either unpaid or are working in another job to make ends meet.
Thinking about it, on that basis, the vast majority of leaders in independent type church contexts in effect fall into that category. They serve on leadership teams, often as elders, make pastoral visits, lead worship, preach, conduct weddings, baptisms, funerals etc whilst working Monday to Friday as doctors, teachers, lawyers, engineers, electricians, plumbers etc. Indeed, I currently fall into that category. Back in 2021, we were weighing up our options for the future and realised that it would be possible for me not to take on a paid salary in a church. This meant I could give a significant proportion of my time to a newer, smaller church that might appreciate having another person around but not be in a position to pay them. It also meant that I was freed up a bit more to commit to wider ministry needs relating to urban mission, training and church planting. Finally, it pushed me to a place where I had to do what I’d been asking others to consider, to take a step of faith into a place of greater uncertainty.
With that in mind, here are a few thoughts around the topic. First of all, it should encourage us to think better about what it means to serve/minister in the local church. The key difference between a church of England self-supported minister and an independent church elder is that we don’t ordain our elders but nor, would we in many cases specifically ordain a pastor as clergy, distinct from laity. I hope that those from an Anglican background will think more about how to allow people to use their gifts without the hoop of ordination to jump through. However, we non-Anglicans can still at times put the pastor on the pedestal, seeing his ministry as primary and in effect make a clergy-laity distinction too.
Secondly, I think that instead of thinking in terms of employed professionals and volunteer amateurs, we should think in terms of wanting to free up as many gospel workers/church leaders as much as possible for the work. Some people will work full time in other jobs, others part time, becoming bi-vocational and others will be completely freed up.
Thirdly, in the church of England, the majority of Self-Supported Ministers are women and so a lot of people see it negatively. There’s a risk that this is seen as cheap labour, that it becomes exploitative and that it exists primarily in the Church of England because although the church officially accepts the ordination of women, that this is the only way for many women to get roles after training. We should make sure that we don’t use this as a cover for failing to sort out our thinking on the role of men and women in church ministry. Whatever conclusion we come to on that we should ensure that we fully support and equip people to use their gifts in whatever capacity God calls them to.
Fourthly, there’s something for us independents, FIEC, Grace Baptist and New Frontiers types to learn from our Anglican friends. Whilst we may not see the need for ordination, I hope we are challenged by the fact that one way the CofE does support its self-supported ministers is by committing to train them. Do we give the same attention to training and equipping voluntary leaders in our churches.
With all of those things in mind, having the right frame of mind on this could well be a positive and help us to be more adventurous in church planting. It is likely that many church plants, if we are going to get serious about reaching the less reached places will be led by volunteer teams. Would you be willing to consider joining a plant as a leader, even as the lead planter whilst raising your own support in one way or another?
Faithroots 