Team Away Day

The Watling Valley Ministry Team had a half day away as a team today at the Well to talk about our purpose. It was a good discussion and we produced four draft purposes:

1. To provide spiritual leadership - which is all about theological reflection, guidance and accompaniment rather than control - recognising that leadership is shared by the whole community.
2. To nurture discipleship - which includes members of the team itself - since we all need to grow as people of God.
3. To maintain the authenticity of worship - which is a key role for ordained and incumbent clergy who have responsibility for the conduct of worship on behalf of their denominations.
4. To provide mutual support for one another.

We also began to talk about values and how an understanding of our purpose may affect the way we meet.

Team Social

We've been talking about a team social for a long time but it somehow hasn't happened. On Wednesday night at the team meeting we decided to go for it and decided that anyone who was free on Saturday night would head up to the Grebe in Great Holm where we recently ran a Carol Service. Nick assured us that we could get two meals for six pounds....

Some of us arrived at 5pm to discover that they had stopped serving food at 4. In fact the screen was being rolled down for a night of football...

There was a hasty re-plan and we ended up at the 2for1 on Furzton Lake. It was a great evening - even if the house rules required us to sit on two separate tables! Ordering was extremely complex and then we decided to confuse the staff by switching tables for pudding... All good fun and well worth doing. We ought to do it again some time.

Wednesday

Morning: Desk work
Afternoon: Interviews at Oakhill STC
Evening: Team Meeting

Tuesday

School - Jean wants a Taste and See on November 5th
Team Space - Nick helped us reflect on the parable of the Vineyard
Oakhill - Meeting to discuss chaplain's post
Home - paperwork - yawn...
Shopping - Morrisons - where prices are falling...

Busy Day

Team Meeting - briefly
Ecumenical Oversight Group
Voices Editorial Meeting
Meet the Teacher
Deanery Synod

Team Meeting

We had a Watling Valley Ministry Team meeting tonight. We spent a lot of time discussing pastoral care and the meeting planned for the 18th. We also had a very brief 5 minute update on LSM and discussed Jeff's placements. This was Nick's first meeting.

The Joy of Teams

Today included two sessions with teams. I joined the Watling Valley Ministry Team for coffee at Asda this morning (Nick's first Team Space) and then had lunch with the Deanery Leadership Team. It was good to see people and I'm slowly discovering what I missed while on sabbatical.

On the second day...

Second day back. I went for an early morning run to start the long process of working off the large ammount of cheese, wine, meat and pasta I've eaten on holiday. France is great, but a real killer when it comes to my eating habits... Bumped into Geoff Colmer, (our Baptist Regional Minister and Team Leader) who was out on his bike. He's been to the Lambeth Conference as an ecumenical observer and seems to have had a valuable time. (Do have a look at his blog, Wonder and Wondering, to see more...)

I had coffee with Mike Morris in the morning and we had a good chat about Watling Valley and its future. The theme of space was at top of our agenda - how do we create space for people to be? Particualraly in a world where so many people are so frazzled with over-work both in and out of church... Finding a way to do this will be crucial if we're to become a more mutaully supportive partnership with time and space for some of our long term dreams - like midweek worship and small groups. If growing disciples really is our top priorty then some things will have to change...

I've spent the rest of the day at my desk. Most of this time has been used to finish off a few projects. My desk is slowly clearing for what is ahead... Fortunatley August is a good time to ease in gently...

On the first day...

And so I'm back at "work" after three months of sabbatical. It's a fairly surreal experience, since in many ways nothing has changed. I get up in the same house, go down stairs and get on with things, but I'm now less free to decide what I do... This may take a while to get used to...
Having dealt with most of my emails last night I was free for other activities today. I spent the morning with the Watling Valley Team at their weekly Team Space - which was at the McIntyre tea rooms today. It was good to catch up a bit and get a feel for what has been going on while I've been away. In the afternoon I spent most of my time constructing a new to-do list: working out what jobs I need to get on with, and what meetings I need to arrange. There were also a few phone calls - largely to achieve the same thing.
And so it all begins again. The sabbatical was good and I'm now looking forward to the next one. How many years was it again?...

Beginnings and Ends

It has been a busy day. I popped into Bletchley this morning to buy my own Birthday present, then attended a meeting with the Methodist Superintendent(s). It was then time for the leavers assembly at Christ the Sower at which I presented Bibles to the year sixes and sunflowers to the departing staff.

Since this was end of term I took the three girls out for tea at the harvester.

The Folly of Teams...

The concept of "team" and "teamwork" has been high on the agenda for many of us during the past few years. "Team" has become a top priority and has been seen as an antidote to hierarchy and a way of encouraging a more "collaborative" way forward, but...

...there are a few problems with teams (and groups) - particularly when it comes to decision making: Firstly, teams can indulge in groupthink as "popular", "safe", "established" or "familiar" approaches are prefered; Secondly, there is a tendency for teams to talk themselves into more polarised opinion - In other words, once a team begins to move in a particular direction, members supports and encourage each other to share the same stance - The more "popular" a decision becomes, the more "true" it can seem; Thirdly, the need for "belonging" discorages eccentrics and radicals - who may actually have something important to say; Fourthly, teams can easily be dominated by people with higher status, who speak more, or who speak first... In other words the opinions of the most highly ranked, and the most vocal, will seem more significant than those of the quieter and more reflective members.

This may sound negative, but it's worth thinking about, since it's backed up by research.

Teams are very good at tasks and projects. When you're trying to achieve an objective it is far better to have a functional team - but teams are less good at decision making and leadership, although they can have a role in managing or fascilitating leadership and decision-making processes. As far as I can see the best decsions are made when a collective and collaborative process has been used - the more people involved the better!

I've been reflecting a bit on the way the LSM Project Group has functioned over the past year and a bit. Some may well say (with some justification) that it's been somewhat chaotic, with different people involved at different stages as the discussions have meandered backwards and forwards over a range of related topics. It's been exilarating, ceratinly, and a great group to be part of - but a terrible example of "getting things done". I think it would be fair to say it's been a rubbish "team", but...

...the strength of this conversation was the collective and diverse nature of discussions - I never knew where things were going to go next - or who was going to lob in which theological handgrenade! As convener it was a real learning experience to ride the collective thought flow... It's a mirracle (in some ways) that we produced anything coherent at all - although I suspect, in fact, that the results benefited greatly from such a broad range of contributions...

It was a rubbish "team" but a fantastic process! A really creative group of people who were absolutely brilliant at tackling a very tricky issue!

As the Project Group moves into a more formal phase I suspect we need to widen the circle of vision and reflection rather than tighten things up. The success of collaborative ministry in Milton Keynes may well depend on the use of a collaborative methodology - but where will the Church in MK lead us? I wonder?...

Team Meeting

Another break in the sabbatical - this time for the Ministry Team, to discuss All Saints.
Back home in time for "You've been Fired" - not suprised it was Lucinda, but thought she was a good project manager. She blew it when she needed to follow...

Last full day

This was one of those days when meeting followed meeting. I literally had to chase the Minstry Team out the door as the Deanery Leadership Team were arriving... Four hours of meetings were followed by a supervision session with Liz Baker at which we discussed her plans for years 2 and 3...
In the early evening we had a friendly gathering at Becky's house as Alison Dew passed through MK. This was another one of those bizarre gatherings: Becky, Alison and Isla all grew up together in East Malling. Becky now lives just a mile from us, round the corner from the school - so they had this strange opportunity to gather together with their own children... It's a small world... Kent meets MK again...
I had a wedding interview in the evening as Isla finished off her 5000 word essay on the connections between dyslexia and dyspraxia... We celebrated with a bottle of wine and an espisode of Monk.
(two days to go...)

Exit Strategy

This afternoon I popped out to to see Jean Potter (Chair of Governors at Christ the Sower School). She was doing much better and seemed very chirpy after her emergency operation.
We had our quarterly Service Planning Meeting at which we planned Christmas Services, and then it was time for the AGM.
We did a tribute to Ken Moore at the start. I had been struggling to find a good photo for this, but hadn't got very far. I have a great video of Ken flapping his ears, but this didn't seem very appropriate. At last minute Steve Nelsey came in with a memory stick which contained the following picture. It was only after I'd inserted it into the presentation that we all noticed Jessie, tucked away in the background... This was the perfect image of them both... (Note the Marmalade) This AGM was, of course, a day I have been planning for the last five years - since I (unlike Mr Bush) have always had an "exit strategy" in mind. It always seemed to me that finishing well as Team Leader was the most important thing I could do. From the beginning I wanted to have a properly organised handover to someone who would have a clear job to do.
At this point in our history, the Watling Valley is healthy, functional and working well. The members of the Ministry Team are getting on with one another. As a Partenrhip there is a good sense of vision, direction and hope... This is the right time to hand over to someone else...
And so tonight I passed the (soon to be traditional) Team Leader's Bible to Mike - who will have a really good time as Team Leader. The next few years could be really exciting and I wish him and the rest of the Watling Valley well!
Of course, I'd never really thought beyond April 2008 - so it's probably a good time to go on sabbatical and think things through. What am I going to do next?
(Four days to go...)

Parochial Vision

Parochial Vision
The Future of the English Parish
Nick Spencer

The basic logic of this book is that if it has four legs, sharp teeth and a tail, it's probably a dinosaur. This is an unfortunate argument that spoils an otherwise excelent description of the English Parish since Christianity first arrived on these shores.

Nick Spencer is an enthusiast for the "minster model" and he derives from his study of English church history a wide variety of reasons why this model is both desirable and inevitable. I actually have a lot of sympathy for his arguments and think he makes a lot of sense. The only problem is that he picks one possible solution from a raft of possiblities. There may well be minsters in the future of the English Church, but I'm not convinced it will be quite as dominant as he suggests.

So I say yes to his analysis that we are now in a mission environment akin to the post-Augustinian period. I also agree that the existing parish model is unsustainable since it is built on the assumption that every church should have it's own full-time minister. I also have a great deal of sympathy for his argument that ministerial specialisation and greater team work would be a good idea, but...

I'm not sure that churches are going to sign up to a plan which gives certain churches greater symbolic status, neither am I convinced that this is the only way of supporting small churches. My biggest issue is that there is copious evidence that team ministries and LEPs have not delivered the goods over the years and I am not convinced he gives suficient grounds for for saying that the minster model will be any more succesful.

The issue with team ministries (and LEPs) is that they generate an extra layer of administration, and often bring together ministers who are culturally inclined to work against each other. Unless you are prepared to put a great deal of effort into building relationships and creating a common vision and strategy (as we have in WVEP) they often fall apart or become administrative mission killers. (See Bob Jackson for more on this...)

I was intrigues by Nick Spencer's description of a report by Leslie Paul in 1964 entitled The Deployment and Payment of the Clergy. It seems to me that Paul envisioned an approach to team ministry that was more collegiate and lay-focussed than the half-hearted system we enentually got - such is life. I'd like to get hold of this report at some point.

My issue with Nick Spencer is that he leaps from some fairly good evidence about change in English Christianity to the Minster Model without considering other options. As the Church in England moves into a mixed economy approach I suspect this may be a mistake.

We looked at the Minster Model in Watling Valley back in 2001, alongside twining, closures and network. The big issue with the Minster Model was that very few people actually wanted to try it. It made no sense to members of our churches that they would effectively give up their own status and became satelites of another church. This wasn't just asking turkeys to vote for Christmas, it was asking them to see themselves as second class turkeys. Nick Spencer will undoubtedly take issue with the way I word this, but it's how people felt and feelings are crucial when it comes to strategic planning with churches.

In the end we borrowed the concept of the collegiate team without creating a Minster Church. We now have a multi-functional, collaborative, integrated team which functions accross five churches, and this works because we also picked up the concept of network - which enabled us to gain the advantages of the Minster without the oppostion and bad feeling it would have produced.

At the end of the day, I would say that Parochial Vision is worth reading, particulalry if you don't have time or energy to work through some of the more accademic books about English parish history, and I think he makes some valid observations about the future development of the church in Britain, but if it has four legs, sharp teeth and a tail... it might be a quadraped.

Team Away Day

We had a very good Team Away Day today. We spent some time thinking about the strengths and weaknesses of the esisting team, which could be helpful when it comes to thinking about filling some of our vacancies... We alse discussed Local Shared Ministry, which provided some useful insights into how ministry is developing in WVEP and might develop further. There were some intriguing thoughts which we will need to follow up...
In the afternoon I took a wedding blessing...

Wednesday

I had a meeting with Alison in the morning to plan the team's spring away day.
I then met with Margaret and Veronica to plan hymns for St Mary's. It's always a mind bending exercise but has enourmous value: it means that the choir, organist and pewsheet editor get the hymns before Saturday night; it reduces unnecesary repitition and it releases creativity since we can be more adventurous. In theory we can now relax for the next five months - except I'm only taking two of the services and will still need to choose hymns for other churches... such is life...
I had a long hard mind bending afternoon trying to put together some draft proposals for the DPC. Our deployment working group can't meet before the end of April, so we will be doing it all by email. This is never ideal and means you need to produce thorough drafts and then ammend them several times before everyone is happy...
In the evening I attended the Holy Cross Church Council at Ken's. This was the first time I've seen the great marmalade maker in his own house. We had a fairly good evening and finished at 9:10 which I consider a win!
I had intended to work when I got home, but got drawn into the Apprentice. All I can say is, I would have fired him...

Tuesday

Back to work with a day of meetings: Team Space, Deanery Leadership Team, Liz Baker and a wedding interview...
Managed to crunch my wing mirror while backing car out of the garage - ouch!

Passion Sunday

It was a long day today, but here are some of the highlights...

8:00am: Holy Communion at All Saints' Loughton - I preached on Lazarus with an emphasis on the place of the story in journey of Jesus towards the Cross

9:00am: Holy Communion at Holy Cross Two Mile Ash - I preached a similar sermon, but with an emphasis on resurection which I extended to the rest of the service

10:30am: Holy Communion at All Saints' Loughton - We rejigged the service so I could preach before the reading. I spoke about Rolland Allen, making links to the journey of our churches towards Local Ministry - with references to St Mary's Worship Leaders and the new experiment at St Frideswide. The link with the Lazarus story is the way Jesus chose to take the risk of "retiring" (pinching Allen's phrase) from the events in Bethany for the long term good of the Gospel... I left them listening to the reading with Tim Hadden to preside at Communion.

11:00am (actually 11:10am): AGM at Water Eaton - got to Water Eaton ten minutes late having torn down the A5 at 70 (which is legal on the dual carriageway). I was supposed to be chairing their AGM, but it was inevitably a team job since they knew how they do things better than I ever will. It was good to be with them, and the whole meeting was very positive. It was good to affirm what they've achieved during the past year. The discussion about Malcolm and Gail's proposal ("Toward a Local Shared Ministry") was positive but thoughtful. There is a general feeling that this is the right thing to do at the moment, but a concern that we have contingency plans and are open to other possibilities in the long term. The vote was nearly unanimous, with one person voting against, but it turned out he really wanted to make sure there were sensible checks and ballances included, which we agreed to require.
And so the next stage of the Water Eaton experiment begins. We will now need to make sure proper guidelines for the team and the reviews are set up. We will also need to speak to Bishop Alan. In the meantime, they can continue with a bit more stability and confidence.

Afternoon: Izzy needed some attention. Long walk. Lunch.

6:30pm: Growing Disciples part 7 - I hadn't had any time to prepare for Growing Disciples so it wasn't the smoothest of sessions. This was the session on Groups and Teams that we had issues with last year. The CPAS Growing Leaders material makes an artificial distinction between Groups and Teams which we suspect was motivated by their desire to use concepts from "Five Disfunctions of Teams". Unfortunately, we think there is a difference between groups and teams and buy into the idea that in a Team your work has an effect on the work of the whole, but a Group can meet without mutual responsibility.
On the other hand, it was a good evening.
Mike and I are beginning to think about next year and are starting to consider names of people to invite. Years one and two have been so significant as we have seen people grow, develop networks and find new confidence. This has been an important programme for us as a Partnership and is clearly a key part of our discipleship strategy.
One of our next thoughts is to do more with our "Alumni" - we will have 22 by July. One idea that we're considering is to organise a trip to the Willow Creak Leadership Conference in the UK - and to get hold of the videos. This would give us a way of continuing to build up and develop our leaders...

Doing the rounds

William Sutton House this morning. Wished happy Birthday to a man who's going to be 90 this month. Seemed fitter than me!
Met with Veronica and Margaret to choose hymns. We got up to June...
We had a Taste and See planning meeting this afternoon. We are reasonably on track for the Easter Labyrinth.
Team Meeting this evening. We discussed appointments, away day and pastoral care...