Self Supporting Ministers Working Agreement Guidelines
Notes for guidance on the preparation of Working Agreements between Incumbents and their SSMs
1. SSMs holding a full licence are all required to have working agreements. These are negotiated with their incumbents and their Area SSM Officers. Thereafter, they should be reviewed between the SSM and incumbent on a regular basis (at least two yearly following the SSM’s Episcopal Review) or when significant changes take place in the SSM’s ministry (see paragraph 4 below). Draft agreements and any subsequent amendments to them must, in every case, be authorised by the Area Bishop.
2. Working agreements are intended to establish:
a) the amount of time SSMs are able, realistically, to give to their ministry;
b) how SSMs will share ministerial responsibility with their incumbents and other members of the local ministry team; and
c) how SSMs may exercise their particular ministerial skills.
3. Agreements also provide Area Bishops with important information about the way in which an SSM is being deployed. They will normally have a copy of the Agreement to hand at the time of each Episcopal review and may give directions about amendments in the light of the review.
4. Working agreements should not be seen as a rigid set of rules but a basis for the working out of on-going relationships in a shared ministry. They will need to be reviewed regularly to take account of changing situations, personal circumstances and developing experience. By giving careful attention to these issues, SSMs will be helped to exercise a valuable and fulfilling ministry and the church itself will gain the greatest benefit from this important ministry resource.
5. On first appointment SSMs will normally be away from their “home” churches. Thereafter they remain deployable anywhere within reasonable travelling distance from their homes. (Chelmsford File : E6). Great sensitivity and understanding must therefore be exercised in drafting agreements, especially where this results in separating SSMs and their families in their worshipping lives.
6. Working agreements for SSMs who are priests-in-charge will be drawn up with their churchwardens so that both the SSMs and the parishes they serve will be clear about the time their priests-in-charge are able to give to ministry.
7. SSMs who have specific ministries in secular employment (MSEs) will still need to be licensed to a parish and will require a working agreement with their incumbent in the normal way.
Those whose ministry is being exercised in secular employment will also need a working agreement, which could include their contract of employment drawn up with their employers.
Note: Working agreements must pay due regard to the written guidance give by the Bishop of Chelmsford on relationships between training incumbents and their curates. Agreements should also reflect the findings of the Report of a working Group on Conditions of Service for SSMs.
WORKING AGREEMENTS SHOULD BE DRAFTED UNDER THE FOLLOWING HEADINGS:-
1. Introduction
This explains the purpose and overall scope of the agreement, e.g.:
“The purpose of this agreement is to establish in broad detail the extent to which (SSM) will share with (incumbent) and other members of the ministry team the worship and work of the parish. In addition the agreement sets out the time that (SSM) is able to offer the parish on a weekly basis and what he/she may expect in terms of training, encouragement and support.
If the SSM is bringing particular skills to the work, they should be mentioned in the introduction, e.g.:
“(SSM) has a wide experience of (or particular skills in) and this agreement explains how that experience (skill) will be utilised in his/her on-going ministry”.
2. Focus of Ministry
For the majority of SSMs, the focus of their ministry will be the parish. If SSMs have other responsibilities in which they act in an official ordained capacity (e.g. a chaplaincy, membership of a Diocesan council or school governor), it should be recorded under this heading.
3. Ministry in Secular Employment
NSMs in full or part time secular employment should be encouraged under this heading to say whether, how and to what extent:
• they expect to be able to express their vocation and their status as ordained and representative Christians in their place of work
• how they might hope to reflect their secular working experience in their parish ministry.
Those NSMs who have a specific ministry in secular employment should have a working agreement (which could be their contract of employment) drawn up with their employers, supplemented as necessary by a note indicating some or all of the following:
• whether there is provision for support and review of their ministry in the workplace and an indication of who is responsible for it;
• whether and to what extent their ministry is recognised/accepted by those in authority in the workplace;
• whether, if their place of employment is in another Diocese, that Bishop has been consulted;
• whether there is any industrial/commercial chaplaincy with whom contact should be made to provide care and oversight.
(Clearly incumbents will not be able to monitor directly the ministry of SSMs in their places of work but they should take a close interest in what their SSMs are doing and support them in their ministry. Equally, SSMs should be encouraged to reflect back their secular ministry experience into their parish life.)
4. Working Arrangements
The working agreement should specify:
a) the time the NSM will be able to give to parochial work.
(This may be expressed in hours or days on a weekly basis and should be quite specific. Due regard must be paid to individual family circumstances, secular employment and the SSM’s other commitments.)
b) the SSM’s day off
(The SSM must have at least one day off each week)
c) that the SSM should ideally have one Sunday free of duties each calendar month, agreed in advance with the incumbent.
d) that SSMs may expect up to 6 weeks holiday each year.
(This may include time off after Christmas and Easter but NOT retreats or time off for CME training – which are additional)
e) the extent to which the SSM may be expected to provide cover when the
incumbent is away from the parish.
(This will be dependent on the time the SSM has for parish ministry and his or her experience)
f) that should an interregnum arise, the degree to which the SSM might reasonably be expected to bear the ministry load will be discussed with the churchwardens, SSM Officer and Rural Dean.
(The SSM has no legal responsibility to provide cover in a vacancy. The conduct of the church’s affairs and the maintenance of services, including the occasional offices, are the responsibility of the churchwardens)
5. Worship
a) To what extent will the SSM share with the incumbent and the ministry team the conduct of public worship?
(There must be a clear statement of the extent to which the SSM will participate on a regular basis)
b) How frequently may the SSM expect to preside at the Eucharist?
(In the case of deacons, this question should be addressed at the outset of their ministry in a parish and not left until they have been priested)
c) How frequently will the SSM preach?
(Normally SSMs should not be asked to prepare more than two sermons each calendar month and, in the first year, only one)
d) What opportunity will be afforded the SSM to share in the conduct of the occasional offices?
(Baptisms, weddings and funerals should be assessed separately and account taken of the associated preparation and visiting)
6. Supervision, Support and On-going Training
The working agreement should specify the arrangements for:-
a) the incumbent and the SSM to meet and pray together;
b) regular staff meetings with other members of the ministry team (readers, wardens and lay workers, etc.) to plan the work programme;
c) a periodic review of the SSM’s progress during the Title period;
d) a regular assessment of training needs and how they will be met;
(this may either be training by the incumbent or outside)
e) the SSM to make a retreat each year;
f) the SSM to take part in CME Year1-4 and CME training
7. General Pastoral and Teaching Ministry
Under this heading the working agreement should:
a) acknowledge any particular ministry skills which the NSM already
possesses (or expects to develop as part of his/her training programme)
and say how those skills will be exercised.
b) indicate the degree of independence the SSM will enjoy in exercising
those skills.
8. Parochial support
SSMs who live some distance from the parish of their appointment must be afforded a base from which to operate within the parish when they are on duty.
(It must include privacy, space and somewhere warm, with w.c., and coffee/tea-making facilities and, wherever practically possible, a telephone or provision of a mobile phone. It is not advisable for the SSM to use facilities at the Vicarage or Rectory).
Reference should be made in the agreement of the extent to which parishes will prayerfully encourage and support SSMs and their families.
9. Expenses
The Diocesan rules on entitlement to expenses (Chelmsford File E9) apply fully to SSMs and the agreement should state that the PCC will adhere to them. Agreements should include the following words:
“The PCC will in accordance with the guidance contained in the Chelmsford File, meet the normal out-of-pocket expenses associated with …….’s ministry, including such things as postage, provision/depreciation of office equipment, stationery, telephone, hospitality, travel costs, maintenance of robes and appropriate books”.
Car travel costs will be reimbursed at the Inland Revenue Approved Rate. Under rules introduced on 6 April 2002, the mileage allowance for cars and vans (regardless of engine size) is 40p. per mile for up to 10,000 miles and 25p. per mile thereafter.
Where SSMs live outside the parishes in which they serve, PCCs may reclaim the home to parish boundary travel costs from the Diocesan Board of Finance. It is not an open-ended facility. Working agreements must indicate the average number of round trips which SSMs may expect to make weekly between their homes and the boundary of the parish in which they serve. Agreements must also give the round trip mileage.
The following wording should be used:
“Because he/she lives outside the benefice, the PCC may reclaim the cost of …..’s travel from his/her home to the parish boundary from the Diocesan Board of Finance at the public transport rate. This will be on the basis of up to ……..round trips of …….miles each per working week”.
10. Fees
SSMs are not entitled to receive fees for officiating at services, even when those services are outside the parish. (See the Bishop of Chelmsford’s guidelines on payment of fees – 1.1.2000). The working agreement should include a sentence which recognises the position.
“This agreement acknowledges that SSMs, by definition, are not entitled to receive fees for e.g. funeral and wedding services or for taking services in other parishes. They are, however, entitled to receive normal expenses”.
11. Mediation
The agreement should provide for mediation in the event of a breakdown in personal or working relations between the SSM and the incumbent. The following wording should be used:
“In the event of difficulties arising over personal relations or working arrangements between NSMs and their incumbents, which cannot be settled between them, either or both may consult in the first instance with the Area SSM Officer or the Area Bishop”.
If either the SSM or incumbent has concern about their role or relationship, they should feel free to discuss this concern on a confidential basis with the Area SSM Officer.
12. Personal Statements
NSMs and their incumbents should here make statements about their hopes and expectations, etc. Please see examples below!!!
SSM: “My expectations of (name) as my training incumbent include training and advice in all aspects of parish ministry, as well as full opportunity for hands-on practical experience. I look forward to a relationship built on mutual respect, friendship and trust and one that will assist in my personal ministerial development (and prepare me for the time when I will have full parish responsibilities in my own right). I pray that it will prove to be a time of great spiritual fulfilment as I join (name) and draw on his/her experience of ministry and as I explore my own calling”.
Incumbent: “I look forward to working with (name) and will do my best to assist him/her over the period of his/her title to develop his/her ministry skills and to discover what it is to be an ordained person. I hope we shall become friends as well as colleagues and that our time together will be fruitful and rewarding, both for the parish and ourselves as individuals”.
13. Revision and Termination of Agreement
The agreement will be for a period of two years and thereafter up-dated or reconfirmed after each Episcopal Review. The agreement must also be updated if there are significant changes in the SSM’s ministry responsibilities or personal circumstances. The responsibility for up-dating lies with the SSM and his/her incumbent. Amendments or revisions must be submitted to the Area Bishop for approval within three months of the Episcopal Review. SSMs or incumbents needing advice or guidance should consult their Area SSM Officer.
The agreement will also terminate if there is a change of incumbent or if, as a result of an Episcopal or other review, an SSM is deployed elsewhere.
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