Information for Presbyteries

 

This section contains information for Presbytery Officers and Committees.

In particular, there is information (specific to Presbyteries) about:

  1. Period of Discernment - procedures and resources for Mentors and Discernees
  2. Lay Presidency at the Sacraments and the Understanding Sacraments course
  3. Lay Ministry Leadership - developing an understanding of Uniting Church Polity and Ethos using the Living Values course
  4. Lay Preachers - Accreditation and Evaluation; Talking Faith Schools and Continuing Education
  5. Lay Pastors - Responsibilities relating to Pastoral Support, Continuing Education and Ongoing Formation, including the annual Lay Ministry In-service
  6. Policies for ELM Partnerships with Presbyteries

For each section, there we are developing an Issues Paper that can be used as a Discussion Starter to assist Presbyteries to think about local needs.

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1. the Period of Discernment and resources for Mentors and Discernees

 

Presbytery responsibilities:

  • Identify WHO is your PoD contact Person - who should ELM contact? who should we refer Discernees and Mentors to?
  • Identify WHO are the potential Mentors in your Presbytery.
  • Upon receipt of an Application, the Presbytery should appoint a Mentor and contact both the Mentor and Discernee as soon as possible. They should meet and submit a Learning Agreement to the Presbytery (with a copy to ELM) within SIX (6) weeks of the registration date.
  • Keep track of how the Mentoring relationship is going.
  • Assist Discernees to access education and ministry opportunities in order to explore their possible callings.
  • Invite Discernees to attend Presbytery events and at least one Presbytery (or other Council) meeting - to discover more about the wider Church.
  • Ensure that any Discernees who are exploring a possible Call to Ordained Ministry address questions related to:
    • Sacraments (in particular, the UCA's position on Baptism)
    • Gender and Leadership (in particular, leadership by both women and men)
    • Ministry of Word and Diaconate (potential Candidates should be able to clearly explain why they perceive a Call to one or the other)
    • Ministry of the whole people of God (valuing the community of believers)
    • Ethics and Pastoral boundaries (being aware of the issues addressed in the UCA's various Codes of Ethics)
  • Meet with Discernees (with or without Mentors) to discuss and reflect upon their completed Portfolio, in order to discern with them about possible ways forward in the future.

ELM responsibilities:

  • Receive POD Registrations and forward these immediately to Presbytery Contact people
  • Keep a record of POD Registrations and Presbytery Contact people
  • Provide Administrative Resources and Recommended Reading materials for the Period of Discernment
  • Provide educational options and advice for Discernees to include in their Learning Agreements

 

Downloads:

There are a range of resources currently available for download from our website:

Introductory Information

PoD Resources

 

2. Lay Presidency at the Sacraments and the Understanding the Sacraments course

Presbyteries are invited to hold local discussions about the issues related to Lay Presidency at the Sacraments. An Issues Paper on Sacraments can be provided on request.

The Understanding the Sacraments course invites students to reflect on local practices by interviewing Ministers within their Presbytery and reflecting upon local experiences of sacramental services. These reflections then become part of the class discussions and students include some of the materials in their Understanding the Sacraments Portfolios.

When Presbyteries consider possible applications by Church Councils to authorise a Lay Presider, it is suggested that Pastoral Relations Committees (PRC) should receive the Portfolios of any potential Presiders and discuss with them the issues raised. These Understanding the Sacraments Portfolios consist of:

  • Assessment Tasks
  • Ministry Profile, including personal reflections about Ministry and Discipleship
  • Summary understandings about Sacraments
  • Self-assessment of support or mentoring that might be sought

A Presbytery may also ask people to provide Confidential (sealed) References.

The PRC may choose to interview potential Lay Presiders and local Church Council members as part of its discernment process. This suggested procedure has been designed to ensure that all students are clear that the responsibility for discernment rests entirely with the Presbytery and may involve consideration of much more than the knowledge base of any individual. Students are taught about the ecumenical considerations and should understand that Lay Presidency occurs due to exceptional circumstances rather than being an expectation.

Download the Discussion Paper for Presbytery PRCs related to the ELM Understanding the Sacraments Course.

3. Lay Ministry Leadership - developing an understanding of Uniting Church Polity and Ethos using the Living Values course

You can read on-line about the Living Values courses.

[more coming soon]

 

4. Lay Preachers

The information regarding Lay Preachers are to be found at Section 2.8 of the Regulations.

Process for Accreditation and Evaluation

UCA Regulations regarding the ACCREDITATION of Lay Preachers

2.8.6 (a) Candidates who have fulfilled the training requirements and passed the prescribed examinations may apply to the Presbytery through their Church Council for accreditation as Lay Preachers.

(b) Accreditation is dependent upon the candidate demonstrating an understanding of and affirming adherence to the Basis of Union.

(c) The Presbytery shall determine whether or not a candidate is to be accredited as a Lay Preacher and shall, where appropriate, arrange for a service of worship at which such accreditation will be acknowledged before the Church, and shall issue a certificate of accreditation as a Lay Preacher.

(d) The Presbytery shall exercise oversight of Lay Preachers within its bounds and may withdraw accreditation from persons whom it determines to be no longer acceptable to the Church as Lay Preachers.

(e) Any decision to accredit or withdraw accreditation shall require a two thirds majority of the members present at the meeting of the committee of the Presbytery or the Presbytery.

(f) Each Presbytery shall maintain a roll of Lay Preachers and on the advice of the appropriate Church Council shall from time to time enter the names of Lay Preachers according to the following classifications:

(i) active;
(ii) inactive - unavailable for an extended period;
(iii) retired.

The following may be downloaded:

The Assembly is currently considering a request from the National Lay Preachers' Committee for the provision of resources for the regular evaluation of Accredited Lay Preachers. Currently, it is expected that Lay Preachers are reviewed during the Congregational Life and Witness Consultation conducted at least every five years by the Presbytery. Some questions that Presbyteries could ask at this time include:

  • Are local Lay Preachers being used well?
  • Have they demonstrated a commitment to helpful Continuing Education?
  • Is their ministry valued by the Congregation?
  • Is their ministry consistant with the mission of the Congregation?
  • What help/encouragement/challenging do they need? Are they appropriately resourced?


Initial Training and Continuing Education

You can read on-line about the ELM Courses for Lay Preachers and other options for studying to become an Accredited Lay Preacher.

In offering the Lay Preacher Intensives, ELM's priority is to work in partnership with Presbyteries. When Intensives are offered in Presbyteries, priority is given to those Presbyteries that are able to offer the following:

  1. identify (and cover the costs of) at least 2 people who are prepared to participate as co-leaders of the course, assisting with some lectures and leading Tutorial groups... these facilitators need to have a pastoral heart and be prepared to do a fair bit of preparation (reading) in advance and then 'be present' for most of the course;
  2. identify at least 8 starting participants... (we don't 'break even' until we get to 12 students, but are prepared to subisdize courses to get them going);
  3. provide a venue and assist in organizing catering and billets;
  4. agree to purchase a few copies of texts for Presbytery usage;
  5. provide some scholarship assistance to needy students from within the Presbytery.

ELM also organises Lay Preacher Continuing Education Seminars. These are usually one-day events, often featuring guest lecturers. They are organised 'on demand', according to local needs.

Each year, we also place the program for the Lay Ministry In-service on the website, which includes a stream for Lay Preachers. Lay Preachers are also encouraged to attend events organised by the School of Continuing Education, such as Seminar Week (also known as 'Focus On' conference).

[more coming soon]

 

5. Lay Pastors

[coming soon]

 

6. Policies for ELM Partnerships with Presbyteries

ELM aims wherever possible to work in partnership with Presbyteries. To this end, we have developed a number of policies:

Priority is given to supporting partnership delivery of courses. Where a Presbytery (or other group) is able to identify people who can be trained as Facilitators and is prepared to host and co-organize course events (including some scholarship support for participants), ELM provides the initial course material, training opportunities for Facilitators, mentoring and support for Facilitators.

While ELM staff may initially model some of the teaching and facilitating of courses, local leaders soon move into these roles and ELM staff act as support and backup. This enables local leadership to emerge and experiment in a safe learning environment. This is one of our key strategies for supporting the development of Resource Ministry.

This model has been developed initially in the Macquarie-Darling Presbytery, with some great team synergies developing. One of the attractions of this model is that courses are always being improved by the practical contribution and thinking of people who are grounded in local expressions of ministry.

There are three ways ELM courses may be offered in Presbyteries:

a) ELM runs the course locally, and course fees are paid direct to ELM;

b) ELM runs the course locally, and reduced course fees are paid to Presbytery. The full fee is then paid by the Presbytery to ELM - this works well where Presbytery subsidises students or provides local scholarships;

c) the Presbytery runs the course, using trainers who have attended Train-the-Trainer and co-taught the course presviously with ELM staff, under a license arrangement with ELM. Normally, the license is paid for a limited period and covers all registration fees for students during that period. Presbyteries are free to recoup fees from students on the condition that they do not charge more than the normal ELM course fees. During this period, Presbyteries purchase Course Readers from ELM or are provided with Digital Copies of the Course Readers and print them themselves.

In order to keep track of: how many people are attending courses; maintain course standards; and produce up-to-date materials, students continue to register for courses through ELM and send course evaluation forms to ELM.

Normally, ELM courses are presented by at least two Facilitators. This enables Team Teaching to develop and allows the Facilitators to alternate between the roles of Presenter and Chaplain to the developing Learning Communities. ELM-trained Facilitators and ELM-course are listed on our website. ELM-trained Facilitators will normally attend Update sessions for Trainers every couple of years.