From Frustration to Fulfillment

The Bishop of Norwich wrote to the Clergy Appointments Adviser in early 2003 to express some concerns in the area of senior clergy who were not being fully used by the Church and what the Church should be learning from them.

 

By ‘senior clergy’, the Bishop was referring to those in their last ten years of ministry either who recognise that they are now unlikely to move to another post, or for whom moving is fraught with anxiety and even danger, for the person and for the institution.  He suggested that a small group be convened to meet over a number of occasions with a view to submitting its findings to the House of Bishops for further consideration.  Six priests of different ages, backgrounds and traditions duly accepted invitations to join what has become known as the Senior Clergy Group (SCG).

 

The issue is certainly serious for individual clergy who find themselves in this situation, but in the course of its work the SCG has discovered that it may be more statistically and strategically significant than had hitherto been assumed. It therefore requires strategic solutions

 

The statistics also show that 39% of stipendiary parochial clergy are aged 56 years or over. 36% of parish incumbents are aged 55 years or over.  A recent study leave project has further suggested that the over-50s account for half of the church’s incumbents.  Whatever else these statistics mean, they suggest that more preferment is clearly not the answer.

 

It is this dual context - of reducing clergy numbers and a higher-than-expected proportion of clergy being aged 55 or over - which has therefore focussed thinking around this report title: ‘From Frustration to Fulfilment’.

 

June 2008

 

The full report is available to download as either a word document or a pdf document

 

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