Partnerships
Deanery Partnerships
The 9 new Deanery Partnerships (DPs) are roughly mapped to the 9 Local Authorities, and follow existing deanery lines for the most part.
Deanery Partnership Steering Groups were tasked with supporting the initial development of the 9 areas, including agreeing with parishes the boundaries for the Deanery Partnership and supporting the planning of Local Mission Partnerships (LMPs). These groups involved a range of local and external, lay and ordained representatives.
The bishop then appointed 9 Partnership Deans and Lay Co-Leads to work with local ministers and lay people in each area. These posts are complementary to Rural Deans and Deanery Lay Chairs. Their task will be to help and propel the establishment of the Deanery Partnership and its long-term role, which is set out below:
SUSTAINABLE DEPLOYMENT
DPs will discern how best to deploy stipendiary ministry funded by its Covenant pledges and grants for the most deprived LMPs, so that together we can provide the ministry we need to proclaim Christ everywhere.
SUPPORT ROLES
New DP Administrators, funded by the diocese, will work with DPs to lighten the administrative load of ministers. A DP may choose to employ additional shared support.
ENABLING FLOURISHING
DPs will find and appoint supportive roles for the flourishing of churches in the area e.g. Mission Enablers, Generous Living Enablers.
In the Autumn of 2023 a number of Vision Days where held around the Diocese encouraging LMPs to work together to consider the key themes of collaboration, growth and Generosity. More information about these days can be found here.
Additional resources
Local Mission Partnerships
In many ways, Local Mission Partnerships (LMPs) are the most important part of the new ways of working together. Like DPs, they do not replace benefices, groups or parishes, but join these together to create missional working communities of churches, worshippers and ministers.
In the Autumn of 2023 a number of Vision Days where held around the Diocese encouraging LMPs to work together to consider the key themes of collaboration, growth and Generosity. More information about these days can be found here.
Local Mission Partnerships will embody a culture of collaborative, multi-disciplinary, generous and mission-focused church. They will need to be shaped carefully and prayerfully, led by local voices under the guidance of the archdeacons and bishops, supported by the Time to Change Together team.
Wherever possible, Local Mission Partnerships will have at least three stipendiary ministers. With the likely constraints on the total number of stipends, there is likely to be between one and four Local Mission Partnerships per DP. Many Local Mission Partnerships will be a new way of working for an existing deanery, but there are several other possible models.
As they evolve, Local Mission Partnerships will need to discern and agree:
- The ideal and realistic distribution of church types across the area and its people.
- The role of any Key Mission or Local Mission Churches.
- The pattern of collaboration between the Community Churches and the Festival Churches, and how their parishioners may be offered more than can be provided in their immediately local church
- How sacramental ministry may be best provided across the area.
- The availability, calling, skills, and connections of all types of lay ministers, as well as self-supporting and retired ordained ministers. They will be the backbone of the life of the churches.
- Where this ministry resource can best benefit from the placing of stipendiary priests, to enable, complement and guide the collaborative ministry.
- How best to provide oversight and legal obligations, focused missional ministry in the Key Mission and Local Mission
Churches, dedicated local ministers in most churches, maybe all, as well as specialist ministries. - How the whole people of God in the Local Mission Partnership area may be best served.
Local Mission Partnerships are not a way to put more churches onto fewer ministers. They are an opportunity to think afresh – creatively and collaboratively – about how a varied group of ministers will serve the varied needs of an area, creating realistic roles for ministers and realistic expectations for churches and a new, exciting way to be church together.