SOUTH WEST MINISTRY TRAINING COURSE 

Home ministers

The Role of the Home Minister

Introduction

In the life of the student training on SWMTC, the role of the Home Minister is vital.  The Home Ministers will in all probability have travelled a similar road in the past to the persons they are now accompanying, and can therefore be of significant help and support to the student in his/her preparation for the journey and the journey itself.  He/she will almost certainly know the student already and will probably have supported the applicant during the selection process. The Home Minister is a key person in enabling the growth and development of the student’s vocation towards public representative ministry through the example they offer of an ordained life, the pastoral support they provide (for the student and his/ her family), and the skills they can teach.

Oversight of the formation process in the local context

Soon after a student has been accepted to train on SWMTC, a Staff Tutor will visit the student and his/her spouse at home to explain the nature of the course.  Our normal practice is to invite the Home Minister to join them after an hour or so in order to discuss the nature of the Course and how the Home Minister is involved.  Expectations, time commitments and the nuts and bolts of the Course will all be discussed, and a handbook provided for the Home Minister for future reference.

SWMTC cannot provide detailed pastoral care for the student and his/her family.  This duty of care remains with the Home Minister in his/her role as minister of the student’s home church.  Ordination training is obviously a time of transition and change for the student, but no less so for his/her spouse and family who may well find themselves journeying into places they neither like not have foreseen.  Pastoral care and support for student and family are crucial throughout this process, and provision of it is perhaps the most important single responsibility of the Home Minister and the local church towards an student and his/her family.  SWMTC staff, together with the DDO and the diocese, in the case of Anglican students, will play a supportive role here, but the primary one is that of the Home Minister.

The Home Minister has often known the student for a considerable time and will continue to see, and often meet with, the student on a regular basis.  In its less frequent contact, SWMTC could have failed to notice issues in the training or development of a student that have become evident to the Home Minister.  Moreover, the Home Minister will see the student in the public activities of the church, and will therefore have a crucial role in monitoring progress in this environment and offering feedback.  The Home Minister may be able to resolve local issues and can ensure that the local church community is appropriately supportive of an student through prayer and in other ways.

During the training process the student is not expected to operate as a “proto-curate”, but nor is he/she expected to retreat entirely from the life of the local church. The Home Minister is asked to provide the oversight required to allow a training process to emerge between these two extremes through which the student may grow and develop competencies and confidence.  For example, the student should have some experience of how the decision making procedures of the local church work – through its Church Council or PCCs - and if the student has little or no experience of this, then it will be important for the Home Minister to facilitate this in an appropriate way.

Specific Responsibilities

There are specific areas in which SWMTC requires input and administration from the Home Minister.  Further details of this can be found by following the link to….

Worship

In each year of the Course the student will be required to lead an act of public worship and preach a sermon which will be assessed by the Home Minister and members of his/her congregation.  The Home Minister is asked to help the student gather a group of laypeople willing to provide feedback.  SWMTC will provide appraisal forms.  These events should be arranged by the student in agreement with the Home Minister and time made available for discussion and debriefing afterwards.

The Home Minister is encouraged to involve the student, as appropriate, in the planning and presentation of worship in the home church.  As a rule of thumb, the student ought to be involved in taking a part in leading worship once a month.  If the student has not preached before, there should be an opportunity to preach after Christmas in the first year so to as to build up confidence for the formal preaching assessment which will need to take place after Easter in the student’s first year.

Ministry Development Module 1 (First year)

As part of the student’s first year work he/she will be asked to explore aspects of his/her own home church through a variety of approaches: producing an advertising flyer, a demographic survey of the local church, an exploration of the narratives that inform the church, and of how power is used.  (These last two exercises are kept with a strictly defined ring of confidence, and anonymity is preserved as much as possible.)  The Home Minister can be a very helpful guide in enabling material for this work to be gathered together.

Ministry Development Module 2/3 (Third Year)

In the student’s final year he/she will be expected to lead a short ‘teaching’ course of four sessions (for example, a Lent or Advent course).  It is the student’s responsibility to set up the course and lead it, after consultation with the Home Minister.  Clearly the Home Minister can be an important resource in helping the student achieve this successfully.  In any case the Home Minister is asked to be present for at least one session to facilitate an assessment.

To help and support the Home Minister in this role, Home Ministers are invited to meet with their peers and SWMTC staff each year, when issues about the course and the needs of students and families are considered.  In addition, of course, SWMTC will always be glad to respond to any concerns raised by a Home Minister, either through the student’s staff tutor or the Principal.

Documents for the Home Minister

Core skills for liturgy (Anglican)

Core skills for liturgy (Methodist)

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© SWMTC 2007

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Last modified: 30-04-08