Name

Date ordained
Deacon 1994, Priest 1995

Sphere of work
IT Services – most recently sales, account management, programme manager and operations manager in large IT Services companies (EDS and Fujitsu). I’m also politically active.

Why did you become an SSM/MSE/WP?
It was quite clear to me from the point at which I realised that I was being called to ordination that this was to be in addition to what I was already involved with, not instead of it. Fortunately, while no-one ‘in authority’ seemed terribly keen about this, they weren’t fundamentally opposed to it either, so once I had discovered that there were other English MSEs and could cite examples I just plugged ahead.

What's best about what you do?
Being in the everyday environment with all the other people I work with, being subject to the same constraints, pressures, challenges and opportunities that they have, and being able to open their eyes just occasionally to the bigger picture, support them and go into bat for them (usually in ways which, on the surface, have no obvious connection with the fact that I am a priest).

What's the most challenging?
Being in the everyday environment - see previous answer. And explaining to clergy, repeatedly and without gritting my teeth too hard, why I ‘have to be ordained to do that’ or how I ‘can find time to be a proper priest as well as working’.

If the church asked, what would you say are the three most important things you have learnt from your work-focused ministry?

1. It’s prophetic –and prophets are eccentric, often lonely and frequently uncomfortable
2. It’s valued by a much wider variety of people than ever make their way into a church (including lots of people of different faiths and of no faith at all)
3. It’s a ministry of interruptions. It can’t be planned and organised. You never know when something will crop up – someone sticks their head round the door ten minutes before some vital deadline and says: ‘Have you got a moment? Or ‘Have you time for a drink after work?’ when you wanted to get home. Or the company publicises a decision or a new policy which is going to make life really difficult for lots of people, and very rapid representations are needed if it is to be rescinded or changed. And so on. Somehow you have to get the day job done and always have time for people.

If the church asked, what would you say are the three most important lessons for it which have emerged from your work-focused ministry?

1. Christianity isn’t about getting people into church. It’s about revealing the presence of God and building the kingdom out in the world where just about the whole of life takes place. This applies to churchgoers too – they usually need to understand that everything they do is service to God – not just what they do for ‘the church’.
2. Decent, ordinary people simply don’t understand why the church gets so worked up about the things it gets worked up about. It simply isn’t connecting with them anymore.
3. Living the gospel (while being directly involved in the mess and muddle of decisions, priorities, tasks, targets and cost-cutting) is much more effective (and difficult) than preaching it. Trite but true to say that actions speak more loudly than words. And too easy for the church to stand aside from all the difficult, messy stuff that has to be tackled by ordinary people every day.

Why do you think the SSM/MSE/WP development within the CofE has, to date, been so lack lustre?  
There is a general perception that, having trained on part-time courses rather than at ‘proper’ colleges, these people are ecclesiastical amateurs and can’t be given real responsibility. There is another perception that they have good professional skills, are willing to be ‘clergy for free’ and are therefore a threat to the continuation of stipendiary ministry. And they could be dangerous because, being neither paid nor housed by the church, they can’t be controlled in the same way. So probably sensible just to keep quiet about it.

However, I would differentiate between SSM on one hand and MSE/WP on the other.
SSM isn’t lack-lustre, exactly – it’s increasing (and sometimes inappropriately encouraged), but is essentially seen as a support for the parochial system and stipendiary clergy in order to maintain the status quo. However, pace Teresa Morgan, far too little use is made of the skills, abilities and willingness of SSMs, because there is little or no information about this and no willingness to think outside the box.  

MSE/WP is very different – we are truly eccentric (in the literal sense of the word) and are operating way beyond the experience of the people who control selection, formation, training, deployment and further development of clergy.

There are not many of us and we are very busy – which means we usually don’t have the time or opportunity to publicise what we are and do to potential MSE ordinands and others who might encourage and affirm them – so there are not many of us!

Newly-ordained MSEs have to fulfil the same CME requirements as others – all of which are focussed on parish ministry and experience and are hard to interpret in an MSE context (assuming that the diocese will allow this). It’s hard to keep going in the first three years.  There is no specialist training or support for MSEs other than that which we provide for ourselves.  MSE is not valued because it isn’t seen as contributing to the work of the church (except when we allow ourselves to be dragged in for Sunday cover, interregna, etc.)

What is it that SSM/MSE/WPs can contribute to the mission of the church today?

1. Credibility – we are already working as respected colleagues with people ‘where they are’.
2. Prophecy – standing up for what is right in challenging contexts where we as individuals are respected.
3. Care and concern for our colleagues in an environment where this is increasingly lacking as costs are shaved, targets multiplied and overheads (like employee support services) cut to the bone.
4. Theological insight – we have been trained to think theologically and can apply this skill to the situations and contexts in which we find ourselves – and can interpret them back to the church.
5. Presence – MSE ministry is valued by those who come into contact with it at work, and they often understand it better than our clergy colleagues do.

What do you think SSM/MSE/WPs need to receive from the church in order to be effective in their unique ministry?
Note that most of the items below wouldn’t cost much, except in the effort needed to change mind-sets.

1. Appropriate pre- and post-ordination training, CME, and appraisal/review which recognises the context of our ministry.
2. Appropriate deployment and responsibility.
3. Understanding and support for our individual circumstances and commitments.
4. Affirmation and encouragement (which would include the abandonment of all those labels that mark us out as ‘not like other men’.)

Would you do it all again (and anything else you simply must say)?
I find – and have found – my MSE ministry to be tremendously joyful and fulfilling, and would most certainly do it again. It is an immense privilege to be able to work with, support and serve my work colleagues from day to day. I am also licensed as an assistant curate to a parish, where I have, for obvious reasons, very limited involvement. I regard the parish connection as a necessary support and grounding for my vocation as an MSE, but am pleased and encouraged to find that the congregation feels that I am a resource for them too.  My strap-line:  God in the Mass on Sunday; God in the mess on Monday.

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