The Ordained Local Minister and The Local Ministry Group (OLM & LMG)

Joint Co-ordinators of the LMG are: Harriet Gifillan 511656 and  Vivienne Sommerville 513181

The Parish LMG is made up of  
Clergy: Robert McLean, Maureen Chester, Terry Moat, Jeremy Cooper;
Lay Readers: Muriel Harris and Vivienne Sommerville;
Lay members (alphabetical order): Pauline Ferguson, Harriet Gilfillan, Richard Major, Wendy McKenzie, Julia Wood;
External Mentor: Mairi McLeod  

We want to hear from you, so any comments, questions or suggestions are always welcome

Ordained ministers, stipendiary, non-stipendiary or local, are ministers of word and sacrament, and all receive the same ordination. The distinctiveness of OLM is in being called out from the community within which they serve, and their training and licence are based on that assumption. OLM is, therefore, marked by: 

Catholic order in the service of the local church and community 
The collaborative ministry of the local church 
A commitment to working in teams

Diocesan strategy is committed to collaborative working between lay people and clergy. All OLMs and those who work with them share the tasks of ministry within the Local Ministry Group (LMG). The style and shape of an OLM’s ministry will be determined in large part by the nature of the local church’s commitment to collaborative working and to the sharing of responsibilities for its ministries

Local Ministry Group (LMG)

A local church decides to establish Local Ministry in order to further its commitment to shared ministry and to enable the congregation(s) to share more effectively in God’s mission. The Parochial Church Council decides to set up a Local Ministry Group (LMG), consisting of the clergy and representatives of the congregation(s), to enable as wide a sharing as possible in sharing vision, planning for its implementation, participating in its delivery and reflecting on its outcomes. 

Within the "Whole People of God" the LMG has a particular role in focusing the local congregation's prayer and service on ways of broadening and deepening their love of God in action. It suggests priorities for the local church's agenda and sets up appropriate resources, support and training to stimulate and sustain people in living out their faith. It also seeks to model in its own life the collaboration it commends to the wider church and community. The central tasks of the LMG are therefore to: 

equip church members for discipleship in a fast moving and changing world by identifying their faith needs and setting up appropriate resources and training for them 

co-ordinate and advance existing ministries 

present to the PCC suggested priorities for future action in accordance with its understanding of the requirements of 
God’s Kingdom 

offer the fruits of considered reflection on the church’s and community’s needs and activity. 

In the process of its working towards these goals, the gifts, skills and ministries of individuals will be recognised and, hopefully, welcomed, resourced and sustained. Among the range of emerging possibilities may be, for one or more individuals, a call to ordination to serve in the locality as an Ordained Local Minister (OLM). 

Thank you to all of you who were praying for me in preparation for my being made Deacon at the end of September. It was good to see so many of you at the cathedral and to receive so many cards. Now seems a good time to explore and reflect with you in a little more detail on what you have let yourselves in for. What is the role of the Ordained Local Minister in the parish of Morpeth? 
It’s easy to say what it is not. I am not a deputy for the Rector or the Curate. I’m not here just to help out with services when there is a shortage of stipendiary clergy. I’m not training with a view to moving on somewhere else and having a parish of my own. As I see it Ordained Local Ministry has a number of foci:
The Ordained focus 
The role of the ordained is to represent Christ’s presence in the world among his people, seeking, feeding, serving his sheep and representing Christ’s people before God, praying for them and with them, nourishing them for ministry in the world, church and locality. 
The Local focus 
The Ordained Local Minister is to contribute to the way of being church that promotes the mission of the local church as the calling and responsibility of every baptised person working together. This involves being sensitive to the particular needs and opportunities of the locality.
The Ministry focus 
The whole concept of Ordained Local Ministry is however, as I see it, affective around the concept of our ministry rather than my ministry. 
I see my contribution being a ministry of sacrament, representation, discernment, enabling, collaboration, mission, and education. 

Sacrament 
When made priest in June 2008 I will, through participating in and presiding at the Eucharist, be contributing to making the worshipping community become the focus of a renewing relationship in the body of Christ. The Ordained Local Minister presiding at the Eucharist has a particular role of ‘standing at the crossroads at the heart of the mission and Eucharist of the people of God’. 

Representation
I will be representing the Universal Church to the local church. I will also be a channel of communication between the local church and the wider church. Whilst being a catalyst for change in the light of wider church experience, I will contribute to stability within the local church by providing an element of continuity between successive Parish clergy. This is an issue about the wider church keeping faith with local people as well as the local church being open to the diocese and wider church and so help to keep the local church in partnership with God through the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Discernment
I will be involved in enabling the whole community to reflect and relate their daily responsibilities and hopes to the word of God, their Eucharist and to communion with God in many kinds of prayer and concern for social action. 

Enabling
I believe that part of being church involves ‘deciding together to minister together’. To achieve this we have to enable one another to discover our calling, and to enable others to find theirs. This involves exploring together new opportunities for laity and clergy to work together in local mission. The challenges for Ordained Local Ministry are to recognise and develop people’s gifts. To do this I will continue trying to put faith into practice in the work place, sharing my faith, working collaboratively, ministering in the community, teaching, preaching, serving, listening, observing, praying, and reflecting on opportunities to enable others to grow as priests, teachers, prophets, apostles, servants, ministers, administrators, healers, speakers in tongues, interpreters, etc. (1 Corinthians 12 27, 28).

Collaboration
The Ordained Local Minister works collaboratively within the locality as part of a team that includes lay members and other ordained ministers. This is a complementary ministry, with complementary gifts, in which the Ordained Local Minister focuses on team work, reflecting and praying together, observing and listening, leading services, preaching and through regular contact with ministry groups throughout the parish, which could include amongst others; those involved in marriage, funeral, home communion ministries, Sunday School, Youth Group, Boys Brigade, healing group, prayer group, Morning Worship Team, Emmaus and Alpha groups, parish visitors, MU, Mustard Tree Trust (Christian work with young people), other community groups where the parish has contacts, e.g. Contact (work with handicapped), Citizens Advice, Chamber of Commerce, local council, etc.
Mission 
One way that the gospel is advanced is through the experience of being ministered to. Ordained Local Ministry emphasises the importance of this ministry to the local community. One aspect I foresee for my ministry is developing Fresh Expressions of Church that cross boundaries, place, class and churchmanship, that build relationships, perceive what God is doing, for the benefit of people not yet members of the church. Such Fresh Expressions that may be possible are (off the top of my head); an after school club, a regular youth service, engaging with those youngsters that hang around the church of an evening, developing café style worship, or open air services in the park or the market square, etc.
Education
I see my ministry as being involved in a wide range of educational experiences that nurture and develop faith, gifts, ministries and vocations, by learning through experience, from each other, from those to whom we minister, the scriptures, experience and through worship. This will enable people to become ‘all that they have it in them to be’ as the faith community is built up and individuals develop in the life of faith in the world to transform it. This is the ministry of all believers. 
And Now…
I look forward to you continuing support and prayers as we seek, together, to discern the will of God for us in this place at this time and reflect together on how we are called to work with Christ to bring about this transfiguration.