What is Ministry Matters?

Following the Summit on Ministry held in September, 2002 and a lively discussion at our Diocesan Synod, a group was set up in the dioceses of Meath and Kildare to look at matters relating to ministry and why ministry matters. The Co- ordinator of the group is Mr Wilf Deverell, a diocesan lay reader.

The group met on a number of occasions and looked carefully at the views expressed at the Synod and by Council along with feedback from the Summit on Ministry. We felt that a thorough investigation of the views of parishioners and clergy in each parish within the dioceses was needed, to help get a full picture of what ministry in this dioceses means to people. A report was given to each meeting of the Diocesan Council which had agreed to give funding to this programme.

Projects

The first project was to analyse the statistics from the Preacher’s Books over the last ten years, with particular reference to 2002, 1997 and 1992. The clergy were also asked to fill in a questionnaire about inter- church relationships within their parish and if the non Church of Ireland partners were involved in parish life.

The second project involved asking every known person in the dioceses to fill in a questionnaire (anonymously), about their involvement, views and expectations of ministry. We think that this is the first time that any such survey has taken place in this diocese, (and probably within the Church of Ireland as a whole). We were greatly encouraged by everyone’s help and support in these projects.

We had a tremendous response, which was very representative of the dioceses, covering both sexes and all ages – approximately 40% responded. This is particularly good allowing for the fact that it was a postal survey to everyone on parish lists, whether they attended church or not.

All the information from both surveys was collated and it was decided to bring the findings of these surveys back to the people in the parishes in the form of four Road- shows, which took place around the dioceses during October. The evenings were split into four sections. There was a report on each of the surveys, a presentation looking at Change and how people react to it, and an open forum. Each of these evenings was well attended, and lively discussions took place on the findings.

And what did we find?

From the survey to the clergy we found

- Overall 3% increase in church attendance in last ten years. 1992- 1997 - 3% / 1997- 2002 +6%
- Increase in attendance at Christmas by 10% in the last five years.
- Almost 15% of a decrease in those attending on Easter Day in the last ten years.
- An average of 10% are in inter- church relationships
- An encouraging number of non C of I people involved in parish life – 76% of those from other reformed churches and 36% of those from the Roman Catholic Church.

From the questionnaire to the diocese we found

- 66% felt that lay people could give pastoral care within a parish.
- Of those in a relationship (either married or living with a partner) 36% of those in the 18- 30 yrs age bracket are living with a partner, whilst this is only 5% in the 31- 45 yrs age bracket, and substantially less than 1% over 45yrs. We feel that this shows a particular trend.

- In looking at how often people attended worship, we see that 43% say they attend weekly, 24% every couple of weeks and 18% occasionally. However, in looking at this further, some people feel that occasionally and every couple of weeks is ‘regular’ worship for them.
- Only 3% of the survey said that they never attend worship and they fell into two particular groups – those over 76yrs of age and those in the 13- 30 age bracket. Both these groups gave reasons as to why….the over 76yrs were unable to attend for health reasons, mobility etc and the younger age group felt that there was nothing in it for them.

- In asking what was most important about church membership, we asked people to rank in order of importance the following: Worship; Preaching & Teaching; Belonging; Welcome, Being cared for. The findings in this part of the survey are most interesting. Overall 40% felt that Worship was most important, followed by Belonging and Welcome. However when we analysed these figures further, we found that those who attend infrequently (and the young) felt that Welcome was most important, followed by Belonging and Worship.

- We asked about people’s involvement in worship and preparation of the church. Of those who were not currently involved, over 50% were willing to become involved in some way and the majority of these people were under 45yrs.

- We then asked who could ask for this help. Did it have to be the clergy? Over 70% felt that anyone in a parish could ask for their help.
- We specifically asked those who were not regular attender’s, what they felt would encourage them. We were told that being welcomed (42%), relevant worship (27%) and being asked to participate (14%) were most important.

- The need for a particular children’s ministry showed up in people’s comments and already this is forming another strand to the Ministry Matters programme.

These are just some of the findings from the questionnaire and are now part of a data- base within the diocese. We are now in the planning stages of the next project within the Ministry Matters programme.
We have been greatly encouraged by other dioceses contacting us to find out how we planned and executed these projects with a view to gathering similar information from their own dioceses.

We found it of great benefit to meet with two other dioceses (Armagh and Dublin) as part of the Summit on Ministry process. We all shared our experiences and learnt about what other dioceses are doing.

We see Ministry Matters as an ongoing programme in our dioceses, with continuous communication from and to the people within the parishes. It has been a very positive experience for us all and we look forward to the challenges that Ministry Matters will bring to Meath and Kildare.

Ministry Matters Group
David Seaman(Chair), Bishop Richard Clarke,  The Rev Olive Donohoe, Karen Seaman, Claire Bruton,Trevor Holmes.