When the vicar leaves, the patron becomes a key player in the appointment of the new vicar. To help the patron take his/her responsibility for the parish seriously, invite him/her to join in its worship and meet members of the PCC. In this way he/she will be much better informed about the parish and its needs. This will result in better co-operation when the time comes for the patron to exercise the prime responsibility of finding a new vicar.
The parish lost no opportunity to advertise
Chapter 3. Accentuate the positive
A Positive Approach
Once it is known that the vicar is leaving, anxiety can arise. The parish may feel like a ship without a captain, drifting aimlessly on the open sea. An important part of facing up to this challenge is to set clear objectives for the first six months. These objectives should link to the overall aim of the church. In each area of the church’s life, clear objectives will give purpose and confidence.
In a parish where the vicar and lay people have learned to work together, the period without a vicar should build upon those achievements and prepare for the work with the next vicar. It is a time for steady growth and development.
Situations differ, however. A parish that has suffered from a lack of enthusiasm or commitment in its outgoing vicar may wish to try new things or develop the neglected aspects of the church’s ministry. If the PCC, in collaboration with the churchwardens, fully supports these developments, real growth might begin, which most new vicars will appreciate. At the same time, the PCC needs to ensure that any developments are appropriate to the parish. It is radical change, going ‘against the grain’ of the parish’s life, that can cause instability and alarm.
On the other hand, the parish may have had a ‘ten new ideas before breakfast’ vicar. This may be the point to begin to assess things. Are there some good ideas that never ‘took off’ and need further thought? Are there schemes that are not working and need to end? Are there people working on one of the previous vicar’s ideas of which the PCC is unaware? A systematic review will help to bring things together before the arrival of the new vicar.
The Approach to Change
It is sometimes thought that ‘those in authority’ at a diocesan level want nothing to change during this period. This is not always an accurate perception and a conversation with the area/rural dean will clarify this.
It is not always easy to have a clear, consistent view with regard to change. Some change is inevitable over a period of six-nine months, the average length of time from one vicar leaving to the next arriving. People may resign from a church post and a replacement is essential. A group may come to a natural end and disband. New initiatives may seem entirely appropriate. The role of the PCC is to monitor such changes and give approval where this is necessary. Some changes have such profound implications for the life of the parish that it may be unwise to introduce them when the parish is without the mediating role of the vicar.
The churchwardens may need to consult with the area/rural dean over whether to introduce a particular change or await the arrival of the new vicar. However, ultimately it is the PCC’s decision as to what happens during this period. It needs to adopt a sensitive approach to issues of change whilst guarding against stagnation.
Before the Vicar Moves
The outgoing vicar will have a significant amount of information in his/her filing system or memory. Primarily there are three things to discover:
What the vicar does in the different areas of the church’s ministry
Who is responsible for areas of work that are not the vicar’s responsibility
The unusual, occasional items that only the vicar knows about.
Several meetings with the vicar may be necessary to pass on all the vital information.
Some clergy organise their administration well; others detest any form of paperwork and may need careful sympathetic treatment in the process of retrieving essential information. Whatever the outgoing vicar’s approach, the churchwardens should arrange to meet with the vicar to plan the handover. Ideally this should happen at least two months before the vicar leaves. It is helpful to organise the information into categories:
Information that can be shredded or thrown away
Information to keep for the churchwardens and PCC to use
Historical records that may need to be deposited with the county archivist
Information to leave in confidence for the next vicar.
Many clergy now use computers. If the computer is parish property, someone with a knowledge of computers should meet with the vicar to discover the software in use and ensure that he/she leaves the instruction books. You may need to print on paper (known as ‘hard copy’ in computer language) any parish information stored on computer. If the computer is the property of the vicar, it is absolutely imperative that all information relevant to the life and work of the parish is on ‘hard copy’. In addition, someone should copy the information stored on computer to ‘floppy disks or zip drives’ and keep them in a safe place.
Hopefully the vicar will offer information in a spirit of openness. He/she needs to understand what the parish will need when he/she has gone. A diary of regular activities over the past year may prove helpful in making sure that things are not overlooked when there is no vicar. Some clergy, sometimes for good reasons, want to plan the next few months for the parish. This might be tempting, but it is probably better for this to be done by the churchwardens, leaving the outgoing vicar to tidy up loose ends and prepare for moving.
The Churchwardens were not caught entirely unprepared
Communication
Good communication is essential to ensure the smooth running of parish life, particularly when the vicar, one of the main channels of communication, is no longer there. The churchwardens should begin to draw up a list of key people, including addresses, telephone and fax numbers and E-mail addresses. This list is likely to include the patron, bishop, archdeacon, area/rural dean, diocesan staff, PCC officers, church members with specific responsibilities, clergy and licensed readers on the service rota, organist, verger, undertakers, architect, local builders and others.
The churchwardens and the PCC members take on a key role in this period. The churchwardens and the PCC officers should meet regularly. PCC members need to take responsibility for different aspects of the church’s life during the time when there is no vicar and to ensure that jobs are done. Good communication with the regular members of the church is essential, encouraging their involvement in the life of the church. They also deserve to be kept informed, without breaching confidentiality, on progress in the search for a new vicar.
The weekly notice-sheet is an important part of the communication with church members. The parish magazine provides an opportunity to show that the church’s worship and life are continuing and that it is worth becoming a part of it. At all costs, avoid putting over the message that “without a vicar, there is no church”. It also offers the opportunity to communicate information on practical arrangements while the parish is without a vicar. This might include a list giving the names, addresses and telephone numbers of those responsible for different areas of the church’s work.
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