Diocese of St Albans

Report on Training Workshop for Deanery Lay Chairs - held in Bedfordshire, on 28th January 2006

Introduction
This event was first discussed by members of the Church House Deaneries Group with the realisation that, although there is extensive training for Rural/Area Deans there appears to be very little which is offered for their lay colleagues.

The training workshop, arranged in Bedfordshire and convened by Canon Robin Brown, the Local Ministry Officer for the Diocese of St Albans, and a member of CHDG, was therefore a pilot. After initial planning, including a discussion with CME Officers in the Eastern Region, the agreed programme and invitation was sent to all Lay Chairs in St Alban’s Diocese. Others from the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich also expressed an interest in taking part.

The programme
Whilst the workshop was designed with Lay Chairs from St Albans in mind, the programme was open enough to be used on future occasions in any diocese.
The event began at 10am and ended at 3.30pm. A very good lunch was provided.
There was a mixture of small and large group work, with input from various people offering expertise on:

• The role of the Lay Chair
• Understanding the Synodical System (by an archdeacon)
• The Lay Chair and Rural/Area Dean relationship
• Further training identified

Small groups, made up of a mixture of experienced and new Lay Chairs, looked at how the role is carried out in different deaneries. The same groups met later in the day to look at the main issues within the deaneries. As expected, there was a great deal in common.

Outcomes
A number of important things came out of the day including the wide variety of involvement of Lay Chairs in the deaneries.
Most take part in the annual Inspections/Visitations, some with the Rural/Area Dean, some with members of the Deanery Pastoral Committee, some by themselves.

There was a degree of concern about the apparent disparity between the way the Rural/Area Dean and Lay Chair is perceived and involved. Many Lay Chairs feel “left out” with expenses of office becoming a powerful symbol of this. (All Rural/Area Deans receive them, but only one out of the 21 Lay Chairs present do so.)
On the other hand, several said they were in a better (non-hierarchical) position to be able to provide support for the clergy and their families within the deanery.

Among the issues raised was, as expected, concern about finance and the decline in the numbers of stipendiary clergy. But also some shared anxiety about projected increases in housing/population across the Region and the church’s role in multi-cultural parishes.

Identified training needs
Feed back near the end of the day revealed the following:

• Inspections/visitations
• Creating opportunities to share good practise
• Provision of training at regional level when possible
• Handling interviews
• Have a day (like today) every 3 years – connected with the timing of elections
• Every 18 months have a meeting for updating of information, changes etc.

Evaluation
Clearly everyone had received the day very well, whether or not the participants were newly elected or experienced.
It was understood that whilst the roles of Lay Chair and Rural/Area Dean are in many ways different, as are the ways in which they are appointed, there is clearly a need for good communication between the two. In order to work collaboratively, trust and understanding are also required and a sharing of tasks essential.

By the end of the event, everyone went away feeling very encouraged and, hopefully, a little more supported. We owe much to the Lay Chairs who offer a great deal to the deaneries in which they minister. It is up to the church to take them more seriously, value them more than we do – not least by paying expenses on a par with their clergy colleagues – and by encouraging them to become increasingly a model of Christ’s ministry and mission which is the calling of the whole people of God.

Robin Brown March 2006

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