7 Interim ministers trained


Seven priests have just completed training to be interim ministers at a programme led by the Director of Ministerial Development, the Revd Canon Ulla Monberg, and the Archdeacon of Gibraltar the Ven. Geoff Johnston.

Interim ministers are a fairly new concept to the Church of England and are deployed in churches during a vacancy  to provide some transitional ministry where there has been a period of conflict or other parochial challenge. Thus, interim ministers are rather different from the normal locum priests who cover periods of interregnum, but who are there to simply "keep the show on the road". In contrast, interim ministers are given a specific brief by the relevant bishop and archdeacon, to work with the parish on some particular transitional matters, some often quite serious, in order to prepare it to welcome and work with a future permanent appointment. The Revd Molly Smith, a trainer with the US-based Episcopal Church’s Interim Ministry Network gave key leadership for our own diocesan training programme.

“This is an exciting and pioneering project,” Archdeacon Geoff said. “Interim ministry is really taking off and it is great to know that the Diocese in Europe is the first in the Church of England to offer this kind of professional training programme. “The fact that there are so many priests who are interested in developing their ministry in this way augurs well for the future.”

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