Reports on Sponsored Candidates & Arrangements for First Appointments
Ministry Division Code of Procedure 2002
This Code of Procedure is published by the Ministry Division on the authority of the House of Bishops. It sets out the procedures which should be observed by the Bishops & their officers, by the Principals of Colleges, Courses & OLM Schemes, by incumbents, & by the candidates themselves.
After full consultation, the Code was first agreed between the Committee of ACCM Bishops, the Principals & Staffs of Theological Colleges & Courses & the Association of Ordinands & Candidates for Ministry (AOCM) & published in January 1991. It was revised in April 2002 following the approval of the report, ‘Preparing for Ordained Ministry. Good Practice in assessment & on reporting on candidates within initial training,’ & should be read in conjunction with that report.
Ministry Division, 2002
Reports On Sponsored Candidates
1. Principals should arrange for a written & dated report to be made on each sponsored candidate before the end of both the penultimate & final year of training. In addition, an internal report should be written on candidates who have three years in training at the end of the first year. This report should set goals for the remainder of the period in training. If requested by the sponsoring Bishop, in respect of a particular candidate, a report should be provided at the end of the first year of a three year course.
2. Candidates should have the opportunity to read & discuss with a staff member each report when complete, to sign that they have read it, & to add their own comments. The Principal should always be one of the signatories of the report. The candidate’s declaration at the end of the report should read ‘I have read & discussed the above report with a member of staff.’
3. The interim report should be sent to the sponsoring Bishops by 20th June in the candidate’s penultimate year in training. Reports on candidates who meet all three of the following conditions, a) they will exercise non-stipendiary ministry, b) whose title has been arranged by 20th June, & c) whose ordination is to be at Michaelmas or at a later ordination date, may be sent to the sponsoring Bishop by 20th September.
4. Interim reports should be accompanied by the attached Personal Profile (Appendix B), which is to be completed by the candidates themselves, & will be available for sponsoring Bishops, Diocesan Directors of Ordinands, & potential training incumbents.
5. Final reports should be sent to the ordaining Bishop by 31st May. Reports for candidates who are to be ordained at Michaelmas or at a later ordination date should be sent at least four weeks before the date of the ordination.
6. Reports should indicate clearly the candidate’s suitability for & progress towards ordination. They should cover all those aspects of the candidate’s life-style & performance which might be significant for future ministry. Reports should comment on family & domestic issues which may affect the exercise of ordained ministry. Attention should be paid to “the quality of such as are to be ordained deacons or priests” as set out in Canon C4 of the Canons of the Church of England, the Ordinal of the Book of Common Prayer & in the Alternative Service Book; together with “Criteria for Selection” (ABM Policy Paper No 3B - October 1993) & “Beginning Public Ministry” (ABM Policy Paper No 17 - January 1998).
7. All reports will be confidential to the named parties below & will not be available to others without the candidate’s knowledge & consent.
8. Interim reports on candidates will be made up of two parts. Part A, the general report, will be available to
i) the Bishop with continuing pastoral responsibility for the individual, & to his DDO;
ii) the incumbent of an OLM candidates in training, on account of his or her role in the candidate’s training;
iii) a prospective training incumbent when, after initial visits & meetings, he or she is minded to offer the title post to the candidate. This copy should be requested from the Bishop’s office.
Part B, the recommendation to the Bishop, will be confidential to the candidate’s Bishop & DDO. Each part (A & B) should state clearly to whom a confidential report is being made (‘Confidential to the Bishop and….’).
9. Final reports on candidates will be made up of two parts.
i) Part A, the general report, will be confidential to the Bishop, DDO, POT/CME officer & training incumbent.
ii) Part B, The recommendation to the Bishop, will be confidential to the Bishop & DDO.
Each part (A & B) should state clearly to whom a confidential report is being made (‘Confidential to the Bishop and….’).
10. The general report should use the format provided below, & should contain the training institution’s view of the candidate & should give an account of the training undertaken, what the candidate has gained from training, reflection on the personal & ministerial formation of the candidate, & where appropriate, comment on future goals in training or future training needs.
11. The recommendation to the Bishop should give advice to the Bishop on the advisability of ordination. In this section, the training institution may raise personal or sensitive issues about the candidate in confidence to the Bishop & DDO.
12. If the candidate wishes to add a paragraph to the report (see 2 above), it may be appended to either or both sections of the report.
A Common Format for Reports
13. The following format has been agreed by the Church of England & the Methodist Church. Training institutions should use the following headings, rubrics & questions.
i) Theological learning - which includes not only what candidates have studied but the effects of that study on them, the ways in which it has been integrated in their life & practices, their capacity to engage with different traditions of thought, & their ability to interpret these with and to others.
ii) Spiritual & ministerial formation - which includes perceptions of candidates’ personal qualities, their ability to learn & enable learning, the ways in which they give & receive leadership, their awareness of self & others, their spiritual & devotional life, their readiness for lives of service within the discipline of Church.
iii) Practical preparation for ordained ministry - which includes observations on candidates’ capacity to reflect theologically on the practices of the Church & their experiences, on the way they engage with being disciples & public representatives of the Christian faith & the Church in varied contexts, on their participation in the life of the Church, especially in the leading of public worship, preaching & teaching, and on the way they understand & engage with ethical, social & practical issues.
iv) Personal maturity and (especially in the final report) readiness to begin ordained ministry - which includes observations about capacity to face change & pressure, about the ways in which different roles & expectations are handled, about their understanding & acceptance of their vocation.
v) In the light of the proposed exercise of ordained ministry, from your knowledge has the candidate’s health given any concern?
vi) Are there any issues which need to be addressed before the candidate can be recommended for ordination?
vii) Is there anything else about the candidate & his/her circumstances that the Bishop needs to know?
Statement of Financial Position
14. All candidates should be asked to fill in the Statement of Financial Position (Appendix A) by their dioceses before they are sponsored for a selection conference. The DDO should begin working with candidates on issues of debt as early as possible but certainly once the decision has been made to sponsor the candidate for a selection conference. Candidates who have stipendiary ministry in their category of sponsorship should be asked by their dioceses to fill in the Statement of Financial Position for a second time in conjunction with the interim report.
15. Current & transitional arrangements: The current arrangement is that all candidates are asked by their training institution to fill in the Statement of Financial Position in conjunction with the interim & final reports. This requirement remains for candidates not subject to the new arrangements.
Health
16. Dioceses & candidates should inform training institutions about any significant health issues that have come to light during the selection process. Candidates & Principals should keep dioceses informed about any significant health issues occurring during training. Following the declarations made by candidates on health prior to a selection conference, candidates will be asked to make an further declaration about their health in conjunction with the interim report. This will be followed up by the Ministry Division’s Senior Medical Advisor who will offer advice to the candidate’s diocese.
Criminal record
17. Candidates should be asked by their dioceses to fill in the Disclosure of Criminal Record. Any issues that arise should be handled by the candidate’s diocese.
i) before being sponsored for a selection conference;
ii) at the time of the interim report;
iii) prior to ordination.
Child Protection
18. Candidates should be asked by their dioceses to gain clearance under the procedures to be operated by the Criminal Records Bureau. Any issues that arise should be handled by the candidate’s diocese
i) before being sponsored for a selection conference;
ii) at the time of the interim report;
iii) prior to ordination.
Candidate’s confidential file
19. When a diocese is considering offering a title to a candidate from another diocese, it may request the sponsoring papers, Selection Conference report & any relevant medical information from the sponsoring diocese and depending on the timing of the transfer the reports from the training institution. Ministry Division may also be consulted. When a candidate is appointed to a title outside his/her sponsoring diocese, the candidate’s confidential file will be sent by the sponsoring Bishop to the ordaining Bishop.
20. In addition to the written reporting procedure set out in this Code, there may be need for other types of communication (for example, telephone conversations) between a principal & a Bishop. Where matters of substance are dealt with, a note will be made by the principal & Bishop giving the reasons for any decisions made. The content of the note will be conveyed to the candidate as soon as is practicable, unless exceptional pastoral circumstances dictate otherwise, in which case a note will be made of the reason for the delay.
21. All documents should be clearly dated. Confidential material should only be retained by Bishops, their officers, training institutions & training incumbents for as long as is necessary, subject to the current Data Protection legislation.
Arrangements For First Appointments
22. Bishops who ordain and Principals of Colleges & Courses share responsibility for advising about the parish where a minister or accredited lay worker will serve. Principals will normally have a more recent & intimate knowledge of the candidate; Bishops & their advisers will normally have a more recent & intimate knowledge of the parishes and their incumbents, and what they can provide by way of experience & training.
23. In placing the candidates, the over-ruling consideration should be the candidate’s need for training, not the parish’s need for staff. As a matter of good practice, the Bishop will offer a title post to a candidate only after studying the interim report on the candidate.
24. Candidates are not obliged to serve their title in their sponsoring diocese; but up until 31st October, candidates should only consider posts in their sponsoring diocese unless they have received, in writing, the goodwill of their diocese to look elsewhere.
25. Responsibility for the pastoral care of candidates for ordination, and where appropriate their family, remains with the sponsoring Bishop until it is accepted by another Bishop prior to ordination. During training this care is shared with the Principal of the training institution that the candidate attends. The Principal, as indicated above, has an important role in advising the candidate about a suitable first appointment. Candidates who, at or before 31st October, are released by the sponsoring Bishop to look at parishes in other diocese remain in the care of the sponsoring Bishop until accepted for ordination by another Bishop.
26. If the Bishops’ Selectors do not recommend a candidate for training and the Bishop sets aside the advice, the responsibility for ensuring that a suitable training parish is found for the candidate remains with the sponsoring Bishop.
27. Issues about housing will often be handled by the prospective training incumbent. As a matter of good practice, an appropriate diocesan official should also play a role in ensuring that the accommodation needs of the incoming curate (and any family) are fairly assessed.
The Annual Programme
28. In May of each year, Bishops should ask the relevant training incumbents in their dioceses to complete profiles of their parishes, using the Parish Profile Form. These should be available for review at the Bishop’s Staff Meeting in July.
29. In June a year before a candidate’s likely ordination or admission, the training institution should discuss with the candidate his or her future & arrange for the candidate to complete the Personal Profile set out in Appendix B, which will be made available to any training incumbent by whom the candidate is to be interviewed.
30. By the end of June, if the sponsoring Bishop has not already been in touch, the candidate should write to him either asking for an interview to discuss the possibility of a post in the diocese or seeking his goodwill in looking for one elsewhere. The Bishop will not normally enter into such discussion before studying the interim report.
31. In September, the staff of the Ministry Division will send Bishops two comprehensive sets of address labels for Principals of Colleges & Courses.
32. By 31st October, sponsoring Bishops should:
i) indicate to Principals which candidates due for ordination or admission the following year they undertake to place;
ii) send to Principals profiles of those parishes where vacancies remain unfilled. Supplementary or amended details may follow.
33. After 31st October, candidates not yet placed by their sponsoring dioceses are free to look at parishes in any diocese.
Seeking a Title Parish
34. Principals should not entertain direct approaches from incumbents looking for staff without having evidence that the incumbent has the permission of the Bishop. Principals should not discuss with candidates possible posts in dioceses other than their sponsoring ones before 31st October, unless such candidates have already received the goodwill of their sponsoring dioceses in looking elsewhere.
35. Candidates should see one parish at a time and should not visit a second without prior reference to the Principal & the Bishop or Bishops concerned.
36. In the same way, Bishops or Directors of Ordinands should ensure that parishes see only one candidate at a time.
37. Bishops or Directors of Ordinands should make sure that parishes are aware that it is their responsibility to pay the travelling expenses of candidates & their spouses for all visits prior to appointment.
Information Exchange, via the Ministry Division
38. By the first week of January, Bishops are asked to provide details of vacancies which still remain; and Principals are asked to provide information about those candidates whose title has been arranged, and those who are still looking for a title. This information is to be sent to the Ministry Division by 7th January. As near to 21st January as possible, the Ministry Division will send brief information about unplaced candidates to Bishops & details of unfilled diocesan vacancies to Principals. This process will be repeated in the following March/April if all candidates have not been placed by then.
39. By the first week of January, Bishops are asked to inform the Ministry Division if they are not planning to take their full allocation of candidates.