Leeds Methodist Mission Interim Management Committee Leeds (Mission) Circuit Meeting Minutes of the meeting held at Oxford Place Centre 10th October 2012 1. Opening devotions These were led by the Revd Peter Whittaker 2. Welcome and attendance: The Revd Peter Whittaker welcomed everyone to the meeting and explained that the committee had been set up to manage the current work of Leeds Methodist Mission and the Oxford Place Church. We are also tasked to look forward to the changes and patterns of work from 1st September 2013. (i) Present: The Revd Philip Bee, the Revd Adrian Burdon, Miss Marjorie Cossey, the Revd Pat Creamer, Mr John Goacher, Mrs Irene Hebden, Deacon Jenny Jones, Mr Bernard Neville (Church and Circuit Treasurer), Mrs Gwen Pridmore, the Revd Sue Sowden, Revd Peter Whittaker (Chair) (ii) Apologies were received from: Mr Rob Lolley (who was ill),the Revd James Barnett and the Revd Hannah Smith (who were both at another meeting), and Mr Kenneth Tait (iii) In attendance: Mr Michael Noble (District Development Enabler) as consultant to the meeting, and Mrs Patricia Goacher (see item 4) (iv) In the absence of the secretary, Mr Kenneth Tait, Mrs Irene Hebden agreed to take the minutes. 3. Request for Curtailment from the Revd Adrian Burdon. This was accepted unanimously by the meeting and therefore enacted. (The statement by the Revd Burdon is attached to these minutes [Annex 1].) At this point the Revd Adrian Burdon as superintendent minister of the Leeds Mission Circuit took the chair. 1 4. Candidate for Presbyteral Ministry (i) Mrs Patricia Goacher explained that she was seeking to explore her sense of call which she has had for a long time. She has completed a one-year course in Bible Study at Cliff College as a result of which she felt called to be a local preacher. Later she complete a degree in theology and now feels that the time is right for her to move on to presbyteral training. (ii) Mrs Goacher answered questions put to her by members of the meeting. (iii) Mrs Goacher left the meeting. (iv) After a discussion the meeting those eligible to vote did so by secret ballot to decide whether to give its support to Mrs Goacher. Eleven members of the meeting were eligible to vote. The voting was: Yes: 1, No: 10 5. Circuit Matters (i) Local Preachers Business Mrs Ann Bailey has been a local preacher on note. Her recent trial service was judged to be very successful, and the Local Preachers Meeting recommended to the circuit meeting that she be moved to on trial. This was agreed and she asked that everyone who had helped with her placement in the summer be thanked. (ii) Covenant Area Partnership between the diocese of Ripon and Leeds and the Leeds Methodist District 1 This Interim Management Committee is constituted to act as the circuit meeting for the Leeds Mission Circuit and when it does so the superintendent minister of the circuit will take the chair except in circumstances where this is not appropriate (e.g. Item 3) Version date: 2017-06-07 1/8
This covenant 2 was recently signed by the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and the Chair of the Leeds District. Each circuit has to decide whether to participate in the agreement. The meeting voted unanimously to do so. (iii) Finance (a) The deficit (at the end of August) was less than anticipated ( 15320 as against 29035). It is expected that the accounts will be with the auditor by the end of October. (b) Some of the agencies based in our premises are having problems with their funding. People in Action and the Women s Counselling and Therapy Service are the most vulnerable. (c) The proposed repairs to the front steps are still awaiting permission to go ahead from the Connexional Conservation Office. (d) It is hoped that a new Church Treasurer will be appointed at the next Church Council (14th October 2012). Mrs Helen Newman has expressed her willingness to take on the responsibility. (iv) Circuit Stewards Report (a) There have been several meetings with the Leeds South Circuit stewards and staff to prepare the profile (as required by the stationing process) for the new ministerial position. (b) Meetings have taken place between representatives of Oxford Place Church and Leeds South Circuit to talk about the Mission and Vision of the new circuit. (c) Further meetings are planned to discuss: Human resources and structure Pastoral matters, prayer and communication (d) From January 2012 there will be a joint preaching plan for Oxford Place Church and the Leeds South Circuit. At this point the Revd Peter Whittaker took the chair. 6. Staffing arrangements (i) As part of the stationing process two new profiles have been prepared: (a) One full-time presbyter for four churches: Middleton, Trinity (Tempest Road) and the two LEPs (Cottingley and Beeston Hill) (b) A half-time deacon for Cottingley. (c) The Revd Sue Sowden will be the superintendent minister of the new Leeds Centre and South Circuit which would have the number 16/1 (currently the number of Leeds Mission Circuit) i.e. Circuit 1 in district 16. Sue will have pastoral charge of three churches: Oxford Place, Hunslet and St Andrews. (d) Assuming the Diaconal post at Oxford Place becomes full-time within the District project, then it would be appropriate for Deacon Jenny Jones to be invited to the staff team meetings for the new Circuit for support and fellowship.. 7. Work of the emerging Leeds Mission project (i) (ii) Adrian and Jenny had prepared notes which were circulated before the meeting (Annex 2 and Annex 3 of these minutes). Points made in the discussion: It is important to keep up the good ecumenical links already built up with Leeds Minster, St Anne s Cathedral and Nurture through their work in the Lounge café. Adrian made the point that he seems to have spent the last three years dealing with staffing problems and managing the premises. Having the mission separated from the church will allow more energy to be given to a new vision and purpose as they emerge. (iii) The building should not just be a conference centre. There needs to be a God-centred ministry accountable to the work of God s church engaging with issues of social justice, and with the life of 2 A copy of the full covenant agreement can be found at http://www.leedsmethodist.org.uk/area%20partnership%202012.pdf (accessed 16th October 2012) Version date: 2017-06-07 2/8
the city. The chaplaincy to the courts needs to be re-established. Finance must not come before prayer and worship. (iv) Jenny has been asked to represent the Methodist Church at a meeting on welfare reform that is part of Leeds City Council s plans. (v) We need to make better use of people s talents and expertise. For example, someone from with in the new circuit or from the district might take responsibility for organising the displays in the Prayer Chapel. (vi) How do we provide training for volunteers in, for example, Person-to-Person. (It was stressed that P-to-P is a listening service not a counselling service.) (vii) If we are to work in partnership and develop more volunteers, then the orientation, training and accountability of such volunteers has to have clarity. They must have safe-guarding training. (viii) We need to encourage the mission to have a clearer focus and try to bring in resource (such as supernumeraries) in addition to the presbyter and the deacon. (ix) How can we offer sanctuary and chaplaincy, based on our Methodist principles. to people. (x) Supportive structures for who ever is in post at Leeds Mission must be put in place. (Jenny will have diaconal commitments.) (xi) We need to keep a vision of excitement going forward. (xii) It was suggested that we re-visit the report of the review group. Printed copies can be supplied if needed. 8. Oxford Place Centre (i) Leases and tenancies Letters about leases had gone out to all tenants. All the tenancies are now on similar agreements. (ii) Recruitment and staffing (a) Finance Officer Two people applied, but one dropped out and interviewing was cancelled. A new job description has been produced which will be sent to the District lay Employment Secretary. (b) Conference Manager The present administrator, Trevor Parker, has indicated his wish to be re-deployed to the post. He will take up the post when the Finance Officer is in place. (c) Caretakers Caretaker 1 is already in post (Tim Lomas). The present janitor has taken redundancy with effect from 4th December. The new Caretaker 2 post is to be advertised and with short-listing and interviews arranged so that the person appointed can begin work on 5th December. (d) The meeting agreed that the new team Trevor Parker working under the new arrangements as Conference manager, the Finance Officer and the second caretaker along with Tim Lomas should be in place by 5th December. This was deemed important in order that conferencing capacity be developed further and the current financial problems addressed with the necessary urgency. (iii) Managing the new posts (iv) The Resourcing Group within the Management Committee will have close oversight of the lay employees, but line management arrangements still need to be finalised. (Jenny has agreed to act in this capacity for a maximum of four weeks.) Financial update (a) Deficit projection the Mission is expected to break even around 2014/15 provided current tenancies continue. Version date: 2017-06-07 3/8
(v) (b) Some rooms on the ground floor of the Chambers are in need of refurbishing to make them suitable for small meetings and training sessions. The meeting agreed to allocate the conference business group a maximum of 10,000 for this work, subject to approval by the Treasurer. (c) Alan Parker, the deputy district treasurer, who has worked long and hard on the finances of the Mission and the Church feels that his work is almost finished. He is happy to be consulted if necessary. His final task will be to set out how the Mission and Church finances might be split. He will bring a paper to this committee for approval. (d) The Circuit Stewards agreed to write a letter of appreciation to Alan. Membership of this Committee Tim Newman has expressed his willingness to join the Resourcing Group of this committee and the District Policy Committee will be informed that we wish to invite him to become a member of the Interim Management Committee. 9. Close The meeting closed with prayer. Meeting Dates The next meeting will be in late November 2012. It is expected that the committee will meet every two months for the rest of the present connexional year. Actual dates of meetings will be arranged as soon as practical Version date: 2017-06-07 4/8
Annex 1 Statement relating to the request for curtailment from the Revd Adrian Burdon After several months of personal reflection, and more recent pastoral conversations, the Rev Adrian Burdon has asked that his appointment as Superintendent of the Leeds Mission circuit end in August 2013, earlier than had previously been planned. The Circuit Invitations Committee met on Wed 5th Sept with Sarah Cave chairing the meeting in her capacity as District Lay Stationing Rep. and with the delegated authority of the acting Chair of District. The Committee heard Adrian explain his growing conviction that as the future of the Leeds Mission Circuit develops and changes, different skills than his are needed to take the work forward. With the mission imperative of God s church in this place in mind, and considering the needs of his family, he asked that his appointment be curtailed. After prayer, reflection and further conversation, the Invitations Committee with sadness is recommending to the Circuit Meeting on 10th October that this request be granted, and that Adrian seeks a new station from September 2013. This is not goodbye not yet and we look forward to working with Adrian in the coming months as our Superintendent. The Invitations Committee and the Management Committee that was formally constituted at Synod yesterday will be working with the leadership team of the Leeds South circuit, supported by Sarah Cave and Michael Noble the District Development Enabler, to plan the future ministry for the Mission and this congregation. Version date: 2017-06-07 5/8
Annex 2 Some Reflections on Mission and Ministry at Leeds Methodist Mission The Rev Adrian Burdon Superintendent Minister The established pattern of work for the Superintendent Minister of the Leeds Methodist Mission is as Team Leader for the various activities that take place on the premises. In its present form, this includes responsibility for the management of lay employees, management of the premises, coordination of work with ordained colleagues, and pastoral responsibilities associated with these tasks. In addition, the manner in which the appointment has been set up means that the Superintendent Minister takes the lead on pastoral work with the congregation of the Oxford Place Methodist Church and with engagement with external relationships. The intended pattern is that the Oxford Place Deacon engages in secondary pastoral work with the congregation and takes the lead with internal activities and relationships. That is the theory! Over the past two years, however, the majority of my time as Superintendent Minister of the Leeds (Mission) Circuit has been spent dealing with the staffing issues, the issues resulting from the District Review, and associated management processes. These staffing issues have involved the protracted disciplinary processes which resulted in the dismissal of the caretaker. I have had redundancy conversations with every member of the lay employee team, some of which have resulted in redeployment whilst others resulted in engagement with the Employment Tribunal process. The lounge café was closed as a Leeds Methodist Mission venture and I was responsible for the negotiations with Nurture at St George s Crypt which led to the reopening of the work. A great deal of time has been spent in creating new administrative and caretaking posts and having these processed through the Lay Employment system. With the development of the new pattern at Leeds Methodist Mission there will be some inevitable change to this pattern. The minister of Leeds Methodist Mission will have no further responsibility for the task of management of either the people or the building. Nor shall the minister have responsibility for the pastoral work of the Oxford Place Methodist Church. Deacon Jenny will be reflecting separately upon the development of her work, all of her present responsibilities remain. The portions of work presently undertaken by the Superintendent, which shall remain as part of the work plan for the minister of Leeds Methodist Mission can be identified. It is important to have a ministry of presence in the building, being visible and available to all who would come into the Oxford Place Centre. There are some externalrelationships which are important things to maintain. Although the work in the Courts Chaplaincy has rather fallen into the doldrums recently, it is important to keep the relationship there and to reengage with the work. Relationships with the City and civic authorities are important they find expression in such activities as participation in the planning of Holocaust Memorial Day and, previously, Street Chaplains. The Street Chaplains project has now passed to the Pioneer Minister for the Night-time economy. There is work to be maintained in keeping a relationship with the pioneer ministers through membership of the joint Anglican-Methodist support group. Ecumenical relationships are important and standing alongside other Faith Leaders as particular moments. Although the Leeds City Centre Churches Group maintain relationships between the churches, it is in the maintenance of personal relationships that most of the ecumenical work is undertaken. There are regular moments of engagement, such as Remembrance Sunday and Palm Sunday, as well as the irregular events at which there is a representative role to play. We maintain close ecumenical relationships with Leeds Roman Catholic Cathedral, Leeds Minster and, through the café project, with St George s Crypt. Into the future. There is continued work to engage with on issues of social justice and action. There is a continued need for exercising of the representative ministry. It is important to re-establish the chaplaincy to the Courts. I am sure that there is more yet to be done with engagement with the life of the city. When energy is released from maintenance of the building and management processes then, I am sure, new vision and purpose will emerge. Version date: 2017-06-07 6/8
Deacon the current position Annex 3 Deacon Jenny Jones Future (one full-time minister) Focus on God s mission work. Work on getting wider District involvement and ownership of the Mission into the heart of Leeds Methodism. Enable and encourage others to offer and use their skills (e.g. Prayer Chapel and Welcome Board) to make better use of my skills. Version date: 2017-06-07 7/8
Build on the volunteer welcome desk, encourage paid staff and volunteers to use their experience and knowledge to create ideas and change attitudes. Encourage prayerful volunteering Recruit more volunteers for current services (P2P, Children s Centre committee) to spread some of the responsibility and give more time to develop new projects. Offering placements, or encouraging volunteers from the District, for specific tasks e.g. fund-raising for Children s Centre. Re-crafting the chaplaincy at Oxford Place into a holistic service rather than a grumble about the buildings. Focus on the Courts: Building relationships with the Courts. Renew chaplaincy service. Improve access (consider back doors) to the Mission so that it can serve the Courts better (e.g. café). Discussion with Court Managers about desk/office rental by the hour and consider refurbishing basement rooms. Hear and consider their ideas too. Become a challenging voice. By engaging with other groups and sharing information we can use the relationships that have already been developed with Civic leaders to ensure that the Christian voice is heard and understood by those with power and influence. Ensure that these leaders know they are held in prayer by the Christian community. We could offer our facilities for Civic forum knowing our voice would be engaged. Get out of our comfort zone and be seen in the city. One-off events that are evangelistic (e.g. Rock Communion) or spiritual (e.g. prayer seats) or community engagement (e.g. free tea and coffee (and access to toilets) at marathons, Christmas Lights) Can existing projects be developed? e.g. P2P We currently cannot find enough volunteers to cover the rota five days a week. Could we offer the room to specialists on a regular basis, e.g. debt counsellors, budget advisers, addiction support Work with other agencies to create new projects, e.g. prison placements (Armley Prison (decorating and building) and Askham Grange (administration) have well-established programmes for those about to be given parole). Alternatively we can engage with existing projects e.g. Light Night, Hidden Treasures, to remind the city that we are a church, which serves God and the community. What services have disappeared due to spending cuts can we, with others (e.g. St George s Crypt), offer an alternative, or at least support funding bids? With the changes in benefits coming in shortly how can we work with others to help prevent new levels of poverty? (e.g. Food Banks could we offer free/cheap space some City Centre Churches are already involved in Food Banks in other parts of the city). Version date: 2017-06-07 8/8