Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011

Team and group ministries

34 Establishment of team ministries

(1) A pastoral scheme may make provision for the establishment of a team ministry for the area of any benefice, and such a scheme shall provide—

(a) for the sharing of the cure of souls in that area by the incumbent of the benefice which, if it is not or would not otherwise be a rectory, shall be a rectory and one or more other ministers who shall have the title of vicar and a status equal to that of an incumbent of a benefice; and

(b) for the pastoral care of persons in that area by those who are to share the cure of souls therein together with all other persons who are from time to time authorised by a licence or permission of the bishop to serve in that area as members of the team.

The persons who are to share the cure of souls in the said area shall constitute the team chapter, and the team chapter together with the other persons referred to in the scheme by virtue of paragraph (b) of this subsection shall constitute the team.

(2) The office of a rector in a team ministry who is not subject to Common Tenure and who holds his or her office for a term of years shall be held by each holder thereof for the specified term of years; but the fact that the office is held for a term of years shall not affect its other attributes as a benefice and, in particular, the rector shall be a corporation sole and as such hold the property of the benefice during his or her term of office.

(3) No person shall be authorised under subsection (1)(b) by licence of the bishop to serve in a team ministry as a member of the team unless he or she has been nominated for that purpose by the rector with the consent of a majority of the other members of the team and of each parochial church council concerned:

Provided that it shall not be necessary for the person concerned to be nominated for the purpose by the rector where that person is authorised to serve in a team ministry for a period immediately following a period of service in the team ministry.

(4) A pastoral scheme establishing a team ministry may provide for the designation or selection of the first rector (who may be the existing incumbent) or the first holder of any office of vicar but, subject to any such provision—

(a) the rector shall be presented or collated to the benefice, as the circumstances require, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 and the provisions of the scheme made under that paragraph;

(b) the vicar or vicars shall be chosen in accordance with paragraph 2 of that Schedule, shall be appointed to the office by licence of the bishop under seal and, unless the bishop otherwise directs, shall be publicly admitted in a church in the area.

(5) Where a pastoral scheme designates a person as the first holder of the office of vicar in a team ministry, the bishop shall offer to issue a licence appointing him to the office, and if that person does not accept the offer within one month after it is made to him or her, the designation shall cease to have effect.

(6) The rector in a team ministry shall have a general responsibility for the cure of souls in the area of the benefice, which may be subject to any special cure or special responsibility given to a vicar as provided in this section, and shall be responsible for the leadership of the team; and the scheme may make further provision as to the relationship of the rector and other members of the team ministry.

(7) A vicar in a team ministry shall by virtue of his office, but subject to his licence, have authority to perform in the area of the benefice all such offices and services as may be performed by an incumbent, and the scheme or, subject to the scheme, the bishop’s licence may—

(a) assign to a vicar a special cure of souls in respect of a part of the said area and, if appropriate, the name of vicar of a church in that part;

(b) assign to a vicar a special responsibility for a particular pastoral function;

(c) provide that any such special cure or responsibility shall be independent of the rector’s general responsibility;

(d) assign to a vicar a general responsibility to be shared with the rector for a cure of souls in the area as a whole;

and, if any such provision is made by the bishop’s licence, it may (subject to the scheme) be varied or revoked, with the consent of the rector and the vicar concerned, by a subsequent licence under seal:

Provided that a woman who is a vicar in a team ministry shall not by virtue of this subsection have authority to preside at or celebrate the Holy Communion or pronounce the Absolution in a parish to which a resolution in the form set out as Resolution A in Schedule 1 to the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 (1993 No. 2) applies.

(8) A pastoral scheme establishing a team ministry or, subject to the scheme, the bishop’s licence may assign to any member of the team who is not a member of the team chapter a special responsibility for pastoral care in respect of a part of the area of the benefice, so far as consistent with that member’s office; and, if any such provision is made by the bishop’s licence, it may (subject to the scheme) be varied or revoked by a subsequent licence under seal.

(9) The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measures 1963 and 1974 shall apply to vicars in a team ministry and deacons in a team ministry as if they were incumbents of the benefice for the area of which the team ministry is established.

(10) The Ecclesiastical Offices (Age Limit) Measure 1975 (1975 No. 2) shall apply to deacons in a team ministry as if they were vicars in the team ministry and, accordingly, no person shall be capable of being authorised by licence of the bishop to serve in a team ministry as such a deacon if at the time of the issue of the licence he has attained the age of seventy years.

(11) The rector in a team ministry shall convene meetings of the team at regular intervals for the purpose of discussing and reaching a common mind on all matters of general concern or special interest to the team ministry and, unless a pastoral scheme otherwise provides, the rector shall preside, except that if he or she requests otherwise or is absent a deputy chairman appointed by the meeting shall preside.

(12) Any member of the team in a team ministry may, by notice in writing, request the rector to convene a team meeting under subsection (11) to be held within the period of twenty-eight days following the service of the notice; and, if the rector fails to comply with such a request, that member may himself convene the meeting.

(13) Sub-paragraphs (1), (2), (3) and (5) of paragraph 4 of Schedule 3 shall apply to parochial church meetings and parochial church councils in the area of a benefice for which a team ministry is established, and for the election of district church councils and churchwardens, and, if the area comprises more than one parish, for establishing a team council and empowering that council to exercise certain powers.

(14) Where two or more benefices are, or are to be, held in plurality, and a team ministry is established or is to be established for the area of one of those benefices, a pastoral scheme may provide for extending the operation of the team ministry, so long as the plurality continues, to the area of any other benefice so held, and subsections (6), (7) and (13) and the provisions of Schedule 3 referred to in those subsections shall have effect as if the references to the area of the benefice were references to the combined area of the benefices concerned.

(15) Where the rector in a team ministry established for any benefice receives a statutory notice concerning ecclesiastical property in the benefice, he shall—

(a) keep every member of the team informed of matters arising from the notice;

(b) afford every member of the team an opportunity to express views thereon before taking any action in response to the notice; and

(c) have regard to those views before taking any such action.

(16) Where a benefice for which a team ministry is established becomes vacant the bishop may appoint a person holding the office of vicar in the team ministry to act as rector in the team ministry for the purposes of subsections (3), (6) and (11), and any person so appointed shall be deemed to hold the office of rector in the team ministry for the purposes of those subsections while the benefice remains vacant.

(17) In this section “specified term of years” in relation to a team ministry means such term of years as may for the time being be specified for the team ministry for the purposes of subsection (2) by a pastoral scheme or pastoral order; and in the case of a team ministry for which no term of years is so specified seven years shall be deemed to be the specified term of years for the purposes of that subsection.

(18) In this section—

• “ecclesiastical property” has the same meaning as in section 12(3) of the Acquisition of Land Act 1981 (c. 67);

• “statutory notice” means a notice given in pursuance of any enactment or of any instrument made under an enactment.

35 Establishment of group ministries

(1) A pastoral scheme may provide for establishing for a group of benefices specified in the scheme a group ministry to which the following provisions shall apply—

(a) each of the incumbents of the benefices in the group shall have authority to perform in the area of every such benefice all such offices and services as may be performed by the incumbent of that benefice;

(b) the incumbent of any such benefice shall, in performing such offices and services in the area of another benefice, act in accordance with the directions of the incumbent of that other benefice;

(c) it shall be the duty of all the incumbents to assist each other so far as to make the best possible provision for the cure of souls throughout the area of the group ministry:

Provided that a woman who is the incumbent of a benefice shall not by virtue of paragraph (a) above have authority to preside at or celebrate the Holy Communion or to pronounce the Absolution in a parish to which a resolution under section 3(1) of the Priests (Ordination of Women) Measure 1993 applies.

(2) Where a group ministry is established, the rights and duties aforesaid of each incumbent shall attach to his or her office, and accordingly, so long as the group ministry continues and the benefice is included therein, the incumbent shall not be entitled to resign or withdraw from those rights and duties, except by resigning the benefice, and on a vacancy the new incumbent shall be admitted to the benefice as an office in the group ministry, with the rights and subject to the duties of the office.

(3) A pastoral scheme establishing a group ministry may provide for the designation or selection of the first person (who may be the existing incumbent) to hold any benefice as a benefice in the group, but, otherwise, the incumbent of any such benefice shall be presented or collated to the benefice by the patron thereof, with the approval of the bishop (in the case of presentation) given in accordance with paragraph 3 of Schedule 3.

(4) The incumbents in a group ministry shall meet as a chapter for the purpose of discussing and reaching a common mind on all matters of general concern or special interest to the group ministry; and a pastoral scheme may provide for the Chair of the chapter and, in default of such provision, the members shall elect a person to be known as the “Chair”, normally for a term of three years; and the Chair shall convene meetings of the chapter at regular intervals and shall preside when present, and in his absence a deputy Chair appointed by the meeting shall preside.

(5) Paragraph 4(4) of Schedule 3 shall apply for the establishment of group councils and for conferring certain powers on such a council.

(6) A pastoral scheme may include in a group ministry a benefice for which a team ministry is established, and in that case the provisions of this section shall apply to all the vicars in the team ministry, as well as to the rector, in like manner as they apply to the incumbents of the other benefices in the group, except that directions to those incumbents in respect of their ministry in the area of the benefice for which the team ministry is established shall only be given by the rector.

(7) In this section, except subsections (2) and (3), “incumbent” includes a priest in charge.

36 Termination and alteration of team ministries and group ministries

(1) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers of revocation and amendment of pastoral schemes, a pastoral scheme may—

(a) terminate a team ministry by abolishing the offices of the vicars;

(b) alter a team ministry by abolishing one or more of the offices of the vicars or increasing the number of such offices;

(c) alter a team ministry by providing for the right of presentation of the rector to be transferred to a patronage board constituted by the scheme or to the diocesan board of patronage;

(d) alter a team ministry by providing for the vicars of the team to be chosen by the body entitled to present the rector, in accordance with paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 3;

(e) terminate a group ministry by abolishing the rights and duties attaching to the benefices in the group under section 35;

(f) alter a group ministry by reducing or increasing or changing the benefices in the group;

(g) provide for such supplementary, consequential or transitional provisions as may be necessary or expedient, including in particular the provision relating to patronage required by paragraph 1(14) of Schedule 3 and provisions relating to the matters mentioned in paragraph 4 of that Schedule.

(2) If a benefice for which a team ministry is established is dissolved by a pastoral scheme, the offices of the vicars in the team ministry (as well as the office of rector) shall cease to exist, without prejudice to the creation of such offices for any benefice created or altered by the scheme.