Initial Ministerial Development: Phase 2
Introduction
Welcome to the second year of IMD in the Diocese of Gloucester. You have survived the orientation (and disorientation!) of the first year which was all about getting used to a public representative ministry, exploring the diaconate and preparing for the priesthood. This second year aims to equip you with all the skills and resources necessary for the life of a priest/deacon in the long term.
The second year is really the hinge around which your curacy turns: at the beginning of the year you may well feel like you’re only just beginning, by the end some of you will be thinking about moving on to your next role. So, this is also the year to reflect and pray about the emerging shape of your ministry: how do you do’ priesthood/diaconate, how long might you curacy need to last to prepare you well, and what might your next role look like?
The second year curacy review aims to help you do that. It not only includes feedback from your incumbent and curacy reviewer, but feedback also from lay people in your church and community. Do use it to get as honest and helpful feedback as you can. This review also allows us to look at the way your curacy has developed and to see if there are any areas of ministry you haven’t had an opportunity to experience, and what your priorities might be for the final twelve to twenty four months.
The second year is also the year when attendance at IMD can ‘slide’ as your parish responsibilities increase. Please can I ask you to try to resist this slide as this is also the year when we cover the major areas in which you need to have confidence for your future ministry. You have also invested a lot in your relationships with one another already and you will really reap the benefits of those this year.
Just a reminder that the aims of IMD are:
- To provide an overall discernment process for the first years in ministry, which will seek to help you acquire the values of public representative ministry and to point the way forward for their future public ministry within the Church of England.
- To provide a peer group which you can belong to and from which you can explore the varieties of ministerial responsibilities and experiences, receiving both nourishment and challenge within a safe and nourishing environment.
- To provide ministerial education and formation that will be truly transformative.
- To equip you with all the skills necessary in order that you may be fully formed into the public representative ministry of a priest.
- And, above all, to equip you to maintain a deep seeking after God amidst all the busyness and activities that go to make up the life of an Anglican deacon or priest.
Feedback on the extent to which we are or are not achieving these aims is always welcome.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if anything is unclear or you want to make suggestions for future development. On behalf of the Bishop, thank you for your commitment to the current and future ministry of Christ’s Church.
David Treharne, Collaborative Ministry: Foundations Lead, Diocese of Gloucester
A handbook for Curates and Training Incumbents – The second year
The Shape of the IMD Programme
Training incumbent’s review form
Pioneer curate training incumbent’s review form
Curate’s feedback to the training incumbent
May the blessings released through your hands
Cause windows to open in darkened minds.
May the sufferings your calling brings
Be but winter before the spring.
May the companionship of your doubt
Restore what your beliefs leave out.
May the secret hungers of your heart
Harvest from emptiness its sacred fruit.
May your solitude be a voyage
Into the wilderness and wonder of God.
May your words have the prophetic edge
To enable the heart to hear itself.
May the silence where your calling dwells
Foster your freedom in all you do and feel.
May you find words full of divine warmth
To clothe the dying in the language of dawn.
May the slow light of the Eucharist
Be a sure shelter around your future.
John O’Donohue
Benedictus – A Book of Blessings: 2007
