Northern Region: My first year in the job: a pilgrimage of pleasure and pain

Webmaster | 29 April 2005

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by Archdeacon Terry Dein

For most of my life in ministry I have regarded bishops and archdeacons as something akin to headache tablets. They are very useful when you need them, but otherwise leave them in the cupboard and shut the door! Get on with the real ministry – at the parish! At the coalface, one can largely ignore ‘the hierarchy’, especially archdeacons. (What on earth do they do anyway?)

In May 2004 I moved from parish ministry into the role of an Archdeacon. After decades in a familiar work environment I found myself the ‘new boy on the block’, on a severe learning curve about a raft of matters, many of which I had chosen to ignore!

Had I lost my senses? Had the pressures of parish life driven me into a back room where I could retreat from the demands of ‘real’ ministry and engage in the management of minutia? Had I convinced myself that I was not actually rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic? Certainly that was not my intention.

I am now a year in the job. It has been a pilgrimage of pain and pleasure.

Barbara and I have keenly felt the pain of parting from parish ministry, and from St Andrew’s, Wahroonga in particular. We did not move into a new church. There was no new Christian community to replace the one we had lost. While we sought out a new church the nature of my itinerant ministry worked against any meaningful personal relationships developing in our new church. (I have been ‘away’ for almost five months!) Our sense of disconnectedness and of being alone has been very substantial.

So much for the pain, what of the pleasures? When I was considering the position I indicated that my interest in it would largely be determined by my ability to build a substantial pastoral and preaching component. I was encouraged by the affirmation my request received from Bishop Glenn Davies. I have long held the view that despite its difficulties, opportunities for the pastoral care of our ministers within the episcopal system are significant. We simply do not do it very well. For example, over the last nine years I have had the privilege of belonging to three clergy retreat groups. There has hardly been any year in which one of us has not faced a serious struggle in our ministry. Only occasionally has our ‘system’ been helpful; sometimes it has been the instrument of hurt.

Thus I determined that in shaping my role I would seek to integrate my parish skills and experience and give it a pastoral ‘edge’ wherever possible. I have scheduled one day a week for visiting my brothers in parish ministry and trying to encourage them. I have been encouraged and have appreciated the implicit trust expressed in these times. Similarly, when property matters cross my desk I try to focus upon their ministry perspectives.

There are frustrations. Regulations and Ordinances need reviewing because they reflect a past spirit of centralism, which is inappropriate for today’s emphasis upon creative, visionary parish ministry patterns. Our culture needs to become less controlling and more open to responsible risk taking.

Perhaps I shall finish this job a grumpy, disillusioned old man who mutters incessantly to himself ‘Why did I ever take this on?’ (Do I hear someone in the corridor now whispering ‘Why did we ever take him on?’) However, my prayer is that under God this chapter in my ministry will produce much spiritual fruit to his glory.

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