The Fareham Deanery

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16/6/05

The Deanery consists of nine parishes and one Conventional District. There are currently eleven full time clergy posts, supported by one assistant curate and eight non-stipendiary ministers, Readers and retired clergy. There is one Team Ministry in Fareham and an LEP at Whiteley. All the parishes are 'suburban', part of the built up belt that runs between Portsmouth and Southampton. Most parishes have some areas of social deprivation but in the main the socioeconomic scores tend towards the upper end of the range. This is particularly true of Whiteley although with it being a very new housing area the tendency is towards being "asset rich" in housing but "mortgage poor". There is a wide range of churchmanship and a tendency for people to claim, as their own, the church that best meets their own needs, with churches having as much as sixty percent of the Electoral Roll being non resident.

Clusters

Two Clusters were formed on the basis of geography. The education, research and planning phases took place separately within these Clusters with some coming together for information; and strategic planning in relation to Incumbents.

Both Clusters found the time frame for the research and planning phases to be very tight. This was particularly the case for the WW Cluster. This inevitably means that much of the 'real work' of Kairos will follow on from the submission of plans. This is as it should be since the results of these two phases point all the parishes of the Fareham Deanery toward finding new and perhaps radical ways of working together.

Strategic Partnership Groupings

Both Clusters arrived at more or less the same point, though by different routes, in that it was felt that there was the very real possibility of closer collaboration for ministry across parochial boundaries, both lay and ordained. Each Cluster has identified ways in which this may happen and areas of ministry that can be conducted more 'effectively' together than separately. Providing impetus for this is being handled differently in each Cluster but is the meat of the next phase of Kairos.

Stipendiary Ministry

It is recognised that two stipendiary posts will probably need to be lost from within the Deanery over the next ten years. Each Cluster seeks to do this by developing ways in which clergy can share ministry across parish boundaries to enable the loss of a 'post' to be absorbed within the Cluster's strategic ministry. It is also to be noted that this is an area that the Deanery will need help with in the next phase of Kairos and where usefully the wider church from within diocesan resources could be of help.

Ecumenism

Both Clusters have a strong desire to share in strategic planning with the other denominations in our area. This would mean building on existing ecumenical relationships, both lay and ordained, and finding the way forward for closer and more effective working relationships. This features within each Clusters' proposals.

Bureaucracy

Both Clusters feel very strongly that the last thing that is needed is an additional layer of ‘Cluster Bureaucracy’. This necessarily means that the relationship between Deanery Synod, Chapter and Cluster needs to be radically re-examined. This is at a very early stage but a discussion document has been produced by Rev. Stephen Girling that points the way forward. (This reorganisation document may be found as Appendix F to the East Fareham Cluster's plans). It would enable the Deanery to fulfil its legal responsibilities to the wider church community while providing vision, support and oversight to the Clusters. There would be a need for Synod members (Fareham Anglican Partners in Mission in the discussion document) to be drawn from those committed to and experienced in the work of the Clusters. This would give the basis for real decision making in mission terms and cross Cluster support and information.

Church Plant & Parish Boundaries

The Western Cluster feels that their Church Plant are adequately distributed and cared for. Whiteley are in the process of re-sourcing the building of a new church. No reference was made to any problems in relation to parish boundaries.

The East Fareham Cluster feels that there may well be a need to explore both of these issues in the future especially in the light of the consideration of new ways of being church. This is therefore a feature of their plans.

Summary

The Deanery believes that the whole point of Kairos is to focus our church community on shared mission. The effectiveness of this will be the benchmark by which future success is to be judged. It is committed to finding and developing new ways of sharing resources both material and in terms of personnel. It is also committed to finding new structures for ministry that enables stipendiary ministry to be used most effectively in the future where this will be a shrinking resource. By God's grace and His will we may build on the growing and strengthening relationships that Kairos has brought to the fore already.