Parochial Vision: The Future of the English Parish

By Chuck Huckaby|Published Date: June 24, 2010

Nick Spencer
Paternoster Publishing, 2004.

It’s not uncommon to hear denominational leaders, pastors, and lay people bemoan the fact that the “glory days” of their church seem lost forever.

Whether in the English Parish system, the specific subject of Parochial Vision, or Main Street America, the day of stable and self-perpetuating congregations dotting the countryside every few miles, each having its own full time pastor, is gone. The symptoms of slowly dying churches are common across North America and the UK: Too few trained clergy, too few resources, clergy who are too isolated and subject to burn out, and parishioners who are disengaged in the service of Christ’s kingdom. It’s the lot, it seems, of the “Post Christian” West these days.

Because we’ve known no other model for “doing church” in our lifetimes, Spencer contends, we’ve lost the corporate memory of a style of ministry that evangelized pre-Christian England, subsequently enabling it to establish the parish system.

The model for ministry in question is the “Minster” model. Spencer reminds us that this system “conquered” pre-Christian England by establishing “mission bases” or a “monasterium” throughout pre-Norman England. These minsters, allowed a team of lay and ordained servants of Christ to develop a local presence for worship, study, economic activity, and cultural activity. Team members, using the monasterium as their base, went out to the surrounding countryside to preach, pray, lead worship, and evangelize without severing ties to the monasterium. There was great flexibility in their activities and structure, depending on local needs. Eventually, they proliferated to the point where a “minster” was within a day’s journey or less of any given location in what is now England.

Today we are reminded of the system by place names such as “Westminster.” Many minsters would subsequently become what we now consider “cathedrals” though their purpose as missionary centers for a given region is largely gone and being taken up by others. For example, today a minster in practice would be Holy Trinity Brompton, which not only serves its local area profoundly as well as touching the world thanks to the success of its “Alpha” Program.

..the Anglican parish
system is dying...

Spencer contends that the British parish system is inevitably being forced to return to this model anyway. His contention is that such a trend should be embraced, not resisted. Because the Anglican parish system is dying, Spencer discusses the changes happening naturally and how they might be encouraged proactively. To highlight the need, he notes that this parish system which was once considered the “Tory Party at Prayer” is increasingly the “National Trust at Prayer” as Anglican church buildings are today better known for their historic value than their spiritual vitality.

Spencer takes great pains to remind us that this is not the same as what we call “yoking” parishes in the US. That for the most part involves lashing one minister to the controls of two or more dying congregations. It guarantees maximum work, subsistence compensation, increased isolation, and – usually – it is a survival strategy, not a missionary strategy.

His suggestions for recreating the minster system require that Christians reorganize their activities. Spencer assumes one particular facility will serve as the central base of operations for the minister. A denominationally owned facility though could conceivably serve as such a base instead and might perhaps minimize rivalry between congregations whose buildings have a proud history and approximately equal utility.

Alternatively, the location could move from time to time. Whatever the facilities housing the “base”, a minster church will:

Be focused on a Region larger than the traditional parish. It will take into account the natural travel and social patterns of its members and “target” area, as well as those they are most likely to successfully reach for Christ. Some say the distance it serves will be a radius of as few as 6 miles to something more like the service area of a “Wal Mart” or a “Tesco.” Existing congregations within that region will not necessarily be dissolved. The people would, however ultimately come to see themselves not only as members of a local body of believers, but also as members of the larger minster. This identity would be fostered by joint worship services, shared clergy and lay ministers, and other “joint” ventures for the common mission of God’s Kingdom within the minster or regional ministry area.
Be characterized by a Team Ministry. In the minister, the clergy, lay ministers, or other designated leadership serve as a team on behalf of the whole region. While individual ministers may be assigned primarily to a specific congregation, they recognize they serve the entire regional church body. To promote greater unity within the minster they will of necessity interact with other congregations within the larger minster. To promote a “Team Ministry” (even if one leader serves as “first among equals”) the team will worship together, have meals together, pray together, strategize together and train together so that they can act in concert within the region. It is recognized that ministers within the minster can more easily specialize in a particular area such as counseling, finance, or other area while serving the region together.
Serve as a central Training and Resource Center. The goal of the Team ministry is to activate the Body of Christ as a whole in the area in question. The participation (and activation) of the “laity” will be essential if the minister is to accomplish the goal of regional evangelization and service in Christ’s Name. The team of ministers will ensure that all Christians who form part of the minster church have access to the training and spiritual formation to pursue their Christian callings in the home, workforce, and as Christ’s servants. By deploying resources regionally the cost of expensive curriculum tools – a confirmation preparation class for instance – can be spread over several congregations and many students. Ministers with particular specialties would also be able to equip others in their field of expertise to multiply their effect across the whole region.
Act as a Mission Base and catalyst for evangelism and service in its region. The purpose for adopting a minster model is not simply financial relief for struggling congregations, though it will assist with that problem. The goal of organizing a regional church body as a minster is to do the work of Christ’s kingdom in a given area and nothing less! The minster serves as a mission base itself and calls each Christian served by the minster to employ their gifts and resources to the fullest extent possible. The minster is not an end in itself to solve financial woes; it is the foundation for future aggressive mission.

"..a minimum of $100,000
in annual revenues are required.."

While finances are not the ultimate reason for adopting the minster model, they are a common reason for its consideration. Consider: A congregation in the United States seeking its own full time, seminary trained pastor, will find it needs approximately $70,000 to pay salary, housing, health insurance and minimal pension benefits. That means a minimum of $100,000 in annual revenues are required for a congregation to maintain a relatively humble building, assuming the property has no outstanding mortgage. For many small congregations in the same region, the minster model offers the only possibility for having professional staff available to them. Of course a minster model could be sustained by a team of “tent-making” ministers, but the economics and rationale are similar. If a region’s congregations are already reliant on “tent-makers”, it’s likely finances are extremely thin and could be maximized in the their impact through the use of a minister model.

How can the minster model be used? The Anglican Church in North America is using it as the basis for their church planting effort. * As a church planting model, the minster model avoids the loneliness experienced by church planters. It also allows limited funds for church planting to be allocated to a region instead of a single congregation. Existing denominational structures serving a common geography such as dioceses, presbyteries, classes, or associations may choose to use the minster model to serve some or all of the territory they cover as better stewards of God’s resources.

At present, congregational studies indicate that variations of the minster model are currently being tested in Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and even Presbyterian bodies under different nomenclature. These efforts move beyond the old “yoking” models to more missional efforts. Currently the “Multi-Site Church” model may be most similar to what’s intended by the minster however unintentionally. Likewise some house church networks share these characteristics.

The single weakness of Parochial Vision is a self-imposed one. As a discussion of the Anglican Parish system, it covers the topic well. For those interested in modern applications of the minster theory in practice, it lacks the case studies those interested in modern applications would wish. This seems to be a common problem in discussions of the minster concept though, not one limited to Spencer’s work which is the most in-depth one available to a popular audience.

For more insight to this topic, get the book, House to House, by Larry Kreider, from our online store.