Effective recruitment is key when appointing and Circuits should follow Safer Recruitment Policy and Practice Guidance for both employees and volunteers.
Full recruitment details are not included here and therefore the following pointers should be read alongside recruitment guidance and employee law. More details can be found in the Lay Employment Resource and at Recruiting Volunteers.
Circuits should also ensure they have appropriate policies and procedures in place in line with the Standing Orders for Local Lay-Pastors. These can be found in CPD.
As this is an office of the church, it must be an appointment of the Circuit Meeting and therefore in accordance with Standing Orders the Circuit Meeting should do the following (either through a normal meeting of the Circuit or via email agreement):
- Consider the needs and opportunities in the Circuit and its mission in the world and develop a model for its future use of ministries.
- If the Circuit is to recruit and appoint a Local Lay-Pastor they should approve the job description/person specification or role outline and related expectations as outlined in Standing Orders.
- Agree the support that will be necessary and appoint a line-manager to oversee their support and development
An effective mission and ministry review will help Circuits to design an effective job description and person specification or role outline, and decide the hours that the Local Lay-Pastor will be required to work (taking into account hours needed for learning and development).
It is vital that the Circuit identifies an appropriate person to be line-manager for the Local Lay-Pastor and ensures they have capacity to successfully fulfil the role. This individual should be part of the recruitment process and not an after-thought (See Line-Management and Reflective Supervision).
For an employed role, Circuits should create a job description and use the job description with the early competencies to create a person specification (see Templates and LLP Competencies Grid).
For a volunteer role, Circuits should create the key responsibilities section of the role outline and use this information with the early competencies to create the key skills and attributes (see Role Outline Templates and LLP Competencies Grid).
As part of the interview, the Circuit will assess to what extent the individual meets the early competencies and use this information to inform the probation support.
For employed posts, Circuits should use the Guidelines for determining the salary figure for lay posts. It is advised that Circuits set a pay range for Local Lay-Pastor posts. Local Lay-Pastors should then be paid in accordance with their level of skills and experience against the competencies. Pay should be increased as an individual is accredited, reflecting their development and greater level of knowledge and experience. Pay should be set in accordance with Methodist Conference policy on Living Wage rates (See Stipends and Lay Employment Rates).
The Circuit appoints the Local Lay-Pastor and issues a provisional licence for the six month probation (using Written Statement of Terms and Conditions or Volunteer Agreement and LLP Employee Offer of Employment Template or LLP Volunteer Role Appointment Template) and ensures appropriate Safer Recruitment checks are completed (See Safer Recruitment Policy and Practice Guidance).
Circutis should ensure plans have been put in place to support the Local Lay-Pastor in their induction and probation period.
The Circuit needs to register the Local Lay-Pastor (Complete LLP-Registration and supply a copy to Ministries: Vocations and Worship in the Connexional Team) so that they may begin their learning and development.