Competencies for Presbyters and Deacons ready to be stationed for the first time in the Methodist Church in Britain
The 2017 Conference accepted a series of competencies for different elements of ministry. These were reviewed in 2024 to reflect the impact of various Conference decisions and the priorities of the Church in recent years, notably the Strategy for Justice, Dignity and Solidarity, Changing Patterns of Ministry and the Review of Candidating, and recommended changes to the Council. The Ministries Team also checked that safeguarding was appropriately included. Further consultations have also been held with The Queen’s Foundation and The Methodist Diaconal Order. The competencies have been adapted as a result.
1. Vocation (call and commitment)
- An ability to give an account of their vocation to ministry and mission and their readiness to exercise public ministry as a Probationer Deacon or Presbyter or a Transferring Minister in the Methodist Church.
- An ability to narrate a journey of growth and transformation that is confirmed in the observation of others.
- A demonstrable willingness to live under discipline.
- A robust understanding of the significance of public ministry in the Church and in the world and of their place in it.
- A clearly articulated and recognised conviction of a sense of a call to a particular order of ministry which is supported in the opinion of others.
- The ability to discern which of their previously acquired skills and experience can be incorporated into ordained ministry, which need to be modified and which should be discarded.
2. Vocation (ministry in the Methodist Church in Britain)
- A demonstrable willingness to live under a shared discipline
- A confidence in the Church and the resources to resist the temptation to retreat into a personal or purely local ministry.
- An ability to articulate and to represent the particular calling of the Methodist people within the body of Christ.
- An ability to work with and to celebrate diversity within the Church.
3. Relationship with God
- A developing spirituality and pattern of prayer consonant with their changing role and growth in learning.
- A trusting relationship with God that is marked by humility, reverence, awe and wonder.
- A recognisable reliance on God including regular engagement with the means of grace.
4. Personality and character
- The ability to exercise appropriate care of self, through developing sustainable patterns of life and work, and effective support networks.
- A developed self-awareness and self-acceptance grounded in God’s loving acceptance.
- A realistic understanding of the demands of public ministry and an awareness of personal, ecclesial and social resources on which they depend.
- A commitment to regular attendance and participation in the Local Preachers’ Meeting.
- Self-awareness and strategies to maintain resilience and well-being.
5. Being in relationship with others
- An awareness of self and relationship; listening skills and basic pastoral understanding.
- The ability to form and sustain relationships, including with those who differ, marked by empathy, respect and insight, avoiding stereotyping.
- Demonstrable good practice in a range of pastoral relationships, and the ability to learn from these experiences.
- An awareness of what it means to live as a public representative minister.
- An understanding of the power dynamics within pastoral relationships.
- An ability to operate effectively under supervision.
- The ability to identify and to maintain appropriate boundaries in professional, pastoral and personal relationships.
- An awareness of the oversight and support structures within the church.
6. The Church’s ministry in God’s world
- The ability to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
- An understanding of the mission of God and the ability to interpret it contextually.
- An ability to read a context in the light of God’s call to mission.
- A specific understanding and experience of Methodism in its breadth and diversity including the global Methodist family.
- An understanding of the Church’s role in society and its potential to enable transformation.
- An understanding of the diverse and changing nature of the Church in Britain and of ecumenical possibilities and challenges.
- An ability to work within and interpret theologically, the multi-faith context.
- An ability to evaluate and to work with different expressions of church life.
7. Leadership and collaboration
- The capacity to take overall responsibility for an act of worship (SO 563 (2vii)).
- The ability to recognise how different members of a congregation may be enabled to participate in worship.
- A proven capacity to work with people of all diversities.
- A developed understanding of the roles and responsibilities of various office holders within the life of the church and the ability to exercise leadership as appropriate.
- A knowledge of different styles and models of leadership and an ability to deploy them effectively within the mission of God.
- The ability to exercise inspiring and creative leadership that empowers and enables others.
- Ability to value and engage with the gifts, identities and diverse characteristics of all, including themselves.
- Commitment to effective administration in circuit ministry.
- Responsive to the needs of the circuit.
- An understanding of the nature of oversight and its personal and corporate expression in the Methodist Church and its structures.
8. Learning and understanding
- A proven ability to deploy the methods and resources of theological reflection in the practice of ministry.
- A confident and informed handling of scriptural texts and the traditions of Christian thought as well as critical tools of interpretation.
- Demonstrates an awareness of contemporary world events and an ability to articulate a Christian response.
- A commitment to continued study and learning.
- A proven ability to draw on a range of interdisciplinary resources.
- An ability to recognise their own needs, skills and propensities as a learner and to begin to identify a developmental pathway of study.
9. Communication
- Proven ability to speak faithfully of God in both formal and informal settings.
- A secure understanding of preaching, hermeneutical principles and techniques of communication.
- A developed ability in leading public worship and proclamation, showing understanding of and good practice in liturgy and worship.
- An ability to preach and to lead worship appropriate to a number of styles and contexts.
- The ability to make positive use of feedback and assessment.
- Good communication skills for mission and evangelism.
- A good understanding of and the ability to use a wide range of modern communication media.
- Familiarity with and conformity to the Church’s guidelines on the use of social media.
- A clear ability to communicate in written form.