A close-up view of a priest's hands clasped in prayer wearing a green chasuble with gold embroidery.

Save the Parish cares about our clergy!

However, there are some barriers to parish clergy supporting STP:

  • Some parish clergy are peacemakers or people-pleasers, and tend to not stand up to senior clergy.  There is a time when each ordained person needs to know how much power they have – and that God won’t send a thunderbolt if they say ‘no’ to merging PCCs or agreeing to a church plant in their patch.  Neither will the bishop.
  • Dioceses have recently drawn up impossible posts, and then clergy can be made to feel inadequate if they aren’t thriving in them.  This sets up an unhealthy dynamic with parish clergy blaming themselves rather than the systems which have set up the situation.  It is also isolating.
  • Clergy trust that their diocese will support them, but Strategy and Vision initiatives are constantly making their roles more difficult.  When push comes to shove, diocesan legal support is readily available for the bishop and archdeacon but much less accessible by the parish.
  • Clergy are overstretched, and may not have heard what STP does.

STP has had successes recently that affect clergy:

  • STP is working at national level to support clergy, making the roles of parish clergy more manageable, fighting the introduction of megaparishes and the increase of desk-based roles for the ordained.  
  • STP supported the restoration of clergy pensions to two-thirds of the stipend.
  • STP is involved in the rewriting of the CCM and the Mission and Pastoral Measure, to make them fairer with more checks and balances.

What we have done for parish clergy in our dealings with individual parishes

  • Support and advice for clergy who are being bullied by their diocese into retiring or resigning.
  • Practical solutions to enable clergy and PCCs to better communicate in situations of tension.
  • Practical advice to clergy who are overburdened with too many churches and not enough hours.

STP has recently hosted a St George’s Windsor consultation on vocations, seeking to find new answers to the current drop in numbers coming forward and remaining in parishes.

STP is ready to advise and support clergy, whether or not they or their parishes have joined STP as supporters.