Stipendary Futures – part one
There are all kinds of rumours floating around the establishment of the Church of England about the future of stipendary ministry. Out of these rumours arrive various futures.
For anyone who is not aware, a stipend is a living expense, paid to priests, vicars, ministers et al, so that they are freed from the necessity of working for a living. Thus freeing up one’s time to attend to the things of the Lord.
I have been in full time stipendary ministry for 10 years now [the last three of those were as one in training for ordination]. Although I could not have formulated a sentence about it at the time, entering full-time was very much part of my conversion: in retrospect, was also a call. However, this year it’s different as I am job-sharing a curacy with my wife, Kate. Job-sharing means stipend sharing and of course part-time work. In two years time I am most likely to be non-stipendary, or what is called in the trade NSM [non-stipendary minister], whilst Kate takes on a stipendary position, i.e. being a full-time vicar. All of this means that I am paying attention to what it means to be part-time, see previous post, what it means to have a stipend and what it means to be earning money alongside this.
It seems to me that these questions soon begin to cut to the heart of what it means to be a priest, or at least what it might mean for me? It also brings into play all these rumours, and to what extend I might be pre-empting one of these futures?
It’s good that you’re blogging again.
Do you think that there’s much of a practical difference between a stipend and a salary, even though there is a philosophical difference?
After all its regular money coming into the bank isn’t it?
Or is it more about what you do, and different expectations of 9-5 workers vs. ministers?
Hi Paul
Thanks for watching out…
I have often had conversations about stipend and salary with various people, usually volunteers, I have had the privilege of working with. These often centered around whether what I was doing at the time counted as ‘work’. The point being that since I don’t get paid to work, then what I did was not therefore ‘work’!
This question brings to the front some of the problems I have been struggling with. Facing the prospect of not being stipendiary and ‘tentmaking’ instead. I have been working at raising my design and print business from being a glorified hobby to an income earning concern. As you might imagine, this is taking a lot of time. My struggle is that I have not had to do this before, I really have been free to follow whatever I saw God doing. I am sure this series of blogs, albeit spaced out ones, will grapple more with this.
Hope you are well…?
We are well thank you. I hope your business grows satisfactorily – not too little and not too much!