Pastoral Measure 1983 (repealed)

Team and group ministries E

20 Establishment of team ministries. E

(1) A pastoral scheme may make provision for the establishment of a team ministry for the area of any benefice, and such a scheme shall provide—

(a) for the sharing of the cure of souls in that area by the incumbent of the benefice which, if it is not or would not otherwise be a rectory, shall be a rectory and one or more other ministers who shall have the title of vicar and a status equal to that of an incumbent of a benefice; and

(b) for the pastoral care of persons in that area by those who are to share the cure of souls therein together with all other persons who are from time to time authorised by licence or permission of the bishop to serve in that area as members of the team.

The persons who are to share the cure of souls in the said area shall constitute the team chapter, and the team chapter together with the other persons referred to in the scheme by virtue of paragraph (b) of this subsection shall constitute the team.

(2) The office of rector in a team ministry shall, according as the scheme may provide, be either a freehold office or an office to be held by each holder thereof for such term of years as may be specified in the scheme; but the fact that the office is held for a term of years shall not affect its other attributes as a benefice and, in particular, the rector shall be a corporation sole and as such hold the property of the benefice during his term of office.

(3) The office of vicar in a team ministry shall be an ecclesiastical office constituted by the scheme and shall be held by each holder thereof for such term of years as may be specified in the scheme or fixed in accordance therewith by the bishop’s licence; and the vicar shall, during that term, have the same security of tenure of his office as an incumbent of a benefice, and shall not be affected by a vacancy in the benefice of the rector.

(4) A pastoral scheme establishing a team ministry may designate the first rector (who may be the existing incumbent) or the first holder of any office of vicar but, subject to any such provision,—

(a) the rector shall be presented or collated to the benefice, as the circumstances require, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Schedule 3 and the provisions of the scheme made thereunder;

(b) the vicar or vicars shall be chosen in accordance with paragraph 2 of that Schedule, shall be appointed to the office by licence of the bishop under seal and, unless the bishop otherwise directs, shall be publicly admitted in a church in the area.

(5) Where a pastoral scheme designates a person as the first holder of the office of vicar in a team ministry, the bishop shall offer to issue a licence appointing him to the office, and if that person does not accept the offer within one month after it is made to him, the designation shall cease to have effect.

(6) The term of years for which the office of rector or vicar in a team ministry is held may, subject to any provision in a pastoral scheme, be extended by licence of the bishop under seal for a further term or further terms not exceeding, in the case of any one extension, the length of the original term, but any such extension shall be personal to the rector or vicar concerned and not affect the term of office of subsequent holders.

(7) The rector in a team ministry shall have a general responsibility for the cure of souls in the area of the benefice, which may be subject to any special cure or special responsibility given to a vicar as hereinafter provided, and shall be responsible for the leadership of the team; and the scheme may make further provision as to the relationship of the rector and other members of the team ministry.

(8) A vicar in a team ministry shall by virtue of his office, but subject to his licence, have authority to perform in the area of the benefice all such offices and services as may be performed by an incumbent, and the scheme or, subject to the scheme, the bishop’s licence may—

(a) assign to a vicar a special cure of souls in respect of a part of the said area and, if appropriate, the name of vicar of a church in that part;

(b) assign to a vicar a special responsibility for a particular pastoral function;

(c) provide that any such special cure or responsibility shall be independent of the rector’s general responsibility;

(d) assign to a vicar a general responsibility to be shared with the rector for a cure of souls in the area as a whole;

and, if any such provision as aforesaid is made by the bishop’s licence, it may (subject to the scheme) be varied or revoked, with the consent of the rector and the vicar concerned, by a subsequent licence under seal.

(9) The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measures 1963 and 1974 shall apply to vicars in a team ministry as if they were incumbents of the benefice for the area of which the team ministry is established.

(10) The rector in a team ministry shall convene meetings of the team at regular intervals for the purpose of discussing and reaching a common mind on all matters of general concern or special interest to the team ministry and shall preside when present and in his absence a vicar appointed by him as deputy chairman shall preside.

(11) Sub-paragraphs (1), (2), (3), (5) and (6) of paragraph 4 of Schedule 3 shall apply to parochial church meetings and parochial church councils in the area of a benefice for which a team ministry is established, and for the election of district church councils and churchwardens, and, if the area comprises more than one parish, for establishing a team council and empowering that council to exercise certain powers.

(12) Where two or more benefices are, or are to be, held in plurality, and a team ministry is established or is to be established for the area of one of those benefices, a pastoral scheme may provide for extending the operation of the team ministry, so long as the plurality continues, to the area of any other benefice so held, and subsections (7), (8) and (11) and the provisions of Schedule 3 therein referred to shall have effect as if the references to the area of the benefice were references to the combined area of the benefices concerned.

Valid from 01/05/1996

[F1 20A Team ministries established under 1968 Measure. E

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, in the case of a team ministry established for the area of any benefice under a pastoral scheme made and confirmed by Order in Council under the M1 Pastoral Measure 1968 (referred to in this section as “a 1968 Measure team ministry”), the scheme shall be deemed to contain provisions of the kind referred to in section 20(1)(b), that is to say, provisions for the pastoral care of persons in that area by those who are to share the cure of souls therein together with all other persons who are from time to time authorised by licence or permission of the bishop to serve in that area as members of the team.

(2) The persons who are to share the cure of souls in the said area shall constitute the team chapter, and the team chapter together with the other persons deemed to be referred to in the scheme by virtue of subsection (1) shall constitute the team.

(3) The pastoral committee of each diocese shall, as soon as possible after the passing of the Team and Group Ministries Measure 1995, send to the secretary of the parochial church council of every parish comprised in the area of a benefice in the diocese for which a 1968 Measure team ministry is established a notice stating that written representations to the effect that subsections (1) and (2) should not apply to the team ministry may be made to the pastoral committee within the period of six months immediately following the date on which the notice was sent, and require him to affix a copy on or near the principal door of every church in the parish and every building licensed by the bishop for public worship in the parish.

(4) Subsections (1) and (2) shall not apply to any team ministry until the expiration of the period of six months immediately following the date on which the notice referred to in subsection (3) was sent to the parishes concerned and if, within the said period of six months, written representations as aforesaid with respect to a 1968 Measure team ministry are received by a pastoral committee—

(a) the pastoral committee shall forthwith refer the representations to the Commissioners, and the Commissioners shall then as soon as possible consider the representations and determine whether or not subsections (1) and (2) are to apply to the team ministry; and

(b) subsections (1) and (2) shall not apply to the team ministry unless and until the Commissioners determine that they are to apply to it.]

Textual Amendments

F1 S. 20A inserted (1.5.1996) by 1995 No. 1, s. 2; Instrument dated 12.2.1996 made by Archbishops of Canterbury and York

Marginal Citations

M1 1968 No.1.

21 Establishment of group ministries. E

(1) A pastoral scheme may provice for establishing for a group of benefices specified in the scheme a group ministry to which the following provisions shall apply:—

(a) each of the incumbents of the benefices in the group shall have authority to perform in the area of every such benefice all such offices and services as may be performed by the incumbent of that benefice;

(b) the incumbent of any such benefice shall, in performing such offices and services in the area of another benefice, act in accordance with the directions of the incumbent of that other benefice;

(c) it shall be the duty of all the incumbents to assist each other so as to make the best possible provision for the cure of souls throughout the area of the group ministry.

(2) Where a group ministry is established, the rights and duties aforesaid of each incumbent shall attach to his office, and accordingly, so long as the group ministry continues and the benefice is included therein, the incumbent shall not be entitled to resign or withdraw from those rights and duties, except by resigning the benefice, and on a vacancy the new incumbent shall be admitted to the benefice as an office in the group ministry, with the rights and subject to the duties thereof.

(3) A pastoral scheme establishing a group ministry may designate the first person (who may be the existing incumbent) to hold any benefice as a benefice in the group, but subject as aforesaid the incumbent of any such benefice shall be presented or collated to the benefice by the patron thereof, with the approval of the bishop (in the case of presentation) given in accordance with paragraph 3 of Schedule 3.

(4) The incumbents in a group ministry shall meet as a chapter for the purpose of discussing and reaching a common mind on all matters of general concern or special interest to the group ministry; and a pastoral scheme may provide for the chairmanship of the chapter and, in default of such provision, the members shall elect a chairman, normally for a term of three years; and the chairman shall convene meetings of the chapter at regular intervals and shall preside when present, and in his absence a deputy chairman appointed by the meeting shall preside.

(5) Paragraph 4(4) of Schedule 3 shall apply for the establishment of group councils and for conferring certain powers on such a council.

(6) A pastoral scheme may include in a group ministry a benefice for which a team ministry is established, and in that case the foregoing provisions of this section shall apply to all the vicars in the team ministry, as well as to the rector, in like manner as they apply to the incumbents of the other benefices in the group, except that directions to those incumbents in respect of their ministry in the area of the benefice for which the team ministry is established shall only be given by the rector.

(7) In this section, except subsections (2) and (3), “incumbent” includes a priest in charge.

22 Termination and alteration of team ministries and group ministries. E

(1) Without prejudice to the generality of the powers of revocation and amendment of pastoral schemes, a pastoral scheme may—

(a) terminate a team ministry by abolishing the offices of the vicars and restoring the rectory, if it is held for a term of years, to the status of a freehold office;

(b) alter a team ministry by abolishing one or more of the offices of the vicars or increasing the number of such offices;

(c) with the consent of the rector or vicar concerned or on a vacancy, change the office of a rector in a team ministry from a freehold office to an office held for a specified term of years or alter the term of years for which an office of rector or vicar in a team ministry is held;

(d) terminate a group ministry by abolishing the rights and duties attaching to the benefices in the group under section 21;

(e) alter a group ministry by reducing or increasing or changing the benefices in the group;

(f) provide for such supplementary, consequential or transitional provisions as may be necessary or expedient, including in particular the provision relating to patronage required by paragraph 1(12) of Schedule 3 and provisions relating to the matters mentioned in paragraph 4 of the said Schedule.

(2) If a benefice for which a team ministry is established is dissolved by a pastoral scheme, the offices of the vicars in the team ministry (as well as the office of rector) shall cease to exist, without prejudice to the creation of such offices for any benefice created or altered by the scheme.