Ordained Local Ministry: practice and best practice.
Principal Supervisor: Associate Professor Bernard Doherty
Co-Supervisor: Reverend Dr Geoffrey Broughton
Anglican Australian rural dioceses are facing increasing difficulties in providing ordained ministry in small communities. One strategy has been to ordain a local for locally ordained (non-stipendiary) ministry. The background to the research will include an examination of different examples of ordained local ministry including a brief overview of Ordained Local ministry in the UK and the USA (especially Nevada).
While the project will include the collated policies of the 23 Australian dioceses, the Australian focus will be on the dioceses of Bathurst, Willochra, Tasmania and possibly North Queensland. I will examine the roles and expectations of Ordained Local Clergy from the perspectives of diocesan authorities, parishes and the clergy themselves. This will involve considering discernment processes, training, support (from the church community, local community and the diocese), and what transition practices are offered to support the OLMS who must usually retire into their own communities.
As the training and experience of Ordained Local Ministers is so different from the traditional training and experience of stipendiary priests, it does raise questions about Anglican Ecclesiology and perceptions of ordination.
The project will present models and case studies leading to effecting practice.
All my theology study has been through Charles Sturt at St Mark’s. These courses are: the Graduate Diploma in Theology, Master of Theology and Master of Ministry. As I must study by Distance Education, I automatically thought of Charles Strut for a D.Min.
I am a retired priest in the Diocese of Bathurst, having been ordained as an Ordained Local Priest but transitioning to stipendiary. Previous membership of the Company of the Good Shepherd will assist with this research project.