My Name Is John: An Affirmation of Parish Ministry

By John Cree

Having been a clergyman for thirty one years, working in Britain and abroad, John Cree has a comprehensive overview of changes which have occured throughout the latter part of the twentieth century. He illustrates these changes by presenting two excerpts from his personal journals, one from 1976 when he was working as a Methodist Missionary in Africa and the other from 1998 when he was working as a Vicar in an English Parish. Alongside these two journal extracts the author presents the reader with two major theological works, each written in the same period from which the journal extracts are taken.
With this material written twenty two years apart, the author undertakes a case study in which social analysis and theological study are used as evidence to affirm the importance of Parish Ministry. The importance of Community, Mission and the Holy Trinity are seen as inter-related elements in affirming the role of ordained and lay Ministry within the Church and community.
The author concludes by anticipating the future for "grass roots" Parish Ministry. He affirms that the Preaching, Pastoral and Priestly role will be as important in the future as has been the case in the past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Dec 6, 2000
• ISBN: 9781469700939

John Cree

John Cree, born in 1944, was ordained into the Methodist Ministry in 1969 and the Church of England in 1983. He has served in a variety of "grass roots" ministries in the United Kingdom and in Africa. He is married with two children and one grandchild.

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Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part 1

The West African Republic

The West African Republic Journal i

The West African Republic Journal ii

The West African Republic Journal iii

A Theological Paper on Mission i

A Theological Paper on Mission ii

Part 2

The Parish of Fenton

The Fenton Journal i

The Fenton Journal ii

A Theological Dissertation on the Trinity i

A Theological Dissertation on the Trinity ii

A Theological Dissertation on the Trinity iii

Part 3

Comparisons

Affirmation

About the Author

Appendix

Notes

Acknowledgements

I acknowledge the debt of gratitude I owe to my parents and to the people of West Africa and of Fenton Parish.

In recent days I am grateful to Fr. John CR for his spiritual guidance, and to the Urban Theology Unit, the Graduate Theological Foundation, and to Dr. Morgan and Canon Strudwick for their academic stimulation.

I admire the dynamism which our Bishop brings to our Diocese, and appreciate his support whenever I have needed it in the parish.

I am grateful to Sarah and Janet for grappling with my dyslexia and reviewing an original draft, and to my son-in-law for helping to format the manuscript for presentation to the publisher.

Most of all I thank my wife and children who have supported and endured with me throughout my Ministry.

Introduction

My name is John. I write this at the close of the twentieth century and have been a Clergyman for thirty one years. It has been an interesting time in which to Minister within the Church. I studied for the ordained Ministry in the 1960’s, a period during which many taboos were shattered, and in which a revolution took place in theology. The result destabilized much of what had previously been regarded as fixed within the Church. One outcome of that is that only four of the fifteen men who trained along side me in Theological College still remain within the active Parish Ministry.

During the interim years since I was at Theological College, not only has the role of the Parish Clergyman been mercilessly caricatured and mauled by external agencies such as the media, it has also been largely undervalued and even denigrated by many within the Church.

This book is written to affirm the importance of those working in Parish Ministry. It is the Parish Clergy and lay folk, as the foot soldiers of the Church, who keep alive the faith in the hearts and lives of the people of God. Parish Ministers need to be resourced and reaffirmed. This small offering, (an ordinary man’s pilgrimage in Ministry) is written to encourage those who work at grass roots level in the congregations and Parishes of the Church. I hope it may encourage those Clergy and lay folk who have been battered by the media and disheartened by changing expectations within the Church.

Although I am now a Priest in the Church of England I began my Ministry as an ordained Minister of the Methodist Church. In that capacity I served in an English New Town in an experimental House Church, in an inner city Church, in two Lancashire Methodist Circuits, and I spent two tours as a Missionary in West Africa. In West Africa, in addition to pastoral duties I helped to train Priests and Ministers at a Ministerial Training Institution and helped to set up the Urban Team Ministry in the Capital. Whilst there I was invited to deliver a paper to a Conference organized by the All Africa Council of Churches. This paper forced me to think theologically about the situation in which I found myself. Part 1 of this book arises out of that period of my Ministry.

After returning to Britain I eventually moved from the Methodist Ministry into the Priesthood of the Church of England. I said at the time of my removal that I did not reject Methodism but simply embraced Anglicanism. I remain constant in that affirmation. I am now an Anglican Vicar. After thirteen years as incumbent, the Parish I serve remained healthy but had ceased to grow. In an awareness that changes were needed I embarked on a Project in the Parish. As a result of this Project I enrolled on a course which was to lead to the presentation of a doctoral thesis based upon praxis theology. Part 2 of this book arises out of this period of my Ministry.

Throughout my Ministry theological thinking and practical work have gone hand in hand. I hope this inter relationship is illustrated in this book.

None of the material contained in this book was originally written with any intention of publishing it. The chapters were not written as part of a single work, but are distinct pieces of work.

Although this book compares and contrasts the material in Part 1 and Part 2, the material was not originally written to do so. In the individual chapters of this book therefore you will find differences of style and intention. Chapters 2, 3 ,4, 8 and 9 are extracts from my Journal. The Journal has been kept throughout the thirty one years of my Ministry. To indicate its origins as a manuscript document the Journal extracts are printed in italics in this work. The Journal was written (and continues to be written) as a daily accounting to God of my pilgrimage. The Journal was not written with the intention that it should be published. Chapters 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12 are accounts of theological thinking which arise from specific practical situations. Those situations are identified in chapters 1 and 7.

Part 3 contains chapters 13 and 14 which analyze the changing and unchanging aspects of Ministry which have been identified in the course of the book. I conclude the book by attempting to anticipate what the shape of Parish Ministry will be in the future. I suggest ways in which Parish Ministers need to be resourced in the light of the anticipated changes.

What binds together this seeming miscellany of material, is that it all originates from the activities and thinking of an ordinary Clergyman exercising his Ministry in the latter part of the twentieth century. The unity which this book possesses will not be found in its constituent parts, but within the unity of its intention. This introduction and the final two chapters, along with a number of short preambles which link the material together, represent the only fresh material written for this book.

In this work I have sought to recount the practical changes which have occurred for me as an ordinary Parish Clergyman, and from the evidence particularized in these documents I have sought to identify the essential characteristics which have remained constant.

I hope my fellow hard working and often undervalued fellow Clergy and lay Ministers will find encouragement and affirmation as they face the future and shape their Ministry in fulfillment of their call from God.

Part 1

1977

Chapter 1

The West African Republic

Preamble

This chapter sets the context in which the Journal and the theologizing recorded in this part of the book took place. The text is culled from various speeches and presentations about the West African Republic which I gave to inform and enlighten the congregations and audiences which I addressed during my furlough in Britain in 1977. The facts and figures identified were relevant to the late 1970’s.

The Setting

My family and I arrived in West Africa by aircraft in July 1975. I am a Methodist Minister and had served in two British circuits before spending time in a Missionary Training College prior to being sent to the West African Republic. My brief was to help to establish an Urban Team Ministry under the leadership of our Superintendent Minister, a West African Minister. He and I were to be the only full time Clergy, but it was intended that we should train non Stipendiary Local Ministers and lay leaders to form the Team.

I was sent to work primarily with the congregations of five inner city Churches in the Capital. one of the Churches is the largest Methodist Church in the Republic. It has 2,500 adult members and 1,500 junior members. The Church is often filled to capacity, requiring over 30 stewards to be on duty to take the collection. The other Churches, although not as large, have a combined membership in excess of 4,000. Regular contact is maintained with all members of the Church by a lay class leader system. Each class leader is meant to exercise pastoral care of between twelve to twenty other members. It is their responsibility to collect the class pence (i.e. the money paid each week to remain in membership of the Church).

Three of the five Churches are well maintained. The remaining two Churches are in reasonable repair. These comments are relative to the conditions within the Republic. For example the oldest and poorest of the five Churches has no glass in the windows. This means that I have to be careful where I stand when conducting the worship. I have already had one prayer book despoiled by the droppings of one of the fruit bats which have chosen to hang from the beams of the Church.

Sunday worship is formal, after the pattern of the Book of Common Prayer. Matins, Evensong and the Holy Communion are conducted in a fashion not dissimilar to any English Parish Church. The Methodist Churches here continue to follow a nineteenth century Wesleyan tradition. The Sunday worship contrasts with the midweek meetings. They are very vibrant meetings, with rhythmic songs being sung. These are similar to the Negro spirituals which are heard in the South of the United States of America. It is expected that sermons will be about three quarters of an hour long. Anything less and the congregation feels cheated. The congregation does tend to wander in throughout the period of the

service, and so not all the congregation is present throughout the whole service.

During the last two years, in addition to the duties originally specified, I have undertaken additional responsibilities. The limited resources available here, mean that I make a regular bush trek to minister to a number of Churches in the provinces. The Churches outside the Capital are poorer than the city Churches. A typical bush Church could comprise of a lean-to building made of corrugated sheets or of a basic mud construction. In one case I visited a Church where the pan roof had not been replaced before the rain came. All that was left of the Church after the rain was a pile of mud.

I have also become active in training Clergy and lay leaders. I have been privileged to be involved in establishing a Clergy training establishment called the Theological Hall. My wife has become active in teaching at a school in the Capital. My children attend the school in which my wife teaches.

It is possible to enter the West African Republic by road, but that involves a hazardous and hair raising journey along bush and laterite roads. The visitor normally enters the Republic either through its International Airport or its major port. Both of these are situated adjacent to the Capital.

The Capital of The West African Republic can look beautiful from a distance. Many two storey wooden constructed native style houses cluster along the sea front. They do so adjacent to modern buildings which would not be out of place in any European or American city. The city hugs the coast, and rising behind it, are the beautiful mountains of West Africa. Beyond those hills is the interior, known locally as the up country or the provinces. A single, somewhat pitted, tarmacadam road winds its way up country for about 100 miles, before petering out into a laterite track that goes to the border of our neighboring state.

At close quarters the Capital city is less beautiful. The heat, humidity, noise, smell and confusion, requires the visitor to re evaluate the impression gained from a distance. This is an African city typical of many in a Third World Country. It is a small city, vibrant but poor. The Capital is a microcosm of what is to be found in the provinces. Shantys are squeezed into every conceivable gap of spare land. The poor live cheek by jowl with the affluent. Poverty here means hunger.

The West African Republic is situated a few degrees north of the equator. It has two seasons, a wet one lasting about two months, and a dry one lasting about ten. The Republic is a small nation covering only 28,000 square miles (about the size of Wales) and with a coastline 210 miles long.

When the country gained its independence from Britain in 1961 the Colony of West Africa was united to the Protectorate of West Africa. After a period during which the Queen remained head of state the country became the Republic (1971) with an elected president. There is talk at present about the Republic becoming a one party state.

It is difficult to identify the ancient history of the tribes who lived in this part of Africa as written records were not kept. The hot humid climate, or the insect life, would in any case have probably destroyed any records had they been written. However there is no reason to suppose that the two major tribes still inhabiting these areas have not lived there for centuries. Some historians claim that one of the major tribes was inhabiting this area in the second century A.D.. Most of the smaller tribes owe some kinship to one of the two major tribes. The Secret Societies provide bonding for males and females and they continue to flourish throughout the country. Most boys and girls become initiates of one or other of the main Secret Societies.

European records show that the Portuguese landed there in 1462 and, having noted that there was a good supply of pure water, further visits from European ships became more numerous. Europeans however did not establish permanent settlements. Malaria and yellow fever were but two of the diseases which prevented European settlement and accounted for this coast becoming known as white mans grave.

After the development and then demise of the vile trade in slaves, West Africa came into prominence as the place to which slaves from the British Empire could be repatriated (1787). Philanthropists from Britain purchased land to which freed slaves could be returned. The concept of buying and selling land was so strange to the indigenous tribes that they did not recognize that the Europeans believed that they had obtained freehold possession of what became the Colony of West Africa. As one tribal leader said to me. You cannot buy and sell the air we breath. How is the land we live on any different from the air? Are they not both free gifts from God? The tension between the native tribes, who continued to reside inland and the returned ex slaves who lived on the coast, has continued to this day. The belief of the tribal people that they had only given the newcomers the right for the use of the land (probably for a period of time), and the belief of the returned ex slaves that they had the right of possession of the land, is a fundamental conflict which lies at the root of many problems today.

The Protectorate and the Colony have had parallel but different histories over the last two hundred years. The ex slaves in the Colony fashioned themselves after the pattern of Europeans. The tribal people, in the Protectorate, continued to follow their traditional way of life. Thus the people of the Colony were perceived by the British as sophisticated, educated and competent. Africans from the Colony were promoted and provided the teachers, medical doctors, lawyers and judges throughout the British territories along the whole of the anglophone West African coast. The University of West Africa, situated in the Capital, was created by a Missionary Society as a constituent College of a British University (1827), and was the provider of quality education for the elite who became the professionals serving the British Empire along the West African coast.

Today most of the people in the Republic continue to follow pagan tribal animist religion (80% approx.). A further 15% (approx.) are Moslem, that faith having been brought across the desert by traders over previous centuries. The Christian community makes up the remaining population (5% approx.). Ex slaves brought the Christian faith with them in the 1790’s and after settlement they invited Missionaries from Britain to come and work with them. The influence of the Church far outweighs its relatively small membership. Not only did the Church establish the University, it also built, and continues to administer, schools, hospitals and clinics. Many West Africans have gained their education or have been nursed to health through the medium of the Church and have cause to be grateful to it. The goodwill shown towards the Church has brought my family and I safely through some dangerous situations in recent months. We might have been killed on a number of occasions had we not been identified as Christian Missionaries.

The Republic has endured a period of civil unrest. The populous has been under night curfew for significant periods of that time. There have been many deaths. After enduring instability, the West African Republic is now in a period of relative political stability. However, underneath the calm, tensions remain.

The population according to the 1974 census was 3.0 million for the Republic and 280,000 for the Capital City. The overall population growth was said to be 1.6%. Reliable statistics in this Republic are however somewhat difficult to obtain. The general view, even of civil servants, is that the statistics offered to central government by local chiefs will depend upon the reason for which they were requested. If the building of a hospital were dependent upon high statistics then the population figure offered to the government would be high. If the statistics were to be the basis of a