Guidance for those who are considering becoming a Locally Recognised Worship Leader or an Assembly Accredited Lay Preacher in the URC.

It has been written primarily for people exploring a call to become either a Locally Recognised Worship Leader or an Assembly Accredited Lay Preacher. You may already be involved in leading worship in your local church and are interested in developing your skills and gaining formal authorisation as a Locally Recognised Worship Leader or an Assembly Accredited Lay Preacher within the United Reformed Church.

The URC has two kinds of formally authorised ministry for leading worship: Locally Recognised Worship Leaders and Assembly Accredited Lay Preachers. The second part of this guidance details the training and development of both these ministries. It also gives an overview of the expected role and characteristics of Worship Leaders and Lay Preachers.

Discerning a call

You may be surprised to be considering training to be a Locally Recognised Worship Leader or an Assembly Accredited Lay Preacher; perhaps someone has asked you to consider it, or you have become aware that God has been prompting you to explore it. Whatever your initial response (which could include pride, joy and/or fear), we suggest you take your time to discern if it feels like a call to you – or definitely does not.

Advice and guidance for those exploring a calling to the Ministry of Word and Sacraments in the United Reformed Church

The guidance is in two parts:

Part One explores ‘call’ and the discernment process and also describes the URC’s candidating and assessment processes.

Part Two details the expected characteristics of ministers, provides an overview of the role and its core responsibilities and looks at the various working patterns for ministers.

In the URC ministers can be stipendiary or nonstipendiary and the information here applies to both; for information on the four models of non-stipendiary work, see Part Two: The Role.

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• Become a Minister of Word and Sacraments (PDF | 2mb)

A prayer for those exploring God’s call

Loving God
guide me as I seek your way for me;
When I am overwhelmed by the thought of my future
help me to search openly
and listen for your call.
Set before me the example of Jesus Christ;
Fill me with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit
that I may respond generously in loving service
with the special gifts you have given me
trusting in your grace.

Amen.

_{© 2020 Nicola Furley-Smith}

Church Related Community Work (CRCW) in the URC is a vital part of the ministry of the whole people of God and is based on a vision of the Church as an agent of social change. It is a distinctive ministry with equal status to the ministry of Word and Sacraments.

Church Related Community Work

• recognises where the Gospel is lived out by people and communities, even if they do not use the name of God
• involves commitment to justice and peace and is not afraid of costly involvement with people
• often happens among people who are disadvantaged, for example by poverty, poor health, limited education and job opportunities and broken social networks
• involves working with individuals and community groups, residents’ and housing associations, schools, voluntary and statutory organisations
• happens when CRCWs are commissioned to a church, Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) or group of churches that has been accredited as a CRCW project
• challenges the church to engage with, and to reflect theologically, on local community work so that community development goals are brought into its own life – its order, outreach, worship, mission and ministry.

Who can become a Church Related Community Worker?

• Anyone who has been a URC member for at least two years and who believes that God is calling them to this ministry.
• Those with experience of community development work – prior professional training is not essential.
• Those willing to work in partnership with individuals, congregations, Elders and Ministers of Word and Sacraments, to help the church become more involved with its neighbourhood.
• Experienced individuals from other denominations can apply for a Certificate of Eligibility to become a CRCW.
• Prospective candidates should discuss their interest with their local church and minister, and then contact the Development Worker (CRCW & SCM) at United Reformed Church House (details below ).

Training

• CRCW students study at Northern College, Manchester, which is part of the ecumenical Partnership for Theological Education. Although Northern College is the training centre, CRCWs in training do not have to move to Manchester to study.
• Students spend a minimum of eight-twelve hours per week on a placement – within reasonable reach of their home where possible.
• Modules are delivered largely in blocks over extended weekends. Modules combine community development learning with contextual theology.
• Graduates of the four-year course receive a foundation degree (FdA) or BTh, accredited by the University of Durham, Common Awards.
• The United Reformed Church normally pays student fees and may provide a maintenance grant.
• The course is endorsed by the England Endorsement and Quality Standards Board for Community Development Learning.

Remuneration

The ‘terms of settlement’ are the equivalent to those for ordained ministers of Word and Sacraments. Qualified stipendiary CRCWs receive a stipend and pension; housing is provided in a manse or a housing allowance is paid. Non-stipendiary CRCWs may receive a salary ‘from other sources’ or work on a voluntary basis.

For further information

Please contact your synod office or the Development Worker (CRCW & SCM).

CRCW Office
The United Reformed Church
86 Tavistock Place
London WC1H 9RT
steve.summers@urc.org.uk
020 7916 8653

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• Become a Church Related Community Worker (PDF | 703kb)

This guidance is for those who have been asked to consider a call to eldership by their Minister or an Elder in their congregation. It is also relevant to those who have become aware that God is calling them to service in the Church and wish to find out more about eldership.

It gives an overview of the role, core responsibilities and necessary skills and abilities of post holders. The functions of the Elders meeting are set out in The Basis of Union.

A word of reassurance – individual Elders are not expected to have all the gifts, skills and abilities listed – eldership is definitely a team activity!

Eldership is, without doubt, challenging – and in some ways, as the role has developed and changed over the past ten years or so, the challenges have grown. But so too has the level of fulfilment and the potential for Elders to make significant, creative and exciting contributions to the life of their local church and community and the wider United Reformed Church.

Eldership has always been both a privilege and a responsibility – but it’s also deeply fulfilling.

Children’s work volunteer

Find out more about the role and what would be expected from you

Youth work volunteer

Find out more about the role and what would be expected from you

Children’s and youth work elder

Find out more about the role and what would be expected from you

General Assembly member

Find out more about the role and what would be expected from you

Committee convenor

Find out more about the role and what would be expected from you

Committee member

Find out more about the role and what would be expected from you

Management & admin roles

From becoming a church secretary to joining the welcome team, find out  about the roles that are essential to the day-to-day running of your local church

General Assembly roles

From becoming a member of General Assembly to a committee convenor, find out what roles are available and what each one entails

Working with children & young people

From becoming a youth worker to children’s work volunteer, find out how you can support young people in the URC

Guidance for those who have been asked to become the Safeguarding Coordinator, or deputy, in their local United Reformed Church. It seeks to define safeguarding in the context of Church, as well as setting out the core responsibilities and necessary skills and abilities of safeguarding coordinators.

Please note that the information also applies to churches of the URC that are part of a Local Ecumenical Partnerships (LEPs) which use the URC Safeguarding Policy rather than one of the other denominations in the LEP.

What is safeguarding?

Safeguarding refers to both the actions taken to promote the welfare of children/young people and adults, specifically putting preventative measures in place to protect those who are at risk of, or experiencing abuse, harm or neglect; and having effective procedures in place should something go wrong.

The URC’s safeguarding policy Good Practice 6 defines a child as anyone under 18 years of age, and an adult as anyone aged 18 years or over. It recognises that, for certain purposes, Scottish law treats 16- and 17-year olds as adults.

Adults at risk replaces the term ‘vulnerable adults’ and refers to adults who ‘by reason of mental or other disability, age, illness or other situation are permanently, or for the time being, unable to take care of themselves, or to protect themselves against significant harm, abuse or exploitation.’

The need for the role

All United Reformed Churches are required to appoint a safeguarding coordinator for children and adults at risk. (A deputy should also be appointed if possible.) It may not be possible to find one person who is able or willing to take on safeguarding tasks for both the children and adult safeguarding roles. In this case, separate coordinators could be sought, with deputies if possible. Smaller churches may like to consider appointing one or two coordinators for a group of churches.

These appointments are open to anyone except ministers and their spouses/close relatives. They are also open-ended, although potential candidates may like to discuss a ‘fixed-term’ appointment of three or five years.

What’s involved in the role?

Those appointed to the role of the church safeguarding coordinator (or deputy) are expected to have knowledge of the specific requirements of safeguarding children and adults at risk and be willing to attend appropriate safeguarding training/refresher training every three years organised by the Synod.

The core purposes of the role are:

• to coordinate safeguarding policy and procedures in the local church
• to ensure that the local church’s safeguarding policy is fit for purpose and updated annually
• to be the first point of contact for all safeguarding issues in the church
• to offer support to those known to pose a risk to children and adults, including supervision and referral to the appropriate agencies
• to ensure that any allegations, concerns and complaints about abuse or neglect discovered or suspected is recorded, reported and shared safely within and beyond the denomination as appropriate
• to be an advocate for good safeguarding practice in the church
• to ensure safeguarding training and safer recruitment arrangements for relevant volunteers and paid staff are in place – and that those concerned understand why they need to attend training courses
• to refer safeguarding matters to statutory authorities and the Synod Safeguarding Officer.

A sample role description, giving much more detail, is provided here as an Appendix to Good Practice 6.

Key abilities, characteristics and tasks of safeguarding coordinators

• Ability to keep sensitive information confidential – information relating to any alleged abuse/safeguarding incidents in the local church will normally be only shared with a small group – the Synod Safeguarding Officer, the minister or interim moderator, the statutory agencies to whom a safeguarding referral is being made (such as Children’s or Adult Services and/or the police). The Synod Safeguarding Officer should always be informed whenever referrals are made to any statutory agency.
• Calm, consistent, fair, hard to shock – you may be involved with challenging situations concerning people you/the church have long trusted … you must act appropriately and in line with church policies at all times.
• You must be willing to be easily contactable – and prepared to make your details public to enable anyone to contact you directly at any time. Best practice would be to have a dedicated safeguarding email address (a free one from Gmail or Hotmail would be adequate) accessible only by you, alongside a mobile number. (You might want to think about a safeguarding mobile; a cheap phone and sim, for receiving safeguarding calls. A key advantage of this is that the phone can be passed on to those covering for you when you are away etc.)
• To be wise and have sound judgement – including knowing when to seek advice and from whom.
• Accurate record keeping – when confidential safeguarding information is shared, a record should be made of when it was shared, with whom, in what form, for what purpose and whether it was disclosed with or without informed consent. Similarly, any decision not to share any such information should also be recorded.
• An efficient and organised administrator – among other things safeguarding coordinators are responsible for completing the safeguarding section of the Annual Church Return. For more information on the Annual Church Return, specifically how to complete the safeguarding section, please see Appendix H1 to Good Practice 6.
• To advocate effectively – making others in the church aware of all relevant safeguarding policies and procedures.
• To report annually to the Elders and/or Church Meeting and the Synod Safeguarding Officer – anonymising information as appropriate.

Confidentiality and information sharing

While safeguarding coordinators must keep confidences as appropriate, legislation makes it clear that information about a person will sometimes need to be shared without consent for the purpose of safeguarding the welfare of a child or an adult at risk.

In such cases the key consideration is that the information sharing is carried out appropriately and with due regard to proportionality, which means ensuring that whenever information is disclosed a fair balance has been struck between the individual rights of the person and the relevant justification.

The decision-making process must weigh up what might happen if the information is shared, against what might happen if it is not shared. Information sharing should always be limited only to those who have a need to know (see above) and if in doubt, advice should be sought from the Synod Safeguarding Officer.

The appointment

If, having thought and prayed about the role, you decide to say yes, the appointment will be made by the Elders who serve as trustees and have primary responsibility for all aspects of safeguarding in each local church. The process of making the appointment varies from church to church but, however it is done, a key outcome is ensuring that the safeguarding coordinator is known by and has the support and trust of the congregation as a whole.

The time commitment

When there are no incidents and concerns to deal with the time commitment is minimal – obviously when dealing with a safeguarding incident the time spent on the role will increase. Most safeguarding coordinators spend an average of 5-10 hours a month on safeguarding-related work – this includes administration work, attending meetings and/or reporting incidents etc to the synod safeguarding officer or statutory authorities.

January might be busier as data needs to be compiled and submitted to the Synod for the Annual Church Return.

Sources of information and support

There’s plenty of information and support available for local church safeguarding coordinators. In addition to regular training, Good Practice 6 is an invaluable source of information. The URC website has an extensive safeguarding section containing resources, guidance documents and excellent information on all areas of safeguarding children and adults at risk. We strongly recommend that you familiarise yourself with Good Practice 6.

Seek to develop a good working relationship with your Synod’s Safeguarding Officer (a full list can be found here) and consider asking for a mentor – perhaps a safeguarding coordinator at a nearby United Reformed church, or the outgoing safeguarding coordinator at your church if appropriate.

And of course, the national safeguarding office at United Reformed Church House in London is there to help and can be contacted at safeguarding@urc.org.uk or on 0207 520 2729.

And finally …

Please don’t be overwhelmed by the scope of the role, or the amount of information to read. Don’t forget you’ve been approached about this role because someone has seen in you the necessary combination of drive, characteristics, experience and abilities needed for ‘your’ local church.

Speak to the outgoing safeguarding coordinator and/or ask the person/people who approached you for more information on the realities of the role in your local church. And remember, advice and guidance is readily available from those mentioned above; although this is a crucial role it’s not meant to be a burden!

Safeguarding people is an important part of the URC’s mission. We are called to journey together alongside both those who have been abused and those who have abused; and together we work to ensure the Church is a sustained community of care where everyone – particularly the most vulnerable – find a place of love, pastoral care and support.

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• Become a Safeguarding Coordinator (PDF | 1mb)

Safeguarding

Resources, information, advice and support on safeguarding

Guidance is for those who have been asked to consider becoming a children’s work volunteer in their local church.

God calls children to be a blessing and a gift! Their spirits are filled with innocence, joy and laughter which can be a blessing to us all. In our ministry with children we are called to release this blessing on the world around us.

This guidance is for those who have been asked to consider becoming a children’s work volunteer in their local United Reformed Church; it aims to give an overview of the role’s scope and core responsibilities as well as the necessary skills and abilities of post holders.

The information herein applies equally to all volunteer children’s workers, including those working with Pilots and the uniformed organisations such as Guides, Scouts, Boys’ Brigade and Girls’ Brigade – but these latter groups will provide their volunteers with specific training and guidance.

Defining the age range

For the purposes of this guidance, children are defined as being aged from birth up to age 11 (Year 6).

Most churches divide the children into at least two groups – 0-5 and 6-11 – and where numbers of both children and workers allow, it’s good practice to further split both groups, so the church would have:

• a creche for the very youngest children (birth to two years¹)
• a group for the three to five-year olds
• a group for the five to seven-year olds and;
• a group for the eight to eleven-year olds

All groups can run at the same time with different activities and workers.

Children’s work covers a wide age range and while all age ranges benefit from dedicated ‘specialist workers’ – some skills are interchangeable. Very often individuals have skills best suited to working in a particular age group – not to mention a preference for a particular age range.

Don’t hesitate to be clear about any age-related preferences you do have – you will almost certainly be more effective if you enjoy the work! Likewise, if you have been asked to consider becoming a children’s work volunteer and absolutely know it’s not for you, just be honest and say so – it really would be the best outcome for everyone!

What do children’s work volunteers do?

Children’s workers are privileged to share in the blessing of spending time with children, learning from them and developing relationships with them as co-disciples walking the way together.

Children’s workers could be helping in a creche, toddler group or one of the older groups and obviously their responsibilities depend on the age of the children they are working with – there is a huge variation in the work/activities of those who work with very young children, and those who work with eleven-year olds.

Typical tasks could include:

• Helping children keep good hygiene² (including changing the nappies of infants and toddlers in a creche environment) and ensuring the toys and equipment are clean, and suitable for use.
• Supervising and monitoring the safety of children in the group.
• Enabling the children to grow in faith and encouraging them to share their faith within their family.
• Talking to and playing with children in a way suitable to their age, while always maintaining the adult/child relationship. It’s essential for children’s workers to talk to children on their level, but always avoiding being patronising – we are called to be childlike, but are never called to be childish
• Organise activities that allow children to learn about the world and explore their interests – always being aware of their development stage.
• Develop activities to ensure that children have a balance between physical activity, rest, and playtime based on their developmental stage.
• Speaking with confidence to parents/carers.

In addition, children’s workers should help children understand concepts around good manners including how to share and take turns by playing games with their peers.

Young children learn from playing, solving problems, questioning, and experimenting and effective children’s workers use play and other techniques to help children’s development – for example, they use storytelling and rhyming games to teach language and vocabulary, and team activities such as building something may help improve children’s social skills as they work with others. Creative pursuits such as art, drama and dance are also a recommended part of the activity mix.

We strongly recommend reading the Children’s work volunteer helper and/or the Children’s work volunteer leader role descriptions. Obviously, they’re not specific to your church but will provide a good starting point for you.

Safeguarding responsibilities

You’ll have a duty of care to protect children in any activity or event within the church or other church-led activities; and you’ll need to have (or commit to gaining) a good working knowledge of relevant child protection procedures, particularly how to recognise abuse and what to do if you are concerned about a child and come across any disclosure of abuse or neglect.

Familiarise yourself with the relevant sections of Good Practice 6, the URC’s handbook on safeguarding policy and procedures – and speak to your church’s/your synod’s safeguarding coordinator if you have any questions.

You will also be required to attend basic and intermediate safeguarding training – and renew it – every three years. Your local church and synod will arrange this training for you. If you volunteer with Scouts, Guides, Boys’ Brigade, Girls’ Brigade or another similar group, you will have to attend that organisation’s safeguarding training unless a different arrangement has agreed between the Church and the partnered organisation.

More general safeguarding issues include:

• Ensuring the programmes you’re running are appropriate to the age of the child
• Making sure the activities are risk assessed and;
• Ensure the collection of children is done in a safe way (a passwords or similar system is recommended).

And remember, no children’s worker should ever be asked/to look after a group on their own. If you are asked to do this, or to cover duties you are uncomfortable with, speak with a responsible person in your church, preferably the Children’s and Youth Work Elder. You are entitled to the church’s support.

As a children’s work volunteer involved in regulated activities with children, you will be required to agree to, and sign, the URC’s Code of Conduct for working with children or young people, attend mandatory safeguarding training and undertake a free of charge Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check (England and Wales) or, if you are in Scotland, be registered with the Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) scheme to have a check.

The DBS/PVG verifier in your church will be in contact with you once you have agreed to become a children’s work volunteer; you will not be able to start working with the children until you completed your safeguarding training at the appropriate level and your DBS or PVG check has been received and reviewed by the church. As part of your safer recruitment process you will also need to provide two referees.

Expected skills and characteristics of children’s work volunteers

You have been asked to consider being an children’s work volunteer because those who have asked you have already recognised in you many of the expected traits and characteristics – and don’t forget that resources and training are also available, so you can learn/improve on the specific skills once in role.

Necessary skills include:

• Communication skills – not only in communicating with the children, but being able to talk with parents and other children’s workers about the children in your care. This includes both sharing information clearly and listening to the parents attentively.
• Decision-making skills – good judgment when responding to emergencies or difficult situations.
• Instructional skills – you need to be able to explain things in terms young children can understand.
• Interpersonal skills – you need to work well with people and be able to develop good relationships with parents, children, and other leaders.
• A working understanding of the development stages of children – this is knowledge that all group leaders must possess and is extremely useful, but not essential, for other volunteers.
• Patience – working with children can be frustrating, so you need to be able to respond to overwhelming and difficult situations calmly.
• Being playful – working with children and understanding how play develops their learning, can require physical stamina and sometimes, if you are able, you’ll need to get down to their level.

What is the time commitment?

There are two angles to look at here – how long will you be expected to volunteer for, and what is the average weekly time commitment.

In terms of the length of service it’s good practice for churches to be clear that these roles are undertaken for a period of three years and then reviewed. (If this is not the system that operates in your church you might like to suggest it.)

It’s also sensible to set a probationary period – perhaps of three months – for all children’s work volunteers. This provides an opportunity for both parties to try out the role and see if it works for both you, the volunteer, and the group.

The ongoing weekly time commitment will obviously vary depending on the role taken on and how much preparation work is required for the group. The younger age groups often require more preparation work. A good rule of thumb is an hour’s preparation time for an hour’s group, but volunteers will also be expected to set up and tidy up after groups, and this could include wiping down of toys. Talk to existing group volunteers or the leader to get a better idea of the weekly time commitment.

What preparation and development will I receive?

All synods have a children’s & youth work specialist on their staff – in many, but not all, synods these are known as the Children’s & Youth Development Officer (CYDO) and in this guidance CYDO+ is shorthand for the synod C&YW specialist, whatever their job title. Collectively this group of people is known as the CYDO+ team.

Your synod’s CYDO+ is a core resource and can provide training for all children’s workers – talk to them as soon as you can. They’ll run training workshops, arrange your safeguarding training with the synod safeguarding officer, may provide bespoke training and will also be able to guide you towards other recommended training/training providers, possibly including your local authority. They may also be able to help with funding for some courses.

Other resources

There is an absolute wealth of children’s work resources – particular recommendations include:

• The URC’s website – include plenty of resources which are downloadable with ideas, books and activities as well as pertinent information for the age groups. Investigate the resources for children under 11 (being aware that sometimes groups lose the eleven-year-olds as they are ready for, and have moved up into the youth group).
• You may like to subscribe to the URC Children’s & Youth Work bi-monthly newsletter. It’s free and full of helpful, up-to-date, information including book recommendations.
• ‘Core skills in children’s ministry’ is an excellent six-module course that the United Reformed Church recommends and includes material on the stages of child development, alongside information on planning and programming, how to develop faith and how to work with others. Within the URC this course is most often delivered by the CYDO+ team – if you are interested in taking this course please speak to your CYDO+.
• 1277.org.uk support church-based toddler groups and offer some very useful resources with information and ideas on everything from how to set up a room to how to run activities.
• The Scramblers Network has some useful information – they don’t have a website but you’ll find them on Facebook.
• Messy Church has some good resources too. Their training is excellent for those who work/plan to work with children and families.
• The Bible Reading Fellowship has some good materials including The Essential Guide to Family Ministry.
• Godly Play focuses on developing children’s spirituality and is good for all age groups. If you’re interested, you’ll need to do their training – talk to your CYDO+ first.
• Faith Adventures: Children Together  is a free weekly resource from the URC to help you plan and deliver Bible-based, child-centred, engaging sessions for ages 12 and under. Session outlines provide ways to experience, explore and express faith together through Bible readings, stories, prayers, activities, and wondering together, with a postcard home to enable children and families to nurture their faith in daily life.
  Families on Faith Adventures @ Home – designed during lockdown to promote faith at home and a link between church and families, this resource provides lots of ideas, with an easy-to-search Bible index to help you find what you’re looking for.

A service of commissioning or dedication

Many churches offer a service of commissioning or dedication for children’s work volunteers. A sample service is available.

The last word

Please don’t be overly daunted by this guidance! Looking after the children connected to the church is both a privilege and a responsibility.

Doing it well can be challenging – but remember, someone in your church who knows you well has seen in you the qualities and characteristics that are needed to be an effective children’s worker.

It’s unlikely that you’ll arrive at the first session as a fully formed and completely fabulous children’s worker but, if you are interested and thinking of saying yes, there are plenty of people, training opportunities and resources – both printed and online – to help you become one!

<sup>1. At the time of writing (Autumn 2020) specific information about working with creche-aged children was being prepared. It’s planned to be available on the website by the end of this year
2. Assisting with the personal care of babies and toddlers (indeed anyone under the age of 16) requires consent from parents/carers and anyone assisting with personal care must ensure that this consent has been given</sup>

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• Become a children’s work volunteer (PDF | 1mb)

All churches are encouraged to have an Elder with particular responsibility for children’s and youth work. This guidance has been primarily written for those who have been asked to consider a call to being such an Elder for their church – although it will also be useful for those who have recently taken up the role.

Throughout this guidance we have used the term ‘C&YW Elder’ as shorthand for any Elder with particular responsibility for children’s and youth work. Please see the bottom of the page for more information on this.

This guidance focuses on the particular tasks and required skills of the C&YW Elder and has been written to be read in conjunction with the They’ve asked me to be an Elder guidance. C&YW elders are full members of the Elders Meeting – they fulfil all the duties of an Elder but with the additional and particular responsibility for children’s and youth work.

They’ve asked me to be an Elder explains what Eldership is, as well as detailing the core roles, responsibilities and expected characteristic of all Elders. Taken together these two resources should help you decide if you are being called to be an Elder.

And, it’s worth remembering these golden nuggets of wisdom from an experienced C&YW Elder: ‘As a C&YW Elder you are an Elder first, C&YW Elder second … a passion for children and young people is crucial – and your age is completely irrelevant!’

The additional key attribute for C&YW Elders

Over and above the attributes listed in the They’ve asked me to be an Elder there is just one additional, essential, attribute: to have a passion for, and commitment to, the welfare and spiritual growth of all children and young people connected to your local church. If this sums up you, then read on!