What’s ESM?
Newly ordained at Burnie, the Revd Jill McCoy(Centre R.) Photo Jonathan Adamczewski
What's ESM?
Jill McCoy spends a lot of time trying to expain Enabler Supported Ministry.
In essence, ESM is about collaboration. Certainly, all ministry can be described as collaboration between us and God. In ESM parishes there is also (as in many other places) collaboration among the members of the parish to ensure that God's work gets done, and collaboration between the parish, the ministry team and the enabler.
The parishes with which I work are all in rural contexts, and I am constantly impressed by the ways in which collaborative ministry reflects many of the strengths of rural communities in general.
Perhaps the greatest strength of ESM is that the people ministering to the local community are part of the community. The same qualities that led the parish to call them out as members of the ministry team are reflected in the way they relate, not just within the church but to the wider community. Their ministry is held in high regard, not because of their title or their licence, but because they are known and loved by a community which they also know and love.
This has all sorts of interesting consequences.
In one town, the ordination of a very well known and highly respected local businessman led to a flurry of weddings, as folk who'd been procrastinating about tying the knot decided they wanted to be married by him. Another ordained team member finds that the miners with whom she works frequently turn to 'Rev' when they need a listening ear. Her pastoral ministry is widely recognised, not just in the workplace, but throughout the town.
Collaborative ministry invites every member of the faith community to give of their best.
Rural communities are, of necessity, quite self-sufficient. They are used to providing their own solutions to their problems. They understand, in ways that many of us have forgotten, the value of working together, the strength of pooled resources.
This has always been manifest in the life of rural faith communities - in the mountain of food that appears at every function, in the bloke who looks after the bits and pieces of woodwork that need doing, in the working bees that keep the buildings in good order.
Difficulties in sustaining continuity in ministry means many parishes have also learnt to rely on their own resources for their regular Sunday worship when no priest is available.
ESM has led some parishes to discover that when this resourcefulness is allowed free rein in the life of the church, it leads to rich and diverse team ministries. Many people find that they had gifts they had never named, and abilities they had never dreamt of. Together, we discover new possibilities and find exciting and creative responses to challenges, collaborating with that greatest of all resources, the Spirit of God.