Practising being a ‘Minster Model’

How does the ‘Minster Model’ work in The Diss Team?

The collection of parishes which makes up the Diss Team Ministry operates what is
known as a ‘Minster model’. This kind of model works on the basis of having one
central parish acting as the hub to the remaining five. Geographically, the
market town of Diss, is seen as the nearest social and economic hub for its
neighbouring communities – people shop there, use the local medical centre,
High school, and catch the train to further destinations – so it makes good
sense that the work of the parish church in Diss should act as a resource to
the others villages in the area besides caring for itself. It has the largest
number of people attending worship and an active group of clergy and Readers
who are able and willing to go out and support smaller congregations.

During the last fifty years many of the parishes of the Church of England have found
it very difficult to finance a priest for itself, with the consequence that
many are combined together to somehow make the system of ministry work. This
has often proved impossible to operate with many a priest falling ill with
stress or leaving the profession altogether. Subsequently, in the same period,
alternative ways have been tried to answer these difficulties, and the minster
model – a return to a more monastic system that pre-dated the parish system –
has come to be tried and implemented again.

In the Diss Team there are two Stipendiary priests, ably supported by a Trainee
Curate and an Assistant Priest with two Lay Readers and one Authorised Worship
Assistant (AWA). They all minister in the central church (Diss) but also go out
to the five other parishes to conduct services and offer spiritual/pastoral
support. This they do in the mid-morning on a Sunday, and weekdays, but return
to worship together on a Sunday evening so as to be refreshed and encouraged by
each other. They also meet for Morning and Evening Prayer during the week to
ground all they do in prayer. The belief is that each member of the Ministry
Team is part of a ‘monastic order’ and so speaks and represents each other
where ever they go and minister. This has a two-fold result that parishioners
in all six parishes can be securely cared for, without such ministers becoming
ill with a demanding workload.

The minster model is therefore a monastic model as developed by the likes of St.
Benedict in the fifth century, whose rule was based on a team of ministers
worshipping together and offering it to others, as well as learning together and
for others, and providing a safe space for people to live and grow in the
Christian faith. Consequently, worship and learning groups are offered in the
centre (Diss) and in each parish, but also with the request that some things
are done just in the centre to which the outer groups of people are required to
attend. The great festivals of the Christian year – excluding Christmas and
Easter – are only celebrated in the centre, rather than in each parish, to
avoid duplications in small numbers. And all administrative meetings such as
Wardens meetings are held in the centre, in what is sometimes referred to as
‘the Chapter Room’.

The operation of this model is greatly helped by the presence of a Team Office with
a paid Administrator, who is also a member of the Ministry Team but who does
not take services. This role is designed to check that everything is covered
and no one is over-looked.