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Having been a lay pioneer minister for a number of years before training for ordination, I can tell you with some certainty that this simply not true. The resourcing of pioneer ministry is minuscule compared to the parish, and the two should not be forced into a binary /1 https://twitter.com/giles_fraser/status/1291326884513538050
I lived below the poverty line for several years, surviving on grants, individual giving and the proceeds of selling my house to move into an area of deprivation. Almost none of my funding came from the CofE. /2
Take a look at the job ads - almost all the pioneer posts are for parish based pioneers like me. The modal and sodal have existed in tension since Acts. Many of these critics would write mendicants like St. Francis off as part of a neoliberal take over. /3
I worked on a diocesan FX/Pioneer project during my ordination training. You wouldn’t believe the pains we went to to make sure we made no financial burden on diocesan structures. /4
A quick spy into pioneer chat groups will tell you that pioneers suspect they will be the first to have their funding cut due to COVID. Many are seeking their own self-sustaining / low cost models because they do it because they believe in it, not for a career. /5
I’m getting very tired of this ‘persecuted minority’ narrative coming from supposed defenders of the parish. Pioneer projects are funded and overseen with scrutiny and measurements which would lead many parishes to have a breakdown. /6
I have and have had the pleasure of working alongside many brilliant and supportive parish priests as a pioneer - and indeed hope to be one of these allies myself one day. This is about the common good, not a power grab. /7
The subtle allusion that it is about a ‘charismatic’ takeover bid is all wrong. Yes, some are appropriating the pioneer language to advance their projects, but the vast majority of pioneers I’ve met in places like @CMSPioneer don’t fit this stereotype. (Myself included) /8
Can we please stop the infighting and scapegoating and address our concerns about sustainability to the structures who make the decisions, not the people struggling on the ground with almost no resourcing because they love God and neighbour and want to bring some hope. /9
If anything what we are seeing is the natural process of the routinisation of charisma as Max Weber described it. People with almost no resource are achieving brilliant things with God’s help, of course the hierarchy will want to encourage this during terminal decline! /10
This has actually been a painful process for some pioneers like me as we feel we are pulled away from the coal face to be routinised in the institution. The reality is before all this I probably wouldn’t have had a hope of going into ordained ministry given my background /11
But through observing everyday practice Mother Church has recognised a call and vocation in me, despite the lack of the right school tie and the right social connections. Don’t dare say I’m part of some sneaky ploy to overthrow the church, it’s incredibly insulting! /12
Rant over. Love and sparkles y’all. /13
Your sincerely, pioneer about to do a doctorate in ‘Careerist Bollocks’.
