For many ministers, the pressures of recent years have been immense. Now, help is at hand. Following a successful pilot program that 96 per cent of participants found beneficial, pastoral supervision is being rolled out across the Diocese.
Ministry Training & Development is supporting clergy and lay ministers by introducing confidential, one-on-one sessions with trained supervisors. The initiative was a recommendation from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse and was agreed to by Synod two years ago.
“For nearly 50 years, pastoral supervision has been standard in many helping professions such as counselling and chaplaincy, providing care, encouragement, and professional development,” says Sarah Balogh (above), the manager of pastoral supervision at MT&D.
“It provides ministers a dedicated space to reflect on and address the complexities of their ministry. We believe this will positively impact both their wellbeing and those they serve.”
Last year, participants in the pilot program overwhelmingly agreed that supervision was beneficial to their ministry practice. It will be rolled out over two years, with a formal review scheduled in five years’ time.
Some rectors have already experienced the advantages of this approach. One supporter is the former rector of Roseville, the Rev Mal York, now Dean of Students at Moore College.
“When I started at Roseville, part of my employment agreement was to find a pastoral supervisor,” Mr York explains. “In God’s providence, that happened during COVID.
“As we all remember, ministry during that time was incredibly stressful – managing staff, figuring out how to implement change, and just trying to keep church life going. Having someone I could talk through those issues with, and run ideas by, was enormously helpful. In fact, it kept me a bit sane.”
Having an objective sounding board provided perspective and made reflection clearer.“People sometimes wonder, ‘Why do I need supervision? Ministry is going well, I’m fine’,” Mr York says. “But... we all have blind spots. We don’t see them until someone helps us notice.
“There were times I came to my supervisor convinced I’d handled something really well. But his questions made me stop, reflect, and sometimes realise I hadn’t done as well as I thought. Having an outside voice that can challenge us and help us reflect makes us better ministers in the long run.”
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