(From another list):

UC clergyperson:

The Australian Uniting Church Code of Ethics makes it clear that it applies to all ministers (and a range of other people) whether they are in an approved placement or not.

Rowland: (From the sidelines in this interesting discussion…) (I’m serious): who are these ‘other people’ who are *not* ‘ministers’?

UC Clergyperson again: The Code says it applies to MINISTERS OF THE WORD, DEACONS, DEACONESSES, YOUTH WORKERS, COMMUNITY MINISTERS AND LAY PASTORS IN THE UNITING CHURCH IN AUSTRALIA – (sorry, too lazy to retype and it’s in caps in the original document). In our Presbytery, it also applies to lay ministry assistants and anyone employed as a Youth Worker who doesn’t happen to be accredited as a Specified Ministry of YW – basically anyone who is employed by a congregation or agency in a job that involves providing pastoral care.

Rowland again:

Yep… I know that’s the kind of wording in all the mainline churches’ codes/lingua franca, and what I’m actually suggesting (and I confess upfront that I have a minority view on the subject):

1. The language we use to describe our theology/practice is important

2. Using the term ‘minister’ in the singular is inconsistent with the notion of the ministry of the whole church and everyone in it, and

3. The perceived and implied elitism/territoriality in such usage is actually killing the church (that’s not an overstatement from my viewpoint).

See, specifically, the ethological/power approach to this issue: http://jmm.org.au/articles/8109.htm

(Note the move towards calling ’em ‘pastoral leaders’ in the Victorian Baptists’ Code of Ethics is a good move IMHO…)

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Shalom! Rowland Croucher

July 2006