On Saturday 26 February the Diocese of Dunedin Lay Ministers' training was moved on-line, with nearly 60 people participating by Zoom.

After Morning Prayer with Bishop Steve, Steve spoke of his "expectations"of lay leaders, which are strongly connected to the Diocesan vision of a people who "read the Bible, pray and live out the risen life of Christ", encouraging people to have a regular routine of times in the day when they do this, as well as recognising our dependence on God. (Please note, the above video kicks in after about 7 minutes). 

Diocesan Community Ministry Enabler, the Ven Dr Anne van Gend led a stimulating session on new ways of being church, including a wide range of models that started from what we already know (traditional parish structures with paid clergy and laity)  through to a huge variety of other options (Anne's presentation is attached below). Minister models, local and regional shared ministry, ecumenical ministry, various chaplaincy models, team models, on-line church...right through to looking for and encouraging green shoots i.e. small beginnings, study groups etc.

After this, the training day went into break out rooms to hear Rev'd Vivienne Galletly reflect on Pastoral Care in a COVID world and Diocesan Ministry Educator the Ven Dr Michael Godfrey with the topic of leading extended communion.

Pastoral Care in a COVID world

Among the resources that Vivienne Galletly shared was a reminder that in any connecting we are doing with people, we need to be present, have an overarching sense of "shalom" (peace), not to try and problem solve everything but instead be active listeners to draw out the story of what is happening in people's lives. 

Being grateful (even in very trying circumstances) is really important (see https://www.begreat.co.nz/ ) and we have wonderful resources that we can connect to, such as the practice of Examen (an end of the day reflection that can follow a variety of formats, but includes asking for God's grace, giving thanks for God's gifts, recognising our faults, asking for forgiveness and looking forward to tomorrow), through to wider mental health resources such as those found on https://www.sanctuarymentalhealth.org/. Why not let more people know about the 1737 number to text, or 0800 1737 1737 to phone which connects to mental health in a time of crisis?

The Pastoral Care Handbook by Rev'd Graham Redding is also worth looking at. 

Vivienne also shared a Margaret Rizza video she often uses in her chaplaincy ministry that can help people to connect into God's love and presence:

A recording of Michael Godfrey's session on Extended Communion can be accessed below:

Please note: there were a few questions in Michael's session around communion, using individual cups etc. Some issues around this are covered in our Pandemic Response Framework, from page 18-19: We don't recommend using individual cups when the virus is spreading in the community. On page 11 the question of using individual cups at Level 1 was tackled and some suggestions made as to how this could be done safely, but, again, this was prior to our current Red setting.