Resources for Clergy
This page is currently being updated, in the interim period please contact the Bishop's Office for further information 01332 840132.
Page Includes Training Opportunities & Grants / Sabbaticals
Continuing Ministerial Development (CMD)
Revd Susie Curtis, Ordained Ministries Development Officer, has responsibility for the CMD programme for clergy.
Training Opportunities within the Diocese
How to Use AI in Ministry
led by James Lawrence from CPAS
Monday 20 April, 1pm to 2pm
Online via Zoom (use the link in the button below)
We hear so much about AI. Some see it as their 'saviour' (it isn't!), others as leading to the apocalypse (it won't). We'll explore practical ways to use AI in ministry that will utilise AI as a contributor to your leadership. No knowledge of AI needed. Sceptics welcome!
All things young people
Monday 18 May, 1pm to 2pm
Online via Zoom (use the link in the button below)
A chance to meet the new Diocesan Lead for Growing Younger and the wider Growing Younger.
Following St Francis of Assisi: lessons for everyday ministry
led by Simon Cocksedge and Brother Samuel SSF
Monday 15 June, 1pm to 2pm
Online via Zoom (use the link in the button below)
The 800th anniversary of Francis' death is 4 October 2026. In this session, Br Samuel SSF [Franciscan friar] and Simon Cocksedge [Third Order Franciscan] will each offer brief presentations considering how this significant Franciscan date might be used in everyday ministry this autumn. There will also be time for discussion and sharing of ideas.
Upcoming events
We have a number of events for licenced clergy and those who offer a preaching ministry in the diocese:
Women in Ministry Day
This session is for female clergy.
Wednesday 6 May, 10am to 3pm
St Alkmunds Church, Kedleston Road, Derby
Light refreshments will be available but do please remember to bring your own lunch. Book your place here.
Working with Teams, led by Rev Nicky McGinty
This session is for all licenced clergy.
Tuesday 19 May, 10am to 4pm
St Barnabas Centre, Pilsley Road, Danesmoor, Chesterfield
Working in churches often involves team working. Our focus for this day is how can we create, build and develop teams so that they are effective. We will also explore ways to respond when teams are not working well. This will be a blend of theory, practice and theology to help us improve our ability to collaborate well. Nicky is a highly experienced trainer, consultant, facilitator, coach and reflective supervisor based in Leicestershire.
She is a self-supporting priest in the diocese of Leicester and an honorary canon of Leicester Cathedral.
Light refreshments will be available but do please remember to bring your own lunch. Book your place here.
Trauma-informed Ministry: Moving forward in a changed world, led by Rev Tim Treanor
This session is for all licenced clergy.
Tuesday 7 July, 10am to 3.30pm
St Barnabas Centre, Pilsley Road, Danesmoor, Chesterfield
Participants will explore: Physically responses to trauma, chronic stress, anxiety and conflict; The impact of trauma on communities and organisations; How churches might respond in considered, creative and sustainable ways; Where God is in all of this.
Rev Tim Treanor accompanies ordained ministers as a pastoral supervisor, facilitator of Reflective Practice Groups and Spiritual Director. Influences on his practice include serving as a Team Rector, Ignatian spirituality, group analysis and contemplative prayer
Light refreshments plus lunch will be available. There is space for 12 to 18 participants which will be allocated on a first come, first served basis. Book your place here.
Preaching the Lectionary - Mark, led by Rev Amy Hole
These sessions are for all who offer a preaching ministry in the Diocese of Derby.
Monday 2 November, 7pm to 9pm
Online via Zoom
Tuesday 3 November, 2.00pm - 4.30pm
St Johns Walton, Walton Back Lane, Chesterfield
Rev Amy Hole is Vicar of Christ Church Heeley in central Sheffield, serving a large parish with considerable socio-economic needs. The church is racially diverse, with a range of ages, and is broadly low evangelical in worshipping style. Alongside parish ministry, and serving as area dean, Amy is also an Associate Tutor at St Hild College, where she currently teaches New Testament Greek, Preaching, and Reflective Practice, and she writes Bible notes for Scripture Union.
The session is offered on line via zoom or in person please complete a booking form according to your preference. Book the online session here or book the in person session here.
How to Lead a Church where Discipleship Thrives, led by Matt Hogg CPAS
This session is for all licenced clergy.
Tuesday 2 February, 10am to 4pm
St Barnabas Centre, Pilsley Road, Danesmoor, Chesterfield
This training day equips leaders to embed discipleship and formation into everyday church life. We’ll explore simple rhythms, practices, and culture-shaping influences that can help people move from spiritual curiosity to lasting commitment, growing deeper in their faith and trust in Jesus over time.
Light refreshments will be available but do please remember to bring your own lunch. Book your place here.
Dear Friends
I am happy to write that Bishop Alastair has commended me to the post of Chaplain to the Retired Clergy within the Diocese, assisted by my wife Rachel Mookerji. The Bishop is very keen to see that all the Retired Clergy are given all help, care and support particularly in their time of need, realizing how much time and effort they give to maintain the much cherished parish ministry within the Diocese. Our personal initiative will be to maintain the relationship with each other and to this end importantly praying and where necessary visiting them.
I am grateful my predeccessors have already established the link between the local Retired Clergy and the Retirement Officers so called the Deanery Representatives. We will continue with the tradition of an annual phone call to each one knowing how valuable this could prove pastorally for all of us. However, we believe the Pastoral Care of the Retired Clergy is of course primarily the responsibility of the local Parish Priest, and where necessary they would contact wither their Deanery Representatives, or us directly for any specialist care and support, and if any particular need arising we would then liaise with the Bishop.
We have been in the Diocese for over 30 years, and now happily retired and live in the Parish of Church Gresley in Repton Deanery. Our journey to this diocese began in the year 1985, when I served my title at the Parish Church St Lawrence, Heanor, and then moved to St James, Codnor, my first incumbency; in the same deanery stretching over 17 years; and which laid a firm foundation to our life and ministry in this country. We finally retired from the Parish Church of St Marks Winshill, in the Repton Deanery after having served the parish for over 13 years. It has been a priviledge to serve this diocese and now commended by the Bishop to serve the Retired Clergy in the diocese.
We have two sons Michael (Jr) married to Bryony and they have a daughter called Elsa and live in Norway, Noel married to Nathalie and have two children Noah and Yasmin, and live in London. by God'd grace they are all doing well in their respective families, and we all have a happy family bond.
We now joyfully look forward to serving our Retired Clergy friends within the diocese, and take this opportunity to wish you all a blessed year 2016, and may God bless is all richly with good health and happiness.
Regards
Revd Michael Mookerji
01283 335582
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“I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”
The pitfalls of ministry are many and various and when the going gets tough there is almost always a personal cost both to ourselves and those amongst whom our lives are set.
The Apostle’s frustration is rooted in an honest self-understanding, a recognition that alone we will adopt unhealthy or misconceived ways of living that take us away from the person God yearns for us to be.
Wellbeing is not an add-on.
Wellbeing is not an optional extra for those who have the time.
Wellbeing is not a matter for people less busy than us.
Wellbeing is a Gospel value, for it is about choosing to be the person God intends, indeed yearns for us to be… to have life and life in all its fullness.
Taking wellbeing seriously is a non-negotiable part of our ministerial lives if we are to flourish as God’s people and for those who have made ordination vows, live them out with integrity.
You will hopefully find resources here to help you do that.
They are intentionally diverse, as not everything will speak to everyone and they are not the solution to anyone’s problems in themselves, but a starting point offered to help each of us in our different contexts take responsibility for our own wellbeing.
Get in touch
These pages are constantly under review, so that we may all receive assistance and appropriate advice in a quickly changing ministerial environment.
We welcome your feedback. If there is information missing from these pages that you or others may find helpful, please contact and let us know: julie.fowler@derby.anglican.org | 01332 278172.
The Clergy Wellbeing Advisory Team
January 2024
Role descriptions were introduced into the diocese to complement and inform Ministerial Development Reviews (MDR), and are a requirement of the Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Regulations 2009.
The following documents will help you write a role description which you are advised to develop after you have been in post for six months, and when you have met with your Archdeacon at the six month review point:
How to write a Role Description
Role Description Template Curate
Role Description Template Incumbent
Role Description Worked Example
Should you have any questions or queries regarding the development of your role description please contact Mandy Roberts at Derby Church House: 01332 388650, mandy.roberts@derby.anglican.org
Downloads:
Section 1: Common Tenure explained (Word)
Section 2: Starting and ending an appointment (Word)
Section 3: Stipend, Fees, Expenses, Grants and Pensions (Word)
Section 5: Personal and Professional Development (Word)
Section 6: Clergy holiday, rest periods, other time off and working time (Word)
Section 7: Family-friendly policies (Word)
Section 9: Discipline, capability and grievance procedure (Word)
Section 10: Equality and dignity at work (Word)
Other policies
The Ministerial Development Review Scheme
MDR is a shared process of reflection and discernment in which you and the reviewer assigned to you by the Bishop explore and articulate how your ministry is developing in your local context.
As disciples of Christ, we all seek to go on learning and growing in faith, and this is especially so for those of us who serve, lay and ordained, as leaders in the church. We do so in mutual relationship, as part of Christ’s body. The Ordinal speaks of a shared ministry, a working together within the Body of Christ. This implies a mutual accountability. Our wellbeing and further development in ministry invite regular reflection in changing times and contexts.
We pray that this will be a blessing both to you and to those you minister amongst. Your wellbeing as a person and as a priest is at the heart of this process. It is our hope that all clergy will find MDR both affirming and encouraging, as together we consider the part we play in God’s mission here in this Diocese of Derby. We hope that you will make the most of this opportunity so that your ministry can flourish and thrive.
The MDR scheme is co-ordinated by our Director of People and Ministry Development Claire Lees and administered by Julie Fowler at the Parish Support Office at Church House. Email: MDRadmin@derby.anglican.org
Your MDR
We are continuously looking to improve the MDR process, and building on the work done last year, have made some additional changes for this year which we hope will help.
Further information about these changes will be sent out to all who are due to have a full or interim review this year.
The documentation you will need to complete your MDR along with guides to help you through the process can be found below.
MDR Form 1 - Critical Friends Feedback [Word]
MDR Form 2 - Personal Reflection Form (Revised for 2025) [Word]
MDR Form 3 - Full Review Summary Note, Learning & Goals Development (Revised for 2025) [Word]
MDR Form 4 - Interim Review Summary (Revised Sept 2025) [Word]
New Online Forms 3 & 4
MDR ONLINE Form 3 - Full Review Summary Note, Learning & Development Goals: https://bit.ly/Full_MDR.
MDR ONLINE Form 4 - Interim MDR Summary: https://bit.ly/InterimMDR.
USER Guides
MDR User Guide 2025 [PDF]
MDR Reviewers Guide 2025 [PDF]
See also: Role Descriptions
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The Capability Procedure enables the bishop to address, through a fair and transparent process, the problems that arise when clergy fail, for whatever reason, to perform their duties to an acceptable standard. The procedure is designed to be supportive and to give clergy the time, training and resources they need to improve. If in the last resort an officeholder is removed under this procedure, he or she will have the right to bring a claim of unfair dismissal to an independent employment tribunal.
Copies of the Code of Practice and the guidelines can be obtained from https://www.churchofengland.org/search-results?keys=common+tenure
It is important to note that the purpose of the capability procedure is improvement. It is also appropriate to draw your attention to the words in Part I Introductory note of the Code of Practice (Page3) which makes it clear that it is expected that most performance related matters will be identified and addressed informally without engaging the procedure. Nevertheless there will be times when informal steps will not be appropriate and in these instances the procedure will be used.
The Diocese undertakes to train all those who will be involved in capability panels so that they may properly fulfill the requirements of the procedure and the principles that underlie it. Further detail of the Diocesan approach may be found in Section 9 of the Clergy Handbook (Common Tenure)
Listed below are policies that are applicable to all clergy within the Diocese of Derby. The list below is not exhaustive and is in the process of being updated. If there is anything that you need that you so not see below then please contact Jackie Croft at jackie.croft@derby.anglican.org or telephone her on 07799 644589.
The capability and grievance procedure, applicable to clergy on common tenure may be found by clicking on the following links: Capability procedure. Grievance procedure.
If you have any query in relation to the Parsonages Handbook please contact Nigel Sherratt at nigel.sherratt@derby.anglican.org
| File | File size | Last Modified |
|---|---|---|
 Senior-Staff-Review-SSR.pdf |
480 Kb | 20/04/10 16:48 |
| Supplement-to-Form-A.pdf |
58 Kb | 20/04/10 16:53 |
| MDR-Introduction-intro.pdf |
295 Kb | 20/04/10 17:03 |
 Senior Staff Review SSR.doc |
815 Kb | 14/05/10 09:54 |
| Supplement to Form A. doc |
177 Kb | 17/05/10 08:37 |
| Introduction to MDR |
286 Kb | 13/07/10 14:21 |
| Peer-Assisted-Review.doc |
848 Kb | 13/07/10 14:23 |
| Alastair's Theological Preface |
46 Kb | 07/04/11 09:25 |
| Guidelines for Payments from the MDR Outcomes Support Fund (March 2012) |
25 Kb | 15/03/12 14:27 |
| Bishop's List of PAR Reviewers (updated Jan 2013) |
88 Kb | 24/01/13 13:33 |
Welcome to the Clergy Support area of the website. It is very much work in progress and so please visit it again to see what has been updated. If you have any query about any of the clergy support contents please contact the relevant page owner.
If you have a general enquiry or would like us to add anything to this area of the web-site please contact Jackie Croft, Diocesan HR Adviser at jackie.croft@derby.anglican.org or telephone her on 07799 644589.
The Bishop’s Adviser on Clergy Safety & Security is Jackie Croft, who is also the Diocesan HR Adviser.
There is a free counselling service available to all clergy and their immediate families in this diocese, which if you are struggling, could be of significant value to you personally. We offer individual and couples counselling and counselling for the children of the clergy.
The service provides a safe and confidential space to unpack any sort of emotional distress, whether it is from relationships inside or outside of the family, or issues related to your working ministry that just aren’t working at all well. Maybe you have experience some losses and bereavement, depression and anxiety, a sense of loss of vocation, or anything else that is getting you down and is draining your energy and good will.
Please contact Judlie Fowler at julie.fowler@derby.anglican.org to start the process of placing you with one of our experienced, qualified and accredited counsellors near to you. The Diocese of Derby pays in full for eight sessions of professional counselling which is completely confidential.
