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A New Kind of Oversight

Sarah Pix reflects on substantial opportunities and essential challenges
5 August 2026 by
A New Kind of Oversight
CPAS



Sarah Pix

Leadership Enabler

E: spix@cpas.org.uk 

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. 
Acts 20:28


‘This is not what I was trained for. I’m not even sure if it’s what I’m called to.’ 


Comments such as these are not uncommon in my interactions with clergy. There’s been a quiet shift in expectations of clergy through the years. 

In 1784 Raeburn painted Rev Robert Walker skating on Duddingston Loch. The image is considered one of Scotlands finest paintings. No-one entering ordained ministry realistically has the expectation that they will spend happy hours skating on frozen lochs! But there have been other changes too. At the age of 15, Robert was licensed to the parish of Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh – a single parish. He would have been known, not only to his congregation, but by the whole community. 


Shift

Gradually a shift has occurred whereby many clergy are now being required to lead more than one parish. The rise of the multi-parish benefice was documented by Blanchflower in 2019. He noted that an average of 60% of parishes are now in multi-parish benefices (MPBs). In some Dioceses, this figure is 95%. He also recognised that the number of stipendiary clergy per benefice is decreasing. Many of these benefices consist of two linked parishes, but some are huge (the largest MPB that we know of is 39 parishes!). This change has been driven by numerical decline, accelerated by Covid, leading to financial pressure in dioceses.   

Before we lose hope, it’s important for us to remember that none of this has come as a surprise to Jesus! He hasn’t been taken aback by it! He has not lost hope! He is still on the throne and his kingdom will have no end. However it does mean that the missional imperative of the church is greater than ever, the opportunities numerous, and that something needs to change within the way that churches are led.


Lead differently


There is a requirement that clergy lead differently. The Living Ministry Research reported that clergy burnout is a significant and persistent issue for many clergy. Part of this pressure is surely exacerbated by running around trying to lead five churches in the same way that you would lead one. It doesn’t work. A paradigm shift is required. 

One approach has been the development of Oversight Ministry (OM). This is happening in different ways across the country. The emphasis here is where the overall (usually ordained) leader, is responsible for overseeing the mission and ministry of the whole benefice or mission area. They themselves will do less of the hands-on coal face ministry, and concentrate their time and energy on leadership activities: growing other (usually lay) leaders, thinking, praying and planning, culture change, strategic work. There is a continuum of oversight – all incumbents necessarily operate in oversight to varying degrees. As the level of oversight increases, so does the complexity, the responsibility and the opportunity. 

In some dioceses (Sheffield, Leicester, Truro, Manchester and others) Focal Ministers are deployed. This allows for regular worship to happen in each parish of the benefice. The Focal Minister becomes the ‘face of the place’ – the one who everyone recognises and approaches as the first port of call for pastoral support, provision of regular worship and who galvanises the worshipping community for outreach and mission. The helpful report ‘Anecdote to Evidence’ published in 2014 states, ‘The strategy of grouping multiple churches together under one leader has in general had a detrimental effect on church growth. Multi-church amalgamations and teams are less likely to grow. Churches are more likely to grow when there is one leader for one community.’ It’s this observation which has led to the rise of Focal Ministry. But this is a considerable ask of lay leaders who may have had little in the way of formal training and may not even describe themselves as leaders. So it is crucial that Oversight Ministers are equipped to do their role well, and learn to genuinely release local leaders. 

Danger


There is a danger here that the whole narrative around OM is framed around lack and necessity, rather than possibility and abundance. This is reflected in the difficulty MPBs have in recruiting new incumbents. Our patronage team have noticed that MPB posts are more difficult to fill – we currently have some posts that are on their fourth or fifth round of advertising. And it’s easy to see why. When we talk to clergy about serving in MPBs the conversation is often accompanied by much sighing and furrowed brows. When the conversation moves to identifying, nurturing and releasing other leaders, they often feel that there is not a lot of wiggle room. Congregations are dwindling and aging. But there is a better story, one that is rich with possibility. Jesus teaching gives us a different mindset – he consistently teaches that it is about stewarding the seed, the small thing that has been entrusted to you, doing that faithfully brings growth. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, is like yeast leavening the dough, one picnic feeds a multitude, a widow’s mite is worth more than a large surplus. 


When I engage with a group of OMs, an important part of the conversation is around how to embrace faith and work with what is possible in God’s economy. Recognising what they do have, what God has provided, and encouraging them to pray that other prayer that Jesus taught his disciples ‘Pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers to his harvest field’ (Matt.9: 37-38). How to hold together the reality of their experience, with the hope that Jesus has. How to see what is happening spiritually and not be distracted by the scene on a Sunday morning. 

Formation


Some of these issues can be traced back through the whole formation pathway for clergy. For many, they have been trained for a role that no longer exists. Others have been on a long vocational journey expecting a ministry which primarily involves teaching and preaching rather than leading and growing other leaders. The image of a curate who was very gifted in ministry, but didn’t feel called to the kind of oversight role that he would be offered in his diocese is imprinted on my mind. It dawned on him in the midst of our morning session that there probably wouldn’t be a stipendiary role available to him in his current diocese. Then there was the ordinand who was in a class I was teaching on Oversight Ministry at a theological college. She came to me after the session to say that she felt shaken by what I had shared. If this was genuinely the shape of future ministry it was not something that she felt called to, had the skills for, or had been equipped for. It left her questioning her next move. But there was another ordinand in the same room who came bounding up to me in excitement, ‘This is what I was made for!’ she exclaimed. 


Experiences like these have triggered lots of questions in me: 

  • What kind of people should we be looking for as we discern vocations for the future?
  • How do we equip people and present accurate expectations on their vocational journey? 
  • What needs to shift in clergy training to mean that they are well prepared for the ministry into which they will enter? 
  • What does the Church of England look like in ten years’ time if we are selecting for overseer gifts rather than pastoral and teaching gifts? 
  • How does spiritual oversight differ from management? 
  • How do we deal with the increased governance and administrative demands of oversight? 
  • How do we address the systemic and cultural issues that tether us to a single-parish model in a world where single parishes are increasingly rare? 

National conversation


To begin to unpick some of these issues, a national conversation was convened in March 2026 in Sarum. We gathered diocesan leaders, practitioners, theological educators, and national church representatives to examine the emerging shape of Oversight Ministry within the Church of England – anyone we could think of who had a stake in these questions. Drawing from theological reflection, practitioner testimony, research insights, and facilitated group discussion we reflected on the development of Oversight Ministry and its implications for ecclesiology, governance, discernment, training, and mission. It turned out to be a really significant day – not so much an answering of all the questions, but a mapping of the issues and the start of ongoing thinking, praying and collaboration. Some significant themes emerged:

  • The importance of narrative 
  • The need for clear pathways and language 
  • Oversight Ministry as spiritual, not managerial . OM aligns with apostolic patterns of enabling, multiplying, and sustaining ministry. 
  • Formation gaps 
  • Governance as guardrails clear governance structures do not inhibit creativity; rather, they enable it by providing stability, accountability, and continuity. 

The Roundtable demonstrated that Oversight Ministry is not simply a pragmatic response to declining clergy numbers but a theologically rich, missionally hopeful, and ecclesiologically significant development. The conversations revealed both substantial opportunities and essential challenges requiring careful attention. 

If supported by clear governance, robust formation, and a renewed theological imagination, Oversight Ministry offers potential for a more sustainable, missional, and collaborative future for the Church of England - one that empowers the whole people of God and reimagines leadership for a changing church and a changing nation. 


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