When all in our garden is not rosy

Abstract

"St AI bans, describes some of the findings of a BUGB task group on the role of local church Moderators and the possible transferability of the US concept of Transitional Ministers (TMs) to the UK scene. The practice of appointing a local church Moderator is, relatively speaking, a very recent development. Telephone conversations with long-serving Ministers among us, such as Frank Cooke, Bill Hancock and David Russell all confirmed that, in many ways, the appointment of a local church Moderator for a pastoral vacancy is a post second world war practice. Before the 1950s, and indeed still often today, the role of a Moderator was filled by either the Church Secretary, by an experienced member of the Diaconate or by someone of equivalent status in the local church. This means that, generally speaking, the practice of appointing an external local church Moderator during a pastoral vacancy is less than fifty years old; that the practice has become commonplace - though never universal- in our Union in a relatively short period; and that some consideration of the topic by the Baptist Union Council, with some guidance on good practice, is overdue"