New to being a church warden, help please!

[MeOldBamboo]

Hi, I’ve just been elected as church warden and would greatly appreciate any hints or tips to get started. We have a lot of challenges especially about growing our congregation. What can you tell me please about your experiences please?

As a church warden your job is buildings focused. You don't have to do it all but you are responsible for fabric and maintenance. Your other big job is to look after the vicar. Vicars are often isolated and work stupid hours so is yours burning out, taking holiday, etc? There is a book called Practical Church Management by Behrans that we found really useful. The old church warden had done everything, refused all help, retired and moved away and hadn't told anyone what they did. So the book was really helpful for the new ones who were appointed just before I arrived as vicar.

Thank you so much! We have a vacancy for a new rector at present and have a challenge in growing the church. The previous wardens also did everything and we want to delegate certain tasks out to get everyone involved again. I’m sad there is so much disagreement at present and people have turned their backs on me already and I haven’t even officially started! Keeping strong though because we need change.

I've heard good things about the Church Wardens Handbook, it's on Amazon. I've never been a warden, but have been on PCC for a very long time. A really important thing to look at is separating warden duties and what predecessors have chosen to do as part of their individual calling. I
Do you have a sequestrator for the vacancy or are you taking on those duties?

I’ve bought the book but not yet read it. I don’t know what a sequestrator is yet I’m afraid, I’m that new to it. Best read it quickly!

We don't have those in the C of E.

One of the problems we had with a long term warden was that he did a huge amount including stuff that wasn't in the warden's area of responsibility. This made it really hard to get someone to take on the role as it had got too big.

There are books out there to help you and I know that my PCC secretary would quote the Behren's book a lot as they tried to get to grips with what was a CW job and what wasn't.

What you could do is sit down with the standing committee - this is the only committee you have to have and look at what needs doing and then think though who is going to do it. Part of the art of CW is delegation.

Find the terrier and inventory. Is it up to date? It will really help the new incumbent if it is Find someone good at admin and fine detail and get them to update it if necessary. How are records kept? Is this a good opportunity to ditch what you don't need to keep?

Does the parish have a H and S policy? If not ask one of your neighbouring churches to help or the area dean or the archdeacon's office. Are their risk assessments for things that will be going on in church in the interregnum? If you don't have any they get something on paper. What is the risk, who could be hurt and what are you going to do to mitigate that risk.

What are your cash handling policies? There is guidance on the charity commission website.

I've had all of this issues in churches where governance had stalled back in the 1990s. You may have all or none of them.

Good luck!

A sequestrators is someone who helps manage a lot of the vacancy details during the vacancy, you do not have to have one but it can be useful, especially with a new warden and if there are a lot of duties to perform (you can have them in CofE churches but they are not mandatory) how far into vacancy are you, have you had your section 11 meeting yet? You will be fine, but it is a lot of work. I think of all the wardens I've known over the years in many churches with a lot of love and gratitude.

OK my mistake. It's a technical term. This is from Peterborough Diocese and tells you what to do in a vacancy. There will be lots of help available. Get the area dean on speed dial!

www.peterboroughdiocesanregistry.co.uk/responsibilities.pdf

Thanks - our other warden has done it before and got most things in hand. Area dean fully on board. I’ve got to deal with growing the church with new families. It sounds like it will be organic but thanks for the reference material, I’ll read everything. Outgoing wardens are not exactly being helpful. I have a list but they are not even talking to me at the moment. I thought they would be pleased to retire gracefully but apparently not. They’ve done things their way for years but things have stayed the same.

mostlydrinkstea I think different diocese (and even areas within them) use different terms more commonly than others, but then I still use interegnum half the time for vacancy still!

MeOldBamboo change can be so hard for people. From what I've seen in the past though is that it can be really easy to be bogged down with the day to day admin, growing church pressure, legal stuff but it's really important for you to still be spiritually nourished, even if that means occasionally going to another church, where you won't have to fill in something because someone hasn't shown up or be always on duty. Don't let yourself burn out.