LLM6: Guidelines for Assessors

Introduction

The purpose of the assessment interviews are to assist the Area Bishop and selection panel with some evidence that there is a vocation rooted in a strong faith and that there is potential for public ministry or that the candidate may be guided in another direction. Given below are the selection criteria that candidates, incumbents and referees are given.

The assessment interview

An assessment interview should last between and an hour and an hour and a half, and should be followed up with a brief report and any recommendation to the Area Warden of Licensed Lay Ministers.

The selection criteria have been updated and replaced with assessment against a list of qualities.  The qualities are

• Love for God,
• Call to Ministry
• Wisdom
• Fruitfulness
• Potential

For more detail, please refer to the LLM Qualities Grid (download a Word version here) which is available to download as a candidate-facing document from the diocesan website.

These will be used for the discernment process from 2023.

Alongside the qualities you may like to consider whether the candidate:

• has a reasonable working knowledge of the structures and culture of the Church of England and is firmly rooted in their local church community
• has the ability to speak openly and creatively about their faith
• can speak of their faith journey and communicate it to others
• has a secure and rooted spirituality
• is open to the diversity of traditions within the Church of England
• is able to engage creatively with change and an ability to help others to do so
• has the ability to communicate in a wide range of contexts and to understand the views of others
• can demonstrate a commitment to theological study and be willing to undertake the three year course at St Mellitus College or the Christian Studies Plus course at St Edmund’s.

What are you looking for in a candidate?

There are three core giftings that LLMs will have to fulfil in their ministry. When being considered for selection they will need to show potential to:

• clearly know and express the good news of Jesus Christ
• teach and train others in the Christian faith
• be leaders in ministry and mission, in partnership with incumbents and other lay leaders in the parish

And candidates should be capable of undertaking satisfactorily a course of study and ministerial preparation with an open and enquiring mind.

It is likely that LLMs will undertake a specialism in one or more of the following areas. However, all candidates for LLM should be able to show some potential in all of these areas of ministry:

• Preaching and Leading Worship (including All Age Worship)
• Christian Formation and Development (including Evangelistic Courses, Discipleship Training & Small Group work)
• Pastoral Ministry (including marriage and baptism preparation, funeral and bereavement ministry)

 

Qualities Grid

View the qualities grid online as a PDF

Download a Word version of the qualities grid

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