Supporting Parish Officers

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Making it easier for parish officers

Here we offer information to help make it easier for you to run a successful parish.

Without your time, your gifts and your selfless dedication, it would be a lot harder to further the mission of God.

We recognise that serving God in this way can be difficult. There are plenty of legal responsibilities and church regulations that you will need to follow.

We can’t get rid of everything but, where we can, we will make it easier for you to carry out your role. We are committed to making processes simpler and giving you clear information. We will aim to interpret policies to help you work out what you need to do.

To start with, we have information and links to support that make it easier for

  • Church Wardens
  • Secretaries
  • Church Treasurers
  • Church Safeguarding Officers
  • Parish Administrators

These pages will be updated and, where necessary, hold training and events that make it easier for you to fulfil your role.

Being a Churchwarden is a key role in the life of a parish

As a lay volunteer, you take on important roles and responsibilities alongside your vicar. You are responsible for the smooth running of your church and are considered by many as the leading members of your church community.

You need to make sure the church (and often its grounds) is well maintained, carry out certain legal and administrative duties and serve on your Parochial Church Council (PCC). Your role as Churchwarden means that you are a Bishop’s Officer, which also carries certain responsibilities.

Parishes are expected to have two Churchwardens who are elected annually at the Meeting of Parishioners (part of the Annual Meeting). Some parishes with multiple buildings may also have Deputy Churchwardens or a number of Assistant Churchwardens. Each individual will have their own strengths, weaknesses and interests so working together will help make it easier to get everything done.

There is a lot to do and it can seem daunting, so this area of the website aims to make it easier for you to carry out the role of Churchwarden. It sets out your roles and responsibilities, what support you can get and gives details of extra information that can help you in your role.

Thank you for your willingness to fulfil this role. Churchwardens are one of the great gifts of the church and our prayer is that, as you carry out your duties, you will feel supported and enhanced in your vital ministry.

Term of office – 1 year

Churchwardens are elected annually at the Meeting of Parishioners, which is open to adult residents of the parish, as well as those on the Electoral Roll.

National Church rules provide for Churchwardens to serve for up to six consecutive years. One role for a Churchwarden is to help identify a successor.

Parishes should try to ensure that other important jobs like school governor, serving on Deanery Synod, a representative on Churches Together, Parish representatives during an interregnum or PCC Lay Vice-chair, are not automatically added to the Churchwarden’s role.

We hope this section makes it easier for you to be a Churchwarden. If you can’t find exactly what you are looking for, please follow the links below for more information.

Churchwarden Training Event with the Diocesan Registry

31st October 2024

Following on from the Church Wardens’ training sessions the Archdeacons’ Team ran earlier in the year, the Diocesan Registry will now be holding two sessions of training on the process for faculties and guidelines on churchyards on the following dates, to include a Q&A session, which will be held in the St Aidan’s Centre in St James’ House (L1 7BY):

  • Thursday 31st October, 3–5pm
  • Thursday 31st October, 7–9pm

To book on to one of these sessions, please do so here. You need only attend one of these sessions.

Useful links

The role of Treasurer is crucial as it enables the PCC to plan and resource mission

The Resources Team is available to offer help to church Treasurers through the provision of training, mentoring and resources.

The areas supported include:

Training sessions are advertised within the weekly diocesan Bulletin.

We hope these pages will make it easier for you to be a Treasurer. If you can’t find exactly what you are looking for, please look at the Talking Money and Governance matters pages within the For Parishes menu. Alternatively try out the improved website search function.

The Treasurer’s Year

The following linked page provides a general guide to the Treasurer’s Year. It lists the main tasks each Treasurer or PCC Finance Team needs to complete and roughly when each year these should be done.
Keep on track by clicking here for our useful guide to what a Treasurer needs to do.

It is also worth noting that the same person does not need to undertake all the tasks of a PCC Treasurer alone. They can very successfully be carried out by a team of people; for guidance contact the Resources Team.

Useful links

Useful Contacts

Cath Gaskell
Finance Resources Officer & Gift Aid Officer
cath.gaskell@dioceseofliverpool.kinsta.cloud

Gordon Fath
Resources Officer
gordon.fath@dioceseofliverpool.kinsta.cloud

Kim Stanley
Mission and Pastoral Officer & Information Systems Officer
kim.stanley@dioceseofliverpool.kinsta.cloud

A guide to the activities treasurers ned to carry out every year can be found here

The role of PCC Secretary is a pivotal one for parish governance.

Appointment

The position of Secretary to the Parochial Church Council is an annual appointment, made by the PCC at its first meeting after the parish’s Annual Meeting. A PCC must first look to one of its own membership to be its Secretary, but if no one is willing to take on this role then the PCC can appoint someone from outside of the PCC. Depending on the local situation, it is possible for the role of PCC Secretary to be undertaken by more than one person ‘in tandem’.

When a person from outside the PCC is appointed PCC Secretary, this does not make them a member of the PCC.

Role

The main role and purpose of a PCC Secretary is to act as clerk for meetings of both the PCC and the Standing Committee.  Their main tasks are,

  • to record the minutes of PCC and Standing Committee meetings
  • to timely publish meeting agendas and previous minutes to the PCC members
  • to send and receive correspondence on behalf of the PCC
  • provide names and contact details of parish officers to the diocese
  • notify the Deanery Synod Lay Secretary of any changes in the names of the parish’s Deanery Synod Representatives

Additionally the PCC Secretary should,

  • record and publish the minutes of the parish’s Annual Meeting
    (Meeting of Parishioners & Annual Parochial Church Meeting)
  • keep record of Churchwarden, Deanery Synod and PCC elections to ensure that,
    – Churchwardens do not serve more than six consecutive 1 year terms of office
    – Deanery Synod and PCC members know when their respective terms of office are coming to an end
Other Tasks

While the tasks listed in the Role section above are the main ones for any PCC Secretary, depending on the individual and the organisation of the local parish, PCC Secretaries may also take on further general parish administration duties.

Meeting Standing Orders

A set of Model Rules for Parish Governance are published as part of the Church Representation Rules and apply to all Church of England parishes. These rules are written by our General Synod, passed in to legislation by Royal Assent and form one of our parish’s governing documents as a UK charity.

Useful Contacts

For all matters relating to parish governance contact,

Gordon Faith
Resources Officer
gordon.fath@dioceseofliverpool.kinsta.cloud