The recent Church Meeting made its call for Richard to extend his ministry for a second term of five years. However the consensus was not as high as Richard would have wished. He said in 'Trinity Matters', his email to 60 or so who have subscribed, "As a minister who has had a lot of experience moderating calls to ministry – it is my practice to review situations where a call falls below 2/3rds of the congregation with care."
It is important to understand where the reservations are - when a significant number of people feel unsure. I would be very wary if any minister felt that they couldn’t address such reservations in a positive way.
I am grateful to the Methodist District, the Circuit, my CiA colleagues; to so many of you and especially to my URC Synod friends in helping me here. You have all given lots of time and energy so that we can reach a place where we know the Spirit has informed us. In the end, I thank my Dad most of all as his professional skills as a mentor (he’s good like that) gave me the advice that has cut the clearest path.
So much that has happened in this first full time ministry that has been a learning process. Mistakes have been made, lessons learned – these also inform the nature of call. Good things have also emerged – good enough to say
I gratefully accept this call, but am mindful that it needs to be reviewed. I would like Trinity to work with me here. I offer one additional year. If it feels right to extend this ministry beyond this, we will reach that decision together."