Accompanied Ministry Development or AMD, it doesn’t really matter how you say it, it still sounds a little intimidating. Which is a shame as it’s a wonderfully caring, well thought out and considered way of making life a little bit easier and a little less daunting for our clergy across Cornwall.

Out in the parishes our clergy work hard. Their job is huge and the pressure of being all things to all people at exactly the right time, in precisely the right way with just the right amount of compassion, authority, wisdom, humility…frankly, it’s impossible. And if you feel you’re doing it on your own, lonely too.

Out in the parishes our clergy work hard. Their job is huge and the pressure of being all things to all people at exactly the right time, in precisely the right way with just the right amount of compassion, authority, wisdom, humility…frankly, it’s impossible. And if you feel you’re doing it on your own, lonely too.

The ‘accompanied’ in AMD is the most important

That’s why the most important word in AMD is the first, ‘Accompanied’. AMD isn’t something that’s ‘done’ to the clergy, nor is it a refresher course. As Sally Piper, Head of AMD, says, “The ‘accompanied ‘ bit is really important. It describes how we try to walk with our clergy, journey with them, and listen to what’s going on, what they’re trying to achieve. And then see how we can support them personally, or by bringing in colleagues from Church House. Or by linking them with other parishes or groups that might be able to help them. Or just signposting to places where they might get help to do what they want to do. But mostly it’s about listening.”

Sally Piper, Head of AMD

“The ‘accompanied ‘ bit is really important. It describes how we try to walk with our clergy, journey with them, and listen to what’s going on, what they’re trying to achieve.”

AMD is a series of sessions and residential colleges, held at Epiphany House, to support clergy and parishes in their ministry development. The first incarnation of AMD began in 2014 and was more of an over-arching programme but, Sally says, they are now striving to make the programme more bespoke.

“We really have tried to take on the feedback and make changes,” she says. “One of the joys of AMD is that clergy get to spend time with other clergy from across the diocese. But, for some, it’s as valuable to spend quality time with their own local team of lay and ordained colleagues, and we’ve been able to facilitate that in AMD2. We also heard that it wasn’t realistic to expect everyone to travel to us and that the time away was too long and therefore burdensome on the parishes.”

The next bespoke phase of AMD

So currently AMD2 is working with a cohort made up entirely from the lay and ordained leaders of one rural deanery, including lay people, and the AMD team travel to them. “It really helps us to better understand their needs and to put their particular issues into context. We aim to provide some energy, insights and resources to help them develop their mission in a very rural setting with a group of people who feel a long way away from Truro.”

In order for AMD2 to be truly bespoke, Sally and the team meet with each cohort six months before their programme starts. “Now that we’ve established what AMD is about, we can go to the cohorts and ask, ‘What is it you really need?’ That’s not to say we won’t challenge if, say, we think that they’re not being ambitious enough. We can encourage them to be more ambitious in their mission and respond to what they identify as the needs of their community.”

Sally says it’s a bit like being given a menu at a restaurant. “You can choose from the set menu, go à la carte or even ask for the money and go and buy your own ingredients! The point is the cohort identifies what they want to do and we say, let’s go and create a programme.” The diocese has a wealth of resources available, and will do what it can to develop the right programme to support each cohort.

Why Sally and AMD are such a good fit

Sally loves her job. “It feels like everything I’ve ever done in life has prepared me for this.” And Sally has done a lot. Trained as an engineer, she worked for a multinational corporation before moving back to Cornwall, where she’d grown up. She took up the reins at Victim Support and became involved in the start-up of a string of much needed projects supporting the vulnerable around issues of bullying and abuse. She also trained to be a trainer for those supporting victims of the sorts of crimes nightmares are made of. “I’d like to think I’ve learnt how to hold a group of people, create safe places for people to open up and be vulnerable with each other, to support each other and be available when people are ready to talk. But really, I think I’ve learnt how to listen.”

Sally would cringe, but she’s a Godsend; it’s not everyone who knows how to listen, not try to fix, but journey alongside to help us figure it out.

It’s not everyone who knows how to listen, not try to fix but journey alongside to help us figure it out.