People

Pastoral Assistants

Persons who are not ministers, home missionaries or deaconesses may be employed by congregations for a variety of purposes.

Where an employee’s responsibilities will involve functions that are primarily pastoral (including teaching), the person will be categorised as a pastoral assistant. Pastoral assistants may be “supervised” or “unsupervised” but all must hold theological convictions that are consistent with those of the Presbyterian Church.

Supervised assistants work in the same congregation as the minister (Moderator) of the pastoral charge and may be appointed only when the presbytery does not object to the proposed appointee. Unsupervised assistants work in a different congregation to the Moderator or Interim-Moderator and may be appointed only when the presbytery resolves to approve the proposed appointee.

Appointments are made “in accordance with the financial arrangements approved by the congregation and the presbytery, and shall also be made in accordance with the Schedule for Pastoral Assistance maintained by the committee on Ministry and Mission. In the case of the appointment of a Candidate for the Ministry, the approval of the committee on Theological Education is also required.” (Rule 5.41)

In other words: where the terms of appointment are pro-rated to the standard remuneration for home missionaries and the position is “supervised”, only the approval of the congregation and presbytery is required. If the terms of appointment are not pro-rated to the remuneration for home missionaries, the approval of the Ministry and Mission Committee will also be required.

A contract must be issued to every such employee and templates for the employment of both supervised and unsupervised pastoral assistants are provided below to assist church leaders.

Templates and more information on the process of appointing a Pastoral Assistant may be found here.