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PCC MEMBERSHIP - EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW (almost)
I have just finished my three-year term as a member of my
church’s Parish Church Council and I ain’t going back. At no time during those
three years was I given any guidance in my duties and responsibilities. Mine is
a PCC whose agenda arrive by e-mail the day before the meeting, or in the past
have been left at the back of church for members to pick up, and they are agenda whose
biggest item is often AOB.
The governance of the Church of England since its
establishment has been finely balanced between collars (some with crosiers) and
ploughboys, and as a ploughboy myself I bridle rather when collars treat me
like a mushroom. I suspect that the principle of keeping the PCC conveniently
in the dark is more common in small rural parishes than in minsters and
whopping great churches with colossal catchment areas and Sunday Schools
800-1,000 strong, like Henry Francis Lyte’s.
And I acknowledge that one of the difficulties of attracting people
onto a PCC is that if you tell them too much you’ll frighten them off.
So – self-taught in the business by necessity – here’s what
I put together in my three years – the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the PCC. I’ve done
it because two virgin members of our PCC who are close friends said ‘help!’
If you readers diocese-wide or even worldwide spot any factual
errors please leave a comment and I’ll correct them, but I don’t answer
accusations of heresy, sorry – it’s not a word you’ll find in the New
Testament, or the Old, for that matter.
Let’s now get serious. Sunday best, please, and leave your
clogs in the porch.
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THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE PCC
An excellent basic introduction to the PCC is -
and another, here in A5 booklet format (but can be
downloaded as two A4 pages)
PCC members are trustees of a charity – their parish church.
More information about the responsibilities of PCC trustees here
http://www.parishresources.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Trusteeship-local-print.pdf
PCCs were established by the Parish Church Councils (Powers)
Measure 1956. This legislation is still in force and has been amended several
times. This link is to the current state of the Measure and its amendments
This is the Enabling Measure for the set of regulations
governing the PCC known as the Church Representation Rules, a vital tool for
every PCC member who wishes to know about, so as to work within, church law.
The Rules are available in printed form, published by the CofE at £8.99 [2013
price] or, if you don’t have ethical objections, from Amazon at £6.40 [again
2013 price]. The Rules are also available online, in their 2012 edition, at
Appendix II of the Church Representation Rules is where the
real detail is to be found.
[comment – look at Rule 6, the AOB rule. No item that
isn’t on the agenda proper can be discussed unless three-quarters of the
members present at a meeting agree. This is the highest degree of majority ever
required in the conduct of PCC meetings, and it is there to protect members
(trustees) from any attempt to slip contentious items in via AOB, which is
always taken at the end of a meeting when members are tired and want to go
home. If the chair of a meeting appears to intend to introduce such an item
without invoking Rule 6, any member can invoke it by raising a Point of Order
with the chair, and the chair isthen
bound to seek the necessary three-quarters majority]
[comment – a new PCC is elected at every parish annual
general meeting in April and may hold its first meeting immediately for the purposes of appointing officers and co-opting up to two members. Newly elected members of deanery synod should note that their term of office does not begin until after 1st June. If a deanery synod meets in April or May it is the 'old' members who are eligible to conduct business.]
[comment – it is the duty of parish secretaries to inform
diocese of any changes in PCC membership, including changes of address, at any
time and not just after the parish AGM. Parish secretaries also need to inform
their deanery synod secretary of such changes, because for convenience diocese
will ask for details of members and their addresses from the deanery synod
secretary.]
Another invaluable vade-mecum for PCC members is the
Handbook for Churchwardens and Parochial Church Councillors (this isn’t a link.)
It’s only available in print, for around £10. There is an
excellent section of advice for parish secretaries on how to minute a meeting,
and the advice should be heeded. Employment law, copyright law, and neglected
bits of church law can all too easily bring a PCC into conflict with legal authorities,
and secretaries (and PCCs) need to bear in mind that in such circumstances
minute books might be called as evidence in a courtroom.
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PCC members look after church finances, and need to exercise
wise stewardship of funds. Not building up unnecessarily large reserves is part
of stewardship –
Fund-raising and proper management of funds and appeals for
funds are governed by
Charity Commission
rules, which have the force of (civil) law. Here they are (go to section
F9 for the details)
and more detailed guidance for charities that want to raise
funds by trading -
(and note that Charity Commission guidance notes are not longer available in print form, but only as downloads in PDF format.)
Thank you for reading. If you’re a new PCC member this is probably everything you need to get started, and all in one place, too!. If it has helped you, please pass the link on and help other new PCC members learn the ropes, or download the article and modify it to your heart’s content, without the risk of my chasing you for breach of copyright. And if you can suggest more useful links, please do, via the Comments box.
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