Central Advisory Council for the Ministry (CACM)

Papers of the Council, Sub-Committees and Working Parties.

(note: a number of the series within the collection continue beyond the life of the Council and into that of its successor, the Advisory Council for the Church's Ministry)

At the Spring Session of the Church Assembly in 1959 a Report of a Commission presided over by the Bishop of Lincoln was presented, and, after some debate and amendment to the Reports' resolutions, this led to the reconstitution of the Central Advisory Council of Training for the Ministry as the Central Advisory Council for the Ministry. Unlike its predecessor the new Council would be a Council of the Assembly, and whilst it would still be charged with advising Bishops on matters concerning the provision of ordained ministry and retain all it former functions, it would also have new responsibilities. The Terms of Reference of the new Council were defined as follows:

a, To keep under review the needs and opportunities of the Church for the ordained ministry, for Deaconesses, and the various forms of lay service, to make recommendations to the Bishops and the Church Assembly, and to serve those needs as and when directed to do so.

b, To make recommendations as to the disbursement of monies received from the Church Assembly or elsewhere with which to finance the training of candidates for Holy Orders in conjunction with Diocesan Ordination Candidates Funds and other bodies engaged in the work of preparing candidates for Holy Orders; and similarly in regard to training of Deaconesses and for recognised forms of lay ministry.

c, To approve places and courses of training for the ordained and lay ministry, and to advise upon all questions concerning their provision, maintenance, fees and economic management.

d, To formulate in conjunction with the Central Board of Finance a policy of finance with regard to the capital needs of the Theological Colleges and Training Houses for women.

The first meeting of the re-formed Council took place on the 13 November 1959 in Church House, Westminster, under the Chairmanship of the Bishop of Bath and Wells.

Chairmen

- Harold William Bradfield, 1959-1960

- Kenneth Riches, 1960-1966

Secretary to the Council

- Geoffrey Heawood, 1959-1963

General Secretary

- William Suamarez-Smith, 1963-1966

The Council continued under the acronym of its predecessor CACTM . However, the effect of this was that many people outside of the Church Assembly did not realise that Council had been given the concern for ministry as a whole, and was no longer concerned only with the training of the ordained ministry. By 1965 the Council had decided it was time to face temporary confusion which follows any change of a long-established name and take a title more in line with its work, and thus ACCM was formed.

Where possible the arrangement replicates the structure of the Council, which saw much of the work being completed by Committees and Working Parties.

Open

Any duplicated material has been removed.

CACTM, ACCM