Purpose

A Pastorate fulfils four roles, detailed as follows.

An excellent way into the church

If a visitor or newcomer comes to our service and sees a large group of people caught up in worship, that person may feel intimidated. The individual doesn’t know anyone and is, perhaps, not familiar with the style or content of the service. The newcomer won’t easily feel at home and may feel it hard to make friends, which is the key to wanting to remain at the church.

Equally, if someone goes along to a small group (of perhaps two to twelve people), looking for a way into the church, that individual may feel the absolute opposite: painfully visible and highly self-conscious. If, for whatever reason, he or she doesn’t particularly like this small group, what should be done next? If that person doesn’t go back, the hosts might take offence. And the group members will undoubtedly be at church on Sunday, so attending church may be avoided as well!

However, if a newcomer goes along to a medium-sized gathering, such as a Pastorate, where there are 20-35 people, he or she will feel neither the centre of attention nor a sense of exclusion. Although the group is small enough to be noticed, it is probably large enough to find someone to relate to and large enough to be absent the following week without offending anybody. The new person is free to return some time or can continue looking around for a Pastorate that would suit better. Once established in a Pastorate, the individual should naturally be drawn into a small group with like-minded people.

A great place to make friends

The life of a Pastorate and the social setting that it provides make it easier to form new friendships and relationships. If someone is not a member of a large, local family or an established member of the congregation then the opportunity to meet people and the fact that the Pastorate is an open group with a fluid membership is very positive. As friendships deepen within the Pastorate, small groups arise organically. Most Christians appreciate the intimacy, confidentiality and accountability they find in the small groups.

Pastorates will provide the possibility for social events providing varieties of people and breadth of friendships. Without the provision of Pastorates, people might miss the opportunity to meet each other. At Aldate’s we have found that many members of the church enjoy being in a close community of 20-35 people, and we have run GAP, the 11.00am Wednesday communion, as well as CCC (for students) and weekends away.

An ideal setting to develop gifts and ministries

Giving your first talk before 200 people is very hard, and may be too overwhelming and too risky. It is equally difficult to give your first talk to five people: it’s embarrassingly quiet. Leading 200 strong singers in worship for the first time is intimidating while worshipping with five enthusiastic but unmusical friends can also be daunting, but for different reasons! The same holds true with the gifts of healing, prophecy, tongues, the interpretation of tongues and many other spiritual gifts. The ideal setting in which to develop gifts and ministries is a group of 20-35 people.

In a Pastorate, people can take turns to host the evening, to lead ministry and to give talks; and those with the gift of leading worship can start to exercise their ministry.

An effective means of church growth

The Pastorate is the ideal group for any new people who want to join the church. They have the opportunity to meet a group of people and to become involved in the church. Their spiritual life will develop as they start to exercise their gifts and they will likely find friends with whom they start praying at a deeper level in a small group. All these factors should cause their own relationship with God to continue in growth.

The Pastorate can send teams of those with appropriate gifts to help or lead a table on Alpha. Sometimes these people may step back from their Pastorate to commit themselves to Alpha for a term, but they may well still meet as a small group for support, prayer and friendship. Those who help and lead on Alpha can take the new Alpha graduates back to the Pastorate where they in turn meet a variety of people, new small groups form, the Pastorate grows and eventually new Pastorates can be planted from it.

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Last updated: 19/5/2005