Gordon Banks wonders why we don't have an Order of Companionable Priest.
During my early days of public ministry as a Community Evangelist I led a house group in a set of studies over six weeks. At the end of our journey we thought it would be good to end with a social and the Eucharist. Up until this point the priest had left it all to me whilst giving it his full support.
However to enable us to celebrate the Eucharist he needed to become involved in order to celebrate. Being moderately catholic he came and wore cassock and stole and led us through a simple Eucharist in the home where we had been meeting.
For me it was one of those seminal moments as I realised that we had not drafted in the vicar to 'do the magic' but as a priest in the Church of God he reminded us as a gathering that we belonged to the One, Holy and Catholic Church. We, as a small intimate group, were not the church but a part of it, with the priest coming amongst us – particularly, I would dare to suggest, as he was robed – symbolically helping to put our 'study and journey' into a bigger context.
Historically of course lay communities of sisters and nuns would have had a male priest come amongst them in order to offer Eucharistic ministry. Not wanting to get into the debate of male or female priest I think the important point is that a priest is a visible reminder of the One, Holy and Catholic Church. An ordained priest is not geographically or specifically located in one place or amongst only one community.
Perhaps where we might have gone astray is in thinking that priesthood, at least in Anglican terms of reference, most often is axiomatically equated with leadership. John Tiller's sadly neglected report, A Strategy for the Church's Ministry (CIO Publishing, 1983), would have gone a long way to help us consider this concept.
There are those who argue that a church can only become church as and when it celebrates the sacraments. For the Church of England this requires an ordained priest. Therefore what does this say about lay-led fresh expressions of church? That the lay leader can only take them so far down to the road to being recognised as church?
However if we had an Order of Companionable Priest, they could walk alongside the fresh expression offering a sacramental ministry as and when it was felt appropriate by the emerging community. Apart from having a role alongside fresh expressions, a Companionable Priest could be available to cover vacancies or to walk alongside another priest who might be having a tough time and who for that moment needs a 'Barnabas'.
Having a Companionable Priest honours lay leadership and also serves to remind the emerging community that it is part of the One, Holy and Catholic Church.