ABSTRACT
Whether many clergy and laity like it or not team ministries are all around us in the Church of England. On their effective functioning diocesan bishops depend through their staff meetings. Teams in chapters, hitherto clerical and now with laity, administer the cathedrals of the land. At parish level many dioceses have a clear policy to encourage the development of more team ministries and many clergy coming from theological colleges and training courses positively seek the opportunity to work in a team context. It is now nowhere near so difficult to recruit into them and those in the larger teams particularly show much greater enthusiasm for this model of ministry. The isolation that has bedevilled so many working in difficult urban contexts is certainly challenged by team ministry as well as the more effective deployment of a shrinking body of stipendiary clergy. Wesley Carr has played a key role in institutional consultancy particularly within the Church of England and this paper reviews his writing, some of his own practical consultancy and offers a critique of the current practice of team ministry within the Church.
