I met someone yesterday who recognised that they can only work in a place where there is open space to think. I must post soon about the Open Space event I facilitated a couple of weeks ago... but meanwhile, my friend and colleague Jeremy Clare has reminded me that he has an open space on Monday 5th November at the next Whatever Next...? day at Chartridge, Bucks. Call me if you want to come.

And I've joined Facebook - although I'm discovering it can waste a lot of time!

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Book about interim clergy jobs:

Temporary Shepherds: A Congregational Handbook for Interim Ministry by Roger S. Nicholson"Effective interim ministry depends on strong partnership between the interim minster and congregation. Lay leaders of congregations preparing for such a transition will value the expert guidance provided by over a dozen experienced interim pastors. What is interim ministry all about? What needs to happen during the interim? What should leaders and members expect from the interim pastor and themselves during this transition? What other resources are available for congregations?" The book's probably only available on the Alban website, www.alban.org, but their mail order is very efficient.

Peter

Looking for a job in a charity? To raise money for Children In Need (and no doubt to increase traffic to their site!), Charity Jobs have improved their service to those seeking a job in the Charity Sector. This is what they say about it...

Want to move on straight away? If you’re raring to get on with the next stage of your career why not sign up to our Daily Alerts to hear about the jobs that interest you as soon as they’re advertised.

Same Search, Different Day Let’s be honest, we all know what salary, location and type of role we want next, so why keep inputting the same old info? Now you can save your favourite searches and go straight to the jobs that are relevant to you.

What were they looking for? ver had the excitement of reaching interview stage drain away when you realise you’ve forgotten the finer details of the role? Now you can store the original advert when you apply for the role to make your interview prep that much easier.

And finally, let them come to you! Upload your CV onto CharityJOB to be seen by agencies and/or charities looking for your skills.

To take advantage of these new features and to help raise £100’s for Children In Need please register your CV at:http://www.charityjob.co.uk/seekers/registercv.aspxIt only takes 5 minutes - just enough time to boil the kettle for a nice cup of coffee....

Interim Vicars? The article in the Church Times http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=45643 about whether interim vicars are a good idea has drawn together, for me, threads which we hear from those appointing and those being appointed. It is time to recognise that short term appointments in the church can be a good thing - for the parish and the person. It's interesting to notice that the subject is now reqularly coming up in our Moving On days with clergy changing jobs.

This brings up another interesting question. In almost every other sector of the workplace and public life, it is normal to have five careers in a lifetime. Five careers - not five jobs with different employers. All these can be vocational, or purposeful, or however you chose to describe them. That means it's not one right move and four mistakes, but a journey of developing skills and expertise which can be used in different contexts. So why, for clergy, does moving out of a ministerial job into a job in another sector of the economy look or feel like they've done something terribly wrong and they have to leave? This myth is causing some great people who might pursue a fulfilling vocation in another sector shy away from the move because of what others might say.

Better late than never... it's time to start thinking out loud here.