SNU openness and supervision

The SNU’s current national president, David Bruton,  promised a more transparent organisation. Has this happened? What do you think?

There are many occasions being reported by readers that they are being denied the right to speak to members about SNU decisions nor be involved in understanding what the supervision of their centre is supposed to achieve etc. We have kindly been sent the figures and these are repeated below together with the guidelines f0r church supervision.

2nd August 2014 – extract from the NEC

The SNU states the following position for Churches under Supervision
The latest figures reported to the meeting for Churches under supervision are as follows:

Category 1 – 8 Churches
Category 2 – 31 Churches
Category 3 – 10 Churches
Category Managed – 4 Churches
Total under Supervision: 53 as at 7th June 2014.

Are you one of the ‘bad’ churches above? What was your crime to incur the wrath of the NEC? Do let us know – in confidence if you

GUIDELINES FOR CHURCH SUPERVISION

 THE SUPERVISION SYSTEM

1. There is only one type of supervision, namely NEC supervision. Supervision should be imposed only for cases involving misconduct or violations of the Rules for Churches:

2. Supervision is categorised as follows:-

Category 1 – Serious misconduct and/or violation of Rules requiring

rectification and training.

Category 2 – Other offences requiring training.

Category 3 – Ex-Category 1 and 2. Having gone through

rectification/training.

Supervision should be conducted as follows:-

Category 1 -by two Supervising Officers.

Category 2 – by one or two Mentors

Category 3 – by a Liaison Officer.

The reasons for requiring two Supervising Officers for Category 1 cases are:

(1) for each to give mutual support to the other,

(2) to maintain continuity when one cannot attend, and

(3) to reduce the risk of bullying by one Supervising Officer these would also apply to Category 2 cases where it was felt that two Mentors were needed.

All Supervising Officers, Mentors and Liaison Officers would be appointed by the NEC Supervisory Coordinator in liaison with the DC.

4.       The length of supervision at each level of supervision should be as follows:-

Category 1 – maximum two years.

Category 2 – maximum two years.

Category 3 – maximum twelve months.

On a DC recommendation, approved by the NEC, a Category 1 Church will be downgraded to Category 2 or direct to Category 3, while a Category 2 Church will be downgraded to Category 3. In the case of a Category 3 Church, the supervision order will be lifted by the NEC after twelve months or after such earlier date following an AGM and elections as the DC recommended.

If a Category 1 or Category 2 Church overruns the two-year period, the Union will send in a team, headed by the NEC Supervisory Coordinator and drawn from a standing pool of people appointed for the purpose by the NEC, to investigate and report back.

Each of these has a definition as to what is required of the DC Supervising Officer.

Category 1 – requires the DC Supervising Officer/s to at least:-

1. Attend and chair all Church Committee and general meetings.
2. Attend a service or other activity prior to each NEC report.
3. Report to the NEC Supervisory Coordinator four weeks prior to each NEC meeting.

They will also have power to recommend Committee appointment or removal to the NEC Supervisory Coordinator and the power to vet membership applications.

Category 2 – requires the DC Mentors to at least:-

Attend all Committee meetings and general meetings.

1. Attend a service or other activity prior to each NEC report.
2. Report to the NEC Supervisory Coordinator four weeks prior to each NEC meeting.

They will also have power to recommend Committee appointment or removal to the NEC Supervisory Coordinator but have no power to vet membership applications.

Category 3 – requires the DC Liaison Officer to at least:-

Attend two Committee meetings each year and attend the Annual General Meeting.

1. Attend a service or other activity once per year.
2.    Receive minutes of every Committee meeting.
3. Report to the NEC Supervisory Coordinator once in every six months.

They will have no power to recommend Committee appointment or removal and have no power to vet membership applications.

All reports must be sent to the NEC supervisory Coordinator and a copy sent to the DC secretary.

 There are no qualifications for being a DC Supervising Officer, Mentor or Liaison Officer, other than that of being an Individual Member of the SNU, but he must have experience of how to run a Church correctly.

The period of supervision will be according to the guidelines above, and the NEC original decision and subsequent reports on progress made.

Supervisors are not there to run the Church but to teach the Committee how to do so.

Payment of DC Supervising Officer, Mentor or Liaison Officer costs of travel to and from the Church (and any other reasonable costs incurred) is the responsibility of the Church.

 ADVICE TO SUPERVISING OFFICERS

Remember that not all Churches under supervision have necessarily broken Church Rules; some may just not have understood what was required of them and be needing support, so know exactly what the situation is and why you have been asked to undertake supervision. In order to establish a rapport with the Church it should be the same person/s attending each time to facilitate that. Go in with a ‘bag of sweets’, not a big hammer, but exert authority when needful (the iron fist in the velvet glove). You are the Supervising Officer but try not to be overbearing, pulling rank or status unless really necessary. Try to work as part of the team with them.

The ‘bag of sweets’ is just another name for suggesting ways to help them, such as:-

Ways of giving services a new image to possibly attract more people. Introduce different aspects of ideas for services to promote the new start, putting the past behind them, which is always difficult. For example:-

Turn the address part of a public service into a healing-type session, which makes the healers feel more part of the Church and lets them know they are important.

 

• Combine administrative-type meetings with social-type events or use them to include other types of activity such as workshops and demonstrations.

 

• People will attend Healing upgrades and Training & Awards events from other Churches, so this is another possible way to get them involved in your Church activities.

 

• Introduce a modern form of the old Church Rallies which brought Churches together – make them all-inclusive, getting more people involved.

 

• Help them to use Publisher, for instance, to create modern posters for events.

 

• During workshop/seminar-type events allow the students to be involved in an evening open to the public where they can show what they can do, including healing, readings, not just messages. It does not always have to be an educational session: it could be a forum/discussion or even a quiz.

Be listening, not just when people are talking to you, but when they are talking to each other. Listen to what they have to say about why they are in the present situation.

Do not apportion blame to any one person, as the whole Committee have joint responsibility for everything that goes on. Make that clear to them!

Be available on the phone but set guidelines so they are not phoning all hours of the day with gossip. Stop gossip, apply rumour control.

Introduce a social aspect into the relationship between Supervising Officer and Church, such as a meal out together after meetings.

Get them to come up with ideas and wherever possible try to implement them, and if not possible explain clearly why it’s not possible, not just dismiss them.

The list is not exhaustive, but supervisors should be aware of the need to get the church functioning properly as soon as possible and within the guidelines for each category.