Ministerial Development Review (MDR) is an expression of the Bishop’s oversight of ministers.
Ministerial Development Review (MDR) is available to all licensed clergy in the Diocese of Norwich who hold the Bishop’s Licence.
This includes stipendiary ministers, self-supporting ministers, ministers in secular employment along with those ministers who are employees of bodies such as HM Prison Service, National Health Service, and Independent Schools.
The MDR Scheme Introduction (MDR 1 Introduction) summarises the MDR Scheme made by the Bishop of Norwich following guidance approved by the Archbishops’ Council in January 2010 under the Ecclesiastical Offices (Terms of Service) Regulations 2009. While mandatory under Common Tenure, the expectation, however, is that all clergy, including those with freehold, will wish to participate fully in it.
The purpose of MDR is to affirm people in their ministry, to identify successes to be celebrated and areas for further development. It seeks to pick up the main priorities for two years ahead and to identify any associated or general training and development needs.
All Reviewees are assigned a Reviewer. The pool of Reviewers includes both lay and ordained people who have been selected for their experience and trained for this role. A Reviewer and Reviewee meet every two years and the same Reviewer is usually kept for six years.
The Reviewee is asked to complete a Reflection Aid in advance of their meeting with their Reviewer. These are pastoral meetings during which priorities for both personal and ministerial development are agreed and recorded on a Priorities Form.
Reviewees are asked to arrange conversations with three people who are willing to act as ‘critical friends’. Advice is given about this role and the questions in a document that is linked at the foot of this page.
All Reviewees will also have an Episcopal Conversation with their Area Bishop/Archdeacon or in the Norwich archdeaconry with the Dean/Archdeacon in the intermediate year and see both over four years.
This meeting involves a deliberately simple preparation (MDR 6), so that there is space for reflection and adjusting priorities (MDR 7) and for a wider conversation on your ministry and well-being.
After each MDR office holders are encouraged to complete a Feedback Form which will help those tasked with oversight of the Scheme in their on-going review.
All of the documents needed for the Ministerial Development Review are linked here: