Grain sales and listening


I was managing farms on the Herefordshire and Gloucestershire borders when I felt “the finger of God,” as the Revd Reg Legg called it, on my shoulder, calling me to be ordained.


Reg was a pioneer in Gloucester Diocese in the development of local ministry. As part of one of the first Local Ministry Teams in a rural benefice I had become quite concerned about how these churches could expect regular Sunday services given the declining numbers of stipendiary clergy. Farm and estate sales and a change from practical farming to managing a Grain Group put a hold on my quest for ordination for a few years. God’s finger heavily on my shoulder


eventually pressed me into going forward and applying again to the Bishop to became a Non- Stipendiary Minister whilst still working in secular employment.


As a manager of a farmers’ grain group, a co-operative of over 100 cereal farmers in the West Midlands, I am employed to market their combinable crops to best advantage. We do this knowing precisely what we have got to sell, the period in which it is to be sold and the best place to sell it after taking into consideration haulage costs and quality. Sales are usually made in four three monthly periods and monies advanced if required to help with budgeting and cash flow.


From a personal point of view, I feel that ordination makes little difference in how I make business decisions. Contrary to popular opinion the grain trade is a relatively honest trade. In the trade your word is your bond. Farmers have very long memories and it is important to keep your customers. I do know that on Sundays I might well be up in the


pulpit


preaching to farmers who have just sold me grain. They would expect me to do my best for them.


The farming scene has changed considerably during my working life. Some farmers just want to talk, if you like, to shed their load as farming can be a very lonely life. Just being a listening ear is what ministry on the shop floor is often about. The reward, if an NSM needs it, is to be asked to take part in those family occasions, weddings, baptisms and funerals. These are very special times and you know that you have been asked to take part because of what you are.


The downside of an NSM in secular employment and in rural ministry is not being able to give much time to local pastoral issues. Working full time and preaching three Sundays in four, rushing from one church to the next in a benefice with nine churches means no time to take part in local gossip. Reg Legg warned me that I would need broad shoulders, a forgiving and supportive wife and that I would see little support from the church itself and he was right.


My work takes me into that much wider farming community. Living and working and being part of a rural community is my life. To be able to minister to both albeit in a small, unobtrusive, way is a great privilege.


Revd Andrew Perry


Manager, Severn Grain Ltd, Herefordshire,


Non-Stipendiary Minister in Secular Employment aw@perry.net


Andrew Perry (standing) with Severn Grain member Dave Goodwin (seated)


www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk 11


church and economy


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