Ordained Local Ministry (OLM)

Ordained Local Ministry (OLM) is a pattern of ordained ministry that emphasizes the importance of the local situation as well as the needs of the universal church for ordained men and women serving in a variety of contexts.

OLM is local because women and men are selected and trained to serve in the situation they know best - their own parish, team or group.

OLM is also local because congregations play a significant part in the discernment, selection, training and ongoing support of OLMs.
OLMs are fully ordained members of the Church of England:

  • All candidates for this ministry attend a national selection conference alongside those going forward for both Stipendiary and Self Supporting Ministry.
  • They train on a locally run but nationally accredited course, the Manchester Diocesan OLM Scheme.


At ordination they are ordained priests and deacons in the Church of England at the same service as those who will be serving in other categories of ministry.

OLM is not a replacement for traditional ordained ministry but can successfully augment it. The New Testament speaks of varieties of ministry including those that are locally based. OLM offers another way to complement the traditional pattern of full-time, 'college' or 'course'-trained, stipendiary clergy.

OLM can only operate in the context of a parish where collaborative ministry is already developing. Before a candidate can go forward to selection the parish must be accredited for OLM ministry.


Download Ordained Local Ministry and your Parish

Click here for more Resources for OLMs.

What is collaborative ministry?

The concept of collaborative ministry is based on the idea that all God's people are called to ministry by virtue of their baptism while at the same time recognising that the ordained have, and will continue to have, a particular role to play in the life of the church.

Some of the signs of such an understanding by parishes and congregations, which in the Church of England we call Collaborative Ministry, are:

  • A shared vision in the church community with agreement about priorities and goals.
  • Commitment to spiritual nurture, corporate and individual; clergy and lay people sharing in the leading and planning of worship, in decision-making and in the shaping of ideas.
  • Consultative style of leadership at all levels.
  • Affirmation of a wide variety of gifts and skills.
  • Commitment to support people in their daily lives beyond the gathered congregation.
  • Good communication between groups and individuals at all levels.
  • Continuing learning both corporate and individual.
  • Flexibility and openness to change, balanced with stability.

How can our Parish be accredited for OLM ministry?

The first stage is for the incumbent to contact the OLM Officer who will arrange for one of the OLM Team to come and do an initial visit to the PCC to explain about OLM and collaborative ministry. His contact details can be found below. If, after the initial visit, the parish wishes to proceed further the PCC will then be asked to make a written statement (rather like a mini audit) answering questions about its ministry and about how it is ministering collaboratively in different areas of its work and exploring those areas where it might want to develop a ministry profile for an OLM.

Once the parish has completed its written statement (currently called the Twelve Questions), the Scheme will appoint two or three people to come and talk through the response with the PCC. On the basis of this discussion a decision is made about whether the parish is ready for accreditation. If the decision is favourable the PCC can then develop the Ministry profiles it has already identified and can then begin to nominate one or more candidates whom it believes is called to exercise ordained ministry as an OLM in the parish.

If you are interested in finding out more about becoming an OLM-accredited
parish please contact either:

The Vice Principal of the Mcr Reader & OLM Course or 
The Director of Ordinands.

How do we nominate a candidate?

Once the PCC has identified the Ministry Profile that it wishes someone to develop, the PCC nominates the person(s) whom it wants to call to go forward for selection with a view to taking responsibility, in the long-term for the ministry profile which has been identified.

Sometimes it is clear from the outset who the appropriate person or persons might be. Sometimes it is right for the PCC to nominate someone who would initially seem to be an unlikely candidate. In either case it is important that the person concerned makes the call which has come from the PCC their own and realises that it is God who is in the end calling them to OLM.

Because ordination is to the ordained ministry of the whole Church, selection will invovle attendance at a national Bishop's Selection Conference.