After becoming an official Task Force, they thought they could get policies and processes from other church governing bodies which they could easily modify for their use.  They were mistaken.  Some did not have such policies. Others had helpful, but incomplete policies, often lacking the best practices for executing the policy.    

The individuals they contacted in the United Methodist Church, the Episcopal Church, Disciples of Christ, Assemblies of God and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod all wanted to work with this team since they saw this same need in their churches. Consequently, they formed an Ecumenical Team (or a Rogue Group) which developed a model policy.  

The model policy itself is stated in one sentence.  “This judicatory’s policy is to support the restoration to health and professional duties of behaviorally impaired clergy.” The model policy is easily adapted to the language, theology, other policies and programming of the individual judicatory.  

There is much more to the policy than one simple sentence.  The rest of the two-page document contains the policy’s rationale and describes the best practices that will enact the policy.  These best practices include guidelines for congregational leadership, judicatory staff, interim ministers, and others. They also include initial training, training for judicatory staff, continuing education for all clergy, and a resource packet.   

In May of 2024, the team became The Center for the Restoration of Impaired Clergy (CRIC). It was recognized as a non-profit with a Board and an Executive Director.  

Thanks to the support of Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church and several congregational endowment funds, CRIC now has adequate funding for 2024 – into early 2025. This funding enables us to  

1) Structure the organization  

2 Develop the processes that will put the policy into action.  

3) Make connections with judicatories as potential pilot sites and 

4) Acquire stable funding to pilot the program in a variety of judicatories in 2025-2027.  

In 2028, CRIC will begin to promote this policy and these best practices to all judicatories and middle judicatories throughout Canada and the United States.