Admin 101

This is part of a series of posts over the summer where members of the Presbytery Staff Team write posts for the website in place of Stella. This week: James Buckingham-Hyman (Admin Officer)

I’m James, the Admin Officer for the Presbytery, currently I live in Newmachar with my wife and daughter, and I’ve been in my role for 4 years this coming December.

I grew up in the former Buchan Presbytery, my home Kirk is Cruden still (my mum’s the Presbytery Elder!) and I represented the Presbytery as a Youth Rep at the General Assembly 5 times in the 2010s as well as being a part of the National Youth Assembly for roughly half of its existence. All to say I’m pretty familiar with how the Kirk works on various levels!

I’m probably the staff member apart from Stella that most Presbyters (and local office bearers) have interacted with, as much of my role is focussed around being the main contact point for the office. This means that when you phone the main office phone number, or send a message to the main email, I’m the one who you reach first (usually!) and I’ll pass on messages and details to those most apt to deal with them, whether it’s Stella, another member of the staff team, one of the Committee Conveners, or even someone at 121 in Edinburgh.

Additionally, I am also the one who most commonly is chasing up session clerks (or other office bearers) for the things that Presbytery requires, whether it’s Elder Commission paperwork, payment of Presbytery Dues, or anything else that people are late in sending to the office!

Obviously, that alludes to the fact that in the office we require a great deal of input from the congregations that make up Presbytery, so I’m also the one who organises both the sending out of requests and the returns as they come in. I often joke at the regional gatherings that Session Clerks live in fear of emails from me as I’m usually asking them to do something.

Other than all that, my role is mostly a behind-the-scenes one, making sure that the office is organised and equipped, that Presbytery meetings run smoothly (usually working with Peter) and that the Presbytery Year Book is complete and up to date.

I’m keen to hear from people and always happy to help out if I can so please feel free to get in touch at any point and I’ll do what I can. My details are in the Year Book and on the website itself, just go searching!