Christian ministers' spiritual role does not stop them being employees (News, 11 January 2012)

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The spiritual role of a Christian minister cannot by itself justify denying contractual effect to the arrangement between the church and the minister if it otherwise has the indicia of a contract, and, where it is determined that such a relationship is contractual, the question of whether the minister is an employee will be determined by conventional principles and factual analysis; and applying these principles to the facts of a case brought by a Methodist minister led to the conclusion that she had worked under a contract of employment, according to the Court of Appeal in President of the Methodist Conference v Preston (formerly Moore).