Report of Diocesan Synod on 14 June 2008

Presidential Address

The Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Revd John Gladwin, gave the Presidential Address.

Good news from Halstead

Revd Geoff Bayliss explained “Toast”, a project in the Halstead team (six parishes). The worship takes place on Saturday morning and includes a variety of activities for the full age range. The services are based in primary schools. Overheard projectors and PowerPoint are used.

Hospitality before the Lambeth Conference

Canon Roger Matthews gave an update on hospitality for the visiting bishops whom the diocese was looking forward to welcoming before the Lambeth Conference. A service of celebration was planned for Saturday 12 July in the Cathedral. On 13 July the bishops would be at services around the diocese, including a service in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the link with Kenya. The bishops would visit the Olympic site, Colchester and other places of interest in Essex and East London.

Annual Reports to Diocesan Synod 2007

The report was received with thanks to all the contributors. Some members indicated a desire for the next report to be more comprehensive and outward-focused in order to bring out key messages and enhance the impact of the report. Ralph Meloy, the Communications Director,  replied that the report was in a new style and this was the first part of a process of transforming what was an internal, committee-based report into a publication that would be more useful and meaningful to parishes and deaneries. He welcomed the comments and pledged to take them forward. Steven Webb, the Chief Executive, added that this report was not the only communications vehicle.

Annual General Meeting of the Chelmsford Diocesan Board of Finance

John Spence took the Chair for this item. The Financial Statements for 2007 were and the appointment of Mazars LLP were approved. John Spence said there should be a tendering process in the future.

Progress on the 2009 Budget

Canon Don Cardy reported that the budget consultation document would be dispatched in the near future. He said that the Diocese was facing turbulent economic times. An increase of 3% in the Parish Share for 2009 was anticipated. Share collection was a little ahead of the previous year. There were issues over cash flow, mainly due to property transactions. This had led to a deficit of £2m. Clergy numbers were projected above the allocation with a stipend increase of 3% and the Chelmsford incumbent stipend 1% above national minimum. More rental accommodation was being used for curates. Investment and trading income was unlikely to change from 2008. The strategy to return to a balanced budget would involve the provision for Share shortfall of £300,000 and an increase in the Share received. The Share deficit this year was £160,000 compared with £200,000 in 2007.  Payment in full was the priority.

Half of PCC Treasurers had submitted financial returns for 2007. These showed a continued trend towards tax-efficient giving. Unrestricted giving had increased by 4.5% in the year. The Diocese was in the middle order of dioceses in terms of giving – 23rd out of 43, with 2.8% of take-home pay against the 3.1% average. The Christian Giving Strategy was a challenge which could be measured against these figures.

Social Responsibility

Bishop John said that the Diocese needed to achieve this work without diverting funds from elsewhere or breaking the budget. In discussions with local authorities it was clear that the resources of local churches could be more fully realised for the needs of the local population. As the second largest diocese, Chelmsford needed to ensure that it was “punching its weight”. Essex and East London had a strong secular culture, but underneath wa a long-standing Christian structure.

It was reported that Newham’s position in the Index of Multiple Deprivation had moved down from 11th worst in England in 2004 to 6th worst in 2007. For children the position had deteriorated from 6th to 2nd worst. The Mothers Union ran projects for outreach in the Diocese and felt that it would be useful to link with Diocesan structures to co-ordinate and target resources. Much social responsibility being undertaken was hidden from public view.

Bishop John expressed concern on Synod’s behalf at the backward step in Newham. The future was for an advocacy role, building relationships between Church and State together and exercising influence, in addition to project work.

Chelmsford Christian Festival

Steven Webb invited members and their friends to events between 12 and 20 July; volunteer to help in some way if possible; and to pray for the festival. The aim was to create a festival which no one could ignore, with different denominations working together. The focus would be a 1,000 seat marquee, but other events would take place in Chelmsford High Street and local churches. The festival was for Chelmsford residents and people from farther afield.

Clergy Discipline Measure

Revd Mark Bennet introduced this Motion on behalf of Harlow Deanery Synod. Harlow Deanery was concerned at the impact of the Measure on relationships in the Diocese. The Measure constrained the Bishop in his pastoral role. It had introduced a secular legal procedure without recognising the effect. The Church should seek reconciliation first, he said.

Among the various comments made by members were the following: the Measure affected the whole Church; formality and premature proceedings caused problems; a clear disciplinary process was needed, whether or not it was welcomed by Clergy; a bishop, in common with other leaders outside the Church, could not have dual roles of support and prosecution; 56 claims had been made against Clergy in 2007; and vexatious claims should be dismissed quickly. Bishop David reported feeling constrained by the process of the procedure and the code of practice.

Mark Bennet said that the motion sought to remove avoidable damage and ask for a general review. The outcome could be better use of the current guidance.

The vote was taken in the Houses of Bishops, Clergy and Laity.  The Motion carried in all three Houses.

Policy for Safeguarding Adults

Ven Annette Cooper, Archdeacon of Colchester, introduced the policy proposal. She said that culture and society had changed. People were more aware of vulnerability and abuse. She stressed the importance of being prepared. There was an overlap with the children’s policy and the work of Revd Jean Halliday, she said. A simple policy was needed that every PCC could discuss, affirm and adopt, followed by the appointment of a spokesperson. This could be a Deanery appointment. Careful recruitment of staff and volunteers was required. This policy fitted well with the professional code of conduct for clergy in acknowledging needs and vulnerabilities. Anyone could be vulnerable at any time; this might be caused by temporary trauma or illness. The safeguarding process was under review. By 1 October 2009 the new safeguarding policies would be in place. It was necessary to decide how best to protect people in the meantime.

Points raised in the debate included: the prevention of spiritual abuse; whether trying to redevelop a lost faith would be considered abuse; whether a Deanery appointee could possibly attend all PCC meetings; familiarisation with responsibilities; how the term, “working with”, should be defined and whether a lift or an invitation to a house group would count; the administrative workload in CRB checks, oversight and governance; the importance of putting a policy in place urgently to prevent the Church’s openness being exploited; and the case for re-phrasing the policy if everyone was vulnerable at one time or another.

Archdeacon Annette concluded that the Church was catching up with other voluntary organisations; defining abuse was difficult, especially in a spiritual sense; the highest level of pastoral care were needed; the aim was a general raising of awareness; “working with” meant doing something on behalf of the Church; there would be administrative costs, but these would be kept to a minimum; and governance might require further work.

The Motion was passed unanimously.

Meeting of the House of Clergy

Revd Martin Webster was elected as Chair.

New Patterns of Ministry

Bishop John reported that the Bishop’s Staff and Bishop’s Council were fully committed to this policy. No motions were required since there were no practical changes. With the new St Mellitus College, Local Ministry would not require a separate training course. There were three broad headings: governance (widening the range of talents drawn on in the Diocese); Ministry and deployment, particularly lay ministry (in terms of principle, not as interim solutions); and Pastoral Order. None of this would be held in a rigid framework, but there would be flexibility within guidelines and continuing partnership discussions.

Members commented that more information was needed about the role of the  Deanery, perhaps with its own pastoral strategy; Ordained Local Ministry constituted a major change; the worst schemes would be if OLM were considered a third-class ministry, the best where OLM were based in the theology of the local; all ministry was constrained in some way, but the local area was understandable; an OLM could be ordained to the Diocese but licensed back to the sponsoring parish; an interim ministry targeted for a specific time could be of enormous help; leadership training was needed, as growth was achieved where leadership was best; collaborative ministry, for example through MaP, should be encouraged everywhere; closing a building should be subject to guidelines, rather than being left to the local community;  a church community could challenge assumptions during an interregnum which might not be the case with an interim ministry; and the wide range of buildings and settings made guidelines for closure of buildings almost impossible.

Bishop John observed that while it was refreshing to hear people wanting to be more radical, the diocese needed to establish a policy and go from there. There was no new, separate scheme for Local Ministry. The diocese needed to be open to the community in order to discern a minister within the community and for the community who could be trained and ordained to work there if that was the right way forward. A new report on Reader Ministry had been published. This would need to be considered. Clergy and the Christian community must work in partnership.

Farewell to Canon Tim Potter

Canon Sue Atkin, Chair of the House of Laity, and Bishop John bade farewell to Canon Potter on his retirement as Chairman of the House of Clergy.

Ven Peter Taylor, Archdeacon of Harlow

It was announced that Archdeacon Peter would retire in spring 2009.

Questions

Questions were asked about the number of permanent deacons serving in the Diocese and whether any of them had been approached to serve as an advisor for women’s ministry, with particular regard to those of a traditionalist understanding of ministry and its orders.  Bishop John replied that there were no permanent deacons and that an advisor was appointed by the Bishop in consultation and advised on all women’s ministries. The Bishop said that some were in training for the permanent diaconate.

In response to a question on the provisions to encourage and affirm women of a traditionalist understanding, whether catholic or evangelical, who were either in ministry already or feel called to offer or enquire about ministry, Bishop John said that all women seeking ordained ministry were assessed in the usual way, regardless of background. The Bishop replied to a further question that the Diocesan Director of Ordinands had people available to offer advice from different traditions and he would expect the DDO to accept suitable advice.

Steven Webb replied to a question on how many parishes in the Diocese had currently passed Resolutions A, B and C* and how many Resolution C parishes had renewed their Resolution within the last five years. He said that 21 parishes had recently passed A, B and C and that 9 B, 1 A and 45 A&B had been renewed in the past five years. He replied, to a supplementary question on the number of Christians this represented, that the information was not to hand and would supply a written reply. To a further question, on the number of parishes which had rescinded the resolutions, he replied that some had, but he would reply in writing.

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*Note: Resolution A: “That this parochial church council would not accept a woman as the minister who presides at or celebrates the Holy Communion or pronounces the Absolution in the Parish.”

Resolution B: “That this parochial church council would not accept a woman as the incumbent or priest-in-charge of the benefice or as a team vicar for the benefice.”

Resolution C: “That the Parochial Church Council hereby resolves to petition the Bishop to the effect that appropriate episcopal duties in the parish should be carried out in accordance with the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993” (ie petition for episcopal duties to be undertaken  by a bishop assigned to minister where the ministry of women priest is not accepted).

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