10 June 2023
10 June 2023
Good morning Synod. It’s good to be here with you and I’m grateful to all of you for your time and for your commitment to the ongoing life of our Diocese.
A few weeks ago I was contacted by a bishop in the Anglican Communion, from half way across the world whom I’d never met and didn’t know. But he explained that he is being considered for a senior role with considerable more responsibility and is concerned about whether or not he’ll be able to continue being a bishop in the way he aspires to be or whether the pressure to act more like a CEO will prove too great and ultimately unrewarding. He had stumbled across our Travelling Well Together document and had heard that our approach here in Chelmsford was a little different to the more conventional one adopted in many places, and he was intrigued. He wondered if a conversation would help him in his discernment process.
This was a scary reminder that very little these days is discrete or intimate; anyone, from any part of the world can eavesdrop on the conversations between bishop and diocese and what I share with you is open to scrutiny and interpretation many many miles from here. At the same time it was a reminder of how small the world has become and how easily we can connect with one another across the divides that separate us.
Anyway, at his request we met recently on zoom, one morning for me and evening for him. We have very different contexts but we shared our hopes and disappointments, the challenges and opportunities we and our dioceses each face; and we talked about how to discern the will of God amidst all the complexity. I’m not sure how helpful it was for him, though he expressed gratitude as we said goodbye, but for me, it left me with the feeling that I should pause and take stock. If someone I didn’t know from Adam, from a country far away, gets in touch to ask how Travelling Well Together is going, then it’s time to step back, reassess and recalibrate, if I can put it like that. Are we, as a diocese, on the right track? Have we taken a collective step in the right direction? Am I being more of a bishop than a CEO? Heaven knows you already have an excellent CEO, you don’t need another, and that’s neither my calling nor my skill set. In short, am I serving this diocese well? Ultimately, of course, it’s for others to answer that, not me. But perhaps it’s good for me to ponder too.
It’s almost exactly two years since I started in my role as Bishop of Chelmsford, depending on when you start counting – when I took up office, moved to Bishopscourt, or had my welcome service. But roughly two years on, and now that Travelling Well Together has been articulated and is out there, as it were, it’s perhaps a good time for me to reflect a little on what the past 24 months or so have felt like.
On the whole, it has been wonderful. I feel immensely blessed and privileged to be here and I have learned a great deal, along a very steep curve whose trajectory I’m still journeying. My family have settled well and in particular I’m so grateful that our twins, who are currently sitting Alevels adjusted as smoothly as they did to the move. It’s been a joy to be closer to our eldest who is in London and trying to make his way as a musician. I’ve taken every opportunity I can to attend his concerts and recitals and I’ve loved every minute of it. I am conscious that my husband has made considerable sacrifices and that without his support I wouldn’t be able to work in the way I do.
On arrival in the Diocese I was greeted warmly and given a generous welcome. I have sought to listen as together we seek the will of God for the future. We experimented with a Holy Sabbatical during my first Lent, an exercise in desisting from busyness and leaning closer into God; and this year I enjoyed my Lenten Pilgrimage which gave me much more of a feel for the life of this large and diverse diocese, where there are so many faithful people doing so many good things.
I won’t pretend it’s all been rosy. There have been challenges and there have been times when I’ve felt overwhelmed by the extent and the weight of them. I’ve had to make some difficult and painful decisions and sometimes I’ve felt lonely and out of my depth. I’m sure that along the way I’ve also made some mistakes. But I have been fortunate in having good support and wonderful colleagues on the Bishop’s Leadership Team and more widely - people who make up for my shortcomings and without whose wisdom and expertise I would likely have gone under by now. More than anything, I feel I’m in the right place – that God has placed me here for the time being; and I see God’s hand woven through much of what has unfolded over the past two years, and I want to express my gratitude to all of you who have been a part of it.
Back to my episcopal friend, the unnamed bishop of the Communion. At one point in our conversation he asked me how Travelling Well Together was going? Had it been well received in the diocese? For the most part, yes, I think, though there has been some push back from those who disagree profoundly over the proposals around LLF. There may, of course, be those who haven’t engaged with it at all – those who’ve printed out the document and left it under a pile on their desk, or possibly even those who haven’t heard of it. I realise I’m finding it difficult to gauge precisely how much traction Travelling Well has had. To what extent are churches and parishes and deaneries using the Values to have discussions locally and discern together their calling and vocation?
Then my friend asked if I thought Travelling Well Together would be successful. Well, isn’t that the 64 million dollar question? I never presented it or offered it as a solution to the problems we face, rather as a faithful response to where we find ourselves and in the hope that God would use our efforts and continue to guide us. Travelling Well Together is not about the destination but the journey itself. And how would we measure success anyway? I’m not entirely sure, though, it may be a question we return to because at some point it will be important to try and make an assessment of whether we are indeed on the right track or whether our approach needs adjusting.
I’ve said before and will say again: Travelling Well Together is an offering whose progress is dependent almost entirely on whether local contexts choose to engage. I and the leadership team are, to a large extent, relinquishing control and trusting you in the parishes to help discern the way ahead. We are, of course, not relinquishing care and support, and will still be involved in difficult conversations about finances, buildings and deployment. But we want you to share the responsibility and be as fully involved as possible, with a sense of what kind of church community you want to be and how it is that you can most fruitfully serve God and neighbour.
I don’t mind admitting that the relinquishing of control isn’t necessarily easy. Let me be honest and say that while we were in the process of creating Travelling Well Together, I felt like I was doing something useful, being productive, fulfilling my responsibilities to lead as the values were shaped and honed and the approach found its full articulation. Now that it’s out there, do I have the courage of my convictions to really let it go? To see what becomes of it, left to the Holy Spirit and in the hands of those for whom it was designed?
Well of course it’s not that simple is it? It’s not an either/or but a both/and. I continue to hope and pray that you will at least give the approach we’ve agreed on a chance of transforming us as a diocese – that you will pick it up and run with it, help tip the organisational pyramid and assess for yourselves what resources you do have and what missional opportunities there are in your context. And if you need help or support in how to use the Values or initiate the conversations then please say so. There are archdeacons, bishops, folk in Mission and Ministry and others too, who can come alongside to facilitate and enable discussions.
The wide consultation process that will begin in the autumn is designed to strengthen the relationships between so called centre and grass roots – for you to learn and understand more about what colleagues in the Diocesan and Area Offices do and for them to hear about what your needs are so that resources can be aligned as much as is possible.
The principle underlying the Travelling Well Together approach is not that each local context is free to do its own thing with autonomy and without reference to anyone else. Rather, the principle is that though we are diverse in many ways, we are accountable to one another and we need each other. My deepest hope is that ultimately, the sum total of the local experiences will help shape the mission of the whole diocese. The consultation process is the start of an intentional gathering of the local experiences and from there we trust that God will guide us to the next stage.
And what is my role in all this? Not to be a CEO but to be your bishop – to serve you and to love you; to express gratitude for what you do and yes, sometimes to challenge you and make difficult, even unpopular, decisions. But above all my role is to pray for you, to encourage and enable you to be the people God has called you to be, faithful to the claim of Jesus Christ on your lives. There are many challenges ahead of us and some days, I know, it feels insurmountable. But friends let us remember that we are Easter people filled with hope and gentle confidence. The resurrection has transformed us and our relationships, the ascension has reminded us that Jesus’ departure is a call for us to participate, and Pentecost has given us the spirit that empowers us to be God’s people, now and through all that lies ahead.
+Guli Chelmsford
Diocesan Synod Presidential Address
10th June 2023
