Presidential Address – Diocesan Synod 20th June, 2015
It’s good to gather here with you today, for the last meeting of this Diocesan Synod. I begin now, as I
shall end our meeting this afternoon, with my gratitude – and I am sure our gratitude to each other
– for the contributions made and the friendships developed as we have worshipped, debated,
discussed and learned together in Diocesan Synod. The Church of England’s synodical structure for
all its imperfections and frustrations – and there are some as we know – gives expression to who we
are. We are the body of Christ is not only true in our parishes where we show this week in, week out
as congregations gather and as we share the Peace with those or similar words, and as we gather
around one table. It is true here. Wherever Christians gather we are, at our best, a foretaste of the
Kingdom, as we glimpse the heavenly Jerusalem. Thank you for gathering as the people of God in
synod.
Today we address some of the pressing policy concerns of our day. As you can see from the agenda
we plan to give significant time today to consideration of diocesan finance and apportioning the
costs of being a church of ministry for mission in this diocese. There are very few of us in this room
who do not think of themselves as parishioners; be you lay or clergy you belong to a parish and
benefice and feel an allegiance to it. You show that commitment in many ways, including your giving
of money which through our understanding of being one in Christ is a contribution to you make to
each other. Of course I and one or two others make our financial, and indeed our other gifts of time
and talent, in a different way. However we give, it is good today to acknowledge with gratitude
generosity of heart and money, of time and gifts, which you contribute for our common and shared
ministry for mission – living, praying, serving.
We also give time today to a discussion of the Reform and Renewal programme on which the
national church has embarked, and in which we all have a role to play. I suspect I am not alone in
just occasionally feeling a little bit weary of policy papers and fresh initiatives. They do seem to
come thick and fast at times. So as I reflected on this latest important development, I found myself
asking what the long term purpose of the church really is – where we’re headed and what the
ultimate goal of all this policy really is.
At the risk of sounding a touch fatalistic, I began my quest in the book of Revelation. Not that I’m
equating the policy makers of Church House in London with the horsemen of the apocalypse – of
course not. Nor do I cast any aspersions about my, our valued colleagues who serve in and from the
diocesan office. No, I began my search there because the Book of Revelation offers an insight into
what the heavenly Jerusalem might be like, and what the end product of all our time and labours
might be. In the heavenly Jerusalem, as you are no doubt all aware, there are no
churches. Revelation 21.22 says, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the
Almighty and the Lamb.” The institution of the church ceases to exist at the point at which the
heavenly Jerusalem is ushered in. There is no need for a church because God is self evidently
present, love self-evidently abounds. From a policy perspective that’s very interesting. Because it
means that the church is unique among all institutions for its aim of making itself redundant. Our
absence will be one of the signs of our success.
Now I suspect that some of you are muttering to yourselves that if the goal of the church is to put
itself out of business, some of the decisions made by the Church Commissioners or the Archbishops’
Council over the years must be regarded as very successful indeed. And there’s no doubt about it –
the church has significantly fewer assets, people certainly and money sometimes, than it had when I
and many of you went into the ministry or became involved in the life of the church. And that has
huge repercussions. Those who go into stipendiary ministry in their twenties and thirties now have
significantly less financial security than clergy of my generation. I am very mindful, when
encouraging young people to pursue vocation, that the church in which they will serve will be
shaped very differently to the one I know and love. Congregations are generally smaller, and he
finances of the church are more precarious; and if we were a business there is no doubt that new
senior managers with real financial acumen would have been brought in and drastic measures taken
to put finance right at the top of our agenda.
But to return to the Book of Revelation, our end goal is not to make a financial profit. Our end goal
is transformation. Transformation of hearts, of individuals, of community, of society, of the
world. Transformation so effective that ultimately there is no need of church, of religious language
or ritual, because justice abounds and people flourish together in the city of God, loved and at
peace. Reform and Renewal must not be for preservation; God forbid that we become part of the
heritage industry. Reform and renewal for transformation of the people and communities we serve
in Jesus’ name.
Today we consider the Reform and Renewal programme and our place within it, reflecting on our
strategic purpose and figuring out how best we can serve. I am conscious that there may be times
today when the conversation might feel somewhat inward looking, focusing in on the church and its
structures. The work is necessary not because we want to preserve the structures of the church as
they are – we don’t. That is emphatically not our purpose and our long term direction. We focus
inwardly so that we are best equipped to look outward, so that we make the very best use of our
resources to transform society, working in partnership with God to draw ever closer to the day when
there is no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty. So today, even if, like me,
you feel a little weary of yet more policy at times, I do encourage you to engage in the detail of
today’s discussion. It is vitally important that our resources are targeted in such a way as to
transform individuals, communities and our world. And it’s vital that we remain committed to
placing the needs of those we serve before the instinct for self preservation that we as a church, like
any institution, can fall prey to.
Bishop Christopher