Diocesan Synod Presidential Address
May 15th 2004

I want to talk this morning about God’s Mission in England; about seriously praying and working for Growth in our Church and in all the Churches and for ever-growing attention throughout this country to God’s gifts and God’s claims in Christ; and about what I understand to be the particular calling, opportunity and responsibilities of the Church of England, and so of our Diocese, in serving God’s Mission here in partnership with our ecumenical colleagues.

Of course the Church of England, and this Diocese, participates in God’s Mission mainly through the life of our parishes and the discipleship and witness of the many thousands who are the church in them – “mainly”, but in my judgement not only, in the parishes. There is further work, just as necessary in my judgement if we are to service and encourage our parishes, or to serve God’s Mission in England now and on into the future, which has to be done or is better done at the level of the Diocese or of the Church nationally – as well as in the Cathedrals.

In the Diocese, I think of professional support for Church Schools, for schools in general and for religious education which the Church of England understands as an integral part of parochial ministry; of advice to parishes and to bishops about political and social issues - poverty, asylum, countryside and urban life, etc.; of the recruitment, and the continuing education and training, of lay leaders of all sorts – from those who work with children and young people to churchwardens and Readers - and of our clergy, and of PCCs in everything from evangelism and child protection to the care and development of church buildings; of legal advice, and of skilled support in communications and in all our dealings with the media.

I am convinced, too, that there are theological, and not just historical or habitual, grounds for judging that the work managed and prioritised by the General Synod and the Archbishops’ Council is a necessary complement and partner for the ministry of our parishes. It makes theological and ecumenical as well as organisational sense to manage and fund ordinand selection and training as a Church – and such things as our Church’s national and international ecumenical relationships and Conversations, and our liturgical development, and our reviewing of the clergy’s discipline and terms and conditions of service. And if you want the Church of England, in part through the work of Bishops in the House of Lords, to be engaged with Government, and with a range of other bodies including the national print and broadcasting media, about a raft of issues from Education or VAT on church buildings to the defence of Marriage, patient-assisted dying for the terminally ill, overseas aid and arms sales, prisons, the monarchy – I could go on! - and my post-bag suggests that very many church-people think this important – this all needs a level of expert, Godly resourcing that will not be economically or efficiently located in the Dioceses.

I believe that the Faithful God continues to challenge his Church, and in particular ways the Church of England on account of our particular opportunities and history, to think large, and to think long, about God’s Mission in this country. A good deal that I read and hear at present is effectively suggesting that England is the only country in the world, Western Europe the only region, where the Church is not called to be an instrument of God’s recalling, disciplining and renewing the Nation and its institutions, as well as individuals and families at the local level; and I ask you to join me in passionately disagreeing with that kind of withdrawal from this field of God’s activity, God’s struggle. It is as a contribution to all this that is we are offering the Diocese the Pastoral Letter that I’m looking forward to introducing later this morning.

+Michael Winton: