Signposts for the Future 

- the Bishop of Coventry

(This is a summary; for the full document, click HERE)


Purpose

To help us make best use of the Purpose Statement, I have seven proposals.

1) We return to the original and simplest form of the statement, thus:
•    Worshipping God
•    Making new disciples
•    Transforming communities

2) We recognize that the Statement requires filling out.
There are the two themes that are hidden within the Statement that I would like us to think about.
There is one element of our life  that concerns both of these areas, our work with schools, colleges and universities, most particularly, of course, our 74 Church Schools.

3) We do not attempt to prescribe how our three‐fold purpose is fulfilled locally but encourage Parishes, Benefices, Deaneries, Chaplaincies, Schools and other Christian communities to discern how they are being called to fulfill this calling. We could ask our communities or even Deaneries to devise Action Plans.

4) We celebrate our common calling with other Christians to worship God, make new disciples and transform communities and welcome opportunities to join with others in all three spheres, particularly in evangelistic endeavour and community engagement.

5) We make more disciplined use of the Purpose Statement in our common life, for example, on web‐sites, parish profiles and other publicity.

6) Bishop John and I use the Purpose Statement as a way of focusing our ministries.

7) The Purpose Statement is used as a simple three‐year curriculum for Bishops’ Study Days and other training events. I would like to introduce another training event in the Spring/Summer period open to all licensed ministers as well as clergy. In 2010 this will take the form of a Celebration of Preaching organised by the College of Preachers in their anniversary year.


Strategy

The Diocesan strategy is to liberate effective local strategies. The Charge given to me by the Archbishop of Canterbury includes these words:
The missionary energy of the Church is released
a) by shaping the Church for mission (strategic activity that builds the capacity of the Church) and
b) through a faithful ministry of the word.

I have two proposals.

1) To make use of a proportion of the surplus from the 2007 and 2008 budgets together with some accumulated funds to create two Mission funds (a total of £650,000). One will be for Benefices and Deaneries, for projects that aim in some way to make new disciples. The other will allow me to fund particular projects and posts for the growth of the Church.

2) That Bishop John and I use the Purpose Statement as way of focusing and testing our activity. Are we giving sufficient time and energy to the leading of worship, the making of new disciples10 and the transformation of communities?

Three practical matters here:
(1) From 2010 I would like to move the Cathedral Easter Vigil with the Liturgy of
Initiation (Baptism and Confirmation) to an early morning start on Easter Sunday. There could be an additional Confirmation for those for whom the early morning is just too inhospitable if that would be helpful.
(2) Bishop John and I are very keen to baptize at Confirmation services, so we would encourage (but by no means require) you to hold back the baptism of adults to a Confirmation service.
(3) I am planning to lead a pilgrimage to the Taizé Community in 2010. I want to work with a small group of youth leaders in the Diocese to gather a large group of young people, some of whom will already be committed Christians, others – I hope – will be much more on the edge of the Faith.


Some strategic decisions

Here are two more proposals to share with you. Again you may have
heard of both.

1) The Parish Share Review Group has now reported to Bishop’s Council and proposed a method of parish share which has gained ‘in principle’ support of the Council. It has a long journey of consultation ahead but if adopted it will devolve a greater level of responsibility to the Deaneries.

2) I would like us to consider redesigning the number and structures of the Deaneries in order to:
a. further devolve responsibilities to the Deanery by means of a more effective and streamlined form of Deanery leadership and administration;
b. better resource the Rural‐Area Dean and accompanying structures of leadership.

In the light of the strategic direction of these proposals, and after a good deal of consultation, I am intending to appoint a successor to Michael Paget‐Wilkes who will help us over a fixed period of time to merge our two Archdeaconries into one.
Having  completed this work, the post‐holder will then assume other responsibilities in this Diocese or elsewhere.

It is important to remind ourselves that the point of all of this is to further the release of the missionary energies of the Diocese.


Some other structural matters

Moving in this direction will require:

1. a clearer linkage between the Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Committee and the leadership of the Deaneries;

2. a fuller involvement in Bishop’s Staff by Rural / Area Deans;

3. a greater sense of the Directors serving the Deaneries to enable their mission in its varied forms to be most fully supported, including being most fully informed by the national perspectives that the Directors are able to bring to Diocesan life.

There are some other structural matters that I am aware need attention, among them:

1. better integration of our Directors into the structures of the Diocese;

2. more efficient use of Bishop’s Staff Meeting so that it is freed to operate more strategically, and Archdeacons and the Diocesan Secretary are liberated for a fuller exercise of their ministries.


Matters of Ministry

1. Bishop John is reviewing the unquestionably important matter of the pastoral care of the clergy of the Diocese. Please feel free to contact him if you have views to feed in.

2. I have always been supportive of OLM ministry. A review of our OLM training will be taking place in October. Please contact Roger Spiller if you have views to feed in.

3. I have also always been committed to lay ministry and to the sharing of leadership by a clearly designated team leader. I have been impressed with the quality of our Ministry Leadership Teams and I rejoice in the considerable contribution to our ministry by our Readers. I would also like to record my deep appreciation to the Church Wardens of the Diocese.

4. I hope that MLTs, as a tool of ministry and mission, will be more fully used in the Diocese. I suspect that we need to put some more energy into the development of MLTs both where they are already in place and where their introduction would be of real benefit to parishes and benefices.

5. I am excited by the success of the Bishop’s Certificate and its potential for the teaching of the faith and the growing of ministry in the Diocese.

6. I am impressed with work of Chaplains in the Diocese and conscious of the way the recession has proved the worth of committed institutional involvement in the workplace.

7. I recognize that there is some understandable frustration when parochial appointments take a while to fill.  I am very keen that we progress parochial appointments as expeditiously as possible.

8. I am conscious that in 2010 the Church of England will have more non‐stipendiary and active retired clergy than stipendiary clergy. Much of our strategic planning will be influenced by this reality.

9. It would be very good to find the most agreeable nomenclature of ministry. Would non stipendiary ministers prefer to be known as self‐supporting ministers or is there some other better title? What is the preferred term for Reader Ministry?

10. Related to the above, an area that concerns me is our reliance in many parts of the Diocese on House for Duty posts. It is an excellent arrangement providing that we can find people to fill the posts. This will need to be monitored in order to ensure that our policy is sustainable in the long term.

11. Many Clergy and Church Wardens feel frustrated with the amount of time, energy and money that is taken up by maintaining and developing our buildings. Our buildings are sapping much of our life. At the same time, in most cases, they are extraordinary assets that provide us with great opportunities.
I have two more specific comments to make.
a. The more efficient and transparent our Diocesan Advisory Committee is, the better it is for Clergy morale and for our mission. I am hopeful that a new Secretary, new Chair and a new Chancellor, will serve us well in the coming years.
b. I sense that there is an opportunity for a new settlement between Church and Government in which our contribution to local communities through our buildings can be better supported through statutory funding.


Mutuality

One of the most important ways in which we maintain our connectedness with each other and the wider church is through good communication. So how do we improve? I suggest the following as a start.

1. By making use of opportunities for communication between Bishops and Clergy / Licensed Ministers. Hence:
a. I plan to continue the practice that I have begun of occasional pastoral letters to Clergy and Licensed
Ministers.
b. I would like to develop the following pattern of annual events:
•    Autumn Study Day for Clergy (as now, around November)
•    Renewal of Ministerial Vows at the Chrism Eucharist in Holy Week (with lunch!)
•    An additional Spring / Summer training event for all Clergy and Licensed Ministers (in 2010 this will be the College of Preachers Event referred to earlier)
c. Bishop John and I seek to attend Chapter meetings on at least a three‐year cycle.

2. By a better communication of Diocesan Policies and Practice through some form of Diocesan Handbook as is found in many other Dioceses.

3. By sharing stories of good news around the Diocese and with our local communities.

4. Making the most efficient use of the IT in facilitating our communication and fostering our sense of being part of the same family.

There are deeper issues of communication that lie at the heart of our common life. They concern especially how we handle the differences of view over the ordination of women to the presbyterate and the episcopate.  For my own part, it is incumbent on me to ensure that my own view – that the ordination of women is consonant with Scripture and consistent with the identity of the Church of England ‐ is combined with a commitment to maintain the highest degree of communion possible with those who take a different view.


‘The Ministry of Reconciliation’

I have been surprised in my travels by how little the theme of reconciliation has been explicitly raised, apart from in our Schools. It is certainly how the Diocese is known throughout the Anglican Communion. Much great work has been done and is continuing today in the international sphere. But Canon David Porter, the Canon for Reconciliation, is also concentrating some of his team’s attention on the Diocese and on opportunities for exercising the ministry of reconciliation on home ground.

My prayer for the Diocese is that the ministry of reconciliation that has been entrusted to us will be lived out in every aspect of our common life – in our worship of God, in our making of new disciples and in our transformation of communities. And my longing for us all is that we will make known in every corner of the Diocese of Coventry that ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself’ (2 Corinthians 5.19).

As the 50th  Anniversary of the consecration of the Mother Church of the Diocese approaches – in Britain’s Olympian year ‐ let us keep our ears open to whatever the Spirit will say to the Church in our day.

And finally – or rather – primarily . . .
I conclude by saying that my first seven months in the Diocese have given me a renewed conviction in the role of prayer as a means by which the sovereign God graciously chooses to implement his will. So
let us join in the Diocesan Prayer: