Church in Wales Provincial Review Group 2011
A review group tasked with exploring the effectiveness of the Church in Wales has visited St Asaph Cathedral to hear the views of parishioners across the Diocese.
In agreement with the Bench of Bishops the group is visiting each Diocese in the Province to:
...examine the structure and organisation of the Church in Wales with a view to increasing the effectiveness of its ministry and witness to the people of Wales.
On Monday 28 November around 100 people attended the Cathedral and were asked by the group to begin by sharing the positive aspects of Church life.
A number of speakers feel the Diocese is extremely welcoming with a strong Parish system that needs to be built on. Positive thoughts were expressed about the growing number of “Messy Churches” and the Deeside Chaplaincy in terms of youth and children’s work, while the strong links forged with South West Tanganyika were also seen as a big positive.
However, the evening was designed to allow people to share their concerns but more importantly their solutions with the Review Group.
Lord (Richard) Harries of Pentregarth (Chair), Professor Charles Handy and Professor Patricia Peattie OBE took notes as various members of the Diocese – clergy and lay – made their suggestions for the future.
Concerns were expressed about the differences in the Diocese between rural and urban contexts and the feeling that this needs to be dealt with more clearly at a local level. A number of people were keen to see the church do more community work and stand up for injustice.
There were also calls to look at the way our Churches are set up and to recognise that there are other ways of expressing church and that it should be rooted into the Welsh context.
A number of people expressed a desire to go for growth, training new people for ministry now to plug the future gaps which will arise. There were also calls for more follow-on training for clergy and lay people.
Overall there seemed to be a theme of looking at our communities and finding new ways to engage with them and meet their needs in the modern context.
After they have visited all the Dioceses in Wales, the Review Group will report back to the Bench of Bishops next year.
Introducing the Review Group:
Lord (Richard) Harries of Pentregarth (Chair) who was Bishop of Oxford in the Church of England between 1987 and 2006, and also Chairman of the Church of England Board of Social Responsibility from 1996 to 2001. He currently sits in the House of Lords as a cross-bencher. Pictured to the right.
Professor Charles Handy who taught at the London Business School between 1967 and 1995, and is a renowned author on the subjects of organisational behaviour and management. He is the son of a Church of Ireland Archdeacon.
Professor Patricia Peattie OBE served as the Convenor of the Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church from 2005 to 2010, and has a professional background in nursing and education. She was the first chairwoman of Lothian University Hospital NHS Trust, and served also as Assistant Principal of Napier University.
The Open Meeting focussed on the following five questions:
What aspect of a) your diocese and b) the Church in Wales, do you feel most positive about?
What major changes or initiatives would you like to see a) in your diocese and b) in the Church in Wales, to make its ministry and witness more effective?
Given the predicted shortfall in the number of clergy what steps do you think should be taken to ensure that there continues to be ministry in every community?
Given the likely diminishment of the contribution of historic funds to the financing of the church (at present 30%) what steps do you think should be taken to ensure the financial viability of the church in the future?
Are there any other issues you would like to see the review team investigating in order to enhance the ministry and witness of the Church in Wales?
The Review Group appreciates that not everybody was able to make it to the open meeting at St Asaph Cathedral.
Consequently it would also like to invite members to make written submissions on the questions posed by the Review Group or any other matter that might be relevant to the Review.
These should be submitted by Thursday 12 January 2012 directly to the Chair of the Working Group at the following address:
Lord Harries of Pentregarth
The House of Lords
Westminster
LONDON
SW1A 0PW