PART ONE: PREFACE BY THE BISHOP

1.1 Introduction

This document is a response to the changes that face the Church in Wales in our diocese. It is a response to listening to what God is saying to us through provincial and diocesan events, and from feedback from parishes and deaneries. It is a response for implementation and should be discussed at parish, deanery and diocesan levels as we seek to develop a strategy to make the Diocese of Monmouth a more effective tool for God in his mission.

This cannot be a definitive document because a strategy needs to develop and grow in response to a shared vision that has been given through a loving obedience (listening) to God and in the light of our lived experience. This document is, however, a response to where we find ourselves today and where we believe the Holy Spirit is leading us at present. Nevertheless, I believe in a God of surprises, so we need to be constantly listening to God through his word, constantly reading the ‘signs of the times’ and constantly seeking the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who breathes new life into the Church.

Many of the current pressures facing the Church in Wales and our own diocese are related to declining membership and resources. We have been heavily subsidised by grants from central funds that are diminishing. The recommendations of the Rowe-Beddoe Report [1] that are now being put into place are intended to put the Church in Wales on a secure financial footing for the future, but to do this it is necessary to pass a number of costs, including stipends and pensions, onto the dioceses.

Footnotes

1 Sir David Rowe-Beddoe, chairman of the Representative Body chaired a Review Group that produced a report concerning the finances of the Church in Wales. The Governing Body approved the Report and its recommendations in 2005.