RB report shows behind-the-scenes work of church

The Annual Reports and Accounts 2007 of the Representative Body of the Church in Wales is now out and, despite its cumbersome title, it's doing its best to catch the eye of all members of the congregation. Peep inside and you'll find a wealth of useful facts and figures about the work of the ‘support arm’ of the Church.

It tells you, for example, how financially stable the Church in Wales is, where it invests its money and what it spends it on. It explains the services that the Cardiff-based Representative Body - or ‘RB’- provides to support your local church and clergy. And it also has a helpful reference section so you can find out how the RB is run and who's who on the various committees.

The report is introduced by the RB chairman, Lord David Rowe-Beddoe. He points out that a new arrangement to fund churches, introduced in 2007, has had a positive reception. The RB now gives a ‘block grant’ to each diocese in Wales which they can choose how to spend themselves. In fact, the RB meets more than a third of the Church's total expenditure - a much higher contribution to dioceses than is the case in other provinces.

Several examples of the services the RB provides to support the ministry of the church are highlighted in the report. These include:

Property advice and grants
From listed buildings to churchyards, the RB offers advice on maintaining all church property. It helps, for example, with securing grants, meeting health and safety regulations and promoting open access. Last year the RB undertook a survey of churchyards and a review of parsonages.

Child protection
Everyone wants our churches to be safe places for our children. The RB helps by providing parishes with a Child Protection Pack - a toolkit to ensure best practice - and by administering all Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks for clergy and volunteers across the province.

Re-ordering churches
More and more church buildings are changing their layout as they adapt to serve their communities more effectively. The RB offers help and advice for parishes keen to change and organised a conference last year to explore the theme.

Websites
Getting the church online and accessible to a worldwide audience has been a major project of the RB over the past few years. After the successful set up of the new provincial website in 2006, last year saw the launch of the updated diocesan websites. That has been followed this year by a scheme to help parishes set up their own websites easily too.

Pensions
A large part of the Church's assets goes into supporting clerics in their retirement through a final salary scheme. The management of the Clergy Pension Scheme is becoming more important as the number of pensioners is expected to rise significantly over the next five years.

Membership and Finance
Trends in attendance, giving and spending in each parish and diocese, as well as in the Church as a whole, can be tracked from information gathered by the RB. A new database was developed in 2007 which includes figures for the past 17 years and helps dioceses plan for the future.

Training clergy
Nearly all Church in Wales ordinands now train at St Michael's College in Llandaff. Last year it was decided to support the college in its plans to develop and expand over the next five years to secure its future.

If you can't find a copy of the Annual Report at the back of your church, you can get it online at:http://www.churchinwales.org.uk/structure/repbody
Parishes can also order more copies by contacting the RB at
39, Cathedral Rd, Cardiff CF11 9XF
Tel: 029 2034 8200.

Anna Morrell, Archbishop’s Press Officer