bath & wells: from the bishop
NOTES FROM JUNE 2006 DIOCESAN SYNOD
Bath and Wells Diocesan Synod met at Wells Town Hall on Wednesday 28 June 2006.
The following are notes taken during the Synod – for fuller details please speak to your members of the Synod.
Reports of highlights of Synod will appear in the August edition of The Grapevine, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Bath and Wells.
1. Bishop Peter’s Presidential Address covered a number of matters (the full text is attached to the e-mail as a separate document).
* Bishop Andrew
* John’s gospel – household communities, egalitarian ‘martyria’ – the responsibility to bear witness
*The Anglican Church – bearing good news or something we are chained to and have made necessary?
* Think differently about our witness
* Be re-drawn to gospel and church because they are good, not because they are necessary
* Synodical government – effectiveness, coherence…
* Why are the laity silent? How do we talk things through in the local church? * Shopping list – mission, reconciliation, ecology, abused and abusers, breaking the cycle of violence, fair trade, Zambia link, clergy/laity.church at school…. * Changing Lives – not a slogan
* I have a new day for you – and I hope you can find it
Following the address members of Synod were invited to offer their comments.
Some of the comments included
More voting needed at Synods.
How do we break the mould – induct new blood; ensure processes are relevant; engage and include, not marginalise? If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got!
Where is the prayer? Where is the faith?
Synodical and Episcopal system – confusion
Bishop Andrew’s smile
A foretaste of the address please to enable prepared relevant comments.
Value of Synod – informal chats over coffee
God of mission has the church
2. Synod discussed the Diocesan Response and report from the Council for Ministry on Affirmation and Accountability.
Affirmation and Accountability was a document published in the summer of 2002 and the Council For Ministry appointed a working party to consider it. The document itself was the result of a consultation exercise by the Sheldon Community and was compiled by a group of 16 people of varying experience and expertise in the Church of England (Two of the group were from Bath and Wells).
The seven section of the document were: Culture; Formation; Skills Training; Appointments and Moving; When things go wrong; Household and housing; Structures.
The documents had 83 paragraphs each with recommendations to the national Church.
The Bath and Wells Diocesan Synod members had a paper outlining the diocesan response.
The following points were made in discussion:
Terry Baillie
How many curates do not serve their full term?
Investors in People – clarification please of the present diocesan position.
Peter Leroy
Ministerial review – progress in clergy conditions of service: why not in the report? (Ans: already dealt with)
David Perryman
Affirmation and Accountability – clergy have fallen behind other walks of life: ‘professional’ /vocation
3. Diocesan Synod received the Annual Reports for 2005.
Synod received all the reports
Of particular interest was the presentation of the Accounts for the Year Ended 31st December 2005 presented by DBF co-chairman Nigel Birkett:
Parish Share: during the year amounted to 98.9% of the amount requested
Realised Gains
Surplus on Sale of Houses £1,663k
Surplus on Sale of Investments £1,455k
Total Realised Gains £3,118k
Unrealised Gains on Investments £1,744k
Total Gains £4,862k
The budgeted deficit for the year was £131,000 but the actual deficit had been kept down to £45,000 - performance better than budget was £86,000.
4. Questions:
Two questions from Mr David Grendon, Bath Deanery:
1. “I believe that Changing Lives is the most important issue to come before Synod for many years. Whilst it has formed a large part of presidential addresses, I personally would have liked Synod to have had more time to consider its principles and implications. Will the Bishops' Council please ensure, when considering the agenda for future meetings, that Synod has more time to debate and discuss Changing Lives?”
2. “Synod has said on several occasions that it would like to see more younger members. If I leave my office in Bath at 5pm, I cannot legally get here by road on time and it must be worse for those living on Exmoor. By starting at 6pm, Synod may be inadvertently sending an unwelcome message to those with jobs. In considering the arrangements for meetings of Diocesan Synod, will the Bishops Council please consider putting back the start time of the summer session to 6.30pm?” From: Prebendary John Andrews,
Communications Officer, Diocese of Bath and Wells
Telephone: 01934 830208
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