Diocesan Synod July 2025 - Called to walk together

The recent Budget Consultation was the next agenda item and Diocesan Secretary and CEO, Jenny Hollingsworth, gave an update on the sessions, which over 100 people attended. Jenny explained, “What we have been trying to do is to build on the principles we agreed last year: mutuality, transparency, and independent data. The goal is to give people access to the detail, so they can hold us to account, and can clearly see how their contributions through the Common Fund are being used."

In the question-and-answer session on the Budget Consultation, Jenny was asked what her reflections were about the consultation. She said: "What’s really stayed with me, are the conversations I’ve had with individuals before and after the meeting, and the emails that have come in since. They’ve made it clear that there’s a deep longing for us to lean into whatever God is doing in our particular context.

“What I’ve taken away is that my role is to support Matthew, our Head of Finance, and Elizabeth, Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance and the Finance Committee on Bishop’s Council, in finding a way to be open and honest about the financial gaps we’re facing - gaps that are likely to be with us for some time.

“If we can be that transparent, I believe people will continue to work hard. What we sometimes fail to celebrate enough is that last year, our parishes raised an additional £500,000 compared to the year before. That’s a huge achievement.

“The challenge we face now is inflation, which is beyond our control. But what we can do is celebrate what our parishes are achieving and support them to go even further. If we can be honest about how long we can sustain this, and continue to act in mutuality and generosity - as we committed to last year - then I believe all of this becomes possible under God.”

Bishop Michael responded to a question raised in the session, “When do we start treating this as a spiritual problem?” He outlined the discussions underway to determine how we can make 2026 a year in which, as a diocese, we can be especially focused on prayer.  More information on this will be available later in the year.

The Amendment Regulations are intended to address various concerns about the outworking of the Regulation in some recent appointment processes. 

Jenny Hollingsworth proclaimed the Act of Synod using the following form of words:

“At the group of sessions of the General Synod held at Westminster in February 2025 the Vacancy in See Committees Regulation 2024 in the form it takes following its amendment at that group of sessions was formally affirmed and proclaimed as an Act of Synod.

An Act of Synod is the embodiment of the will or opinion of the Church of England as expressed by the whole body of the General Synod. Copies of the Instrument proclaiming and affirming the Vacancy in See Committees Regulation as an Act of Synod have been sent to members of this Synod.”

Jenny may also wish to highlight to Synod that nominations for election to the Vacancy in See Committee in this Diocese are now open with a closing date of 12 noon on Friday 25th July.
 

Saturday, 22 November 2025 at 09.30
Saturday, 14 March 2026 at 09.30
Wednesday, 8 July 2026 at 18.30
Saturday, 28 November 2026 at 09.30 

Members approved the minutes of the previous AGM held on 10 July 2024 and received the Trustees’ and Directors’ Annual Report and Financial Statement for 2024, as approved by the Bishop’s Council as Directors of the Board.

Commented on the accounts, Elizabeth said, “Our executive team has done a lot of work modernizing and improving the risk management framework for the DBF. The DBF is both a board of charity trustees and a board of directors, so good governance is essential. 

“The auditors noted two areas for improvement: cyber risk incident response planning and fraud risk awareness so these are two areas we will incorporate going forward.”.

On addressing Synod on finance going forward, Matthew Pinnock, Head of Finance said, “Our financial position remains challenging, however, I would like to thank our parishes for increasing their parish share contributions by £500,000. Unfortunately, despite this, inflationary pressures mean we still ended the year with expenditure exceeding income.”

Continuing to draw on the Tour de France analogy he used at the last session synod, Matthew said, “For some, it’s felt like we’ve been climbing the Col de la Montagne or riding through a hurricane. Despite our best efforts, we’ve had to work extremely hard just to avoid being pushed backward. In many cases, we haven’t succeeded, and we’re behind where we were four or five years ago.

Matthew encouraged Synod to consider how we can respond to those challenges together, as a diocese, whether people view the diocese as a large and complicated tandem bike with 500 seats or as a Tour de France team, each on our own bike, but working together. He said “But let’s stay positive. Let’s consider where we might be if we hadn’t put in any effort at all—we’d be back at the bottom of the mountain. I still believe we’re on the mountain. The idea of incremental gains is a powerful one. If we can all just continue to pedal a little harder or a little more efficiently, we might improve our collective position.”

Elizabeth followed up on Matthew’s reflection, adding, “There’s a version of ‘us’ that sees ‘them’ as the national church, the Church Commissioners, and that vast pool of wealth that some believe is being held ‘until Jesus comes again,’ as someone once put it. And I think - why not pay us now? Why sit on that gold?"

But there’s also a version of ‘them and us’ within the diocese itself. I’ve heard people question what dioceses are even for - suggesting we could just get rid of the diocesan structures and solve the financial problem that way.

“This perception of division -whether between local and national, or within the diocese - is a real issue. But it’s one we can overcome. It requires everyone to engage in honest dialogue, to build mutual understanding. And yes, that includes listening to the national Church."

Commenting on the ongoing challenge, Elizabeth said: “Yes, we still have an ongoing gap between income and expenditure - over a million pounds. That’s significant. And no, there’s no magic wand.

“But we are fortunate. We have housing assets that we can sell in a managed and proportionate way to fund the working capital of our day-to-day operations. And we will continue to do that - carefully - until we start to see things build up again. We also have a portfolio of land and investments.

“Of course, nothing happens quickly in this space. From what I’ve seen over the past few months, it’s often two steps forward and one step back -or sometimes just a half-step forward. But in the spirit of incremental gains, that’s still progress.

“We’ve done a huge amount of excellent work on our vision, mission, strategic objectives, and desired outcomes. Now we need to translate that into implementable, costed plans. Only then can we measure what we’re spending and what impact we’re having.”