THE General Synod’s Business Committee has “laid on a very busy group of sessions” for July, the Synod’s secretary-general, William Nye, said on Thursday, as the full agenda was published.
Clergy pay, the governance of the House of Bishops, and redress for survivors of church-based abuse are all on the agenda for the sessions in York, along with a presentation on church growth and an address from a member of the armed forces.
The full agenda and accompanying documents were published on Thursday morning, before a press conference at Church House, Westminster. The Synod is to meet at the University of York from 11 to 15 July.
On the first afternoon, members will hear from Brigadier Jaish Mahan, Deputy Commander Reserves, 1st (UK) Division, who has served in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and the Synod will consider legislation to facilitate the licensing of army chaplains as they move between deployments.
On Thursday, the Bishop to the Armed Forces, the Rt Revd Hugh Nelson, said that the Church needed to “take seriously” the threat of direct UK involvement in armed conflict.
Alongside praying for peace, the C of E should “begin to have conversation” about how it would respond if the UK went to war. Discussions at the Synod would be the start of that process, he said.
Bishop Nelson, who is also Bishop of St Germans in the diocese of Truro, said that tools were being developed for churches that “want to become more armed-forces-friendly”, and that this would include a glossary of army acronyms.
Legislation to change the way in which army chaplains are licensed will also be put forward, so that they do not have to apply separately for permission to officiate (PTO) in each diocese in which they might operate.
For more than 150 years, the system had relied on an Archbishop’s licence to avoid chaplains’ having to apply for PTO to serve as a priest at any army base, no matter the diocese in which it was located.
About two years ago, however, it was discovered that the licence did not actually have that authority, owing to a piece of legislation that had not been properly dealt with in the 19th century; the proposed new Measure would rectify this, and remove the extra bureaucracy that had recently been placed on chaplains.
Previewing a presentation on church growth and revitalisation scheduled for 13 July, the Prolocutor of the Lower House of the Convocation of York, Canon Kate Wharton, said on Thursday that she thought that there was a “moment of opportunity for us as a Church, as we have seen modest but sustained growth over the past four years. Churches are revitalising and reaching new people in new ways.”
Research suggested that “national funding is working: where it’s in place, churches report higher attendance and increased giving,” she said.
Asked whether a focus on encouraging younger generations to come to church might isolate older generations, Canon Wharton said that research showed that, when churches “are praying for and prioritising” work with younger people, “what we’re seeing is that the whole church flourishes”.
Final approval for the Church’s redress scheme for survivors of abuse will be voted on at the meeting this month, after a delay to allow the steering group to consider the eligibility criteria “in light of the Makin report” (News, 17 January).
A report from the steering committee, published on Thursday, sets out a proposed amendment to the draft Abuse Redress Measure which would provide an entitlement to redress “based on a case where a Church officer had had an opportunity to take action which might have prevented a perpetrator from carrying out the abuse to which the application relates but failed to take that action”.
Also held over from February is a motion from the diocese of Hereford which seeks to redistribute £2.6 billion of funds from the Church Commissioners to the dioceses, to be used “to support parish ministry”.
The motion will be moved by the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Revd Richard Jackson. He recently criticised the model by which funds are made available as grants for specific projects (News, 12 June).
A private member’s motion calling for an increase in clergy pensions (News, 14 March) is to be debated, although many of its demands are satisfied in proposals brought forward by the Commissioners (News, 22 May).
Spending plans that would involve a rise of 10.7 per cent in clergy stipends will also be presented for approval (News, 13 June). On Thursday, the Bishop of Chester, the Rt Revd Mark Tanner, said that these pay rises were about “caring for those who care for others”.
“Clergy well-being is vital for all manner of reasons, but it supports our vision as a Church to be a Christian presence in every community,” he said.
A private member’s motion from a Lichfield lay member, Dr Ros Clarke, calls for the House of Bishops to “urgently submit itself to an independent culture and governance review in order to restore trust and ensure that it is acting in an appropriate manner”.
In a paper accompanying the motion, Dr Clarke, who is associate director of the Evangelical group the Church Society, refers to “lack of transparency” and “the repeated failure of diocesan bishops, and even archbishops, to act appropriately with respect to disclosing and reporting safeguarding” as among the reasons for a review.
In May, the House of Bishops decided to initiate a review of its “governance structures, culture, and operational practices”. This decision was revealed only on Thursday, in a paper summarising the House’s work since the last Synod.
Mr Nye said that there was currently no timescale for the review. “It’s not something to be done in a hurry, because quite a lot of thought is needed,” he said.
