EVERYDAY FAITH AND BECOMING MISSIONARY DISCIPLES
Chair
of the Synod’s House of Laity Dr Nick Land introduced an opportunity to
review progress since Synod discussed the Church of England’s report
‘Setting God’s People Free’ (SGPF) in 2018, urging churches to empower
and encourage every member in declaring and living out their practical
Christian faith from Monday to Saturday each week as well as in church
on Sunday.
He reported that the Church of England has gathered the online resources for SGPF together at
www.churchofengland.org/our-faith/everyday-faith.
Our
refreshed Diocese of York vision challenges us to become a Church of
missionary disciples, he said, and one that is shaped by the five marks
of mission:
- To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom (Tell)
- To teach, baptise and nurture new believers (Teach)
- To respond to human need by loving service (Tend)
- To transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation (Transform)
- To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth (Treasure)
Synod
broke into small online groups to encourage one another with stories of
how God is working through us, and how we are working with God, to
engage with the Five Marks of Mission. This included Parish initiatives
and ways in which we work to equip one another as effective Missionary
Disciples in our everyday lives.
A list of resources named and shared would be compiled after Synod met and will be made available in due course.
FAITH AT HOME
Carolyn
Edwards, Diocesan Children and Youth Adviser, presented the framework
of the Faith at Home campaign, which supports the faith development and
pastoral care of children and young people alongside and together with
our work in schools and churches.
She demonstrated the ways in
which the programme maps onto both our diocesan priorities, and the
findings and recommendations of the report ‘Faith in the Nexus’
published by the National Institute for Christian Education Research
(NICER) late in 2020. ‘Faith in the Nexus’ explores how church primary
schools facilitate opportunities for children’s exploration of faith and
spiritual life in the home.
Highlighting the finding that we are
losing 35% of our under-16s from churches every year, Carolyn commented
that “In ten years’ time there will be no Diocesan Synod because there
won’t be enough people around.”
She made a plea to Synod that
Children and Young People should be on the agenda in our diocesan
‘Living Christ’s Story’ ministerial review.
Learn more about Faith at Home and the ‘Children of Light’ festival at
www.dioceseofyork.org.uk/children-of-light-festival.
LIVING CHRIST’S STORY
Following a Lectio Divina
led by the Revd Matthew Porter on Acts 6:1-7 (the choosing and
commissioning of the seven to help with the distribution of food),
Bishop of Whitby Paul Ferguson updated Synod on progress with the
current programme of ‘Living Christ’s Story’ consultations across the
Diocese. He thanked all those involved in making the initial Deanery
responses, the majority of which had been received by the 16th April as
requested, and said that these would inform the questions that will be
sent to parishes to respond later in the year. He added that the period
of parish consultations was to be extended until the beginning of
September to facilitate the greatest possible number of responses.
Bishop
Paul introduced three brief updates from the externally-supported
projects which form part of the ‘Living Christ’s Story’ strategy:
- Multiply; building new worshipping communities amongst those in their 20s, 30s and 40s
Archdeacon
of the East Riding Andy Broom said that the COVID pandemic has
unavoidably delayed some of the plans, but that all the
externally-funded full-time posts had now been filled although one
appointee had now left due to his wife securing a job elsewhere. The
‘Growth Fund’ which offers support to parish initiatives had also
faltered but recovered momentum. God is still work among us! For latest
news see www.multiplyreach.org.
- Mustard Seed; growing disciples in places where life is tough
Bishop
of Hull Alison White said that people are now being drawn in to Mustard
Seed across the Diocese, with the staff team now complete. The
‘Stepping Up’ training programme had started in the autumn and although
the second term had been delayed due to the national lockdown, the
groups continue to meet informally online to study Luke’s Gospel. There
are six groups in five deaneries with 34 people about to re-start
Stepping Up, with the Mustard Seed Ambassadors scheme about to start
putting up shoots. For the latest news see www.mseed.org.
- Generous Giving and Stewardship
Archdeacon
of York Sam Rushton said that the Parish Giving Scheme (PGS) is now
taking off with over £20,000 worth of donations to parishes being
processed monthly across the Diocese. The average weekly gift per PGS
donor is £18.30 against an overall average for the Diocese of £10.10 per
week. 60% of those agreeing to give through PGS are also agreeing to
apply an automatic annual increase in line with inflation; this is
estimated to be worth an additional £300,000 of parish income over the
next decade. 23 parishes have now signed up—3% of our parishes. The GGS
Team has plenty of capacity to work with more parishes to introduce PGS
and use it to give, and continues to offer online training in this and
other aspects of generous giving. For latest news see www.dioceseofyork.org.uk/generosity.
FINANCE
Finance
Director Kathryn Rose updated Synod on the financial results for the
Diocese in 2020 and a look at the way 2021 is progressing. She reported
that despite the potential catastrophe of the COVID pandemic, Diocesan
budgets had not been as badly affected in 2020 as had been feared.
Revised plans drawn up early in the pandemic included an estimate that
Diocesan funds would be depleted by an un-budgeted £1.4 million; in the
end this was reduced to approximately £1 million due to a number of
factors including reduced activity on a number of fronts, income from
the Coronavirus Job Retention (furlough) Scheme, and an impressive 93%
payment of Free Will Offer by parishes to our Common Fund.
£7.3
million had been received in Free Will Offer in 2020 and the generosity
of local churches in extremely difficult circumstances was enormously
appreciated.
In 2021 the budget is based on the same
Free Will Offer pledge as that made for 2020 (£7.9 million); at the end
of the first quarter payments received are 14% below budget but within
the contingency built in to allow for changes in payment dates.
GENERAL SYNOD REPORT
The
Revd Stuart Grant, one of the clergy representing the Diocese of York,
reported from February’s informal meeting of the Church of England’s
General Synod members, which was not a formally-constituted meeting due
to the COVID restrictions. He said the webinar format allowed Synod to
work in a much more relaxed way than usual. The two Archbishops had
offered their own reflections in place of a Presidential Address;
Archbishop Justin on the role of what he called ‘the Church FOR England’
in naming and tackling some of the social injustices revealed by the
pandemic, and Archbishop Stephen on celebrating some of what the church
has been able to achieve in partnership with others in helping the
country through a harrowing year.
The Archbishop of York had
reported the ongoing development of the Church of England’s vision to be
Simpler, Humbler and Bolder, and its quest to reveal “What kind of
Church is God calling us to be?”
Presentations on Safeguarding and
the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing had followed, but Stuart was
inspired by tales throughout the day of hope and salvation, including of
a bakery which employs and trains refugees while producing 500 loaves a
week to be distributed through food banks. Another described work with
people who had lost hope, including setting up a mental health café and
running a Sanctuary course.
