“The situation can be salvaged but, as with the NHS, a radical change of direction is required. The closure of churches during the first lockdown was a major error – a missed opportunity to help people in real distress . Now, amid a cost-of-living crisis, there is a similar opportunity.”
“Pressed by Mr Lunn about whether the Archbishops’ Council recognised that dioceses were not “trying to undermine the mission of the Church”, but had policies “dictated by their finance or lack thereof”, Bishop Seeley agreed: “One of the things that is going on here is we have got a long-term Vision and Strategy and short-term pressures around finance, and those two timetables don’t meet. . .
“We need to try to find a way to mitigate the current situation that is prompting dioceses to consider cutting posts . . . through some form of financial provision.” It remained unclear exactly how many posts dioceses were cutting, he said.”
We need ministry, not management. Localised priests working on the principle of subsidiarity are essential. Read the original article here
“Where is the accountability for such mismanagement? The Bishop of Grimsby is quoted as saying that Lincoln plans more clergy reductions, despite its being “the diocese that proved that cutting stipendiary clergy is disastrous”. Rather than embark on more restructuring of parishes, perhaps this diocese should be put into special measures, whereby (i) its bureaucracy is put into the hands of a financially competent diocese, (ii) all the ordained staff from Church House, including archdeacons, are put into parishes, and (iii) the space thereby made vacant in Church House is let out.”
The Church needs to take a scythe to the administrative burden which currently demotivates volunteers. As a Church Times leader this week observed, “The Church’s strategists really do have to…
Is there a wind of change in the corridors of Church House in Westminster? Is SMMI money substantially repackaged SDF money? Read original article here
‘The Church of Scotland has already closed a number of churches under a “prune for growth” strategy, which it said had led to it losing a third of its membership…