The imminent future

Save the parishes

The Esk parishes

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We are in the Brampton Deanery of Cumberland

The proposal from the Diocese is that we become one huge mission community centralised on Brampton, where there
will be the hub with four stipendary clergy and a mission community leader. There are 28 parishes in the deanery.This team will have to rely on retired clergy, lay readers, and maybe licenced lay leaders, that is many volunteers.

We feel that this is being rushed through as our Bishop is retiring and we believe that the acting Archdeacon might be retiring soon as well. We are being treated as if we are simpletons and we do not know what we are talking about, discussion at a minimum. Surely they must realise that with the threat of churches closing , giving will decrease as the sense of a local church with a local vicar will no longer exist. We are a deeply rural farming community where the Shepherd knows his flock, and cares for them throughout their lives. This is the heart of rural communities where there is a sense of belonging and supporting eachother and the parish church.

Now they propose to throw this all away with the parish system . Our three parishes pay our parish share in full, which the Archdeacon fails to understand. We do very well as we are and the thought of this proposal of such a huge so called community, really frightening as nobody will know who is who and where is where!

I have said enough