Parish voices strengthened in the new General Synod
Save the Parish can confirm that 77 candidates who signed up to its manifesto have been elected to the new General Synod, and that about 20 more of those elected have told the campaign that they support it. They will take their seats when the new Synod meets for the first time in London on 17 and 18 November, at the start of a five-year term in which the funding of parish ministry will be among the Church’s most pressing questions.
The result is all the more striking because only a minority of candidates stood openly with the campaign. Before the count, Anglican Futures estimated that about 7 per cent of clergy candidates and 16 per cent of lay candidates had aligned themselves publicly with Save the Parish, so the number returned shows how far the case for the parish has carried with the deanery synod members who elect the Synod.
Furthermore we now have direct elected represnetatjon for 35 of the Diocese in England.
The results in individual dioceses reflect that strength. In Oxford, five of the six lay candidates standing on the manifesto were elected to the diocese’s nine House of Laity seats, and in St Albans manifesto candidates won three of the five lay seats.
The case for the parish has also travelled well beyond those who stood in the campaign’s name. The Church Times, having read the statements of successful candidates, found that calls to reform church finances in support of parishes cut across churchmanship, age, geography and loyalty to other campaigns.
That breadth of support matters because the Synod will debate next July how national funding is distributed, and because Church House analysis suggests that more than half of the new members are new to the Synod. Save the Parish will work with members of every tradition who want to see the Church Commissioners’ funds restored to their founding purpose of sustaining stipendiary ministry in every community, and it thanks every candidate, elector and volunteer whose work made this result possible.
Image Credit: The Church of England
