‘New Things’ are not part of parish ministry, whatever misleading claims may be made – says Professor Alison Milbank on BBC Radio 4.

Below there is a summary of the key points surrounding the recent report on ‘New Things’, followed by a transcript of the ‘Sunday’ programme on Radio 4 on Sunday 25^th August.

Background to the Sunday Programme item on Radio 4:

We were discussing the report, New Things: A Theological Investigation into the Work of Starting New Churches Across 11 Dioceses in the Church of England, published by the Centre for Church Planting: Theology and Research at Cranmer Hall, Durham. See https://www.cranmerhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/New-Things-Final-1.pdf

A Parallel System

It relates to the archbishops’ plan for mission, Vision and Strategy (which has never been debated or voted on), which argues for a mixed ecology of parallel systems of parishes on the one hand and 10,000 new worshipping communities on the other. It is undeniable that these are intended to be new churches. If they were merely outreach and ‘mission initiatives’, there would be no problem. As Alison suggested on the Sunday programme on Radio 4, seeking to call Dave Male’s bluff, if this is all they are, why not give the money to parishes directly? We get none of this money for our core ministry. With properly resourced parishes, we would be in a position to do a great deal of missional work, but always with the aim of drawing people ever closer into our worshipping life.

To get central money from SDF, now SMMIB, dioceses have to sign up to Vision and Strategy values, which means they always promise to create scores if not hundreds of ‘new worshipping communities’ (NWCs), which are intended to offer a choice: ‘an expression of church that would really suit’ someone, in the words of the Archbishop of York.

So, already we have a competitive structure, except that £ 82million at least, actually even more of Church Commissioners’ money, originally intended for priests in poor parishes goes to these ‘New Things’, so parishes are handicapped. Parishes get nothing for core ministry, except for the limited amount in the Lowest Income Communities Fund, and even that is sometimes siphoned off to general funds by a diocese.

The report asked the dioceses what these new worshipping communities were ecclesiologically. They didn’t want to use the word ‘church’ but 5/11 didn’t want to use the word ‘worship’ either. Only one diocese mentions sacraments and any Anglican formulary. So, the report asks, given these are intended to be stand alone ‘things’ and a parallel system to the parish, is there a crisis in Anglican ecclesiology?

Some dioceses start a community outreach and hope it will become a church. They believe it is ‘contextual’ to allow people to invent what ‘church’ might be. This is a congregational, free church model of church and not Anglican. 

An Anglican model would be that of Fr Chris Johnson in Horbury, as mentioned by Alison on Radio 4, where his many outreach activities are part of the whole parish and people can move deeper into the worshipping life of the church. Parish mission gets no SDF/SMMI money for any of this.

The opposite of this is expressed by Alison’s example of the parishioner at the lunch club, who was told off for giving out invitations to a family service at the parish church, ‘Because this [the lunch club] is their church’. The parishioner was trying to be holistic in an Anglican way. But this goes against Vision and Strategy where the ‘New Thing’ is to be kept separate. 

What is a church:

An Anglican church is a group of people, the body of Christ in a place, gathered round the Word and sacraments, using Anglican liturgies and within the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons and open and hospitable to everyone. There can be diversity of expression of this – Dave Male tried to quote Canon 34 on diversity of expression here, but the diversity has to be within this framework. Indeed, Canon 34 says if you openly break the traditions and ceremonies of the Church, you need to be rebuked openly!

Our traditions are beautiful, true and tested, developing but faithful and we need to trust in them, not depriving faithful Anglicans of clergy sacraments and pastoral care, giving them no resources to reach out, while demanding ever more money from them. 

We live in a harsh secular world, and we are few. We should be joining in one, working to bring people to worship together, deeper relationships, stronger teaching. Going where people are but bringing them together. These NWCs are fragile and many of the 900 cited in the report no longer exist. They need links to the stable parochial centre to sustain them.

Is C of E breaking up?

Yes, some sort of evangelicals involved in NWCs had a quasi-ordination at St Helen’s Bishopsgate recently, wholly uncanonical. 

You can’t operate a series of churches without priests, sacraments and liturgy. Some NWCs just make it up from scratch. This is fine for a free church.

We do not have a mixed ecology which would be about mutuality and sharing. We are developing an ecclesial apartheid – it’s heartbreaking to see.

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Transcript of interview with Rev’d Canon Professor Alison Milbank and Rev’d Canon Dave Male.

William Crawley – R4

A journalistic myth took flight this week, the claim that the Church of England has decided to dump the word church in favour of something more trendy. We’ve seen reports that the Church of England was trying to rebrand itself, but the word church was being deliberately erased. It is a tantalising story for headline writers but just one problem – it is not true. A report titled ‘New Things’ appeared which outlined 900 new church initiatives over the past 10 years, across 11 Church of England dioceses and the term church is not used to describe any of those initiatives, but most of them are connected to a local parish church. One of the recommendations from this report is that the Church of England should reflect more on how these new expressions of mission affect the church’s self-understanding as a church. So let us go there. Let’s talk about it with the Reverend Professor Alison Milbank, who is Canon Theologian at Southwell Minster, and the Reverend Dave Male, the Church of England’s Director for Vision and Strategy. Good morning to both of you. Glad to have you with us. Dave, what do these new expressions tell us about the changing, possibly changing, meaning of the church these days? 

The Rev’d Canon Dave Male

I don’t think they’re telling us that the meaning of church is changing. I think that what they’re telling us is that there is incredible energy at a parish level, and people are really asking the question, how do we be church to the whole of our community? And I think there’s a real desire to think about that, that very question. What does it mean to be, in a sense, a missionary church within our parish, and how do we fulfil our calling as Anglicans, to reach everyone in our parish. 

William Crawley

Alison, how do these outreach groups or parallel worshiping communities relate to the church more generally? Because there are some concerns, aren’t there, in some quarters, that the parallel aspect of it may be confusing to worshippers and to the public. 

The Rev’d Canon Professor Alison Milbank

The parallel nature is key. These are stand alone churches, so that although the money comes centrally, the money that traditionally went for priests in poor parishes is now going in its millions to these initiatives. But although a parish, they may have the money to do this, they’re not porous. So for example, there might be a lunch club with a little prayer at the end. This is an example. That would be fine as a mission initiative of a parish, but the problem is that it’s more than that. So one parishioner helping at such a Lunch Club was told off for giving invitations to the family service. She was told, this is their church, and this is why we’re worried, because the dioceses, in defining these don’t even use worship half the time. And yet, Vision and Strategy has the idea that there will be a parallel system of parish churches and 10,000 new worshiping communities. And the problem is as that they obviously not churches in any Anglican sense. 

William Crawley

It’s an interesting one. Dave, but is there, is there a theological rationale or justification for these types of outreaches, for example, a lunch event, if it doesn’t tie people into the church more generally and the experience of the church. 

Dave Male

Well, let me just correct – these are not standalone churches. I think that what’s being referred to that there is resource churches, and out of the 900 there are only 40 of those. And actually the language that’s used in the report is that they’re integrated within the existing parish system. So I don’t think that is true, but I think actually it goes right back to the history of the Church of England. So I’m sorry, it’s such an early time to quote the 39 Articles, but there we have Article 19. You know, the congregation of faith and people the pure word of God preach sacraments be duly ministered. Quite right, saying there is a definition of church, but the 34th Article says about the traditions of the church, it is not necessary that traditions and ceremonies be in all places are the same. And it goes on to say that diversity of countries, time, people’s manners. So I think within Anglicanism is this sense of, yes, there is a real definition of what church means, but there’s also place for contextualisation, for re-expression, re-interpretation. As Paul Avis, the leading theologian of the theology of church, says in his books, of therefore making the faith accessible to everyone in the country. Alison, at the risk of doing 39 Articles, bingo. what’s your response to that?

Alison Milbank

My response is, if these are really, I’m loving hearing this by the way, from Dave Male, because if this is true, if these are just a kind of expression of something that is based in the parish, then give the money to the parishes and let the parishes do the mission, instead of draining money from parishes, draining resources, draining liturgies, and putting all the money into this. Trust the parishes let them do the mission, but that article only depends on the other. You have to have, to be an Anglican parish in canonical law, you have to have the people of God in a place gathered round the Word and Sacraments using Anglican liturgies, and within the threefold order of bishops, priests and deacons. Do that through the parish; give us the money, and we have no problem, because that way these people can be porous. They can move into the parish. It says that Catholic churches are doing none of this. Well, that’s not true. They are, but they don’t get the money. So Chris Johnson, for example, in Horbury, Wakefield, has a Messy Church, two youth groups, is starting a children’s choir, has an old people’s group, all sorts of things. But I said to him, are these ‘New Things’? Are these new definitions? No, he doesn’t get money for them because he sees them as part of parish mission and he wants people to gather together on a Sunday. I mean, there’s so few of us nowadays, the idea that we should sort of separate ourselves all over the place is ridiculous. 

William Crawley

Dave, I guess there is that worry that these satellite ministries or outreaches could become their own motherships. But Alison makes another important point, which is mentioned in this report, also that the New Things Report, about how there is such a prevalence of these kinds of activities, initiatives parallel to the local parish church within the evangelical section of the church. How do you explain that prevalence? 

Dave Male

I mean, I think there are lots of stuff happening in other parts of that, so I think that that’s not only that, but there is a prevalence. Yeah, I think there’s a kind of, probably better networks, and better at producing stories and sharing stories. But what’s interesting, I think one of the things that really encouraged me is bubble church. We started in a suburban evangelical church. 

Willian Crawley

What’s bubble church?

Dave Male

So this is a church that kind of is for intergenerational, started post covid. So bubble, you sit on a mat to create your family bubble. As I said, started in a large church. Yes, sorry, it’s not an easy definition there. It has nothing to do with blowing bubbles or anything like that. I wouldn’t rule that out, though. Interesting that it started in the suburban evangelical church. I was just talking to a bishop last week, tells me about how it’s beginning in a rural liberal Catholic Church in the middle of Northumbria. So, you know, it’s really interesting how things are developing. Because exactly as Alison said parishes are facing the same question, aging population. How do we get, how do we be truly anchored and connect with the whole of our parish.

William Crawley

 We have got to stop there. Thank you very much, Dave Male and Alison Milbank.