is it possible to get a church of england diocese to change?

this week i am on a few days away in shropshire with the cms team i am part of. had a shaky start when we drove into the back of a car in front and knocked a horsebox off the road (fortunately the cows that had been in it had already been dropped off at the market!)

today was a visit to telford where cms is partnering with the diocese of lichfield. this was a really interesting day reflecting on mission shaped church and how in practice one diocese is responding to it. i haven't got the statistics to hand but as in many areas of the country the overall pattern has been one of steady decline in church attendance (and therefore income). the diocese has had to reduce expenditure by laying off clergy and group parishes together etc. i have previously said on several occasions that what i think mission shaped church has done is shift the culture in the church of england to one of a culture of permission (which is great news) but it hasn't generally been prepared to go for the reallocation of resources. somehow lichfield diocese has had the courage/vision/balls in a situation of decline to address the resourcing issue as well... i have only got a short window into the story. i hope to come back to this and find out some more because i think other dioceses struggling for a way forward and other parts of the world might find some insights or clues for their own contexts and challenges. these were a few of the threads i picked up that may have contributed...

• a bishop who was up for it and made some key appointments
• the diocesan missioner - mark ireland - he did a lot of patient leg work of visiting all deaneries, listening hard and then developing a growth strategy with practical achievable goals.
• a strategic focus on how to help the diocese become a learning organisation
• taking mission shaped church seriously - all groups in the diocese have to reflect on it and mark was saying for example that he was due in a few days to meet with the diocesan architects to reflect on what the implications might be for them - (mission shaped architecture)...
• piloting an emerging church - church without walls - in stoke on trent including investing in the leadership post for 7 years. the encouraging signs from this have created interest in pushing forward in other areas.
• the decision to develop an innovations fund of a million pounds, the profit of which can be used in grant making to support initiatives in mission year on year.
• when the archbishops council allocated funds for mission several years ago the diocese used two thirds to go into the black hole of clergy salaries but since then when money comes like that have decided to ring fence it for mission and not spend it on maintenance
• a wonderful global passion and investment that has involved interchanges with malaysia and other parts of the world. this includes a trust to enable young people to take gap years there and to host young people from there to have gap years in the diocese
• being prepared to make sacrifices for mission (being prepared to lose clergy posts to invest in mission posts)

mark ireland shared with us some of the fresh expressions of church going on in the diocese which range from conventional church plants, youth congregations, a punjab christian community in walsall, a church plant that bought a butchers shop and named it the place to 'meet' which is reaching an elderly community, an emerging church in stoke and so on...

the latest venture is an emerging church in telford which cms is partnering in. this starts in september 2005 with a full time paid job. the appointment has been made and there is funding for 7 years for the post with the aim of becoming self financing, self governing and self replicating by then. it will be great to see how it develops. i don't think i am permitted to say who has the job yet but will say more when i get the ok. i was with a few people who had a wander round one part of telford (wellington) and we interviewed a few people to get a feel for the area, and the issues concerning 20-30 year olds.

but the overriding impression of the day is that it is possible for a diocese to change even when it's in decline. it is possible to do more than just give permission for new expressions of church if there is the will and vision to develop a strategic plan of action. as i say i hope to do some more to research what has happened and is going on here so i can tell the story and what we can learn from it...

Comments

[Paul Fromont]

Hi Jonny, thanks for this. I'll pass it on as part of an attempt to get our disocese thinking more creatively about the issues of change etc. We have Alan Jamieson here on Friday / Saturday (27/28) and I've offered some suggestions in relation to topics for a Friday afternoon session. I've always imagined (perhaps romantically) that a younger country like ours should be inherently more flexible etc. However, this isn't my experience. So, would be interested in your ongoing observations, news of successes etc in relation to this topic. Peace.

[Kathryn]

That's really exciting jonny...just what a slightly battered curate who spent the morning reflecting on her failures in mission needed to read :-)

[Fernando Gros]

this is great stuff and really encouraging to hear! back in 01/02 I was helping my local anglican church in Fulham work on some new mission and worship initives for young adults. it is a long story, but every spare bit of cash was quickly diverted into clergy salaries and building redevelopment funds. morever, the thikning and planning was very short term (e.g., it was impossible in May to get commitments for things that would happen 4 months later in September). i believe there was an interest in allowing things to happen, but not a lot of will to make it happen.

[matybigfro]

that's well cool to here
I used to work in a little parish church in a wee village just south of lichfield about 18 months ago when they we're just putting together they whole missiony document thing.
I'm still in contact with my old vicar from there who was legend. He embodied permission and the stance of Old leadership with new in that he thought for myself and my budy at church council meeting allowing us to do things outside the church with there permission rather than without it and whenever we got shot a accusation of not bringing enough young people into the church for them he back us up saying that the older gen never come to our youth groups, cells meetings or hang out with us on the street corners playing B-ball and that that was just ast much church for us and our little kiddie crew as the 9:00 1662 service.

good to hear they're still going strong Although I fear they may still simiilar problems to the old fogies up here in Durham diocese in what they should do in the rural are's wher they are too few clerge with too little missional training and too many parish's to look after to get out there mixing it up