Esgobaeth Llanelwy :: of

Adroddiad Pwyllgor Sefydlog 2019/2020 Report of the Standing Committee 2019/2020

1 | P a g e

The following meetings have been held since the 2019 Diocesan Conference: 27 November 2019 – Buckley

The meeting was chaired by Bishop Gregory who then handed the Chair to Norma Rowles.

1. Election of Vice Presidents of the Diocesan Conference The Constitution of the Church in stipulates that the Bishop is the President of the Diocesan Conference but the Diocesan Constitution empowers the Standing Committee to elect up to four vice presidents to support the Bishop in this role and to share the responsibility of chairing meetings of the Standing Committee and the annual conference. The appointment of Sue Huyton, Steve Willson, Llyr Williams and Norma Rowles was endorsed unanimously by members of the Standing Committee.

2. Review of the 2019 Diocesan Conference and plans for 2020 92% of persons who returned the evaluation forms said that the conference was ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. The theme of ‘Hope’ clearly struck a chord with many people and the keynote speaker, Simon Ponsonby was very well received. We took determined steps to work in accordance with our commitment to be an ‘eco-diocese’.

The 2020 Diocesan Conference will t be held on Saturday 10 October at Glyndwr University, . We will have the use of a fully equipped conference venue and the cost will be less than the cost of converting the gymnasium at St Joseph’s into a temporary conference hall.

3. A Church Near Me – a new opportunity to promote your church Karen Maurice, Diocesan Communications Officer introduced ‘churchnearme.co.uk’ a new section of the diocesan database containing details of all churches and priests across the diocese. The facility is searchable so people can find their nearest church (based on postcode or place name) and find the churches located in each Mission Area.

4. 2020 Vision – Unlocking our Potential a) Fairtrade Lis Perkins and Jean-Audrey Speare of Fairtrade spoke to the Committee. They emphasised that Fairtrade is not a charity, it is a trading partnership based on dialogue, transparency and respect. They outlined the history and development of Fairtrade and explained its importance to third world countries

2 | P a g e where the impact of receiving a proper market price for produce benefits whole communities. Everyone was encouraged to be uncompromising in their commitment to buying Fairtrade goods. b) The battle against Human Trafficking Sarah Wheat introduced Alison Ussery an advocate against Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking who is working with the diocese on a part time basis for 6 months. ‘Haven of Light’, the anti-slavery and human trafficking charity run by Alison Ussery is the subject of the 2020 Diocesan Offering. Alison Ussery outlined how the exploitation of men, women and children has an effect on us all. It is a global issue that has infiltrated into north Wales, not only along the A55 strip to the port of Holyhead, but also in rural areas.

5. Proposal to merge the Mission Areas of Tanat Valley and Vyrnwy The Ven Dr Barry Wilson, of Montgomery introduced a proposal to merge Tanat Valley Mission Area and Vyrnwy Mission Area into a single Mission Area named ‘Tanat Vyrnwy Mission Area’ effective from February 2020. The proposal has the agreement of affected churches and is the result of a long consultation process. The proposal was approved.

6. Provincial Reports to Standing Committee a) Report from the Bench of Bishops The Bishop summarised matters discussed at the last meeting of the Bench of Bishops including: • Same sex relationships and same sex marriage • Review of the work of the Standing Liturgical Advisory Committee with regard to bilingualism • Celebrating the centenary of the in 2020 • Provincial collaboration with Cursillo • The report on the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse • Proposals for a Provincial Education Council • Pioneer ministry (St Padarn’s) • Welcome to Bishop-Elect Cherry Vann b) Report from the Representative Body The Very Revd Nigel Williams, Dean of St Asaph summarised matters discussed by the Representative Body including: • Review of the Risks Register – falling congregation numbers has been identified as being the biggest risk faced by the RB • The Evangelism Fund • Investment portfolio • The Block Grant • Review of Clergy Remuneration

3 | P a g e

• Safeguarding Casework Management costs • St Padarn’s Institute

7. Report from Bishop Gregory on his sabbatical The Bishop spoke about his four month sabbatical which he had taken from July to October. During his time away from St Asaph and after some initial de- cluttering of his office, Bishop Gregory described the activities that he had participated in and which had enabled him to refresh, renew and refocus.

8. – Mother Church of our Diocese a) A new Cathedral Scheme The Very Revd Nigel Williams, Dean of St Asaph reported that following the recommendations contained in the Cathedrals Review in 2016, it is proposed to introduce a new Cathedral Scheme and a new governance structure. b) Engaging with the local community The Dean reported that the development of the Cathedral to provide toilets, a tearoom and interactive interpretation facilities is now complete. Funding for the project had included a substantial grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The HLF grant funded the employment of an Activities-Co-ordinator to develop community engagement and education in the Cathedral. Ms Laura Kernahan was appointed to the role in April 2018 and she described the activities and events she had arranged, including an ‘Escape Room’ type of experience and a ‘Roman Day’, and her plans for future initiatives.

31 March 2020 – Quinta Christian Centre Oswestry

This meeting was cancelled due to the National Lockdown in response to the global coronavirus pandemic.

30 June 2020 – via Zoom

The meeting was chaired by Sue Huyton who welcomed everyone present to the first ever meeting of Standing Committee by Zoom.

1. Trustee Responsibility and Proxy Votes The Diocesan Registrar had prepared a detailed explanation of Proxy Attendance. This guidance is included in the Governance Toolkit (Toolkit No 9) and is available on the diocesan website.

4 | P a g e

2. Coronavirus Pandemic a. Enabling Outreach and Ministry – support for the Mission Areas I. Financial Support Diane McCarthy, Diocesan Secretary presented the details of the Enabling Outreach and Ministry Support Scheme. The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on all areas of church life, and although lockdown conditions are starting to ease, church finances have been significantly impacted. The Representative Body of the Church in Wales has generously supported the six financially and Quarter 2 support from the RB has been allocated in the following way:

Enabling scheme to support the Mission Areas £512,912 Supplementary Grant awarded to the £20,000 Cathedral Coronavirus Emergency Fund £29,013 Total £561,925

The Mission Area Conferences are choosing different ways of using the funding according to local discernment. It was noted that there is over £5.5million in unrestricted cash across the churches of the diocese, so if we choose to work collaboratively, there will be no problem paying the Church Share. II. Mission Area Reviews Barry Wilson, Archdeacon of Montgomery, described in more detail the Mission Area Review process, which will start from a point of honesty about both good and bad areas, and will plan with faith, hope and courage for the future. The will be leading the process as part of their support for the Mission Areas.

b. Developing Steering Group – caring for all in licensed and commissioned ministries I. Caring for our people at a time of crisis Bishop Gregory explained how we have been caring for our people, lay and ordained during the pandemic. The Bishop quoted Archdeacon John as saying at the start of the lockdown ‘In this coming period we’ll discover whether we exist as a church in name only or whether we really are church’. II. Vocations and discernment Pam Powell gave a brief outline of the discernment process and expressed her thanks to all who are supporting those discerning their vocation.

5 | P a g e

c. Engaging Steering Group – caring for the most vulnerable in society I. Diocesan Offering 2020 A film presentation featuring Sarah Wheat, Diocesan Engagement Officer and Ali Ussery from Haven of Light was shown, explaining that during the time of lockdown criminals haven’t given up exploiting people and the risk factors have increased. The film is available on the diocesan website : https://dioceseofstasaph.org.uk/diocesan-conference/diocesan-offering/. II. Coronavirus Emergency Fund Sarah Wheat reported that the Diocesan Board of Finance has released a total of £40,000 into the Coronavirus Emergency Fund. Up to two applications per Mission Area of up to £1,000 each can be made, with information available on the diocesan website. III. Our link diocese in South West Tanganyika A film message from Adrian and Hilary Murray was shown. This will be made available on the diocesan website. d. Nurturing Steering Group - caring for children and young people I. Schools – supporting our schools during the pandemic Tim Feak, Diocesan Under 25s Officer, informed the meeting that our schools have either been operating as childcare hubs for key workers’ children, or their staff have been supporting the hubs located at other schools. Teachers have been working hard at providing online education and are now looking at how “blended learning” will work in the future. Admissions appeals have been taking place virtually in line with the temporary legislation. Governance work and support is ongoing for our two new VA schools which will be established on 1st September 2020 - Lixwm Church in Wales Voluntary Aided School and Ysgol Cwm Banw. There will be a new Welsh Curriculum in 2022: Religious Education will be renamed Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) and will become mandatory for every pupil as part of the Humanities Area of Learning and Experience (AoLE). II. Youth projects, including Finland Tim announced that the youth trip to Finland has had to be cancelled for this year, but the link will continue after the lockdown restrictions are lifted. It is yet to be decided whether the Youth Pilgrimage expedition will go ahead due to restrictions still in place currently. Other summer activities are planned, and these will take place online. The Headteachers’ Retreat, Schools Thanksgiving Service and Year 6 Leavers’ Service have all been able to go ahead virtually.

6 | P a g e

3. Diocesan Accounts 2019 Helen Jones, Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance presented the 2019 Diocesan Accounts. We ended the year with a surplus of £286,462 on operations. Without the extraordinary income from the Property donations, this would have been a deficit of -£146,936 which is an improvement of £14,706 or 9% on the budgeted deficit of -£161,642. This is due to: • Efforts of our Mission Areas to pay their Share in full and on time • More clergy vacancies than forecast • Rigorous control of costs The immediate priorities for the DBF are to: • Understand the short and medium-term financial impact of the Coronavirus pandemic for our churches • Continue to encourage the courageous and proactive response of our churches to the crisis, in particular the willingness to move regular giving online • Conduct a detailed review of the 2020 Budget over the Summer • Develop a 2021 Budget that will need to support the new reality of living with coronavirus • Support the Mission Area Review process • Engage fully with the important and imminent RB decisions relating to the Clergy Remuneration Review, the Block Grant, the Cathedral Review and the use of the Evangelism Fund

After questions, the 2019 Diocesan Accounts were accepted.

4. Diocesan Board of Finance Elections The members of the diocese listed below have offered themselves for election to the Diocesan Board of Finance for the next triennial period 2020 -2023:

Revd Christine Owen, Mr Clive Myers, Mr Phil Williams, Revd Hermione Morris, Mrs Sam Allin, Dr Lynne Ash, Mr Trevor Trevor DL, Revd Huw Butler, Mrs Mavis Bartlett, Mrs Helen Jones, Mr Stuart Richardson and Mr Glyn Williams.

All the candidates listed were approved to serve as members of the DBF.

5. Buildings – reopening our buildings safely updated members on the reopening of church buildings across the diocese. Archdeacon John encouraged churches who want to open to discuss this with their Mission Area Leader and follow the guidance on the diocesan website and the Church in Wales website.

6. Hope Street Wrexham – progress report John Lomas informed members that Luke Bristowe, curate at Hope Street moved to Wrexham last month, along with Andy and Rachel Kitchen.

7 | P a g e

The Hope Street building is moving towards the completion of Phase 1 – the builders have recommenced work that had been on hold due to the pandemic, but equipment and materials remain hard to source. The team is now looking at Phase 2. The build project has been extended and should be complete by the end of November. The formal opening has been postponed to January 2021 but online Alpha courses will be available from mid-September in line with the original timescale.

7. Future meetings All members of Standing Committee were invited to complete an online questionnaire to gather feedback on the effectiveness of the Zoom platform for this type of meeting. Sue Huyton thanked all the team who had worked so hard to make sure that the meeting could go ahead via Zoom.

22 September 2020 – via Zoom

The meeting was chaired by Llyr Williams, Vice Chair of the Diocesan Conference and Standing Committee, who welcomed everyone present to the second meeting of Standing Committee by Zoom.

1. Coronavirus Pandemic – the challenge of Recovery and Reconstruction a. Mission Area Reviews Archdeacon Barry described in more detail the Mission Area Review process. He explained that when significant changes are made within an organisation it is good practice to Review after an amount of time, to ensure that things are working as intended and to see what might need changing. The link to Bishop Gregory’s theological reflections on MA Reviews can be found here: https://dioceseofstasaph.org.uk/missionarearesources/ b. Developing Steering Group – caring for all in licensed and commissioned ministries i. Vocations and Discernment Archdeacon Andy drew members’ attention to the Ember Day leaflet on the website: https://dioceseofstasaph.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020-21-Ember- Day-leaflet.pdf Members were encouraged to pray for those in training for ordination and licensing. ii. Membership of the Developing Steering Group Archdeacon Andy explained that the membership of the Developing Steering Group had been reviewed and refreshed. An opportunity for questions on the circulated paper was provided, and the names of proposed members were

8 | P a g e presented for approval by the Standing Committee to serve for the next triennium 2020 – 2023. The proposed membership of the DSG was approved. c. Engaging Steering Group – caring for the most vulnerable in society i. Coronavirus Emergency Fund – making a difference to lives in Aber-Morfa Mission Area and Estuary and Mountain Mission Area Sarah Wheat, Diocesan Engagement Officer and Lead Officer of the Engaging Steering Group, reminded members that the Diocesan Offering this year will go to the Haven of Light, and encouraged people to donate, and to attend the online conference about Modern Slavery that is being run jointly by the Haven of Light and the Church in Wales. Sarah then introduced two short films from recipients of the Diocesan Coronavirus Emergency Fund: Estuary & Mountain MA Food Club and Aber Morfa MA Hygiene Hampers. Standing Committee was reminded that funding is still available for projects such as this, and that Mission Areas can apply at any time. A short film on ‘Two’s Company’ telephone befriending scheme was also shown. d. Nurturing Steering Group - caring for children and young people i. Schools The Education Team continue to support schools and headteachers during this unprecedented time. Some cases of coronavirus have occurred in one of our schools, and the professionalism of the staff in dealing with this has been impressive. ii. Young People Tim Feak presented an update of diocesan work with children and young people: the joint policy issued last week from Bangor and St Asaph Dioceses regarding children and youth ministry has been well received. 60 people will be trained in Mental Health awareness and Mental Health First Aid so that they can serve as ambassadors within the Diocese. Unfortunately some ventures have had to be cancelled over the summer due to the pandemic, but plans are already being made for 2021, including a North Wales families pilgrimage, and rich conversations with the Diocese of Helsinki in Finland to see how the link between our Dioceses can be maintained and enhanced.

2. Focus for the National Church Nigel Williams, Dean of St Asaph Cathedral, provided a report from the Representative Body of the Church in Wales, following a meeting held on 2 September 2020. Items reported on included the extension of the term of office of the current Chair; incidents reported to the Charity Commission; the revised financial forecast for 2020; the new Chair of the Safeguarding Panel; the Clergy Remuneration Review and the Finance Strategy Forum.

9 | P a g e

3. Diocesan Budget 2021 Helen Jones, Chair of the Diocesan Board of Finance presented the proposed 2021 budget, starting with the Income. The largest source of income (69%) is Mission Area Share and this will be held level for the third consecutive year in 2021. The DBF recognises the financial challenges being faced by our churches and Mission Areas at this unprecedented time and does not want to increase the financial pressure further. The Mission Area Share Discount Scheme will be continued, offering a discount of up to 4% for Mission Areas that pay promptly and regularly during the year. At the moment, for 2020, all Mission Areas have paid their Share in full up to the half year. The property team continue to work hard to rent out surplus vicarages to generate additional budgeted income of £160k an increase. Total income is therefore budgeted at £4.779m for 2021. In terms of expenditure, this year there will be no increase in stipends, lay salaries or contributions to the clergy housing scheme. These are the most significant costs, amounting together to 86% of our total expenditure. The DBF has budgeted for 67 stipendiary clergy and maintained the investment in 8 training curacies. We continue to invest in lay ministry and currently fund 2 Children and Family Chaplains and 2 Church Army Evangelists Total expenditure is therefore £4.771m and the impact on the bottom line is to deliver a balanced budget with a very small surplus on operations of £7,913 in 2021, compared to a budgeted surplus of £14,087 this current year. This surplus represents 0.1% of our annual turnover. The DBF believes this budget represents the right balance between investment in the future and careful control of costs.

Mrs Jones expressed the gratitude of St Asaph DBF to the Representative Body that has provided over £1.1m of emergency funding to this diocese during 2020.

Mrs Jones also expressed gratitude to all congregations who have responded generously to this crisis and particularly to everyone who has moved their giving online and made a commitment to Gift Direct. Undoubtedly, the congregations that have committed themselves to this form of giving are finding it easier to weather the crisis and plan for the future

After an opportunity for questions and comments, the 2021 Diocesan Budget was unanimously approved and accepted.

4. Diocesan Conference – 2020 The Unexpected Journey Mrs Diane McCarthy, Diocesan Secretary explained that all elements of the Diocesan Conference this year will go ahead as planned, but in an online

10 | P a g e format. Mrs McCarthy thanked Bishop Gregory for being willing to deliver the Presidential Address and Bishop Ric, the Bishop of Islington, for the Keynote Speech, in a new and different format. The conference will reflect on the challenges of this past year, and the reconstruction of the church in the future, and will launch our Eco-Diocese work with an inspirational message from some of our young people.

5. Hope Street Wrexham – launch plans Llyr Williams introduced a short promotional film for Hope Street, and then introduced Revd Rachel Kitchen and Revd Andy Kitchen and welcomed them to Standing Committee. Andy Kitchen informed members that there is now a curate in post, as well as a Youth Worker and a Children’s Worker. The people of Wrexham are excited about the project and looking forward to it starting. Rachel Kitchen told some good news stories about the people involved in the start-up of the church. An online Alpha course will start on 6th October, and the launch in the Hope Street building is planned for January 2021. Building work has inevitably been delayed, but all issues are now resolved, all contractors have been instructed, and the work should be finished by Christmas.

6. Matters Raised by the Mission Areas a. Would it be possible to have an update on our obligations in respect of the Mission Area Annual Vestry Meetings? When do these need to be held and is it possible for the meetings to be held online? (from MA) Tracey White advised that guidance has been sent out and is available on the website. To summarise, Vestry meetings are allowed to be held online, in fact it is probably the safest way. If this is not possible, they can be held by phone. In both these cases, it must be shown that everyone who wants to participate has done. The meetings should only take place in person in exceptional circumstances, and it must be shown that all necessary current government guidelines are adhered to. b. We are all aware that a different approach to big services and events is necessary at the moment. For example, many of our usual arrangements for Remembrance Sunday and Christmas will simply not be possible under current restrictions. Has any thought been given as to how we can provide ministry and support at these significant moments in our life as a church while still keeping people safe and complying with Government Guidance? It would be helpful to share ideas and best practice across our churches and Mission Areas. (Maelor MA)

11 | P a g e

Bishop Gregory stated that Remembrance and Christmas services would pose big challenges, but that during lockdown all have risen to the occasion and new ideas have flourished. Bishop Gregory believes the answers to this question will come from sharing best practice and ideas with colleagues. This will therefore be a major item of discussion at the clergy synods being held by archdeaconry.

12 | P a g e