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Coventry Diocesan Synod Minutes – 5 November 2016

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Coventry Diocesan Synod Minutes – 5 November 2016 Diocese of Coventry DS 17/02 Coventry Diocesan Synod Minutes – 5 November 2016 Minutes of a meeting of the Diocesan Synod held at the Harris Academy, Rugby. The Bishop of Coventry took the chair. 1. Welcome from Harris Academy The Revd Cath Vickers welcomed the Synod to the Academy on behalf of the staff and students. 2. Opening worship and commissioning Ruth Walker led the opening worship. Bishop Christopher and Bishop John introduced and commissioned the new Diocesan Secretary, Mrs Ruth Marlow, the Diocesan Ambassador for the Children’s Society, Mrs Karen Gaymond and the new Chairs of the Houses of Clergy and Laity, the Revd Charlotte Gale and Mrs Helen Simmonds. 3. Welcomes and apologies Bishop Christopher welcomed the Revd Mike Todd and Roseann Tomson from the Children’s Society and noted the apologies. 4. Minutes of the last meeting The minutes of the meeting on 21 June 2016 were approved and signed. Mrs Helen Simmonds, Chair of the House of Laity, took the chair. 5. Presidential address Bishop Christopher addressed the Synod, paying tribute to Graham Wright, Nick Hodges and Angela Howarth, who had died since the last meeting, and speaking about the power of a Christian death which though painful witnessed to the God of love who has overcome death. 6. Presentation from the Diocesan Board of Education Canon Linda Wainscot gave a presentation on the work of the Diocesan Board of Education (“DBE”). She passed on the apologies of the Chair of the DBE Mr Simon Ramshaw who was unable to attend. Linda shared some of the highlights of the last year. The DBE had successfully bid to be the sponsor of a new school in Rugby and St Gabriel’s Church of England Academy would open in September 2017. The DBE had also developed a new mission statement, “The DBE empowers others to be courageous, equipping them to deliver excellent Christian education so that all will flourish to achieve their full human potential.” A new national Church of England Vision for Education had been published, which Linda had been involved in producing and which had been circulated to the Synod. The Vision document included discussion of why the Church of England should be committed to education, and challenged the church to embrace the vision it presented by giving time, funding and leadership at a diocesan level. 1 of 6 Linda asked the Synod to consider two questions in groups: ‘Why should the Diocese of Coventry be committed to education?’ and ‘What does educating for life in all its fullness mean for us as a Synod and individually?’ The groups were asked to give single sentence summaries of their discussions as feedback. The points made were: - the importance of a Christian input as children develop their world view; - the need to work with all schools and not just church schools; - need space, no formulae, support the teachers; - the desire for education to be rooted in the presence and future reality of children’s everyday life, to embrace emotional and spiritual health, to be joyful, to embrace the principles of The Community of the Cross of Nails; - education’s importance as a means for doing good to all and raising children in a loving and caring Christian environment; - engagement with education tying in with the Diocesan Mission Purpose in worshipping God, building links with families and transforming communities; - to bring God’s love into the life of children and staff in the hope that the seeds sown will bear fruit nurturing the children as whole people; - fulfilling the Diocesan Mission Purpose by grasping the opportunity of caring for the whole community with Christian education; and - as we are committed already as a diocese to the wellbeing of every person spiritually and otherwise, we should be committed to the education of all people with a Christian ethos. Linda thanked the Synod for their work and said that the DBE would consider their feedback and the notes from their discussions. The Chair of the House of Clergy, the Revd Ruth Walker, took the chair. 7. Rural Consultations Archdeacon Morris spoke to the Synod about the Rural Consultations. The first stage had been to hold meetings to gather comments and Morris noted that the weight of feeling behind the points made could be seen by the number of comments on it. These had been published and a second stage of consultation had been held, asking for practical suggestions on how rural areas could be helped to flourish. Again, all of the suggestions made had been published, although suggestions which had been repeated were only listed once. The suggestions had been categorised for action at different levels; parish, deanery, diocese and national. Morris said that some of the suggestions made were already being acted on, including lay training and recognising that schools are critical to the mission of the Church. He asked the Synod to consider the suggestions made for action at a diocesan level and identify the ones they thought would be particularly helpful. The Synod broke into groups and notes from the discussions were collected. The collated notes from the discussions are attached to these minutes. Ruth thanked everyone for taking part in the discussions and Morris for his presentation. 2 of 6 8. 2017 Budget for the Coventry Diocesan Board of Finance Canon Ian Francis, Chair of the DBF, spoke on the proposed DBF budget for 2017, thanking David and the DBF staff for preparing it. He mentioned some highlights, including the 1.2% rise in the cost of a clergy post, which included a small increase in housing costs after several years of no increases in that area. Significant new income was budgeted, from interest on the capital proceeds from the sale of Glebe land. Ian noted that it was this income which enabled some of the larger projects such as Acceler8 and the lay training initiative. He finished by putting the motion: That this Synod: - approves the 2017 budget as proposed; - approves the training budget contained therein for net expenditure of £1,388,000; and - authorises the Coventry Diocesan Board of Finance Limited to expend in 2017 a sum not exceeding £9,999,000 The Synod approved the motion with no votes against and no abstentions. 9. Diocesan Centenary John Witcombe spoke to the Synod about the Diocesan Centenary. As Dean of Coventry, he began by encouraging the Synod to take up opportunities to strengthen their parishes’ links with the Cathedral. Bishop Christopher had asked John to chair a group to develop plans for the centenary after it had been discussed at the Diocesan Synod in November 2013 and Graeme Pringle, Naomi Nixon and Linda Wainscot had agreed to take part. They had felt that the centenary offered the opportunity to strengthen the Diocese’s shared identity, to complement its established purpose and strategy. Three aspects of this identity, Renewal, Reconciliation and Generous Relationships, had been identified and had found resonance in discussions with various groups around the Diocese. John explained that the group had planned a three year programme for celebrating the centenary. 2016 had been designated as a year of making space for God and increased funding for retreats had been approved by Bishop’s Council. In 2017 the programme of retreats would be extended to head teachers, with a focus for the year on Generous Relationships. A clergy conference would be held in Liverpool and each deanery would be given £300 to fund a high quality training day for their parishes. 2018 was the year of the Centenary and John said that there would be much to celebrate. Archbishop Justin would visit for three days and there would be a festival of creativity rooted in hubs around the Diocese and the Cathedral. Work would be done on the opportunities for mission in the centenary, to give something to local communities, and schools would be involved in a pilgrimage. Investors in Hope, an initiative to address the challenges of the Cathedral’s finances, would also be launched. John encouraged the Synod to be involved and make suggestions of what could be done, saying the benefit of the centenary would be much greater with greater engagement from parishes. John concluded his presentation by leading Synod in the prayer written for the centenary. 10. Questions from the floor Mr Roderick Clarke (Warwick & Leamington) asked a question under standing order 69. Will you please set out the timetable for: 3 of 6 - making the final decision on the future of Offa House; - announcing it to the diocese; and - taking the decision forward into action? The Revd Ruth Walker answered, thanking Roderick for raising the matter of Offa House. She explained that work had been ongoing to explore the option of re-opening the House as a centre for spiritual renewal and the option of selling the House for the best possible value. The Bishop’s Council had set aside a single-agenda meeting on 7 December to review the reports on these options. Ruth said that it was hoped that a decision would be made then, however as this was a complex strategic matter this could not be guaranteed. The Bishop’s Council would also consider at its meeting what should be communicated. As a supplementary question, Roderick asked that, if the decision is made to re-open, the Bishop’s Council should ensure that the oversight of the House is given to people who love the property. Bishop Christopher agreed that oversight should be given to people who are passionate, as well as having the necessary professional skills. 11. President’s business At the last meeting Bishop Christopher had told the Synod that consideration was being given to forming a small group to give thought to whether the Diocese’s resources are properly aligned with the diocesan strategy and whether the strategy includes all the key diocesan activities.
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