New Members of General Synod.

I'm amongst the newly elected to General Synod, so thanks to those who voted for me or wished me all the best.
The following people have been elected to represent the Diocese of Manchester:

Laity 

John Stephen BARBER
Peter Charles CAPON
Michael HEPPLESTON
Christine Krogh SANDIFORD 
Geoffrey Frank TATTERSALL
James Edward TOWNSEND

Clergy

John APPLEGATE
Sarah Ruth BULLOCK
Sharon Ann JONES
Simon KILLWICK
Andrew SALMON
Cherry VANN

You can find this list on the Diocesan Website but very strangely if you look up General Synodmembers you come to this page:

http://www.manchester.anglican.org/whos-who/synod/general-synod-members

where it appears that some people haven't given permission for their contact details to be published online. I'm currently in discussion with the diocese because I believe that by standing for office they have automatically consented to publication of their contact details. How can they not be publicly listed and contactable through the diocesan website? This just doesn't seem right to me.

I'm standing for General Synod

Yes I've decided to stand and so I thought I would share my election address with you and this is it:

I’m writing to let you know that I am standing for General Synod and why I think that I have something to offer in this role.

I was ordained in the diocese in 1988 and served a curacy in North Manchester before moving to Salford where I have been ever since.  I have been Priest in Charge, Team Vicar and Team Rector in Pendleton. Over 6 years ago, I moved to my current parishes of St Philip’s and Sacred Trinity, Salford, where I am again a Priest in Charge. I am currently Area Dean of Salford. I served for 10 years as a councillor for Langworthy Ward in the City of Salford. In my time on the City Council I was vice-chair of the Environment, Housing & Planning Scrutiny committee and I chaired Scrutiny Commisisions and a variety of meetings. I still chair the City’s Cycle Forum and my local Regeneration Forum. Since 2009 I have been Chair of the House of Clergy in the Diocese. I don’t entirely sit within any church tradition, but I have been most influenced and shaped by the Open Evangelical and Liberal Catholic traditions and hope I draw from a wide range of tradition in trying to serve God faithfully in my context. I am very much an Anglican but draw a lot of spiritual nourishment from places like the Iona Community, Taizé and Greenbelt.

I offer myself to be one of your representatives on General Synod because I believe I have much to offer and some priorities I would like to promote.

I am very experienced in Urban Ministry and have a passion for helping the church to relate the Gospel to a variety of circumstances. My experience is not just within the church, but also on the City Council and a variety of other bodies. I have gained a lot of experience in regeneration and handling change. Through being Chair of the House of Clergy, I have been getting to know people’s situations around the diocese and so I have a broad knowledge of the Manchester church. I have been in a Team of several churches and currently have two churches under my care. I think it’s important that those who are looking after more than one church are supported and that structures work for us.

I am passionately committed to the church being inclusive. On the issue of women bishops, I am firmly in favour. When the mind of the church is clear on this issue I think it would be counter-productive to drag this out. I don’t want people to leave the church but it’s important to move forward. The media and people “out there” will give us a hard time over this but it won’t get any easier by dragging it out. Inclusivity is not just about women bishops; it’s about developing a culture where all are valued. Some Sundays, in one of my churches, more than half the congregation were born outside the UK. We have to find ways to include people in all their variety.

I passionately want to be part of a church that encourages creativity. Our Tradition is important but so is our ongoing journey with God. For the Church of England to thrive in the 21st century we will need to be creative with our liturgy, our structures, our ways of working.

I’ve been ordained a long time and I’ve been involved in church politics for a long time but I still passionately believe we need to keep Jesus at the centre of our church life. There are times when it’s easy to feel frustrated with the church but at these times we need to go back to the roots of our faith.

I’ve been a parish priest for over 20 years and I care passionately about the way the Gospel is brought alive for people in their local church. I want the resources of the church to be supporting effective local engagement through priests and people in their local churches. If you would like to ask me any questions please do contact me.

Professional Association for Clergy?

I've been asked to join a small working party that is looking into establishing a professional association for clergy. With the changes to clergy terms of service it is felt important that we have some kind of support for when problems occur. At general Synod in July the House of Clergy passed the following motion.

That this House

(a) authorize the Standing Committee to appoint a group to enter into discussions with Unite about the possible establishment within Unite of a professional association for the clergy of the Church of England,

(b) affirm that it would expect the conduct and ethos of such a professional association to reflect the ethos of the Church of England and the professional standards of its clergy; and

(c) request the newly elected Standing Committee to report back to the House on the outcome of such discussions in July 2011.

Passed by House of Clergy of the General Synod  9 July 2010

I'd be very interested to know what people think of this idea. At a national meeting of the Chairs of the Houses of Clergy we had a presentation from people from Unite, which was rather disappointing and some people are quite cynical. It seems to me that working with Unite could offer a good solution but much will depend on the discussions.

Rev - TV sitcom

I got interviewed by the Manchester Evening News recently about the sitcom Rev. I found the final episode a bit disappointing. Tried to be emotionally engaging but wasn't really funny enough. Anyway, the article in the MEN can be found online here: http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/life_and_style/s/1312785_is_this_bbc_sitcom_tv_heaven.
 There are a few a few inaccuracies but on the whole it's not a bad piece. I'm not entirely against evangelists of course... just not keen on the ones that don't have space for the Colins... you may have needed to see the episode to understand that bit!

new blog about Manchester Diocese

For a while, I've been wondering if I should start a blog to put in stuff about my role in the Diocese. Trouble is I may not be very good at adding things or I may just not have anything interesting to say. So if anyone reads this please let me know what you'd like to see. At the moment I think the 3 big issues in the diocese are: 

1. Terms of service for clergy
2. The diocese's 2025 agenda
3. Elections to General Synod

I'll try to say a little on each.

1.Terms of service for clergy. This will be the first time that clergy have a handbook outlining terms and conditions. The new rules come into being on 31st January 2011. The diocese is busy getting all the documentation worked out and I'm on the Implementation Group. Diocesan Synod had a copy of a draft handbook recently so if you'd like to see one, just ask.

2. The diocese's 2025 agenda. Bishop Nigel is getting us to address new ways of working that will cope with the fact that at the moment there are more vicars retiring than starting. We face the prospect of having to cope with less full-time clergy. Some people have misunderstood this and think that the church wants less clergy but this isn't the case. We are just making plans to cope with a changing situation where many of the clergy that are ordained are non-stipendiary (ie volunteers). This debate won't go away and over the next few years we will be encouraging people's vocations and exploring new ways of working. 

3. Elections to General Synod. Nomination papers go out next week for elections to the General Synod of the Church of England. Those elected will serve for 5 years. A dominating issue will be that of women bishops. Clearly I hope that those elected will have the courage, wisdom and conviction to help the church move forward on this issue but on a whole range of issues the Church of England needs to be staying true to God whilst adapting to all that changes around us. There is often a tension between so called "traditionalists" and those that want to adapt and develop. For me I believe that I am a traditionalist, in that I believe the church has always adapted and changed. That is our tradition: an ever changing Church on a journey with God. I just hope the journey isn't too bumpy!