THE General Synod voted unanimously to refresh the Church’s commitment to estates ministry and evangelism and call on the entire Church to handle hindrances attributable to structural and financial injustice urgently.
Introducing the talk, the Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, told the Synod that, a 12 months ago, he had visited a latest church on an estate in Blackpool, where he had found a family “sure of poverty and fear”. The Sunday service was the one time the mother left the home. Returning that Christmas, Bishop North learned that the mother had a full-time job; the daddy had come to faith and had launched into the diocesan M:Power course, which formed leaders from urban backgrounds; and the “once shy” little boy was collaborating within the nativity play. This transformation had been possible, he said, “due to a loving, serving, worshipping community confidently present on that estate”.
The Bishop reminded the Synod of its commitment, five years ago, to establishing such a Christian community “on every significant social housing estate in England”. There had been advances in church-planting across the traditions, but in addition setbacks — no less than ten estate churches had closed up to now five years, and no less than 850 estates weren’t currently served by a Christian community. The Synod was being invited to recommit itself.
“Jesus led to a transformative ministry by going to the marginalised places and the people living in poverty, knowing that whenever you try this, the remainder will catch up. Just like cultural transmission, gospel transmission runs from poor to wealthy,” he said. “If we will renew church life on our estates and in our deprived communities, we’ll renew it in every single place.”
The Synod had a commitment to racial justice, he said: 85 per cent of the UK global-majority-heritage population and two-thirds of young people lived in estates and lower-income parishes. These areas must be priorities, he said.
The real-terms freeze in Lowest Income Communities Funding had posed a challenge for dioceses, as had the wealth disparities: “How can it’s fair that estates parishes within the north are paying more in parish share than wealthy communities within the south-east simply due to the historic endowment of their dioceses? The time for excuses is over. We need a latest and just financial settlement across the entire Church.”
Geoff Crawford/Church TimesThe Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North
Bishop North went on to praise the “fresh energy and vision” of the chair of the National Estates Evangelism Task Group, the Bishop of Barking, the Rt Revd Lynn Cullens. Dioceses needed to take into consideration ways of forming lay and ordained leaders from working-class backgrounds corresponding to hers, he said. “I’m convinced that there’s an underground army of evangelists on the market which a culturally middle-class Church is just missing.”
Finally, he said, the motion would give the Synod a chance to thank all who ministered on estates, doing work that was “utterly beautiful” within the face of diverse challenges. “We must act now to reverse the slow erosion of Christian life on our estates.”
The Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham, the Rt Revd Paul Williams, spoke about his mother, who had experienced a “profound life change” when she became a Christian after leaving school at 16, when she was living on an estate. As a young mother, she had not been a typical candidate for ordination, but had been ordained deacon in 1983 and, later, priest. She had develop into the primary female incumbent within the diocese on an estate near where she had grown up. Bishop Williams underlined the worth of estates ministry as “an integrated a part of a diocesan vision”. In his diocese, an internship was enabling young people from a wide range of contexts to coach together. “We must be careful to not segregate people of their formation,” he said.
The Revd Mark Miller (Durham) had a parish that was the thirtieth most deprived within the country, he said. His church had been due close in 2007 but had been brought into renewal by his predecessor and was now thriving, supported by SDF money, particularly in children and young people’s ministry. “Ministry in these areas is amazing but very, very hard, and resources will not be properly allocated,” he said. He noted that of the £100-million Low Incomes Communities Funding, only 61 per cent was reaching probably the most deprived communities — “that may be a disgrace.” He urged members to ask their dioceses where such funding was going.
Paul Waddell (Southwark) then moved an amendment to commit the Synod to “doubling the variety of young energetic disciples”. He attended St Francis’s on the Monks Hill estate, Croydon, a congregation that, he said, had gone from being “small, white, and old” to younger and more diverse, with a majority-GMH congregation. Through grants, they’d secured a youth employee — but the price of employing one was high for many estate churches, he said. Youth work needed to be prioritised.
Supporting the amendment, the Revd Jonathan Macy (Southwark) served a big parish with a high percentage of social housing. Half the parish didn’t have UK passports, he said, nevertheless it had one among the youngest demographics within the UK. A typical Sunday congregation numbered 60, of whom about one third were under 18. He was generally the oldest within the room, and he wished that he had more older people, he said, who often served because the “engine room of the church”. A youth employee could be welcome.
An air cadet had asked Canon Andrew Dotchin (St Edmundsbury & Ipswich) whether he could shadow him for work experience — and, two weeks later, had askedto be baptised, after meeting an eight-year-old at Messy Church who was attributable to be baptised. The cadet’s mother was now attributable to be baptised on Easter Day. “Just wind up young people, and allow them to go.”
The amendment was carried.
The Revd Dr Sean Doherty (Universities and TEIs) moved an amendment to strengthen the motion to “support” in addition to “raise up” leaders. Simply inviting people into leadership didn’t necessarily work, he argued. There was a must bring a distinct approach, using different language, slightly than one based on “middle-class assumptions”. He drew attention to the recent Living Ministry study on working-class clergy (News, 16 February).
Abigail Ogier (Manchester) spoke of Wythenshawe estate, where she was a licensed Reader and where signs of renewal were emerging. Four people had taken the Foundations of Ministry course last 12 months, and three had gone on to coach as authorised lay ministers; but they needed ongoing support. There was also a must affirm and thank existing leaders. She reported that stipendiary clergy in Wythenshawe had greater than halved since 2019. “They are drained, and we want to value them wholeheartedly.”
The Revd Lis Goddard (London) said that her church had leaders who would never lead other churches. It was a congregation of about 70. Pictures were used as illustrations to help those that couldn’t read. It had “gifted evangelists in a position to lead in all varieties of ways”. There was a necessity to think about how you can enable these people to coach for leadership, provided that existing training appeared to depend on reading books.
The amendment was carried.
Another amendment from the Revd Fraser Oates (Worcester) sought to insert a commitment “to speculate[ing] creatively”. Estates, he said, “stand shoulder to shoulder through fear and distress”. “We must understand that trust is paramount. Only authentic incarnational, committed expressions of ministry will suffice if we’re to share the gospel and make disciples in these places. . . We must radically rethink our inherited rhythms of discernment, training, and employment.” The Synod, he suggested, was given statistics that made it “shudder, just for us to stoically carry on doing what we’ve at all times done”.
Geoff Crawford/Church TimesAbigail Ogier (Manchester)
The Revd Chantal Noppen (Durham) had worked on estates within the north-east for a decade: “I even have learned way more from those I even have been called to serve . . . than I even have ever learned from a lifelong place within the C of E and being an Anglican,” she said. “They have taught me who God is, how God is, and why God is.” One parishioner had told her that the pandemic was the primary time someone had described his job on the supermarket as essential, and that he mattered. “Why was it not the Church?” She described it as a “difficult” ministry, but “We must meet up with God on this.” There was a necessity to offer more resources, and to start out to listen “to what it means should you work on a zero-hours contract”, amongst other challenges.
The Revd Matthew Beer (Lichfield) said that the issue was not only funding for posts, “however the willingness of individuals to discern a call to those estates. There is stigma surrounding ministry and evangelism on these estates.” He fearful that a friend who lived on an estate, a single mother of three, who was a joyful and natural leader, wouldn’t be recommend for ordination “due to her circumstances”. Some potential leaders may not have the opportunity to read or write, he said, or might need criminal records, or is likely to be too old. “We need this latest radical latest inclusion.”
David Ashton (Leeds) ran an over-60s group: one which was often missed out when evangelism was discussed, he said. He spoke of widows on estates with no one to talk to after their children had moved away. During Covid, he and his wife had delivered roses, eliciting tears: “Someone from church had come to be with them.” He emphasised that it was not only the young, however the old, who needed God’s love.
The amendment was carried.
An amendment from Mr Waddell requested that the Estates Evangelism Task Group work alongside diocesan vocations advisers, the 30,000 Project, and other related bodies, “to make sure that priority is given to the formation of young people from estates and low-income communities” to function leaders for youngsters and young people.
The Revd James McCluskey (Chelmsford) recalled growing up on an estate in Colchester, with a background that included a “very disturbed history of family life”. He and his sister had pulled faces at a Palm Sunday procession, however the church had been friendly towards them. “This was a parish within the Nineteen Eighties engaging in evangelism in one among the most important estates.” This 12 months was the thirty fifth anniversary of his coming to faith in that church: St Margaret’s, Berechurch.
Canon Jane Richards (Chelmsford) spoke as a “council-house kid” who grew up in estates in Scotland and England. She recalled kneeling on the mercy seat of the local Salvation Army citadel, on the age of ten. She welcomed the usage of the term “economic marginalisation”, which was “objective”, slightly than “deprived”, which was “demeaning. I don’t feel deprived. I even have, nonetheless, at times, felt ignored, judged, and patronised by those representing various agencies, including the Church, who imagine they know what’s best for my community.”
While she supported the motion, she advised those discerning a call to estates ministry. “Don’t make assumptions about us based on what you see or what you’re thinking that you see: our lifestyles are sometimes rooted in necessity, not alternative. Listen to us, and listen to what we’re saying. Ask us what we all know we want slightly than imposing what you’re thinking that we want. Don’t judge our intelligence by the extent of our formal qualifications. . . We welcome your guidance and your skills, but allow us to be visible as leaders.”
The amendment was carried.
Continuing the talk on the motion as amended, the Archbishop of York spoke of a predecessor, Vernon Harcourt, generally known as the last aristocratic Archbishop, who had planted 111 churches within the diocese of York in response to the huge population growth across the economic north. Archbishop Cottrell was concerned by the pull of secular culture, including the sexualisation of kids, and the polarisation of society.
“Yet we’ve been given . . . the good medicine of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which speaks to each heart,” he said. “We must do in our day what our predecessors did in theirs.” This meant planting churches. He continued: “I’m deeply concerned about how we fund ministry.” The diocese was “really, really struggling” to fund ministry in Hull and Middlesbrough.
The Dean of Bristol, the Very Revd Mandy Ford (Southern Deans), warned the Synod about “short-termism in our commitment to this work. We have been here repeatedly before.” She had worked in a world of three-year grants that “got here and went, often without making lasting impact. Lasting social change takes time to attain and to develop into sustainable.” She urged members to make sure that, “as a Church, we retain our commitment to the poorest in our nation for the long run, not only for a season.”
The Revd Claire McArthur (Coventry) said that Coventry East, of which she was Area Dean, had the fastest growing population of any deanery, and was probably the most densely populated and deprived within the diocese. It was also, nonetheless, “served with the least variety of clergy per head of population”, with a limited parish share to pay for full stipendiary clergy, she said. Much fell to put leaders and volunteers.
“We are grateful for the LINCs and SDF money, but we’ve an issue in recruiting clergy into our deanery. . . All of our churches in our deanery have been in no less than one interregnum within the last ten years.” In order to pursue the motion’s commitment, the Church needed to “invest and discover and train potential leaders”.
Billy-Jo O’Leary (Rochester) had grown up on an estate. “I’m not lacking in anything; I even have every thing and more,” she said. Welcoming the motion, she said: “Your Church has already done it; we’re here.” She paid tribute to all who had supported her in training for authorised lay ministry, and the ladies who had served as mentors.
The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun, said that there was a challenge to “reimagine and renew our commitment to estates evangelism”. The diocese had appointed a Dean for Estates Evangelism, who had undertaken a wide selection of visits to estates parishes, which he really helpful. He also spoke of the lay pioneers’ course, Magnify, and the ideas gained from other dioceses, including York and Blackburn.
The Revd Vincent Whitworth (Manchester) gave the testimony of “Steve” — an ex-army man living with health issues. He had develop into a Christian after attending the Alpha course, and had told Mr Whitworth: “Becoming a Christian hasn’t modified my personal circumstances. I still have significant health issues and am still skint. But what has modified my life is Jesus. Knowing Jesus is with me gives me the ability to face my day by day challenges. Jesus has modified every thing for me.”
Estates ministry had the potential to rework the nation, Mr Whitworh suggested. But “we want to extend our financial investment in estates ministry. . . For too long, we’ve tried to do it on the low cost.”
Prebendary Amatu Christian-Iwuagwu (London) recalled serving on a housing estate near Wembley, where gangs would meet. He was a visual presence, with a clerical collar. He recalled that one time a young man had come to him to admit to a killing, and had asked the priest to take him to the police station
The Revd Roger Driver (Bath & Wells) was disenchanted and frustrated, he said, because he felt that significant progress had been made within the Nineteen Eighties, when the report Faith within the City had emphasised the duty to serve the poor, the needy, and the marginalised, but this appeared to have been “sidelined” through the years. In Bath & Wells, he said, priority parishes were called Magnificat parishes: “Hidden pockets of poverty and deprivation in rural areas and seaside towns are in our sights.”
The motion, as amended, was carried by 364 nem. con. It read:
This Synod:
(a) dedicates itself afresh to the goal of achieving a loving, serving and worshipping Christian community on every significant social housing estate to mark the fifth anniversary of Synod Motion GS 2122
(b) commends the work of all who minister on our estates and provides thanks for those Dioceses who’ve responded positively to the 2019 Motion
(c) calls on all Dioceses to incorporate of their strategic mission and ministry plans the goal of planting and renewing churches on and/or doubling the variety of young energetic disciples in social housing estates/other economically marginalised communities;
(d) calls on the entire church to handle as a matter of urgency the structural and financial injustices that prevent flourishing and sustainable worshipping communities on every estate (for instance the financial inequalities between dioceses and the distribution of LInC Funding);
(e) commits itself to taking the essential steps to lift up and support a latest generation of lay and ordained leaders from estates and working-class backgrounds (by for instance addressing the recommendations of the Ministry Council’s Report Let Justice Roll Down) in any respect levels within the church, including a commitment to speculate creatively in local and grassroots types of ministry and leadership training;
(f) requests the Estates Evangelism Task Group to work alongside diocesan vocations advisers, the 30,000 Project and other related bodies to make sure that priority is given to the formation of young people from estates and low income communities to function children’s and young people’s leaders, in addition to in other types of Christian ministry.
