A Provincial Perspective

Note to Episcopal Electors for the

February 2017Llandaff Electoral College

Bishops are ordained to an office in the universal Church of God and not just for a particular diocese or province. However, when we come to the election of a new Diocesan Bishop,it is obviously tempting - and indeed much easier - simply to focus upon the local needs of that particular Diocese, in this case, the Diocese of Llandaff. The Diocesan Profile, prepared by the Llandaff electors, will help you in assessing what they perceive to be those local needs. The purpose of this paper is to look one step beyond the Diocese of Llandaff to the wider context of the Province of the Church in Wales, and to see how the role of the individual bishops fit into that context.

‘THE PROVINCE’IN OPERATION

Because the Church in Wales is a small church of only six dioceses it is easier to experience a greater sense of cohesion and family than would be so in a larger province. The Electoral College comprises more provincial electors than diocesan ones, and this is an immediate reminder of the wider context within which the diocesan bishops operate.

  1. The bishops currently meet four times a year over a period of two to three days, as the Bench of Bishops,supported and advised by staff from the Provincial Office. They meet, for example, to assess provincial needs, to set certain provincial policy priorities, to take stock of ongoing church life and to discuss matters of provincial importance.Neither the importance of the fellowship and support nor the sense of collegial working which those meetings provide can be underestimated. Whilst much formal business has to be done and is done at these meetings, there is also a certain (and welcome) amount of laughter! The bishops do not always agree, but disagreements tend to be friendly and they never result in the loss of an abiding sense of our collegiality and cohesion.The Bishops do not see themselves as the Board of Directors of a Public Company, but as a group of individuals, seeking collectively to do the best for God’s Kingdom and God’s people in our Province.
  2. Although the diocese is one of the basic units of church life, the nature of Welsh disestablishment has vested a great deal of authority in the Province – most property is held by the Representative Body as Trustee, and provincial bodies of one kind or another influence and shape the life of every diocese.
  1. The ‘Harries Review’considered the Church in Wales as a whole rather than as six separate entities. So, in trying to implement some of itskey recommendations,the Standing Committee (aided by a Provincial Implementation Group) seeks to ensure that the basic principles relevant to ministry and missionin the dioceses are consistent across the Province.
  1. The St Padarn’sInstitute is now our provincial training institution which aims to provide, for every diocese,training and support for every kind of ministry, lay and ordained, and we are seeking common policies on pre-and post-ordination training.
  1. In a church that sets great store by collaborative ministry, collaboration as well as collegiality should be reflected in the way the Bench of Bishops works. The ‘lone ranger’model is not a good pattern, and it risks fragmentation and inconsistency of approach.
  1. Each of the bishops exercises a provincial role taking the lead on individual areas such as education, communication, church & society matters, ecumenism, ministry, liturgy and stewardship. They also relate to and collaborate with leaders of other Christian denominations in Wales.

THE CHURCH IN WALES TODAY

  1. There is no denying the fact that, as a Province, we are at a challenging point in our history. In many places, we face numerical decline, ageing congregations, a dearth of families and young people. Many parishes are under severe financial pressure. Bishops have to recognise this and try hard to encourage, in our emerging ministry areas, new ways of working together in teams and living out the faith entrusted to us;the implementation of ministry and mission areas.
  1. A bishop will naturally want to value the historical treasures of tried and tested liturgies; but he or she will also need to encourage the people who currently make up our congregations to recognise that, for the unchurched, the stranger or the inquirer, these may be inaccessible, exclusive and excluding. So a bishop should also encourage the development of fresh and more accessible opportunities for fellowship, worship and teaching of the faith. There is little or nothing to be gained by simply expecting potential newcomers to simply conform to what is already on offer, because the ‘menu’ with which we are familiar may have little if anything which nourishes others. In addressing this situation, a new bishop should work closely with his or her colleagues, lending wisdom and insights to the corporate thinking of the Bench, and learning from the experiences of the other bishops too.
  1. The bishops must also encourage, even demand, that, where it has become dull and weak, the role of the cleric as teacher should be polished and refreshed. No bishop and no other cleric dare assume that every person present at any act of worship understands every aspect of either the faith or the scriptures. And, unless those who currently worship with us are well-schooled in both, their ability to articulate them in such a way as to relate them to others will fall short. Our Church and our people must be equipped to say why we gather; there must be opportunities to grow in discipleship;and then we will be better-equipped to work together in discipling others.

WALES AND THE WORLD OUTSIDE OUR WALLS

  1. Just as the wider world is a changing and often anxious place, Wales and Welsh society are changing too. More powers are devolved to the Welsh Assembly and its Government, shifts occurin the relationship between the devolved administration and Local Authorities, and there is a growth in the importance of Welsh culture and language.
  1. All this is set against a backdrop of economic challenges, evident and perceived injustices creating threats to community cohesion. In recent times, there have also been worrying increases in political tension, religious intolerance and racial and other prejudices. A bishop needs to be conversant with all this and be willing to both engage in and relate the Gospel to public life and relationships in the communities which, with the whole church, he or she serves.

A BISHOP’S SKILLS AND ATTRIBUTES

As already indicated, the Diocesan Profile will have much to say about the type of bishop sought and the gifts which he or she might possess. There are, however, some points which should be noted and others which will bear emphasis:

  1. The demands upon a bishop are probably greater now than they have ever been and, in Wales, bishops are almost certainly more accessible than at any time in our history. So, there are sometimes unrealistic expectations that a bishop is the great ‘Fix-it’. They can’t however fix everything; or at least, they can’t fix everything to please everyone!
  1. Inthinking strategically about the mission of the church and how to communicate the Gospel effectively in our age, how tore-imagine the church’s ministry a bishop and the Bishop’s Staff will have to be able to make hard decisions that will not please everyone. That is the more taxing side of the coin of pastoral care – having the best interests of the church at heart. Oversight requires challenging people to change direction rather than hide from reality.
  1. Bishops must, therefore, be people who are not just guardians of the faith, but who are able to bring the scriptures and the creeds of the church to life, and to display their relevance to the issues of our time. That can only be done if bishops are people of prayer and also people who have time to study. The church needs to give them time to do both.
  1. The ordination service sets out in detailwhat is expected of a bishop. He or she is to be the chief minister, pastor, centre of unity, teacher of the Faith, guardian of discipline, shepherd of the flock, especially of the clergy, proclaimer of the Gospel, holder of ordinations and the one who confirms. Add to these expectations, the role of being a public figure and the ability to be an administrator or a wise delegator of administration, and there may seem to be no end to what is expected of a bishop.
  1. Every moment of a bishop’s life and every space in the diary could be so full of services, events and engagements that it could be all-too-easy to lose sight of the things that really matter, and to think of oneself as being indispensable.

THE ESSENTIAL BISHOP

There is, arguably, something to be said for the early Church’s organisation along its monastic lines. The Bishop was kept in a monastery, subject to the Abbot, only allowed out to ordain and confirm – to do what he was essentially ordained to do!

What then are some of the essential things of which a bishop should never lose sight?

  1. First must come God. The fact of the matter is that a bishop can be so busy about the things of God (or the ‘churchy things) that God himself can be edged out. Gregory the Great said of Episcopal life:

“I have been unable to keep steadily recollected because my mind is distracted by many responsibilities.”

As the task of the church is to pay attention to God and the ways of God revealed in Jesus Christ, and to remind others of their importance, so too if its chief pastors do not give such attention, then their words risk being hollow. “Cadw ty mewn cwmwl tystion” is how the Welsh poet, Waldo Williams, put it -“Keeping house amongst a cloud of witnesses.”

  1. Then there is the world. God is, of course, encountered in silence, in the stillness of the heart, in sacrament and scripture, and even inside the church. But God is encountered too in the world’s experience. Bishops must, as Gregory warned, be careful not to spend all their time on church matters – its committees, structures, organisation, financing and the deployment of its clergy. Important as all those are, it is so easy to be sucked into the ecclesiastical machine that we can forget that there is a world out there, God’s world, loved and redeemed by him; a world in which he continues to want to be heard and followed.
  1. Communication matters. Jesus’s ministry took place outside the religious institutions of his nation. His preaching and teaching occurred mainly in the open air and often over meals in the company of those whom the religious people of his day shunned. And when Jesus talked about God in his parables, he pictured him at the heart of people’s ordinary experiences, in scenes such as children playing in the market place, guests at a wedding, and farmers in a field. He spoke about pearls of great price, sowing and reaping crops, and he invited people to find and encounter a God dimension in all things.

In conclusion, the church has to connect with God’s world if she is to serve it. Rooted in her faith, built upon the foundation of Christ, she must look at that world and listen to it, for in and through it God speaks and challenges her to make him ‘findable and knowable’.The task of bishops and clerics is to equip the whole people of Godto make living connectionswith this world,and to build up those people for a shared ministry in that world and for its salvation. The manner in which bishops and clerics do this will be as important as the doing of it, taking neither themselves nor their offices with a solemnity neither deserve, but serving with a serious and joyful humility, recognising that we follow a God who rode into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey,and whose chief priorities were to challenge the world, religious and secular, to re-engage with him and his loving purposes.

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