The following comments have already been made below - please add to them when your PCC has discussed this issue!
1. It may perhaps be true to say that the role of Christian leadership is to prepare God's people for works of service (Ephesians 4). But realistically the role of deaneries is to manage meagre resources of finance and personnel, persuading the parishes to give more and more and receive less and less. Facing up to this issue and being honest about having to close or amalgamate parishes in the near future would be much more effective than debates on women as bishops or gay divorcees as clergy.
2. I just wanted to say how refreshing I find this kind of simple, visionary document. It has a capacity to inspire and my vote is for not only adopting it but living it out in every aspect of our discipleship.
3. Comment 1, I'm sure you aren't saying that Ephesians 4 has no relevance at deanery level, but I do agree completely that we need to be honest about the issues that face us on the ground.
4. In that case, why is the next synod debating women in the episcopate, a subject that neither relates to the "vision" nor has anything to do with the local realities in the parishes of the area? Sorry - I'm a grumpy old man.
5. Am I alone in noting that this statement makes no mention of inclusion or creation care? At a time when these issues are highly controversial in Anglicanism worldwide, the draft mission statement above seems to me to be unbalanced in its individualism and "evangelical" feel. This deanery has not been explicitly evangelical in the last few years, and I would hate it to become so under new leadership.
6. First line of values should read
"affirmation of God's delight in, and love for, all creation" -
otherwise the preposition is wrong.
I'm a paid-up pedant. Other than that, I'm very supportive of this statement (as long as it gets acted on).
7. Roger (comment 5) would hate the deanery to become uniformly evangelical, and others would hate it to become uniformly any one other thing. But the problem with the whole concept of a deanery vision statement is that it pushes the deanery towards uniformity, unless of course that statement is so broad as to be meaningless. Perhaps we ought instead to recognise the variety within the deanery of visions for the church, and agree to respect one another's visions.
(ordinary member of Meadgate, Great Baddow)
8. (Andy) Thank you all for your comments so far - I hope there'll be plenty more.
Roger and Peter, I promise you that I have absolutely no interest in making the deanery uniformly anything at all, and the vision really did flow naturally from the parish submissions from churches of all ecclesiatical bents. Yes, we should certainly respect each church's vision and not try to "push" one another.
On the other hand, the entity called "Chelmsford South deanery" does, for better or worse, exist. It's part of the decision-making structures of the Church of England, it has responsibilities for oversight, and it is expected to use its influence. I for one am the sort of person who needs to be clear about why am doing what I'm doing, and needs to be inspired by a sense that God is calling me to something beyond my natural inclinations - for me, the draft deanery vision provides exactly that sort of clarity and inspiration.
One example: synods for next year. Of course, Christine and I and the standing committee could just invite a random set of speakers and have a random selection of debates. But if this vision is adopted, we will be accountable to make sure that synods deal with how to equip every member to serve their local community and how to equip every member to tell of God's love, with a balance between these two aims and with nothing that does not contribute to them.
Another example: levying the parish share. I'm determined that this needs to be a "vision thing"; we have hundreds of thousands to collect, and we need to do it fairly and in line with our purposes as a deanery.
What do others think?
9. (Andy) Roger, your point above was taken into consideration by the subcommittee, and we have added a new line to the "values" section accordingly - we hope you like the new version more than you did the old one!
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Every PCC in the deanery has been asked to discuss the admission of women to the episcopate. Civil comments on this topic can be added here. CAM reports that "the Chelmsford Diocesan Synod decided on Saturday 10th November not to vote on a motion from Braintree Deanery urging the bishops to uphold Lambeth Resolution 1.10 (a statement which speaks in favour of listening to the experience of those with same-sex attraction, but against accepting same-sex relatationships as compatible with Christian discipleship). Statistics from the Church of England reveal that the average weekly giving by parishioners in 2005 increased to £5.08, and more clergy are being trained and ordained now compared with 10 years ago. The Rev Keith Magee has agreed to be Chapter Clerk for the deanery - this task primarily involves arranging dates, venues, formats and (where appropriate) speakers for the Chapter, a regular gathering of clergy from the deanery. Our quiet day this year will be led by the Revds Charlie and Ann Kosla, and take place at Pleshey on Tuesday December 11. For more details talk to Andy. On Monday-Wednesday of next week, Galleywood Vicarage garden is going to become a slum. Inspired by "slum survivor", a ministry of the youth movement Soul Survivor, six young people are going to be building a slum out of plastic, corrugated iron and wooden pallettes, and living in it for three days and two nights. The rules are: no toiletries, no food except rice and lentils cooked over a camping stove, no coming indoors except for the toilet. It's about raising funds for slum dwellers in southern Africa (over £1000 raised so far), but it's also about standing in solidarity with those who have no option but to live like this every day and every freezing night. The media have already started to show an interest, but make sure you drop by and see them too. Don't bring them chocolate, though - it not allowed! Galleywood Vicarage is at 450 Beehive Lane (next to Thriftwood School). Every parish in Chelmsford South Deanery was asked to produce a parish vision. Collating these and analysing every sentence and clause relating to vision, values, plans and strategies, a small team noticed that over half of these sentences and clauses related to one of three themes: Our Vision: In 2001 the Diocese of Chelmsford took part in the National Church Life Survey, which revealed the following percentages of church membership (based on 1,955 responses). |