GB: Growth and Resilience

Paul Mackness reports from the September meeting of the Governing Body in Newport

In his presidential address at the start of the GB, the Archbishop encouraged dioceses to “break new ground” in their plans for the Church Growth Fund (the additional £100 million made available by the Representative Body). This was a foretaste of things to come, as members were later asked to do group work looking at Priorities, Growth and Resilience.

Members were asked to consider six questions:

• When you first joined the Governing Body what did you expect and how close is reality to that expectation?
• What, at the Governing Body, should we start doing, stop doing and continue doing?
• What is your reaction to the priorities for the Church in Wales as set out by the Archbishop?
• What is the best way the Representative Body and Diocese can support mission and ministry in your local area?
• What stops us from growing?
• If you had a one-to-one with the Archbishop, what would you say to him?

There was a plenary session the following day, which, together with the written feedback from the group work, will be considered by the Provincial Standing Committee.

The Archdeacon of Llandaff and I brought a bill to reform the Archbishop’s Electoral College and the Bishops’ Electoral Colleges. This was passed in all three houses and then promulgated by the Archbishop into the law of the Church in Wales.

The bill means that, should the college fail to elect a bishop, there is the opportunity for the college to meet for a second time before passing to the Bench of Bishops for an appointment. The previous informal meetings of the College prior to the actual Electoral College were given constitutional status and the regulations set by each College would now need to be published at the next GB meeting following.

A constitutional amendment to allow Ministry Areas to become Charitable Incorporated Organisations (CIOs) was passed, following extensive work with the Charity Commissioners by the Legal Department of the RB. Two of our LMAs served as pilots for this. Further guidance will be issued shortly.

At the end of the GB, the Archbishop paid tribute to Bishop Joanna on her retirement. The meeting ended with a new item, the Archbishop’s Charge. He urged members to be “a shaper of narratives and agendas which we share together in the communion” and to cascade them to others, being attentive to the life and time and to hear what God was doing in the world.