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Dictionary

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Bishop

‘Bishop’ comes from the Greek word for ‘overseer’. So a bishop is a senior Christian minister authorised to have oversight for God’s people. As well as duties given to deacons and priests, bishops confirm and ordain.

Lent

Lent is the six-week period leading up to Easter. It is a particular time to confess sin and to seek personal and collective renewal (a ‘springtime of the spirit’). Lent has a special focus on Jesus’s journey to the cross and prepares the Church to celebrate his resurrection.

Home Pobl Dewi: March 2026 Pruning for Growth

Pruning for Growth

Stage Four - Paul Mackness, Chair of the Pruning for Growth Gardening Group, looks ahead as the final stage in the process gets under way.

By the time you read this article, the Stage Three recommendations from the Pruning For Growth Gardening Group will have been circulated to all LMA Councils. Stage Three is the last consultation stage of Pruning for Growth but is more focused on ensuring that the facts on which we have based our recommendations are correct. Please note that our recommendations are based on what you told us about your churches.

Under Stage Three some churches will be marked out as places where there should be growth and where resources should be directed, some sadly will be marked for closure, a number of churches will be noted as to remain open and some will be designated for future review.

This last category is there to ensure that the measures that you told us at Stage Two you are putting into place are happening and what the impact of them are. Following a good review a church may be marked only as open, be closed if there has been no growth or put for a further review if it is too early to tell. These review periods could be after one, two, three, four or five years.

It is important that the recommendations that relate to individual churches are reflected upon and discussed by their church committees and any constructive feedback should be fed back to your LMA Council which will also discuss the recommendations and make a formal written response to the Gardening Group.

Let me be absolutely clear – neither individual churches nor LMA Councils will be able to veto recommendations. But if we have got something factually wrong or you feel we may have misinterpreted what you told us, we will reconsider them at Stage Four, when we will make our final recommendations to the Bishop, Senior Staff, DBF, Standing Committee and Churches and Pastoral Committee.

LMAs are required to submit their responses to their Archdeacon by 30th April 2026. (Please do not moan about this being during Lent – Lent is a time for reflection and that is what we are asking you to do.) LMA Deans and LMA Chairs have been briefed on the process and the timescale. Failure of an LMA to submit a response will not prevent movement to Stage Four.