Bishop David’s Address to Diocesan Synod Saturday 14 March 2009
Posted Saturday 14 March 2009
Bishop David’s address to the 2009 Diocesan Synod:
I’m delighted that we are here today to take the measure of where we have reached in our movement forwards. One of the functions of leadership is to re-state the vision and to re-state it over and over again.
We’ve reached a very important moment. We’re hoping to launch our Casting the Net programme at Pentecost in every church at the same time. There will be special worship and nets for everybody. It’s about turning outwards in mission - about being orientated for growth. Essentially it’s about trusting in God - we cast the net in obedience to the insistent command of Jesus and trust to him for what it catches.
Casting the Net is essentially a programme of congregational development - looking at ourselves and our future under God - looking at ourselves in the context of the world into which we carry the mission of Christ. It’s like MYCMI but more than that because it invites us to explore the spiritual journey or pilgrimage in which we are engaged. But it needs to be more than just a programme floating on the top of diocesan life. What we are trying to do is to re-organise the whole of diocesan life so that it all faces towards mission and growth. We’re preparing training for lay ministry and work with children and young people. We’re re-organising our diocesan structures so that they too will serve mission and growth.
This week saw the fourth anniversary of my consecration. They have been very rich years in ministry for me and I feel very blessed. It may surprise you to know that I feel that in some respects the way ahead for us gets more difficult. That’s because, with every month which passes, we challenge more and more of the uncertainties which we have inherited from the past. It’s relatively easy to add something which floats on the top of church life - harder to change deeply ingrained patterns and attitudes which are born out of adversity and uncertainty.
Recently I wrote a preface for the yearbook in St Mary’s Aberfoyle. Basically I was celebrating the unsung heroes of church life - the people whose faithfulness sustains the church come what may. I want to celebrate some others today - the best group of clergy I have ever worked with. I do not say that lightly. The support of our clergy is magnificent - the ten clergy who have come here since I arrived have brought with them new impetus and encouragement. I want to celebrate those who have committed themselves to the work of our diocesan committees - working away in the trenches and slowly bringing to birth a new order. And one sign of that is that meetings are growing shorter. Two people I should mention in particular - John Ferguson-Smith has been so fundamental to much of what has been happening and what we hope will happen that it would be impossible to contemplate it without him. Alicia has recently come into her own - bringing her corporate memory of how things got to be how they are. And never have I heard her say that ‘We shouldn’t do it like this’.
And my own ministry is changing. Moving to Clergy Review and teaching ministry. Structures are important but relationships are more important.
