As many know, the Episcopal Church’s General Convention in 2012 launched a task force, the Task force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church (or TREC, for short) to begin the process of thinking about how the church should organize itself for mission in the post-Christendom context of 21st century America. See our recent coverage here and here.
Now, it looks as though the Church of
England’s General Synod will be examining a series of proposals
backed by the Archbishops of York and Canterbury which have been described as the most radical shake-up in generations to
prevent the church from going into “terrifying” decline
From Ruth Gledhill’s report at Christianity.com
In a raft of proposals backed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York and published today, a series of reforms are put forward that are designed to halt the long-term decline that has decimated congregations around the nation in the last 60 years. In addition, the aim is to increase numbers of those training for the priesthood by 50 per cent from 2020.
The papers will hit the new General Synod members due to be elected in the autumn for the next quinquennium with an unprecedented workload that could surpass even the stress of the last 10 years, when discussions were dominated by repeated conflicts over women bishops.The workload will be especially stringent given that one of the proposed reforms is to reduce the maximum number of synod meetings from nine to six days a year in a bid to cut costs.
The reports and first round of proposed legislation can be found here from Thinking Anglicans
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Hey, as an old codger reduced to supply work, I rather resent the implication that only bright, young things can “save” the church. Dare I suggest that our institutional memory, long devotion and service, sense of humor and irony, and relationships with young as well as old, may still be of some value to a church that seems to doubt its own worth, and forgets it’s basic job is praising the Lord and calling folks to service and justice?
I wish someone would explain to me the logic of increasing the number of ordinations 50% when membership is falling. Is this an attempt to replace aging priests or to ramp up the order of deacons or both?
The link provided takes you to a long list of items provided by Thinking Anglicans in reference to the C of E General Synod. I think the particular report referenced here is the one found directly by this link;
https://www.churchofengland.org/media/2140023/gs%201979%20%20resourcing%20ministerial%20education%20task%20group%20report.pdf
Resourcing Ministerial Education in the Church of England.
Item # 8 in The Report (bolded) looks very interesting, especially the reference to a younger and more diverse clergy. I don’t know about TEC, but in the Canadian Church the bulk of current vocations tend toward senior citizens, with the average age of stipendiary clergy being at least a decade older than the average age in the secular work force.
“Our vision as a Task Group is of a growing church with a flourishing ministry. We
hope therefore to see
every minister equipped to offer collaborative leadership in mission and to be
adaptable in a rapidly changing context
a cohort of candidates for ministry who are younger, more diverse and with a
wider range of gifts to serve God’s mission
an increase of at least 50% in ordinations on 2013 figures sustained annually
from 2020
the rapid development of lay ministries
a continued commitment to an ordained and lay ministry which serves the
whole Church both geographically and in terms of church tradition.”
Sorry, that link appears to be a dead end, page not found; but if you use the link provided in the article above, scroll down to;
Resourcing Ministerial Education Task Group Report [Tuesday & Wednesday]