‘Focal’. ‘Oversight’. The C of E of the future

Wednesday 15th September 2021

In the Church Times on the 10th September Madeleine Davies began a two-part examination of the Church’s future.

IN 2019, Anglican worshippers in the diocese of Sheffield were informed of the existence of a “four-headed beast”. They were not alone in facing this creature, they were told: it existed in every other diocese, especially in the north and more urban areas.

Its four heads may be familiar to Church Times readers: falling attendance (in Sheffield, a fall in Usual Sunday Attendance from 20,000 in 1988 to 12,000 in 2018); significant shortfalls in most parishes, “squeezing” the diocesan board of finance (DBF) (out of 192 contributors to the diocese’s common fund in 2018, only 17 paid the full costs of a dedicated stipendiary priest); problems presented by buildings and structures (leaving clergy, lay leaders, and congregations “overwhelmed by compliance, safeguarding, and administrative demands”); and a heavy dependence on the “magnificent” contribution of older members.

For the full article please go to the Church Times website