We’re having our pre-Synod meeting tomorrow. You may be interested to see what Kelvin thought of the same exercise in Glasgow. I sat down this afternoon and read my way through all the papers. It was a bit difficult because I am in sole charge of Poppy at present and she kept getting between me and the excitements of Congregational Status.
There’s a lot there but I’m not sure .. Like Kelvin, I wonder a bit about the Congregational Status material. Obviously it’s really important that we deal with the issue of multiple Vestries which most of our clergy have to deal with. It absorbs time and kills initiative. But I’m not sure that canonical change is the primary way in which that change should come about.
For the rest, I think there’s a disappointing amount of uncertainty – at a time when I think we are actually growing in confidence as a church. We’re not sure about administrative structures and dioceses or the definition of membership. The Review of Journey of the Baptised and New Century New Directions gives us a new point of departure in the development of mission and ministry – but there’s a lot of work to do. And that’s before we look outside ourselves and ask if we have a helpful contribution to make to world Anglicanism pre [and I suspect even more importantly] post-Lambeth