[...] Most lay people now know that when you hear senior clerics talk about a new ’strategy’, you reach for your gun. For the past 15 to 20 years, when dioceses have produced documents called strategies, what they have really produced is decline management plans. The primary trigger for change has been financial. The costs of running the ministry have gone up (mainly because of pension costs, and decline in central funding). The income is static. The financial support base (the proverbial bum on pew) is static or declining. A plan is needed, otherwise the diocese will go bankrupt.
In essence this means paying for fewer priests across the board. So a round of consultation ensues. This usually involves putting together groups of lay representatives who have little knowledge of each other’s situation, together with the clergy and some senior diocesan person. The result, in nearly every case, is some kind of boxing and coxing affair so that none of the churches have to close, priests (either existing or future) are shared across various kinds of combinations, and laudable things are said about the need for collaborative and lay ministry (as if these weren’t already happening). I have friends right across the Church of England, and it seems that there is very little variation on this theme. [...]
Tuesday 6 February 2007
Blog (Paul Roberts): Diocesan strategies are "decline management plans"
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Aye – there's the rub – "not sure he's got the answer to what else could be done" – and by golly, unless we find one . . . well, how about this for a scenario? The establishment suffers a double whammy – emergency Quota increases and a high-handed imposition of a gay “area bishop” fuel a Quota strike by Reform and allies – this time, ordinary parishes join in – I mean they don’t really understand what Mainstream is all about, but they do know that the establishment has gotten something fundamentally wrong – enough is enough!
People watch the news on TV and there are some very angry people, but the C of E spokesperson is quiet and assured – this is managed decline with attitude – calmly and smoothly the guy evades the immediate issues and explains that “given our culture, it is likely that the Church will be at the margins of our culture for the foreseeable future; one day, however, people will return to the Church, and it is our task and challenge to ensure that there is a church for them to return to. We have to face up to a situation of declining membership and declining revenue; it is obvious that there are going to have to budget deficits and necessary cutbacks, so there needs to be an overall strategy. This will obviously impact on traditional privileges and rights hitherto enjoyed by individual parishes, but we all have to work together for the common good. One of the biggest expenses is parish ministry, and it makes sense for selection and training and deployment should be something for the diocese; it is also unreasonable that lazy and incompetent clergy and wardens should be able to hide behind ancient privileges and rights no longer relevant to the current age, and the diocese should be free to deploy clergy according to greater good. That’s what quota is all about – paying a fare share into a central pot and the centre then deploys for the common good” – right?
Yes, actually – given the current understanding of Church – I mean a low-knowledge, high-dependency institution centred on and nourished by the diocesan bishop, of course it makes sense. I don’t think we are going to get an answer unless we radically redefine what we mean by church.
Aye – there’s the rub – you have a car, that hasn’t been working properly for years, but you’ve gotten used to it – I mean you are so used to it that you prefer it to what it used to be, assuming you can remember. One day it fails the MOT, but it only requires a few minor changes to make it roadworthy, but that means the favourite feature will inevitably be corrected – I mean try explaining to the garage how to fine tune things so that you get something roadworthy – and – with your fave imperfection. Mind, having faced up to it and gotten used to something that is 100% OK, you wonder why you put up with something less than perfect for so long
Is the answer then simply to put the clock back half a century to some golden age, or a radical reformation which will bring back an Bible-compliant English church?
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