Almost everybody reading this letter will by now have heard about
the review of the life of the Church in Wales carried out by a group
chaired by Lord Harries, the former Bishop of Oxford. The group
produced their report recently and it has now been presented to the
Governing Body of the Church in Wales for its consideration.
The review is very wide ranging and it makes many recommendations for
change in the life of our Church. If only half of the recommendations
are accepted and implemented the Church in Wales will look very
different indeed in a few years’ time and no part of the church will be
untouched by the changes – including the parish of Llandudno.
Perhaps some of you will have been at the Diocesan meeting which took
place in the Cathedral last month – still to come at the time of
writing. At that meeting you will have learnt much about the report’s
recommendations and may indeed have taken part in the discussion.
It is impossible here to list all the recommendations of the report in
this letter. I’m just going to mention one – the creation of large
Mission Areas in place of the traditional parish system. There is
widespread recognition that the traditional parish structure which has
served the church well in the past is no longer fit for purpose in the
21st century. Larger areas enable the sharing of scarce resources. They
provide the opportunity to build ministry teams of clergy and lay
people in which the talents of the many can be pooled. Furthermore
these areas might be able to afford to employ specialists such as Youth
Workers or Community Workers etc. Individual churches will continue to
have a certain degree of autonomy (their own bank accounts etc.) but
they will be part of large groups. Not every church will have the same
pattern of worship. Probably there will be main or ‘Minster’ churches
with a full range of Sunday services and smaller, or ‘satellite’
churches which may have services at less frequent intervals, or perhaps
on weekdays only.
I mention this particular recommendation because whatever the reaction
of the Governing Body to the report, the creation of these Mission
Areas is already happening. Several of them have already been created
in our own diocese and it is part of our Diocese’s strategy to
gradually bring them into being when conditions are suitable.
Of course it will take many years to implement this change throughout
the church and it will probably be some time before it affects our
parish directly. But the day for change will come and we should start
to prepare for it now. Should we fear this change? The answer must
surely be a resounding ‘No’. We must surely seek the most effective way
of being God’s faithful people in the years ahead, and all parishes,
even the stronger ones need to be part of larger supportive
communities. It will bring many benefits. The Lord is offering us a new
and exciting future and we should embrace it in faith.
