Diocesan Synod summary

22/12/09

The Diocesan Synod met at King's College London on 12 December to discuss church growth, building on history, mission, finance and the environment.

Meetings of the Houses of Clergy and Laity

The Revd Preb David Houlding was elected Clerical Vice-President of the Synod and Chairman of the House of Clergy. Mr David Loftus was elected Lay Vice-President of the Synod and Chairman of the House of Laity.

Presidential Address

The Bishop delivered his Presidential Address, the text of which can be found here.

Building on History: The Church in London

The Archdeacon of Charing Cross introduced Building on History, a 'collaborative knowledge transfer project, learning lessons from the history of the Church in London for today's mission and ministry'.

He discussed the project with Professor Arthur Burns, professor of Modern British History at King's College London, and Professor John Wolffe, professor of Religious History and Associate Dean for Research and Postgraduate Studies at The Open University.

More information about the project, including an introductory film, is available from www.open.ac.uk/buildingonhistory.

Planning for Growth

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York requested that every diocese submit a short paper reflecting on their 'experience with regards to growth and the obstacles to growth, this to include to what extent the current economic situation or indeed wider social developments are altering the challenge that the Church faces.'

The Diocese's response celebrates the many aspects of growth in London. The response covers issues relating to 'Discipleship', 'Vocations and Training', 'Evangelism and Church Planting' and 'Society and Public Life'.

The Church's Mission

The Bishop of London introduced London Mission, a film which provides several illustrations of missionary initiatives across the Diocese, which have been supported by the Bishop of London's Mission Fund. These included mission activities at the Ivy Bridge Community Centre; St Mary's Centre, Swiss Cottage, and the 'Moot' project based at St Matthew's, Westminster.

The film can be viewed at www.london.anglican.org/BLMF.

Diocesan Budget 2010

The London Diocesan Synod for 2010 approved a balanced budget for 2010 that should see the diocese breaking even on its general funds as it has done for the last several years.

Like other organisations and because of the recession, diocesan income is not budgeted to increase as quickly as in previous years and costs have increased mainly because of extra payments to the pension scheme. Therefore, there have had to be some reductions to match expenditure to the available income.

The Diocesan Fund will continue to support ministry and mission to every community in the growing diocese of London. The diocese would like to do even more to support the people of London and the continuing expansion of the church in London; it will continue to seek extra funds to enable it to do that.

The Diocese of London is funded predominantly by churchgoers in London and spends most of its income on paying the costs of clergy in the diocese.

More details are at www.london.anglican.org/Finance.

Recycling church waste

It was explained that churches in the deanery [Central Barnet] wished to reduce their carbon footprint, but had discovered a lack of provision for the recycling of church waste. The motion sought to address this issue, and in addition called for the recycling of all trade waste to be promoted.

The Synod agreed that the Diocese would work with other agencies to develop an incentive scheme for increased recycling of non-domestic waste from churches, and ask the Archbishops Council on behalf of the Church to urge the Government to promote the full recycling of trade waste as well as domestic waste.