Save The Parish - Cornwall

Despite grass-roots opposition, the most controversial On The Way plan in Cornwall is inching forward with Diocesan officials ignoring local unease. At a meeting in Mawgan on Wednesday 29 March about 40 Parochial Church Council members from across the deanery discussed the next step in their On The Way plan. Many were surprised at the turn events had taken. On the agenda: the need to set up a Community Interest Company (CIC) to employ the new workers.  Kerrier Deanery's On The Way plan proposes a giant benefice - a mega parish - of 23 churches, overseen by a newly appointed rural dean, the Rev Heidi Huntley and employing several lay workers. This 'need' to set up a CIC had not previously been mentioned by the Diocese, which up to now has directly employed 'lay workers' - e.g. at Transforming Mission in Falmouth.  Church House is not, however, prepared to employ the new lay workers, for reasons that remain unclear. Neither Archdeacon Paul Bryer nor the Director of Ch

Another press report on the push back in Cornwall against our Bishops' controversial - and irreversible -  plans for change.  These On The Way plans - which are being rolled out in church communities without proper consultation  - will change the nature of the C of E in the county forwever. Click here to read the article in Conservative Woman. The On The Way plans promote the 'resource church' model - which research shows has failed elsewhere . The most shocking example of this - and a planned 'mega benefice' - is in Kerrier, where the On The Way plan envisages 23 churches overseen by one rural dean (recently appointed, who will live in Helston). This plan - which threatens to change the nature of church life in the area forever - was only narrowly passed in a secret ballot on 23 rd September 2022 - with 14 for the plan, 11 against and three abstentions.