Save The Parish - Cornwall

 A splendid piece on BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme at 720am today (you can catch up on BBC Sounds). Carl Hughes, Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Archbishop's Council Finance Committee said; "I fervently believe that the thing we need to be investing in is frontline ministry. Every study shows that not having a priest does not lead to growth." This comes after some years of a policy of reduction of local parish priests at Diocesan level.  Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent spoke later about C of E finances.  All in all it was a great way to mark Save The Parish's third anniversary. Click here to read a letter by Marcus Walker, who set up STP three years ago, and mentions Save The Parish Cornwall - "Save the Parish Cornwall is the first local group to be set up and is very active. Rather than just accepting their fate, and rather than just moaning about proposed changes, they have put their money where their mouths are and made a serious prop

A message from Save The Parish founder, Marcus Walker  Three years ago Save the Parish was founded on August 3 at a public meeting at my church of St Bartholomew the Great. From our inception we have been a grassroots movement and have been entirely volunteer-run. This gives us the strength that comes from being close to the realities of life on the frontline, and the weakness that comes from relying on the free time of people who are already busy – often trying to save our own local parishes as well as doing our bit for the national church. On this three year anniversary, I would like to reflect on a few things that have happened over these three years. 1.      We have organised. General Synod elections occurred less than three months after we launched and over 150 candidates were elected using our logo or identifying themselves with us in a clear way. Of these around 80 regularly vote with us in Synod, although General Synod does not have a formal whipping system and ea