How the Church of England recovers

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Thoughts from the Reverend Marcus Walker, founder and Chairman of Save The Parish

This has been a very difficult and troubling week for the Church of England. The prayers of all of us at Save the Parish have been with those who suffered such terrible abuse under John Smyth and for all those who have worked with them in the process of delivering the Makin Review. Although this has not been a Save the Parish issue, some of our prominent members have passed comment on this, including Giles Fraser, whose article can be found here.

The resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury means that the church needs to work out what kind of person shall lead us over the next decade or so. On this matter Save the Parish must have a strong voice. The direction set by the new Archbishop will define so many matters which directly affect parishes - from how they are funded, to how the church can rebuild clergy numbers, to how volunteers are treated, to how easy (and expensive) it is to get a faculty to do essential repairs. Most importantly, of course, his or her job will be to preach Christ in season and out of season and to restore trust which has been severely battered over the last decade or so. This will not be an easy task, but here are some thoughts which I penned for the Critic. If the trust cannot be restored between the national church and its parishes, it will be far harder for us, as a church, to recover from the last week - and the last few decades , of asset stripping parishes.

The new Archbishop, and all Diocesan Bishops under his or her leadership, need  needs to be able to reconnect with the church at its local level. That is where, I am absolutely convinced, the next revival will come from. I hope that we - you and me and everyone involved with the Save the Parish movement - will be able to frame the debate over the next few months so that as the Crown Nominations Commission comes to meet next year, they will have at the forefront of their mind the question of how the church reconnects with the people of England (in general) and the people in the pews (in particular).

There are some things you could consider doing  while this is a hot topic.  Firstly please try to find more supporters for Save The Parish. We need to double and redouble our number of supporters. Local STP branches are either established or getting going in the dioceses of Truro, Exeter, Bath & Wells, Gloucester, St Albans, Norwich, Leicester, Leeds, York and Hereford. This is a very positive sign of the strength of our determination to save the parish. Get in touch with us at help@savetheparish.com if would like to start a branch in your diocese.

And maybe start rebuilding trust from the bottom up in your parish. Consider asking your Area Dean or Archdeacon to come to an informal open meeting to discuss the future of parishes in your area.  Maybe even ask your Bishop if things are proving particularly difficult and tell them that the purpose of the meeting is to rebuild trust. They just might be on the back foot at the moment.

One extra thing you could do to help is to take part in a new venture we're going to try - which is to highlight parishes from around the country on our Instagram account. We are looking for a short video tour of your church ranging from thirty seconds to two minutes. A voiceover or presence in front of the camera is not required. What we need is only:

  • A five second clip of the exterior

  • A clip walking up the nave

  • A clip of anything else of unique or particular interest

We also need a little blurb about the church to add to the story. 

As we head towards the end of the liturgical, I wish you a very holy Advent and and joyous Christmas.



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