How to say 'No' to Pastoral Reorganisation

 Since the new Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev David Williams, published proposals for pastoral reorganisation in Kerrier deanery, west Cornwall, last month we have received many questions from people who are concerned about the plan and would like to know how to object.  This pastoral reorganisation, with its proposal for 23 churches under one rural dean, has attracted negative attention both locally and nationally.

We publish the below ('Vote Red to Stop') as an inspiration. This letter was circulated to PCCs in Framland Deanery, Leicestershire, facing similar proposals for centralisation. It was drafted up by concerned Save The Parish supporters, keen to do what they can to stop damaging - and irreversible - proposals

Email to all Red and Amber voters in Framland, August 2025

Your PCC will have received the draft proposals for minster communities in the Framland deanery for comment.    

If we wish to survive as rural churches, it is very important at this stage to continue to vote RED, ie. ‘no’ to these proposals.    As all available evidence on such schemes remains negative, with both giving and congregations falling and churches closing, there seems little point in committing your church to this doom loop.    It is also very doubtful whether the ‘resource churches’, into which so much effort and money is being poured, are sustainable in the long term (see Roy Faulkner’s report following a visit to the one at St John’s, Hinckley in June this year - attached)  and we now have the Launde community – formed two years ago -  on our doorstep where both priests have now moved on and they seem to have been left swinging in mid-air.

For those who may not have seen it, attached to this is a copy of Sir James Burnell-Nugent’s paper entitled “Three dozen reasons why the Leicester Diocese Minster Communities are unnecessary and unwelcome”.   It explains the legal position for pastoral reorganisation, and also stresses the importance of keeping your PCC:  lose your PCC and you lose control of the future of your church.

However, a light is beginning to shine!   It has been most encouraging to hear that at the recent General Synod meeting, it was announced that the Church Commissioners were planning to increase the funding for training;  and also that more money, (£60,000,000 to £80,000,000) has been released as time limited funding.   Leicester received £500,000 for 2026, which means that this year’s deficit of £1,800,000 could be reduced by 30% using this money.

 It was even more encouraging to hear of the motion, entitled “Redistribution of Funds” raised by the Bishop of Hereford, and the amendment put forward by the Bishop of Bath and Wells, regarding the £2.6 billion given to the Church Commissioners in 1997 when they had no money.   Their assets now amount to £11,000,000,000.   The Bishop of Bath and Wells asked if we could have a portion of this money back, and in principle there was some support for it (even among the Church Commissioners and the Bishops).    Bishop Martyn supported it.   This would mean £100 million per annum in perpetuity that could be pulled back, with £2,000,000 per annum for Leicestershire.   

The amendment was stopped for now, but a further opportunity will present itself at next February’s General Synod meeting, giving Save The Parish several months to rally support.

So let’s avoid being drawn irrevocably into these minster communities.   As the signs of more support from bishops and the Church Commissioners for the aims of Save the Parish grow, and funds are released to pay for priests, we have every reason to hope that the future could still be bright for rural churches.   We just have to keep ourselves afloat until then, and not find we are in a position from which it may be difficult to extricate ourselves.

We would like a reply to this email giving your PCC’s response to the draft proposals, which needs minuting  … and please vote RED.   An AMBER VOTE IS A GREEN VOTE.

 

  

 

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