Save The Parish - Cornwall

This week's local press in Cornwall picks up the current controversy over Transforming Mission - in Camborne and elsewhere in Cornwall . Headline: 'Campaigners want more transparency over church project' »A MISSION to attract more worshippers to Anglican churches has become an embarrassment to the Diocese of Truro, a campaign group has claimed. Save the Parish Cornwall (StPC) levelled the accusation following a meeting at which churchgoers from around Camborne attempted to find “a constructive way” out of the controversy caused by the Transforming Mission (TM) project. The plans for TM in the Camborne area envisaged expenditure of £750,000 between 2019 and 2025. The Church Commissioners have met 60% of its costs and the diocese has contributed 40% from its reserves, but StPC says there has been a lack of transparency. TM has also been rolled out in Falmouth, St Austell, Liskeard and Highertown. The diocese has agreed to an independent review of its finances, due...

An engaging, frank and persuasive video from the new Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev David Williams, reflecting on his first months in Cornwall (he arrived in May 2025). "It's been more exciting than I ever dreamt possible," he says in a film published on the Diocesan website ahead of a Clergy Recruitment day later this month. But it's also been tougher than he expected. "Every night I go home energised by the people I’ve met and the places I’ve visited," he said. "A profound sense of thankfulness for this place and the people of Cornwall. But it’s also been tougher than I could have imagined. That twin impact, those two impressions, I think are quite important to hold together. You will find more of God than you imagined but you'll find a challenge you weren't expecting." Has anything surprised him? "I have been surprised by the warmth of the welcome in almost every place I've been. As perhaps in many other places but maybe it...

  Saturday 18th October 2025 St James the Greater, 219 London Road, Leicester, LE2 1NE Programme 11.00  Coffee and registration (in the church) 11.30  Rev’d Marcus Walker: welcome and review of the year 12.00  Bijan Omrani: the Christian roots of national and parish life 13.00  Lunch (in hall, which has lift access if needed) 13.45  Panel:  What makes churches thrive? Chaired by Prudence Dailey 14.30  Practical issues: preparing for General Synod elections; how to start a local group 15.00  Bishop Esther Prior: A Parish is for Life 15.45  Rev’d Marcus Walker: The way ahead 16.00  Tea 16.30  Evensong for St Luke’s Day: preacher - Rev’d Ruth Schofield 17.00  Drinks If you have any questions please email milbankalison@gmail.com or ring 07738873279.   

Abigail Kirby-Harris (representing Trigg Minor deanery) had intended to speak at length at yesterday's Diocesan Synod discussions on Oversight Ministry but sadly was prevented from doing so as - unexpectedly - the morning's schedule was curtailed and an early lunch announced without explanation. Abigail had been able to make a few remarks on Oversight Ministry before the session closed - as did other Save The Parish supporters: click here to read. But she had consulted her PCC (Parochial Church Council) and was planning to say much more on their behalf. She was frustrated - to say the least - not to be able to deliver the short speech due to the abrupt and unexpected end to the morning session. Abigail understands that the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev David Williams, having been informed about the situation by Diocesan Secretary Simon Cade, has asked to see a copy of Abigail's speech. We reproduce it here in full. "I understand that the Save the Parish Cornwall websit...

The new Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev David Williams, has spent his first months on the road listening to churchgoers but appears not to be taking heed of pleas for more priests in parishes: the case was strongly put today at the Diocesan Synod for Oversight Ministers in large benefices.   Save The Parish supporters from across Cornwall – and beyond the Tamar – have expressed their grave doubts about this direction of travel which has failed spectacularly in other parts of the country. At the Synod, Bishop David’s head of ministry, Isaac McNish, put forward a case for continuing to roll out the Oversight Ministry model   - started during the Diocese’s radical restructuring programme known as 'On The Way'.   The plan is for Oversight Ministers to be for the most part administrators, managing teams of lay workers, ministers and readers who are responsible for pastoral care as well as taking services when necessary.  Mr McNish painted a picture of four imaginary churc...

"It is a brave man (or women) indeed who applies for the job of Oversight Minister.   Apart from having to spread his services thinly among many Churches his only means of trying to implement the aspirations of those above is persuasion – he has no sanctions.   PCCs are made up of a complex mix of people whose only essential qualification is a willingness to volunteer. The phrase   “herding cats” springs to mind. In the case of my own Deanery – East Wivelshire – two of the three Oversight Ministers have just resigned after about a year in the job. "  John Kennaugh Keen readers of this blog will remember a thought-provoking post back in March this year by a Church Treasurer in east Cornwall .  What is going on? John Kennaugh asked.  Six months on, John has written another article - 'What happened?' - this time about bureaucracy and Oversight Ministry, which will  be debated at this coming Saturday's deanery synod. In 1955 ,   a chap called Pro...

  Falmouth Packet 3 September 2025