Oversight ministry? Arguments against voiced at Diocesan Synod
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...