"On The Way" thrown out in Penwith Deanery
There has been a seismic change in the the Diocese of Truro’s controversial On The Way restructuring in Penwith Deanery. The original plan, drawn up some years ago despite local opposition, has been thrown out.
Other deaneries in the Diocese of Truro, still struggling with On The Way initiatives, should take heart from this radical change of direction.
The extent of the 'reset' - referred to in technical terms in the February 2026 edition of Penwith Deanery News - is revealed in detail in the lengthy minutes of a Penwith
Deanery Synod held at St Pol de Leon Church, Paul, on 28 January 2026 which was attended by approximately 50 clergy and synod representatives.
The minutes - more than 8,000 words long - were approved without amendment at
a subsequent Penwith Deanery Synod earlier this month.
They refer frequently to decisions made and views expressed at an
extraordinary Deanery meeting in November 2025 called and chaired by Rural
Dean Rev Adam Thomas and attended by approximately 150 PCC (Parochial Church Council) members,
churchwardens and Ordained and Lay ministers from across Penwith.
Key points:
**Rev Thomas “reiterated that it was agreed the previous Deanery Plan
was to be completely revamped”. That the only thing that would survive
was a pledge of eight priests for the deanery’s 26 parishes “there is
not going to be another reorganisation, and the number of priests will
not change”
**The minutes record that the rural dean pledged “Everything else
(because the plan was by most people’s agreement, not representative of
where people were at or where we needed to be) is to be completely
reset…in order to move forward”
**The documents stresses “it was certainly what (the November) day was about - a complete reset of priority areas.”
**The “resetting” was needed because there was “difficulty in getting
agreement from the diocese” regarding the original Deanery Plan “but the
Plan was not real - not happening in the way it should have been, and
we were not spending the money as we should have been…when talking to
churches, the Plan didn’t seem to represent what they wanted.”
**For the first time the diocese has agreed a benefice “in vacancy” -
that is, without a stipendiary priest in an official post - will get a
significant cut in the level of MMF expected from it by the diocese. The
minutes specify “it clarified that this covers cost of incumbent, their
National Insurance and pension contribution and council task -
totalling approx £48,000 a year”, credited monthly.
**Two recruitment schemes for
Lay workers that were already being actioned in Penlee Cluster and in
Hayle will now be paused under the new reset. Rev Thomas had stated that
the “previous plan ‘ended’ on that (November)day”.
**The minutes quote Rev Thomas as declaring “this next six months we
will rewrite the plan, this body is now empowered to write the plan,
change the plan, and no-one but this body will be allowed to do it, and
we will do it because we are the elected representatives of the churches
in Penwith” When asked if the diocese had agreed to that, he replied
“absolutely!”
**The minutes state “A new DIT (deanery implementation team) will be
formed made up of skills and expertise from volunteers including perhaps
from outside Church.”
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