Living Faith for the Future - Revised

Background

This vision emerges from a six month conversation in the diocese around a discussion paper I offered in April 2008. A large number of responses came in from parishes, teams, boards, committees and individuals, and I am very grateful indeed for all the thought behind them and the helpful ideas within them. This paper cannot reflect the full range of responses but I hope it captures the centre of gravity of their collective wisdom. I have proposed a new 'branding'by calling it Living Faith rather than Sharing Life +. This would allow a number of sub-headings eg 'Living Faith for the future', 'Living Faith through our buildings', 'Living Faith with young people'etc. I hope we might have established sufficiently that this is not an attempt to start all over again. A number of people have said that a new title would be refreshing.

I believe firmly that the future health of any diocese lies in the vitality and imagination of the local parish or arena of ministry. Top-down strategies are sometimes helpful (Developing Servant Leadership, Academies) but are often self-defeating because energy resides at local level, and there is plenty of evidence in our diocese of prayerful planning of local mission. What senior leadership can offer, however, is a dynamic framework, not to control but to guide, release and encourage. Bishops can offer direction and undergirding values, and they can try to align resources to those strategic directions. It is in that spirit that I offer this vision.

You'll note that this is a simplified paper in that it doesn't go on to work out the implications of the vision for deaneries, finance, clergy numbers or diocesan structures. It seems best first of all to present a coherent set of directions and then at greater leisure to work away at the alignment of resources.

The hope is that parishes, deaneries and central structures could use the paper as a touchstone to remind us of the values we try to live by and the major directions we need to take if we are to be faithful to Jesus Christ in this our day. It shouldn't cut across local planning but rather act as a supportive framework for it. It's rather like a palette of colours which each parish, deanery and Board can use in their own way to create that work of distinctive beauty which is their particular response to God's mission. What we end up with then is a gallery full not of look-alike paintings, but of vibrant, colourful and unique works of art.

Vision

The transformation of all human life under God.

Values

-Contemplative: attentive to God

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord . . .(Colossians 2.6)
Devote yourselves to prayer . . . (Colossians 4.2)

-Creative: imaginatively releasing and harnessing all the gifts of all God’s people

We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us . . . (Romans 12.6)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly . . .(Colossians 3.16)

-Continuous: rooted in scripture, faithful to the traditions we have received and seeking to give them fresh expression

Rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught . . .(Colossians 2.7)
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you . . .(1 Corinthians 11.23)

-Accountable: to God and to each other as we build for tomorrow as well as today

Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock . . .(Acts 20.28)
Render to God the things that are God’s . . .(Luke 20.25)

Purpose

To join with God in creating a caring, sustainable and growing Christian presence in every part of the diocese of Oxford, enabling every Christian and every Christian community to live and share the love of God, seen in the life of Jesus Christ.

Priorities

The headline directions are:

Sustaining the sacred centre

Holistic mission (personal and social)

Spelt out it looks like this: 

In what follows, the bullet points are simply examples of what the strategic directions might look like at parish/benefice, deanery and diocesan level. They are simply there to get the creative juices going! We need a balance between confidence that 'we are already doing much of this already', and yet being challenged with new ideas. 'Doing more'is rarely the best response (we're already busy enough); 'doing differently'is nearly always better.

1. Sustaining the sacred centre

This is about encouraging and enabling clergy and lay people to deepen their enjoyment of God, and to recognize God's presence in everyday life.

In a parish/benefice this could mean:

• Introducing one new event, course or programme each year to enrich the church's spiritual journey.
• Conducting a wide review of the church's worship to see how it can best both honour God and meet the worshipping and spiritual needs of people both inside and outside the church.
• Encourage the use of Bible notes for daily reading.
• Choose a book, gospel or letter for a season, and align sermons, groups and prayer to the nature of the text.
• A fortnightly 'Gathering'providing deeper engagement with particular theological, doctrinal and ethical issues.
• Staging a Nativity Set Festival to encourage people to engage afresh with the Christmas story.
• Have 'take-home'sheets to enable people to join in the prayer of the church.
• A Bible-story-telling week where people are challenged to tell the Bible's stories in as many different ways as possible.

In a deanery this could mean:

• Mapping the distribution and diversity of worship across the deanery to establish what else (if anything) might be introduced into the mix.
• Sharing resources and expertise in deanery retreats, pilgrimages, quiet days, prayer workshops, labyrinths etc.
• Worship together each year in different ways eg rogation, eucharist, world music, Celtic.
• Deanery Synods starting with 30 minutes worship using the local tradition and style.

In the diocese this could mean:

• Adequately resourcing the new Worship, Prayer and Spirituality Committee chaired by the Bishop of Reading.
• The bishops taking a lead by being available for quiet days, retreats, prayer initiatives etc.

2. Making disciples

This is about the core task left to us by Jesus. It usually takes the form of accompanying people on a journey to faith by the intentional use of nurture courses, mentoring, the catechumenate (an ancient approach to accompanied journeying), or simple friendship.

In a parish/benefice this could mean:

• Introducing one new event, course or programme each year which had as its aim the making of new disciples.
• Considering whether there is any form of Fresh Expression of church which might helpfully be explored, and looking to both diocesan and national Fresh Expressions expertise for assistance.
• Not being bashful about praying and planning for growth.
• A renewed emphasis on teaching the faith and on contemporary apologetics (defending and commending the faith).
• Developing a closer relationship with local schools and colleges as key places of community encounter.
• Contemplating the appointment of a local or deanery children's/youth worker.
• Encouraging young people to take their place in the councils of the church.
• Making use of training courses from other providers eg CPAS, Holy Trinity Brompton.

In a deanery this could mean:

• Mapping missional activity in the deanery and developing more integrated coverage.
• Developing training programmes for children's and youth leaders.
• Developing programmes to enable more confident discipleship at work and in the world.
• Co-ordinating visits for young people to Soul Survivor, Taize, Greenbelt etc..

In the diocese this could mean:

• Using theEncouraging Evangelism programme to train, resource and encourage parish groups in evangelism/making disciples, and maintaining a network of living faith champions.
• Widening the impact of fresh expressions thinking in the diocese through the Fresh Expressions Group chaired by the Bishop of Dorchester, and being more intentional about church planting, using Bishop's Mission Orders where they would be helpful.
• For young disciples in schools - affirming the centrality of Church schools as places of mission and nurture, and supporting the diocesan Academies programme. Encouraging all schools in the formation of mature, socially-aware and spiritually responsive young people.
• Enriching the support of children's and youth ministers and workers.
• Supporting Oxford Diocesan Committee for Interfaith Concerns in its task of helping the church to listen to others and bear witness to Christ in a religiously diverse culture.

3..Making a difference in the world

This is about recognising that in a holistic understanding of God's action in the world, there is no mission without social justice; that social justice and prophetic witness cannot be put in a box as a specialism or an extra, but is at the heart of the calling of every Christian community in its own context.

In a parish/benefice this could mean:

• Conducting an audit of local needs and looking for partnerships through which to address them.
• Identifying issues which require a more prophetic voice in the locality.
• Link with a parish in Kimberly and Kuruman.
• Supporting a young person through school or in learning a trade.
• Becoming a Fair Trade church.

In a deanery this could mean:

• Integrating social responsibility thinking more fully into deanery mission plans, parish profiles, deanery-based training, discipleship programmes etc.
• Encouraging joined-up thinking in specific areas of concern where live issues can be tackled, as they arise, through task groups eg sex-trafficking, tourism, alcohol and drug addiction, SCOP (Spiritual Care of Older People).
• Co-operating with the Bishop of Dorchester's work on assessing the churches'contribution to the welfare and well-being of the wider community with a view to building more constructive partnerships and co-funding.
• Co-ordinating letter-writing through Amnesty
• Supporting the farming community through farm shops and the agricultural seasons.

In the diocese this could mean:

• Resourcing the Diocesan Environment Group as it co-ordinates diocesan and parish action on climate change and environmental degradation, recognizing that this is one of the most definitive tasks of this and future generations.
• Advocating stronger rural policies in the face of major changes in the countryside and in rural ministry.
• Reaffirming our commitment to areas of disadvantage and deprivation, and co-ordinating our policies for supporting urban areas as the work of the Church Urban Fund changes.
• Embracing PACT (Parents and Children Together), Mothers'Union, Oxford Diocesan Council for the Deaf and other diocesan-associated bodies as major deliverers of social care, and enhancing our ownership of their work.

4. Creating vibrant Christian communities

This is about shaping 'communities of grace'which exhibit the character of Jesus. Such attractive communities are genuinely hospitable, deeply engaged with their communities, and passionate about God.

In a parish/benefice this could mean:

• Making use of self-audited health checks to improve the well-being of the church, in answer to the question 'What is this church called to become, and how can it do so?'
• Looking for opportunities to partner the wider community in celebration of aspects of village/town life.
• Taking hospitality and food seriously eg bring and share lunches on Sundays, men's breakfasts, small evening meals with all members of the electoral role, Lent 'teaching'suppers.

In a deanery this could mean:

• More sharing of people, ideas and resources to build each other up across the deanery, including clergy having specific interests and commitments to offer across the deanery.
• A deanery team, under the Area Dean, to support parishes and benefices in vacancy.
• Developing a deanery website or blog through which ideas and events can be disseminated.

In the diocese this could mean:

• Developing strategies of support for the well-being of clergy and committed lay leaders under pressure, focusing particularly on stressful work settings, work-life balance, pastoral and spiritual support, health checks.
• Concentrating resources on the training, recognition and support of Shared Ministry Teams, realistically configured and sensitive to local circumstances.
• Offering memorable encouragement by holding another major diocesan convention.

5. Shaping confident, collaborative leadership

This is about developing leadership using all the resources available to the local church. It would involve consolidation in some parishes and new work in others to build up shared ministry in teams, with appropriate training and support.

In a parish/benefice this could mean:

• As above, working more intentionally on the setting up, shaping and supporting of Shared Ministry Teams.
• Working towards having a 'focal Christian person'in each community who acts as the recognizable face of the church for purposes of contact and information. Depending on whether that person is a priest, LLM, churchwarden or senior church member, different tasks would attach to the role – pastoral, sacramental, leading of worship, administration – but the person would always operate in the context of a parish or benefice ministry team.

In a deanery this could mean:

• Encouraging Deanery Pastoral Committees to consider whether the concept of the 'mission community'would offer them a helpful tool to allow more flexible and consistent planning of mission and ministry. The 'mission community'would be a natural grouping of parishes for mission, taking into account the need for sufficient resources of people, finance, facilities, skills.
• Recognising and supporting the work of Area Deans and Lay Chairs as key to the task of fitting the church for the future. There will need to be greater flexibility in the appointment of Area Deans and some imaginative sharing of responsibilities.
• Shared training and sharing of ideas for churchwardens, parish treasurers, administrators, PCC secretaries and members.
• Developing teams across the deanery for eg care of older people, communications, evangelism, youth and children's work.
• Induction and mentor support for new clergy in the deanery.

In the diocese this could mean:

• Consolidating ordination training as offered in three modes – residential, Oxford Ministry Course, and the Local Ministry Programme (with the possibility of mixed-mode between them), and incorporating this into a reconfiguring of training as Initial Ministerial Education 1-7 (years in length, extending post-ordination).
• Recognising and supporting the role of clergy as increasingly 'epsicopal', in the sense of being ministries of oversight of the ministries of others. This has implications for all initial and continuing clergy training.

Conclusion

The vision is in essence quite simple – and yet as difficult as bringing in the Kingdom! It gets us on the front foot with the key priorities of holistic mission and sustaining spirituality. The bullet points are only examples of the implications that might ensue; that would be for later as we followed the vision through. For now I hope that we can own the broad vision and get on with using the palette of primary colours to create something beautiful for God.

+John Oxon
January 2009