A very warm welcome to all of you as newly elected members of this Synod. We are deeply grateful for your willingness to take up this role in shaping the life of our Diocese and I look forward to our shared ministry.
I am conscious that we meet at a turbulent time in the life of our national church. Recent weeks have shown how the abuse of an individual’s power impacts horrifically on the lives of others. You will have seen coverage of the publication of Keith Makin’s Independent Review into the horrors perpetrated by John Smyth. The failure of those who knew about the abuse in the 1980s to report it, as well as the failure of the wider Church to respond well to it from 2013, have for many led to a sense of shame and anger. This appalling abuse has deeply wounded many individuals. Those survivors continue to be at the forefront of our thoughts and prayers as we strive for the rigorous reset of safeguarding structures necessary to deliver a safer church.
There is a process in place to consider all those individuals named in the Makin Report. This involves an assessment by the National Safeguarding Team, in collaboration with the Diocesan Safeguarding Team, of each person. The process identifies any ongoing safeguarding risk and any evidence to support action under the Clergy Discipline Measure, and is supported by a guidance document developed with an independent external KC.
There will also be a final stage where the actions are reviewed by an independent barrister.
In the midst of the fallout of a gross abuse of power, we need to be aware of our own power. We must be willing to be challenged about our language and behaviour. We need to strive for a healthy culture where silence is broken, inappropriate deference is dismantled, and the searching light of God’s truth is allowed to shine into every corner of our lives.
We do this, not in a spirit of despair, but as people of hope. Now hope is not about optimism: it is a conviction concerning what God did in the past, through Jesus Christ, which points to a future – and which leaps into our present in such a way that we feel secure in the here and now: sure that he will save us, that the best is yet to come, and that his kingdom of justice and peace will triumph. Finding signs of hope in the present, we work with God for a better future.
As Christians, hope is an act of resistance: resisting the voices of despair. There are so many, many signs of hope across our Diocese.
Between 2022 and 2023 in this diocese we saw our worshipping communities grow by 3%, adults worshipping on Sundays by 5%, and children by 11%. And 12% of our churches started new worshipping communities between 2022 and 2023.
When travelling around the diocese in September, to pray, it was easy to see the signs of hope as we prayed together. Walking to St Martin-in-the-Fields, followed by over 200 people online, and there at St Martin’s we joined with over 100 people in silent prayer. Travelling to St Jude’s in Kensington we prayed with those who lead youth and children’s work, as our church seeks to Grow Younger. Then were prayed for at Wave Church in Muswell Hill, a church where those with and without learning difficulties worship together. We then walked around the Grove Community on the Gurnell Grove Estate and prayed in nursing homes and on doorsteps. We ended the day at a Prayer Service led by St Mary’s Youth, St Mary’s Bryanston Square.
The church in London, by virtue of the richly diverse communities which it seeks to reflect and serve, is uniquely placed to be a broad church. We have so many opportunities to learn from those who bring a different perspective to our life together: a different cultural heritage, a different experience of being a human body, a different social background, a different embodiment of sexuality and gender, a different pathway through education … We bring all of these gifts to one another.
Some of you may have seen an article in the Church Times last month which called for a recovery of confidence in the Church of England as a ‘broad church’. The authors – one of whom is a priest in this Diocese – point to the creative and fruitful tension which has always existed between the traditions of our church. In a striking paragraph they affirm the belief that this creative tension, this broad church, this Anglicanism, is still the predominant experience of people who worship in the Church of England as a whole.
They write:
‘In most parishes, people gather across their theological differences precisely because they gather around the living God. While the debate over sexuality rumbles on at the national level, Christians who think differently from one another on this issue continue to gather, praying with and for one another, worshipping as one body, sharing one bread.’[1]
Marcus Throup in his book All things Anglican (p31) says that
“Since the Reformation, the Church of England has identified itself as a church of, and for, people seeking to be inclusive of different perspectives and different approaches. That our very option of unity makes room for and celebrates diversity is a key principle of comprehensiveness. This has been defined as agreement on fundamentals while tolerating matters on which Christians may differ, without feeling the necessity of breaking communion.”
So what does it mean to be a Diocese in the Church of England?
It means to be a place where we are open to the movement of the Spirit, as we seek to demonstrate God’s love for every Londoner. The Spirit who will comfort and disturb us. The Spirit who is owned by none of us and cannot be managed or controlled. The Spirit whose life among us is challenging, surprising and empowering – and whose next move none of us can predict.
Let me read that one line of the article again:
‘In most parishes, people gather across their theological differences precisely because they gather around the living God’.
Some of you may not recognise that description of a church. But some of you will, and you will know that these churches exist – even in London. This is true, in spite of the fact that the national conversation about sexuality and the Prayers of Love and Faith is amplified here. And in spite of the fact that it is sometimes conducted, by individuals from a range of traditions, in a way that feels as though there is very little generosity in our relationships; a way that feels more like manipulation than conversation, and more like intimidation than gracious engagement.
In the midst of profound disagreement, we are still charged with finding the face of Christ in one another. This requires grace, restraint, reflection and thoughtfulness. It requires an openness to allowing others to make their own decisions, and to be accountable not before the throne on which we would like to sit, but the throne of the merciful God who loves us all – ALL – with an equal and breathtaking love.
Finding the face of Christ in one another does not look like having a go at each other on social media in a manner which borders on abuse. That is not the way to achieve change for the better. It only distracts from the ongoing efforts of numerous people who are trying, across difference, to work together to build a better church – to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.
Wherever we stand in any debate, there is a difference between speaking up for what we believe, or being rude and intimidatory to others. We can speak sensitively and thoughtfully whilst also speaking from the heart. We can have a deeper respect for scripture whilst not weaponizing it in the service of our own argument. There is never an excuse for failing to ask ourselves about the impact of our words and actions on those sitting next to us.
When churches are distanced from the wider diocese and the Church of England, the Gospel and our life together are impoverished. This distancing is also dangerous, because it can become a de facto shift in governance. The Scolding report into the case of Mike Pilavachi draws out the implications for such decisions on the part of individual worshipping communities. The Diocese has set up a task and finish group so we can take seriously those recommendations and those of the Makin Report.
As the London College of Bishops, we would reiterate that among ourselves we hold a broad range of perspectives consonant with Anglican teaching and tradition and are committed to work together and stand in collegiality. We are confident that this enables us to continue to offer appropriate episcopal, pastoral, and sacramental oversight for all in the Diocese. We are here for all of you to continue to love and care for you.
Finally, I have said on a number of occasions that we can have different theologies but there is no place for homophobia, bias or prejudice in our Church or in this Diocese.
In the words of Cole Arther Riley, from her book ‘This Here Flesh’:
‘To be able to marvel at the face of our neighbour with the same awe we have for the mountaintop, the sunlight refracting – this manner of vision is what will keep us from destroying each other.’[2]
This manner of vision, I would add, is what enables us to live as we always have: as a broad church, enriched by our differences, seeking and finding Christ in one another, and held, together, in the gaze of the same God of Love.
[1] Theo Hobson and Sam Rylands Not ashamed to be Broad Churchmen, ‘The Church Times’, 25 October 2024
[2] Cole Arthur Riley, This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation and the Stories That Make Us, Hodder and Stoughton, 2022, p36
