Archbishop Stephen delivered the Presidential Address at the opening of General Synod in York this afternoon. This follows in full.
I think it was Graham Greene who said, ‘If you are going to jump, make sure the water is deep.’
As I have spent a working lifetime of ministry reflecting on both the theology and the practice of evangelisation and mission, wanting, more than anything else, to share with others the good news about Jesus Christ that I stumbled across in dreams as a child – not growing up within the household of the church – and was then drawn into by very human things, like a girl I fancied whom I knew went to the church youth group, and my sister joining the Girl Guides and discovering faith, and the extra-ordinary bread and butter faithfulness of a praying, serving Church, I have often returned to this: the deep waters of faith; the Lord who bids us to put out into the deep; the cavernous and embracing waters of baptism where we die and rise with Christ, their necessity and their profound mystery, and I believe – and never more so than at this point in our history with the resolute focus and calling of the Church of England to be centred in Christ, and from it the deep and profound spiritual and theological renewal which must follow – that as we continue the process of discerning whom God might be calling to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury, it is this spiritual and theological leadership that we need more than anything else.
Moreover, recent research like The Quiet Revival encourages us and challenges us in equal measure, since it appears to be those churches that offer a depth of tradition that are noticing new people in their midst. Also, that churches are becoming more diverse. We need then to renew the disciplines of prayer, the liturgical life, the contemplation of scripture as the wellsprings of those aquifers of faith, that alone sustain and replenish all ministry and mission. This must be our priority: a Christ centred Church. And because in Christ we are made into a new humanity, a younger and more diverse church too. For this to happen, we need clergy and lay leaders who are formed spiritually and theologically so that we can nurture Christian community and discipleship and be able to teach, declare and defend the Christian narrative in an increasingly fractious, confused, vulnerable and sometimes hostile world.
It is that compelling narrative of what it means to be human – and in all our glorious diversity, made in the image of God, and living Jesus shaped lives – that will enable us to withstand and even turn back those utilitarian tides of opinion that risk making, for instance, assisted dying a reality in our national life, changing forever the contract between doctor and patient, pressurising the vulnerable, and assuming an authority over death that belongs to God alone. Likewise, our complacency in the face of climate crisis, the challenges of racial justice, and the easy way we continue to accept appalling inequalities of wealth, opportunity and education in our country, for me, point again to the widening gap between what we say we believe about what God has done in Jesus Christ and how we actually live, teach and proclaim the gospel.
Values do not exist in a vacuum. They are shaped by beliefs and practices. None of us is neutral. My understanding of the dignity and value of every life and every moment of life comes directly from my Christian faith; and although we may take for granted the Christian roots of our shared values and legal system in this country, it would be wise to remember that other philosophies and worldviews teach different things and may not uphold the dignity and value of life in the same way. When we lose something as foundational as decisions over life and death, we are in danger of losing other safeguards and provisions as well.’
And so, it is all too easy to give into despair or become very understandably weighed down by our own internal struggles. But sisters and brothers, we of all people are called to hope. We should be enchanted and transformed by what God has done in Jesus Christ, offer the world a narrative shot through with hope: hope for salvation in Jesus Christ – for it is his blood shed on the cross which breaks down the barriers of separation which are the source and cause of so much that is wrong in our world – and hope that the truth and beauty that we see in Jesus will inspire us to build a better world.
So, I thank my colleague Bishop Sarah and other Lords Spiritual for their principled and persistent opposition to the Assisted Dying Bill in Parliament, which we now have a chance to debate as well; to the Church Commissioners for their groundbreaking witness in transition pathways on climate change and with people like Georgia Boon and Bishop Rosemarie Mallett and the work of Project Spire for racial justice, healing and repair and, yes, hopefully, even for LLF, because although we seem no nearer a settlement that can hold us together, how many other organisations would go this far with such disagreement? It is precisely and exactly because we belong to one another, united by a common baptism and bearing a common hope, that we do not let go of each other.
Our world needs this hope. For this is the world where disagreement usually leads to division and where division often leads to conflict. We see it almost everywhere. Brothers and sisters, it must not be so with us.
I therefore believe the Lord is calling us to profound spiritual and theological renewal, to be a church of prayer and a church even more deeply rooted in the gospel and in this year of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, even more deeply rooted in the inheritance of faith that we have received, not least about who Jesus is, fully God and fully human and in whom our frail humanity is raised to glory.
I still want us to be a simpler, a humbler and a bolder church. I pray for it more than ever.
Well, God has humbled us in so many ways this year . It hasn’t been easy, but if it has made us more penitent, more determined to put victims and survivors first, more resolved to sort out all sorts of things to do with clergy discipline and accountability, terms of service, independent safeguarding, and other things besides, then, Synod, God the Redeemer who believes in his Church is at work among us.
But let us strive to be a simpler and bolder church too.
In particular, let us strive for that simplicity which exists on the other side of complexity, where we have dwelled so deeply in the presence and the mystery of Christ, that we are able to give voice to the most profound truth in the most accessible way, at last bringing the sweet, refreshing stillness of the gospel to the cacophonous storms of the world.
It is my pastoral experience on an almost daily basis in the conversations I have with people on trains, in taxis, on pilgrimage ,at the back of a church, sometimes with those who haven’t even been attending the service but have come to pick someone up, and even last week, after the ordinations in York Minster, standing outside the West door chatting with tourists about what went on inside, people are longing for something more; for something different; for something to hope in; for a depth of love, acceptance, forgiveness and repair; for a different way of inhabiting this life. They are frightened by the wars and conflicts of the world. I am so pleased that at this Synod we’re paying attention to how we care for our armed forces and support those who support them in chaplaincy. Despite our failings, the people of this land have not given up on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, let us also be bold in living and sharing this gospel; being a church of welcome, hospitality, humility, reflection and peace: deep, deep water; the deep waters where the Lord invites us to cast our nets afresh; the deep waters of baptism, where we die and rise with Christ.
One last little paradox. All that I’m saying could easily sound like an invitation to jump in the deep end as if that is the best or even the only way to learn to swim. It isn’t. In fact, it’s not how anyone learns. The water of faith is deep, but most of us learned to swim in the shallows. With arm bands and an instructor beckoning us on.
The Quiet Revival research is telling us that a more spiritually aware generation of younger people exploring faith and younger people in our churches now want to know more about the Christian faith. We need to respond to this, renewing the catechetical life of the church so that each of our churches and all our parishes really are schools for disciples where people receive, experience and learn the way of Christ. Today is a good day to remember this: the feast day of St Benedict, the Father of Western Monasticism, who in describing the purpose of his rule says he is establishing ‘a school in the Lord’s service.’ Synod, we need the same today.
These things belong together: spirituality, evangelism, catechesis and apostolic discipleship. They are the way of Christ we have been formed in, and they are the way we must form others. They are best nurtured by priests and lay leaders who know the way of Christ well and whose chief gifts are those of prayer, proclamation, service and catechesis. Which is why I’m also pleased that hopes we expressed in previous meetings of the General Synod, and in what I shared with you in February, are now being realised in addressing the need for a national clergy stipend, an uplift to the stipend, knock on impact on clergy pensions, clergy housing and greater support for our poorest parishes; all things to be celebrated in the proposals shaped for us by the Triennium Funding Working Group.
Well supported and well trained clergy and lay leaders will plant new churches – and we need a proliferation of new worshipping communities so that everyone in this nation may be served – but they will usually stream from flourishing and overflowing parishes and from that small band of women and men whose lives are centred on Jesus and who are his Church in every place.
Church of England, General Synod, we need to reset the compass around these things. They are our only hope. They are the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ who calls us to follow him. ‘If you drink of this water,’ says Jesus, ‘you will never be thirsty. The water that I give will become a spring gushing up to eternal life’ (see John 4. 14). We then give from the overflow of all that we have received. Sisters and brothers. there is no other mission.