Diocesan News29 Oct 08

Bishop of Derry & Raphoe's Presidential Address at Diocesan Synod

A Church Synod, just like church life, does not take place in a vacuum. It always sees its work as related to what is happening in people’s daily lives. The wider financial and political context within which we meet today is one in which there is much uncertainty and concern. In our worship earlier we prayed about these issues, now we give further thought to their implications.

FINANCIAL SITUATION
A crisis of confidence in the banking industry, and the consequent turmoil in the financial markets, has caused alarm on a global scale the like of which most of us have never witnessed before.

The likelihood of recession, job insecurity, worries about mortgages, levels of personal debt, negative equity in property values, fears about pensions, the serious consequences for world poverty and the Millennium Development Goals; all of these have combined to generate the heightened sense of anxiety which is dominating all of the media and is expressed in so much of people’s daily conversation.

NORTHERN IRELAND -  THE EXECUTIVE
In Northern Ireland, the inability of the Executive to meet over such a prolonged period not only leaves many major issues without political resolution or direction, including the financial crisis, school transfer procedures, housing provision and devolution of policing and justice, but is also in danger of resulting in an electorate which becomes disillusioned with a political system which promises a great deal but regrettably delivers much less than it might do.

While a political party’s tough and uncompromising stance, with all the brinkmanship which that can entail, might formerly have been looked upon more patiently by its electorate during a period when political agreements were being robustly hammered out, the electorate as a whole had hoped that we had now got beyond that point, and wants to see more real and productive engagement between our elected representatives, rather than the kind of prolonged impasse with which we have had to live of late.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND - THE BUDGET
In the Republic of Ireland, the financial crisis has resulted in a hard-hitting Budget. It is clear that tough times demand strong measures, and that a price inevitably has to be paid to address the urgent financial situation in which the country finds itself. At such a time, any government has the unenviable task of deciding who should bear the brunt of the painful cuts in expenditure which have to be made.

It must be questionable, however, whether citizens over 70 years of age, on the one hand, or children on the other, should find themselves among those who are expected to pay that price. Later in today’s agenda, we will be debating the serious impact of the budget’s measures on primary and secondary education in the Republic of Ireland.

I share the considerable disquiet expressed by many about the implications of the Budget for schools, not least the decision to increase the pupil-teacher ratio, which will not only increase class sizes, but more significantly may reduce by several hundred the number of teachers available to deal with pupils in the classroom, in the playground and in schools’ extra curricular activities day by day.

In addition, throughout the Protestant community in the Republic of Ireland, there is much concern about the decision in the Budget to withdraw, mid-year, support services grants to many second level Schools under Protestant Management. This action is, in effect, in contravention of an agreement with the Government in 1968, under which these schools were classified as within the free scheme, even though they charge fees to cover boarding costs which arise because of the dispersed nature of the Protestant population throughout the Republic.

Schools throughout the country, in all sectors, are managed by dedicated and committed Boards of Management who give of their time and expertise freely and voluntarily. This high level of commitment is an invaluable resource at the disposal of local communities and of the State, and must not be taken for granted. If further financial constraints make an already challenging school management situation virtually unworkable, then there is a danger that it will become increasingly difficult to find volunteers willing to serve on school Boards. 

ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT
On a positive note, I wish to express my gratitude to members of this Diocesan Synod not only for the time you have given to be here today, but also, and even more so, (while on the subject of voluntary service) I want to thank you for the time, energy and commitment which you invest so generously in your local church and community throughout the year. The hope-filled, positive, caring, compassionate and reliable involvement of clergy and lay people day by day and week by week in parishes all over the diocese is a powerful antidote to any pervasive climate of worry, insecurity, bleakness or despair.

I find it very heartening as I travel round the diocese and see the large numbers of parishioners, such as yourselves, actively and willingly using their gifts and their time in a way that makes a vital difference both in their parish and in the wider community.

In any organisation these days, with the increasing busyness of people’s lives, the issue of volunteering, of getting involved in voluntary activities such as church life, can be a significant challenge. Why do church people get involved in doing what they do?

There are indications that governments, civil servants, sociologists and society at large are all increasingly taking note of the positive community contribution made by volunteers. Many of the observers of social trends acknowledge that churches provide an above average number of the vital social connections and volunteering networks which contribute to what is referred to as ‘social capital’. In youth work, for example, it has become apparent that a very high percentage of youth organisations are provided by church or faith groups and are led by church volunteers.

WHAT MOTIVATES CHURCH PEOPLE TO VOLUNTEER?
Of course it’s patently true that people who do not have a religious faith also volunteer for all manner of helpful, compassionate and useful tasks. I do not wish to create any impression that they do not. What I want explore here is the positive impact that faith can have as a key motivating factor in people’s willingness to serve and to volunteer.

What it is that motivates a member of a church to get involved in serving as a volunteer? Why do such people give freely of their time? Why do they (you) spend hours and hours each week engaged in activities for which there will be no financial reward or even public recognition?

I want to suggest that, from a Christian standpoint, our prime motivating factors include the following:

1. A faith that inspires;
   
2. God’s love that compels;
3. servant hearts that mobilise; and
   
4. Community benefit that motivates

1. A FAITH THAT INSPIRES
As the years go by, I become increasingly thankful to God, for the gift of faith which he grants to us human beings, and for the fact that Christ calls us to follow him and enables us to come to know him. As today’s world becomes more confused, more rudderless and more alienating for increasing numbers of people, it makes a real difference to become convinced by a personal faith in a loving God who wants to relate to each and every human being he has created.

The Christian faith which we share with a growing number of others throughout the world, provides a bedrock of meaning, of direction, of purpose and of hope in the face of the complexity of our daily lives. We share that inner conviction that life on this planet does not exist merely as a result of pure chance or random chemical accidents, but bears the hallmarks of a purposeful and loving Creator. A Creator in whom there is a heart for love, for relationship, for community, for creativity, for forgiveness and for justice; a God who offers ‘a future and a hope’.

At a time when strident atheistic voices, such as those of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, proclaim with confidence the death throes of the Christian faith, the reality with which they just cannot come to terms is that people in increasing numbers worldwide are continuing to find that living with faith in God makes much more sense of life and provides more meaning and purpose than any of the often bleak philosophies which seek to deny and discredit him. A living faith also gives a strong motivation to get involved in purposeful, caring and relational activities.

I am supportive of initiatives which parishes are taking to help people explore the meaning and relevance of the Christian faith. Last week I visited an Alpha Course in the diocese being run by an interdenominational group of churches, including the Church of Ireland, Presbyterians, Methodists, Roman Catholics and the Salvation Army. In addition, our Sitting Ducks groups – of which there are now 14 – play a similarly effective faith-exploration role among young people. I heartily encourage parishes to use such imaginative approaches as these to enable people to explore the rich possibilities of faith.

Our parish activities are primarily a response to Christ’s loving initiative and spring out of a desire to radiate his love in the world. That’s what inspires me to keep doing what I do and to keep serving where I serve. And the same, I suggest, is true of you.

Why do we bother to do what we are doing in parish life? Because our faith in God is the underlying source of our inspiration and motivation.

2. GOD’S LOVE THAT COMPELS
(MISSION STATEMENT)
The Christian faith is about being touched by God’s love, being made aware of the blessing his kingdom offers and then wanting others to share in that blessing, too. Such an outwardly-focussed pattern has always been a compelling Christian motivation for mission, the desire to see others blessed by God and experiencing his love.

It is one of the responsibilities of the bishops of the Church, according to The Ordinal, ‘to promote it’s [the Church’s] mission throughout the world’. The Bishops of the Church of Ireland have sought to give some focus to the Church’s mission and ministry in these days through two important initiatives, both of which I want to remind us of today: the recently issued Mission Statement and the Ministry Formation Project.

The Mission Statement (a copy of which was made available to each of you) is expressed in language which is aspirational and even somewhat poetic. Its purpose is to stir our imagination, to raise our sights, to expand our horizons and to inspire our thinking.

On the cover of the Mission Statement leaflet, using the imagery of a large tree, the Church is portrayed as a growing and living organism, with deep roots and broad branches. Three key themes are highlighted, Growth, Unity and Service, and each of these is expanded upon in the pages which follow, with encouragement as to how they can be expressed in church life and community engagement. Such is the mission of God’s love which compels us.

It is then the task of each diocese and each parish, having been challenged and inspired by the tenor and breadth of this mission statement, to plan in greater detail the practical outworking of the three themes of Growth, Unity and Service. The priorities and goals which we identify as a diocese will then shape how we allocate resources, how we deploy ministry, how we structure committees, and how we organise diocesan and parish life.

Here in Derry and Raphoe, the Diocesan Council and the clergy have been doing some important strategic thinking about how these themes can best be worked out locally. I have been strongly advocating and promoting this strategic review and I am very hopeful about the transformative impact it can and, I believe, will have in our parishes and communities. I will be putting to the Diocesan Council in December some proposals as to how we can take our planning to the next stage.

Just to give you a flavour of what will be happening next, ten members of each parish group and their rector will be invited to a day conference in March 2009 to do some preliminary planning around the key themes of the Review, and then in autumn 2009 there will be a major diocesan gathering to gain an overview of the parishes’ development plans.  You will be hearing more details very soon.

One of the outcomes of our diocesan review, I believe, will be to see an increasing number of volunteers becoming motivated and mobilised to serve in all manner of ways in parish and community life.

Why do we bother to do what we are doing in parish life? Because God’s love and sense of mission compels us outwards, to get involved.

3. A SERVANT HEART THAT MOTIVATES
(THE MINISTRY FORMATION PROJECT)
The other of the bishops’ initiatives (to which I just referred) has been to set up a new pattern of training for ordained and lay ministry. Gifted, well trained leadership and ministry are pivotal features of healthy church life and growth. As the demands of church activity and community engagement become more complex, it becomes all the more vital to adapt training so that those who are involved in ministry can deal more effectively with the changed circumstances.

The Ministry Formation Project provides a very ambitious and imaginative approach to the training and equipping of clergy and of lay people for ministry in a fast changing Ireland.

I am very impressed with the reports I hear from those engaged in their Foundation Year studies in the new course. This fresh approach is impacting and stretching its students as part of a reflective process of discerning their vocation.

I congratulate Rev Dr Maurice Elliott, the new Director of the Theological Institute, on his appointment, and wish him and his staff every success in this vital work.

The clergy of the diocese, whose ordained ministry I want to acknowledge at this point, is a vital part of this whole process. They have a pivotal role to play in the mobilising and releasing of their parishioners’ ministries. Their ministry of word and sacrament is one of spiritual nurture and pastoral support and their longing, like mine, is to see mobilised in ministry throughout this diocese, more and more people who have a heart to serve God and neighbour.  Together, our desire is to develop a culture in which people are identified, trained, released and encouraged in service.

On a recent parish visit I was delighted to encourage, to pray with and to commission three parish teams which were formed to spearhead initiatives in their parish and community over the next number of years, in response to the rector and parishioners having identified particular issues which needed to be addressed.

Why do groups like these bother to do what they are doing in parish life? Because the heart God gives us is one that wants to serve; to serve both him and others.

4. COMMUNITY BENEFIT THAT MOBILISES
In my visits to parishes I see a very impressive range of activities being run for community benefit; activities which depend heavily on volunteers to run them. Where would local communities and parishes be without School Boards of Management or of Governors, Child Contact Centres, Youth Organisations, Seniors’ Activity Centres, Safeguarding Trust Panels, children’s team sports, heritage or history societies, Select Vestries, amateur dramatic societies, choirs, women’s organisations,  homework clubs, men’s groups, Sunday schools, neighbourhood caring schemes, and so on? The number of volunteer hours committed to these wholesome and enriching activities throughout the diocese as a whole is huge. I pay tribute to everyone who commits valuable time and energy to make them run as effectively as they do, as they play their part in community transformation.

Volunteers are a vital ingredient in the ‘social capital’ contribution which parishes make to local communities. But so too are parish halls and other parish buildings. It is increasingly common, I am glad to say, to see church halls being opened up during the week, bustling with activity, catering for people of all ages from all parts of the community. This is a welcome sight and deserves encouragement and support.

An additional factor which is increasingly a hallmark of church volunteering is the development of partnerships between parishes and other agencies from the statutory and voluntary sectors. While government departments, understandably, cannot use public money to fund core church activities, they are prepared to recognise the community benefit of allocating resources to church-related groups which can be seen to meet social need and enhance community benefit. It is often the case that church groups can provide such services as effectively and yet more cheaply than some statutory bodies can do.

TRANSFORMING COMMUNITY, RADIATING CHRIST
I conclude by coming round full circle to where I began, that is, with the high levels of uncertainty, of concern and even of fear which affect the lives of so many people during the current financial crisis. At such a time as this, there is a great need for people of hope, people moved by compassion, to give of themselves generously to meet the real needs of others, and to give heart and courage to community life where hope and compassion may be in short supply.

What I have sought to do in this address is to encourage us see that, from our faith in God flows a powerfully motivating and mobilising desire to serve him and others, and that our ordinary daily activities really can make a positive impact on the lives of others. Churches specialise in mobilising volunteers to give of their time and their energies, and that is what clergy work hard to encourage week by week. So as a diocese we give thanks for the impressive number of volunteers we already have, and long to see that number increase substantially, such that our churches become a catalyst for inspiring more and more people to be part of a transforming community, radiating Christ.

I am fully committed to giving a lead in this venture, as I know the clergy are. I am thankful to God for the sense of passion and excitement he has placed within us all to live for him, and I rejoice that you share the vision to see his Kingdom come and his will done in the Diocese of Derry and Raphoe and beyond.