Diocesan News21 Oct 09

Derry & Raphoe Diocesan Synod 2009: Presidential Address

Bishop Ken Good remains convinced that ‘spiritual interest and spiritual searching are as alive and active as they ever have been in Ireland and that any confident prediction about the demise of faith and even of the church is brave and even foolhardy’. He was speaking to the 200 members of the Derry and Raphoe Diocesan Synod on Wednesday 21st October Jacksons’ Hotel, Ballybofey, at which The Most Rev Philip Boyce, Bishop of Raphoe, was present as a guest, along with Methodist and Presbyterian representatives.

He set these words in the context of an Ireland that has gone through significant changes in recent years, with more to come. He drew attention to an insightful book ‘Ireland in 2050: How will we be living?’ Written by Dr Stephen Kinsella, a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Limerick, this work paints a sometimes pessimistic picture of future social trends in Ireland. Bishop Good noted Kinsella’s  prognosis that these changes ‘will take place against a backdrop in which the church will play a significantly reduced role in people’s lives, as compared with its influence in generations prior to our own’.

‘Anticipating the future hopefully’ was the theme of Bishop Good’s address. Whilst being realistic about the challenges facing both society and the church, Bishop Good’s message to his Synod was nevertheless one of hope for the future. He talked of the perception that religion is often seen as being on the wane but pointed out that recent studies (e.g. the 400 page work, God is Back, by Micklethwait and Wooldridge) suggest that religious practise, globally, is actually on the increase and that religious faith has been shown to increase physical as well as spiritual wellbeing.

Talking of the search for faith, Bishop Good felt that ‘people in Ireland, as elsewhere, are searching for what they perceive to be authentic, relevant and meaningful expressions of Christian faith; a faith which connects with their complex and pressured lives and which makes sense of their world which is confusing, harsh, fragmented and often alienating.’

So how is the Church to respond? The core message and truths of the Christian gospel will always remain the same, the Bishop argued, but ‘visionary thinking’ and more effective communication are vital. The Church must ‘factor these social trends into our planning … if the church is to play a positive and transformative role in family, community and wider society.’ He underlined the importance of ‘the church’s ability to communicate meaningfully in a world where the message can easily be lost in translation due to ineffective or dated approaches.’

Bishop Good suggested that there are a number of ways the Church can choose to respond to the future. One way is to be ‘inwardly anxious and concerned about worrying trends, such as an aging congregation, limited resources or diminishing commitment.’ His challenge is for the Church instead ‘to become inwardly excited and motivated about the potential for growth and opportunities for development’.

The Christian Church has always been orientated towards the future; moving towards a hope-filled outcome which is shaped by the purposefulness of a loving God.

The earliest disciples anticipated, as we continue to do, a glorious ‘parousia’ or return of Jesus, the risen and ascended Lord. Basing their confidence on the decisive acts of God in the past, Christians look to the future with expectancy.  We see the present through the lens of the future. Using a more technical theological term, escathology, we are conscious of the major four ‘final things’ which ultimately lie ahead: death, judgment, heaven and hell.

Through the centuries Christians have consistently looked, with expectant hope, beyond their own situation of suffering and hardship, uncertainty and distress towards a future in which there will ultimately be peace and justice, victory and hope. They refused to be bound by the often testing circumstances in which they found themselves, and they became advocates for a brighter future, anticipating the future hopefully. Anticipating the future - with hope - is what we are seeking to do in these days in the Dioceses of Derry and Raphoe, and this is the theme I want to develop in this Address.

‘ON THE MOVE’
In any diocese, a gathering of over 1,100 people representing all of its parishes, can be regarded as a significant event. On 3 October last, this hotel’s conference centre was the venue for ‘On the Move’, a major diocesan occasion which generated a considerable degree of interest, of inspiration, and of involvement.  I am thankful to God for the way in which his Spirit guided us and moved among us in such refreshing ways that evening. The considerable number of very positive responses from so many people who were greatly encouraged and heartened by that gathering has been quite striking.

Those present welcomed the vision or ‘picture’ of the church which was outlined, and the potential for growth which was highlighted. A strong sense of shared enterprise was generated as we explored together the diocesan strategy, Transforming Community; Radiating Christ, with its three aspirations or values: We seek growth; We serve in teams; We encourage leaders. Every parish has now identified two specific growth areas of its church life and one aspect of community involvement where it can make a positive contribution. These initiatives will be focussed on over the next three years.

Because the ‘On the Move’ event and process has proved so seminal and influential, my intention in this Presidential Address is to make connections between the Diocesan Strategic Review and, firstly, the business which this Diocesan Synod will transact today and, secondly, life beyond our Church of Ireland parishes out in the wider community and ecumenical settings, as we face the future.

CHURCH STRUCTURES FOSTERING MISSION AND AIDING GROWTH
Members of this Synod should be well aware by now that I am an advocate of the need for visionary thinking in all aspects of church life; for courageous leadership, both lay and ordained; for fresh thinking and for creative planning in church life.

It is such a conviction about the mission and growth of the church which has ensured that I have kept pushing forward the Strategic Review process on which we have embarked. What I am also convinced of, however, is the value of our Church of Ireland structures and organisation as a vital framework within which the kingdom of God can be advanced and the gospel proclaimed.

Among the many riches and blessings of the Church of Ireland is the fact that we belong to an historic, apostolic, catholic and reformed church, which has over many centuries developed procedures and systems which provide order, structure, discipline and ways of doing things that can greatly assist the church in furthering its ministry and mission.

Among these procedures, developed and tested over time, are: The Constitution and Canons - which prescribe how Diocesan, Parish and other church structures are to be organised; the Representative Church Body (set up at Disestablishment in 1870 to provide a central Trustee function); robust financial systems and accounting practices; Boards and Committees involving clergy and laity working interdependently; organisational systems in which accountability is expected and checks and balances are normative; all of these procedures provide a structure and a framework within which the church’s work can flourish and prosper.

So there is, and there must be, a link between the business agenda which we tackle in today’s Synod and the visionary thinking which we explored on 3 October. They are interlinked. The one informs the other and together they create a solid foundation for mission and for sustainable growth. This means that we must make connections between the strategic aims of Transforming Community: Radiating Christ and the work of this Diocesan Synod, the Diocesan Council and the various other Boards and Committees whose reports we will hear today.

In the Book of Reports, you will have seen that some Boards are already making those connections in their work, and they are to be commended for so doing. The energising picture of visionary, growing churches can be a catalyst for these committees and boards in their on-going business. Their agenda, planning and focus can be shaped, in part at least, by the stimulating prospect of helping parish development, of helping parishioners to grow in faith and in service, and of seeing communities transformed and strengthened by the positive contribution which parishes and parishioners alike make to their neighbourhood.

PICTURING THE CHURCH’S FUTURE
At the ‘On the Move’ evening three weeks ago, I spoke of the value of each of us ‘picturing’ the parish to which we belong and how it might look fifteen years from now. I suggested that, in reality, most of us do that already, even if only subconsciously, and we can become on the one hand either inwardly anxious and concerned about worrying trends, such as of an ageing congregation, limited resources or diminishing commitment, or on the other hand, we can become inwardly excited and motivated about the potential for growth and opportunities for development.

My central point on that evening was that, in fact, there can be and there always is available to us, a picture of the church of the future which is one of growth and of development, one of increased involvement, faith, hope and commitment. My wish is that this Synod, its Councils and Boards see that picture of growth and, where appropriate, help facilitate its realisation. Taking appropriate, intentional and visionary action now will most likely have a decisive role in shaping the kind of church which our children will (or will not!) choose to belong to.

PICTURING THE COMMUNITY’S FUTURE - IN 2050
Moving out to a broader canvas than the church, I want to focus for a moment on the picture we may have of life on the island of Ireland in the days or even decades ahead, and the place which the church will occupy in it.

Dr Stephen Kinsella, a lecturer in Economics at the University of Limerick, has recently published an insightful book entitled, Ireland in 2050. How will we be living? This work, which is focussed on the Republic of Ireland, has been favourably reviewed as a realistic and useful contribution to the debate about how we should now start to plan and organise things so as to better prepare for what lies ahead for our grandchildren - or great-grandchildren.

In straightforward language and in an engaging format, the author anticipates what the trends and developments might look like forty years from now: in the economy, in environmental and climate change, in energy production, in employment, in the use of technology, in health care, and so on.

He also hazards a guess at what family life might look like in 2050 and predicts increased breakdown in relationships, more frequent divorce and increased longevity. Kinsella is in no doubt that all of these social changes will take place against a backdrop in which the church will play a significantly reduced role in people’s lives, as compared with its influence in generations prior to our own.

Kinsella’s intention, which I welcome, is that his book will get people to think in more detail about the longer term consequences of the way we are doing things now, will open up real debate and will generate strategic planning about how we want to shape better the environment which our children and grandchildren will inherit. His desire is that, by envisaging the future more carefully we will engage now in deliberate decision-making about the way in which we want things to develop, rather than largely sleep-walking into the future – which is what he contends we have been doing up until now. His approach is prudent, and I believe that churches should be engaged in a similar exercise, both in planning for their own future and also in order to play an active part in contributing more effectively to the common good.

THE CHURCH’S ROLE -  DECLINING OR INCREASING?
So I can see a link between our diocesan plans for Transforming Community; Radiating Christ and Kinsella’s picture of the long-term future of Ireland, in both political jurisdictions. We want the church to make a positive and wholesome contribution to the lives of individuals and of society and our belief is that faith, spirituality and Christian values and practices will be needed more than ever in the Ireland of the future.

Kinsella paints a pessimistic picture of a society in which family breakdown, relational fragmentation and ‘the explosion of a divorce time-bomb’ will have serious consequences for children such as: doing less well in school, being more prone to bouts of depression and having greater struggles to develop long-term relationships as adults.

If Kinsella’s prognosis is correct, then as churches we need to factor these social trends into our planning, into our training for pastoral care, into the availability of counselling, of parent and family support, youth and children’s work. These will be among the priorities which must not be neglected if the church is to play a positive and transformative role in family, community and wider society.

As for Kinsella’s prediction that the church will be significantly marginalised by 2050, we need to grapple with that possibility, too. Two other recent analyses of trends in religious behaviour and belief have caught my eye. The first was William Crawley’s documentary on BBC1 TV last week, ‘Losing our religion’, gave a personal insight into present and future trends in religious adherence in Northern Ireland, where some people are moving away from religious observance and others are moving in the opposite direction, discovering faith and fresh church involvement.

The other report is a thought-provoking 400 page book entitled, God is Back, by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, the editor and Washington correspondent of The Economist, one an atheist and the other a Roman Catholic. These authors originally set out to document the decline of religion, only to find on closer examination that trends indicate precisely the opposite, that religion, globally, is playing a larger than ever role in people’s lives. Those parts of Europe in which religious practice is on the decline are the exception, and run counter to the worldwide trends, not least in China, Africa, India and Russia.

They point out that neo-atheists, such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchins and Sam Harris are now writing out of exasperation because they find it so hard to accept the clear evidence that human beings are theotropic – inclined to believe in God, that religion can increase human wellbeing, and that all the indicators globally are that, far from dying out, as the secularists believed it inevitably would, religious practice is consistently on the increase.  Neo-atheists were convinced that modernization and secularism would be the death knell of religious faith, but the very opposite is proving to be the case.

THE FUTURE WILL NEED THE CHURCH
My growing conviction, as I sift through the observations of these and other commentators, is that spiritual interest and spiritual searching is as alive and active as it ever has been in Ireland and that any confident prediction about the demise of faith and even of the church is brave and even foolhardy. People in Ireland as elsewhere are searching for what they perceive to be authentic, relevant and meaningful expressions of Christian faith; a faith which connects with their complex and pressured lives and which makes sense of their world which is confusing, harsh, fragmented and often alienating.

Many people in the Ireland of today and of tomorrow  will continue to long for a sense of meaning and purpose that has real foundations, a sense of belonging, of caring for others and of being cared for, of participating in and contributing to something that is enduring, the offer of spiritual resources and depth, the possibility of guidance and insight to help them with moral choices and ethical decisions; they will continue to long for a connectedness with God, a sense of mystery and awe, and a participation in the Christian legacy of their forebears. The Ireland of 2050 will need a Church with local parishes where people’s spiritual longings and pastoral needs can be met.

COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY
An important aspect in all this is the church’s ability to communicate meaningfully in a world where the message can easily be lost in translation due to ineffective or dated approaches. I am pleased that this diocese has recently launched a new website which, along with our prize-winning diocesan magazine, n:vision, is already proving to be a valuable fresh channel of communication. The church will increasingly need to be willing to adopt fresh means of making its message accessible, be they verbal, visual, electronic or whatever form.

CHURCHES WITH A SHARED MESSAGE ARE MORE EASILY HEARD
If it is the case that the influence of the Christian Churches will be under pressure or diminished in the future, then it becomes all the more important that some kind of shared witness to Christ becomes more the norm. I am thankful that there is a healthy level of respect and co-operation between the different church traditions in the Diocese of Derry and in the Diocese of Raphoe. I am delighted to welcome to this Diocesan Synod today the Bishop of Raphoe, Most Rev Philip Boyce, Rev Ian Henderson, Acting Secretary for the Methodist Church in Ireland, and Rev James Gray, representing the Derry and Donegal Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.  I thank them and the people they represent in their churches for the partnership we share in the gospel.

DIOCESAN READERS
2009 marks the one hundredth anniversary of the ministry of Diocesan Readers in the Church of Ireland. We are thankful to God for those who have responded to the call to serve in this liturgical and preaching role. On Friday and Saturday of this week, in recognition of their generous giving of their time and their commitment to this ministry, I have invited the Diocesan Readers from Derry and Raphoe to participate in a special conference led by Rev Dr Dick France a noted Welsh biblical scholar and teacher.

On 28 November there will also be a major service in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin to celebrate this centenary. I look forward to being there, as I hope all of our Diocesan Readers will be. On page 56 of the Book of Reports, the Diocesan Readers are listed, and I wish to pay tribute to them and to thank them most sincerely for all they do their ministry of preaching and leading worship throughout the diocese.

CONCLUSION
In the words of New Testament, my prayer for this Synod and Diocese is this: ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.’ Rom 15:13

I am very thankful that you have come here to share in this Synod today, and I trust that all of us will be strengthened in hope as we look to the future; that we will be increasingly convinced that God can and will use us to be involved with him in Transforming Community as we Radiate Christ. So I go forward, as I believe you do too, with a sense of excitement at what’s ahead, with a sense of expectancy at what God is going to do, and with a sense of gratitude to God for the privilege of being part of what he is doing in these days.

          +Ken