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Yorkshire Synod1. Stories of hope and resurrection from the Yorkshire Synod
1.1 It is easy to be carried along on the repeated story of decline and in Yorkshire, just like everyone else we are plagued by thoughts about what we are not doing. It was at the end of the residential meeting of the Synod Executive last September that someone had the idea that we should each share a ‘good news’ story. Sitting round the room on that occasion must have been about two dozen people. We shared our stories, each one was different, each told of a church, a group of people, a link with a community or even an individual and each story gave a positive, even upbeat view of the church. Forget decline, here was a church which was alive and well and serving its various communities, working with children and young people, reaching out to the homeless, learning more about the faith and much else beside. 1.2 Subsequently at least one of our Districts has undertaken the same exercise at a District Council meeting and in both cases we noted how the tenor of the meeting changed as we realized that God’s work was being enthusiastically undertaken in so many places and so many ways. As we thought about what we should be telling the rest of the United Reformed Church through the General Assembly we remembered this experience and asked our six districts to suggest some of the things which should be included (making no promises that we could include everything they thought we should!). It was good to receive back far more than we could possibly use and in selecting the six examples we know we have left out some stories which it would have been good to share. We could have told you about ecumenical initiatives, growing Pilots companies, or committed involvement in campaigning. As important as any of those things are, we wanted our selection to reflect the range of the church’s involvement in and response to needs identified in local areas. 2. Brackenhall United Reformed Church, Huddersfield
2.1 Brackenhall is a very small (membership of 26) church which is on the verge of recreating itself. It has been very active in the community, which is one of the most deprived areas of the town. Many houses (indeed, whole swathes of the area) are in the process of being demolished and new (privately owned) houses are being built. It is quite incredible to see the changes that have been going on over the past few months and more are planned. Though initially some people in the church were upset by the proposed changes, now there is a real feeling that the church has to become a new beacon of light to what is basically a completely new community being built around it. 2.2 Recently, the church has taken the radical and exciting decision, with much help and advice from the local Council and the building company that is mainly responsible for doing the housing work at Brackenhall, to demolish the church and rebuild a brand new church and community centre. It’s a scary but very courageous project for such a small church. The church firmly believes that there is a mission for them and ‘where there’s a will, there’ll be a way’. At Brackenhall, there is most certainly a will and they believe that it is God’s, not theirs. 3. Knottingley United Reformed Church, Wakefield
This church runs both The United Playcare Holiday Club and a newly opened After School Club. The United Playcare Holiday Club has recently been recognised by Barnardos as suitable and qualified to welcome children with physical disabilities so there is now extra funding from them to aid this objective. Both of these projects are enabling the church to reach out to young low income and lone parent families who are benefiting from now being able to go out to work and is also effectively helping a number of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder and Autistic children. From these contacts made with young people, a Youth Fellowship has recently been set up at Knottingley and along with the Castleford Youth Fellowship both are currently busy doing the overnight sponsored Famine for World Vision. 4. Saltaire United Reformed Church
4.1 Built at the centre of his industrial village by the Victorian Wool manufacturer, Titus Salt, this Grade 1* listed building, Italianate in design, has a large circular tower at its entrance. The peal of bells that were housed there in the 19th century were last rung in 1918 to celebrate the Armistice of the First World War but were subsequently removed as the tower was not structurally sound enough to support them. In the 1980s one of the defunct woollen mills was bought by Jonathon Silver, an entrepreneur and friend of David Hockney. He used the mill to house a collection of Hockney paintings, opened a restaurant and various shops and revitalised the whole village through the large number of visitors that these changes attracted. In 2001 the village was awarded World Heritage status. 4.2 Jonathon Silver died in the late 1990s whilst he was in his early fifties. His widow decided to donate a peal of bells to the church in his memory. Her gift included the strengthening of the tower and all installation work and in September 2003 the work was completed and the first peal of bells was rung at a festival held in the village. This makes Saltaire only the second United Reformed Church to have a set of bells – the other being at Port Sunlight. 5. Stainbeck United Reformed Church, Leeds: The Three Churches Project
5.1 For many years Stainbeck United Reformed Church and St Matthew’s Church of England have been working together to serve the local community. In 2000 the Ripon and Leeds Diocese undertook an ecumenical Mission Audit which identified local estates where churches had little impact. From this grew a fresh vision for an ecumenical sharing of the task. 5.2 In July 2001 an Ecumenical Group began to meet on a monthly basis made up of members of the PCCs of St Matthew’s, Chapel Allerton, and Holy Trinity, Meanwood, and Elders from Stainbeck. 5.3 At an early stage the Group was led into the area of Creative Arts in its widest sense. The vision was to set up short courses and opportunities to learn, and try and experience different things – art, music, drama, writing, cooking, gardening, etc – and in this way to meet local people ‘on a level playing field’. This works across age groups and is inter-generational. It allows people to do fun and enjoyable things together while building relationships and trust. When questions and opportunities arise, faith can be shared in a very real way. 5.4 The Group has already organised various events, including a Creativity Day, a Fun Afternoon and a Peace Day, as well as forging links with local schools. Stainbeck Church has also successfully run two six-week sessions for local children called “The Scene”, where Bible stories have been told through drama and art. It is envisaged that events will not only be held at Stainbeck Church but also in the community using other churches, schools and community centres. 5.5 Work has already been undertaken to make the buildings at Stainbeck more attractive, accessible and user-friendly. Plans are now being made to open a Community Café. A Management Committee has been set up and is currently raising funds to recruit a Christian Community Worker to lead the project. 6. St James United Reformed Church, Sheffield
6.1 This small church set in the northern part of Sheffield has a congregation of mainly West Indian origin. In the 1950s the local minister – Revd Gillespie – recognized some of the problems of newly arrived immigrants and one of the solutions was to request help from the United Church of Jamaica. This help came in the shape of Madge Saunders who had served the church in Jamaica for 17 years as a women’s worker. From this beginning many of those immigrants have settled in the area and in the church. During Lent 2002 some of those who had immigrated, together with family and friends made the journey back to Jamaica where they experienced new things, visited familiar places and met Madge Saunders, now in her nineties. 6.2 Since returning a small book has been written by those who went and two quilts have been made. The purpose of the exercise in sewing the quilts was to ‘draw together those who had been and those who had stayed; to bring back experiences and share them with others as we sewed; to think about the impact of the visit on our life as a community and to create a permanent memory of a unique experience’. 7. St Ninian’s and St Andrew’s United Reformed Churches, Hull
This church, over a three to four year period (along with other churches in the area) the victim of continual vandalism, initially responded by building fences, fixing grills and installing lights. They then realized that this action failed to tackle the real problem of young people, many of whom travelled into the area, gathering in groups with nothing better to do than damage buildings. The Avenues Youth Work project was formed – an initiative taken by the churches – to try to tackle the real problem. They have raised £10,000 from a variety of sources including central government and in July two detached Youth Workers are to begin work three evenings a week. Their task will be to talk to young people out on the streets, to try to determine what needs there are and to find ways of meeting the needs. The church is one of the only community buildings in the area and is hoping to be able to offer something positive in response to identified need. East Midlands SynodMission-Shaped Synod1. Mission purpose
Synod Aims to encourage and enable engagement in God’s Mission in the East Midlands through its staff and committees, District Councils, local churches, people and ecumenical partners. 2. Mission Story
This is what is happening in the Northampton ‘area’, one of four parts of the Northamptonshire District developing greater self-determination:
3. Mission Means Me (MMM)
3.1 MMM was originally devised in response to the visit of the Mission Enabler, Prince Dibeela, from Botswana. MMM is a weekend for young people of FURY which looks at issues for young people and the church in a very practical and thought provoking way. The programme now also includes young people’s activities taking place at the same time that Synod holds its meetings, as well as participation at those meetings in worship and making presentations. The Synod Day activities have included looking at our relationship with God, the Structures of the United Reformed Church and most recently how the five marks of Mission affect us and what action our churches should be taking in response to them. 3.2 Now supported by the DfES grant, the programme has been developed significantly to enable young people who attend the weekend to look at the United Reformed Church in its widest context and how that affects us as a denomination and as individual Christians. Last year participants looked at choices in relation to beliefs – career choices, choices as consumers, and choices for the environment. This year participants looked at the United Reformed Church in the context of both other Christian denominations and other faiths. They visited a temple, a mosque, other Christian churches and a cathedral where they looked at the similarities and differences. 3.3 It’s not all hard work, though, there is time to go ice skating, 10-pin bowling, dance the night away at the disco, or undertake a photographic treasure hunt around Derby City. 3.4 A day is already planned looking at the leadership skills young people have to offer the church and the next weekend will be looking at the positive action that can be taken in the world with particular reference to Fairtrade and third world debt. 4. Mission Character
At the meeting in March 2004 Synod agreed to develop closer links with the Reformed Church in Croatia as its European link, and the United Congregational Church in Southern Africa in Botswana as Global Partner within the Belonging to the World Church programme. These relationships began through personal links and the Synod seeks to develop them in the process of learning about engaging in mission. Synod also declared its intention to become a Fairtrade organisation, approved in principle the scheme for increased inter-synod resource sharing and, as a step towards sharing resources within the synod, agreed a manse policy. 5. Mission StructureAfter several years of exploration through a Lifeline Group following up the work of the mission enabler, a new synod structure has been approved.
6. Changes of personnel
6.1 We celebrated with Malcolm and Brenda Hanson in September as retirement beckoned with the prospects of a new home in North Yorkshire. Three weeks later we celebrated further as we welcomed Terry Oakley and his wife Joan to the Synod as a new period of service dawned for Terry as our Moderator. 6.2 The Revd Christopher White retired at the end of April after long service within the Synod, latterly as both Synod Clerk and Property Officer. We wish him well as his life takes a new direction and also welcome our new property officer Mr Robert White.
Eastern Synod1. Centred upon the Gospel …1.1 A major focus has been under the heading of Mission, Ministry and Money. It began by asking the local churches to dream dreams, and moved on to a Synod meeting that considered worship, spiritual growth, understanding of ministry, changes to being Church, and what a mission-structured church might look like. A subsequent one-day conference was followed by nine resolutions at the October 2003 Synod. We now have the exciting task of relating these to the Catch the Vision Statement. 1.2 Synod Celebration brought several hundred people to Bury St Edmunds on 21 June 2003. The theme of workshops was around mission and worship, with worship in the Cathedral at mid-day, and at Whiting Street church at the close. 1.3 Ministers’ colloquium – this annual event has now been extended to provide for one complete day of silence and reflection. 1.4 Iona – we are grateful to Glyn Millington for volunteering to lead a visit to Iona in May this year. 1.5 The District Visit Guidelines have now been finalised, recommending an approach that separates administrative-related items from those directly mission-related. 2. Relevant to Today’s World …
2.1 The above-mentioned Mission, Ministry and Money resolutions encourage local churches to seek new ways of relating to the wider community, and ask the Synod’s Church & Society Committee to support local church efforts. 2.2 Advocates for racial justice, inter-faith and rural links have been created, working under the umbrella of our Church & Society Committee. 2.3 Youth and Children’s Work – it has been decided to experiment with a network rather than committee structure, with a small informal core group including the recently-appointed Scout Chaplain. An e-mail network for contact with FURY members has been set up. 2.4 Ethical investments – at the October 2002 Synod, the decision was taken to switch the Synod’s investments to the Affirmative Funds for Charities. 2.5 Synod members have been the beneficiaries of many challenging and topical talks – on Racial Justice by Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, on the multi-faceted nature of rural Britain by the Bishop of Ely, on the leadership role taken by our special-category minister Chris Warner in the urban renewal at Great Yarmouth, and on prejudice within our region. A talk on globalisation – presenting it as a morally neutral phenomenon, driven by technology, but which nonetheless requires a moral response – left much to be reflected on. 2.6 Netherlands – the contact with our Synod has declined whilst the Dutch have been working through the birth-pangs of unifying three of their Reformed denominations. However, the Spring 2004 Ministers’ Spring School is to be held in the Netherlands, and we are hopeful of strengthening the link again. 2.7 ‘Work in progress’ includes consideration as to whether we can become a Fair Trade Synod. 3. Vibrant and Sustainable …
3.1 Vibrancy is dependent on people – clay jars as Ray Adams reminded us last October, but used by God for the work of the gospel. Space constraints preclude us from mentioning all personnel changes. 3.1.1 We are pleased that the 2003 General Assembly agreed that Elizabeth Caswell should continue as Moderator. Within the review, it was noted that Elizabeth would have a key pastoral role with ministers as the Mission, Ministry and Money resolutions are pursued. 3.1.2 Philip Wade retired as Finance Officer in August 2003. Philip had been involved with the Synod’s finances for many more years than those in which he had been a paid officer. His foresight and faith had led to a present situation of substantial resources available to support the work of local churches; he had shown a passion for an ethical investment policy. 3.1.3 Latterly, Philip had added Trust work to his tasks, with a part-time accountant being employed in support. There has now been a re-organisation of tasks, with Gordon Heald appointed as part-time Property Officer, and Andrew Perkins as Finance Officer. We are grateful to David Dones who has continued to give up his own spare time to provide book-keeping support. 3.1.4 Mick Barnes replaces Ken Woods as Synod Clerk. Ken’s contribution to the Synod’s life has been significant as he shouldered heavy administrative responsibilities and also pioneered the Natural Church Development work in the Synod. We have also said farewell to Sue Easton who has been replaced by Penelope Davies-Brown as Moderator’s PA and Revd Richard Church has replaced Lawrence Moore as Training & Development Officer, following Lawrence’s departure to Windermere. 3.1.5 A very sad loss was through the death of John Pugh, who had given much devoted service to his churches in and around Stowmarket, and to District, Synod and Assembly Committees. The congregation’s over-flowing beyond the sanctuary at his funeral says much for the extent of love for John. 3.2 The above-mentioned Mission, Ministry and Money resolutions contained much that was aimed at better structures. Team ministries, encouraging more lay preachers, and interim and specialist ministries are to be pursued. Ecumenical partnership is a priority. Slicker decision-making – e.g. by avoiding repetition of business at too many levels – is to be sought. Greater ownership of budgets will be encouraged e.g. by identifying ministry costs at the actual level where ministry is given. 3.3 New congregations – those mentioned in our 2001 report continue to progress. Cloverfield at Thetford (Norfolk) and Cambourne (Cambridgeshire) have been welcomed by General Assembly. Chafford Hundred at Grays (Essex), and Great Notley (Essex) seem to be moving towards that situation. Church Langley (Essex) is asking this year to be recognised fully as a local church within the United Reformed Church. 3.4 Natural Church Development – the Synod continues to support churches that elect to follow the NCD process. To date, 13 churches have undertaken the NCD survey, but it is recognised that a greater number have undertaken other forms of self-audit such as through the Church Life Profile. As always, the challenge is in addressing the issues raised by the self-audit results. 3.5 ‘Work in progress’ includes a review of a new Manse Policy.
Thames North Synod1. Open All Hours1.1 Life in Thames North Synod has been challenged and shaped over the last three years by a list of qualities of openness. This list first appeared in the middle of a Mission Council report on small churches under the title, “Marks of Viability”, offered to districts and synods questioning the future of some of their smaller congregations. We were not asking that question in Thames North, but we were concerned for the vitality of all our churches in their various settings, and we welcomed this list as containing the right challenges for us all:
1.2 In October 2002 we launched a book of resource materials called Open All Hours?! – Bible studies, articles, discussion starters and worship materials to help each of our congregations explore new and relevant ways of living the gospel and being church in the 21st century. To the nine qualities above, we added a tenth, Open to the workplace, to encourage churches to support their members in living out their Christian calling at work. 2. Strategy
2.1 In the autumn of 2002 we undertook an intensive process to identify a strategy for the synod. We began with a one-day meeting for the ministers and Church Related Community Workers, describing the changing culture that is our context and reflecting together on how we as a Church should adapt and respond. It was felt strongly that the United Reformed Church has one too many layers of structure, and various alternatives were proposed. Conscious of the responsibility for the United Reformed Church’s witness in London and the difficulties several of our districts face combining inner London and “shires” communities, we explored the possibility of a boundary change, perhaps along the lines of the three English regions in our area, and the creation of a “London Synod”. We have had informal conversations with Southern Synod officers and ecumenical partners, particularly the Methodists, who have already agreed the formation of a “London District” with effect from 2006. We have suggested the idea to the “Catch the Vision” review group. 2.2 Following this meeting we held a residential meeting for the leadership of the synod, and agreed the outline for a Vision Statement and set of Goals. These are now in the hands of our synod committees to be turned into concrete aims and objectives. They are also highlighted on our synod website (www.urc10.org), where we have created an interactive space for reflections and contributions. 3. World Church connections
3.1 Our relationship with the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren continues, with Thames North members regularly represented at their national Synod and a steady stream of Czech ministers and lay workers coming to the UK to improve their English. After the terrible floods in Prague in the summer of 2002 we asked all of the churches to take a special collection for the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren’s flood relief work. This was followed in 2003 by further fund-raising towards a new church plant in a growing suburb of Prague. An enthusiastic Czech minister took part in our synod strategy residential, and in 2004 two Czech ministers will attend our Ministers’ Spring School. 3.2 A new relationship is growing with the Karnataka Central Diocese of the Church of South India. Several Thames North members, including our Inter-Faith Advisor and Moderator, have travelled to Bangalore to learn about the life of their Church. In 2004 there will be return visits. 3.3 We enter into these relationships conscious that our synod is already a world church in its own right. Our congregations are international and worship is offered in many different languages across the synod. Discovering our unity in the midst of such diversity is a challenge and a joy. In particular, we are eager to enable new leadership for our ethnic minority congregations, and to identify people with gifts to offer to our life as a synod. Thanks to the contribution of two Racial Justice Advocates on our Nominations Committee, our synod committees are now much more reflective of the diversity of our membership. 4. Transfer
We formally give notice that at the October 2003 Synod, it was agreed to transfer St Martin’s United Reformed Church from St Alban’s District to West London District. 5. Personnel
Martin Hazell was appointed Synod Clerk in October 2002, and we have benefited enormously from the clear and visionary thinking he has brought to the business of the synod. In March 2004 we paid tribute to Valerie Ham, our long-serving Synod Treasurer, and appointed Michael Gould and Emmanuel Osae in her place. We have also welcomed new members of staff: David Skipp, our Properties Officer; Cristine Smalligan, our Mission Projects Support Worker; and Meryl Court, appointed to serve as Pastoral Consultant when Bert Baker retired. Sue Russell has joined the office team, and we said good-bye to Mike Philpott who left the office at the end of 2003. Vision Statement
Through confidence in the Gospel, with excitement about the United Reformed Church’s expression of Christian faith, and by our belonging to one another, the Thames North Synod envisions a future of courageous discipleship leading to growth. Our vision is founded on the following values: commitment to the big picture of God’s purposes for the whole created order; a living Reformed inheritance, characterised by the centrality of scripture, courageous discipleship, freedom of conscience, openness to change, liturgical freedom, and conciliarity; abundant life expressed in affirmation of diversity, inclusion of people of all ages and backgrounds, deep reflection, confident sharing of faith, reconciliation and healing, vitality and enthusiasm, and cherishing of the gifts of the whole people of God. Synod Goals (2003 – 2007)
Encourage confidence in engaging with scripture and our changing society to nurture growth in Christian faith and life; Explore alternatives to familiar patterns of church life, witness, structure and support so as to discern appropriate models for the future; Strengthen existing ministries and extend the diversity of ministries, among the whole people of God; Foster a greater sense of covenantal belonging to the Synod by the local churches; Ensure that the structures and leadership of the Synod are truly representative of the diversity of local congregations and their communities.
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