Five disclosures
Effecting renewal: diocesan plans and processes
Pastoral reorganisation is a common theme in many denominations as churches work to catch up with significant and rapid demographic changes - both those particular to their church, as well as those prevalent in wider society. In episcopally led denominations, the bishop has a central role in determining how that reorganisation takes place, although how that authority is enacted may vary. The approach in Portsmouth at the time of the research was to hold a review of the diocese before the Pastoral Plan was developed, and then to give substantial discretion to parishes in its implementation with the role of the diocesan officers being that of support and encouragement. This reflected a culture of collaboration, participation and the shared ownership of change and response. The outsider team felt that once the new structure of pastoral areas was largely in place, attention shifted to stewardship as the main aspect of the plan. This may have been because representatives from the diocese were attending stewardship conferences in America and coming back with ideas and enthusiasm for implementing stewardship. The structural narrative suggested that the emphasis on stewardship came after the Pastoral Plan, and that in the processes accompanying stewardship the links to the Plan were not always clear.
Something of this concern was attended to in the materials used in ‘Stewardship Formation Sessions’ in parishes, where the link between the Pastoral Plan and Stewardship was explained with the following quote from the Bishop:
As we seek to implement the Pastoral Plan in response to the call we all receive from Christ to ‘go out and bear fruit’, we need to respond as His true disciples. I am convinced that Christian stewardship will enable us to do that.... The commitment that Portsmouth will become a ‘stewardship diocese’, that is, one where the principles of Christian stewardship will have an important place in our lives, is an important step for us all.... As Pastoral Areas develop and we begin to work together, what better way than to look at these changes in the diocese through the eyes of a good steward.
Let’s ask ourselves questions such as
- • What do we have in our Pastoral Area to give special thanks for?
- • What are the talents and gifts of everyone in our worshipping communities?
- • Do we recognise and value these gifts? Do we need to spend time and discover them, together with the talents, which God has given to each of us?
Through the eyes of a good steward, everything we do, no matter how humdrum we may find it, can be a means to give praise to God.
The outsider team suggested that through theological reflection, a deeper and more consistently owned narrative needed to be recaptured that enabled parish priests and lay people to see the connection between the wider agenda of the pastoral plan and the specific focus on stewardship. To some extent, the two cycles of theological action research contributed to this, although questions for reflection remained for the diocese.
