General Synod election address 2015
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Simon
Taylor
Proposed by David Truby
Seconded by Karen Hamblin
Dear
friends,
I
am the Continuing Ministerial Development Officer and Canon Chancellor of Derby
Cathedral. It has been my privilege to
serve on General Synod on behalf of the clergy of the Diocese for the last two
and a half years. I’m standing again
because I believe I have both experience and insight to offer.
End of Term Report
Over
the past 2½ years I have spoken in debates about reimagining ministry; women
bishops; discipleship; leadership and clergy robes. I have asked questions about pensions and
deployment. I have written in to consultations about safeguarding and women
bishops. I have also brought back information
to the diocese; through a paper for Diocesan Synod, a presentation to Self-Supporting
Ministers, and reports in the Cathedral magazine. A full account of my contributions to the
General Synod can be found here.
These
are the major challenges that the Church of England faces, and which the General
Synod will address in the next five years:
Reform and Renewal
A
major programme of change has already been launched, called Reform and
Renewal. This is founded on the
discipleship of all God's people and has implications for ministerial
formation; leadership; funding; and simplifying the way that the Church of
England works. In principle there is
much to commend here. However, some of the
detail is problematic and I have already begun to suggest improvements in the
areas identified below.
The
importance of the local church. In
a time of decline, the temptation is to centralise. A recent motion at General Synod about the
discipleship of the whole people of God gave actions to Bishops and dioceses,
but not to parishes, clergy or laypeople (an omission that I challenged). The reduction in funding for the Diocese of
Derby under the new Church Commissioners funding arrangements will mean a
greater reliance on our local resources.
If elected I will support measures that empower the Church at parish and
diocesan level as I whole heartedly endorse Bill Hybels' insight that “the
local church is the hope of the world”.
The
voices of a broad church.
The working groups that produced the Reform and Renewal process
contained only a very few people. The voices of women, SSMs and minority ethnic
groups were barely heard. This is not a
challenge of representation, but a danger of not hearing the voice of the Holy
Spirit. The Church of England faces “wicked
problems” (in contrast to “tame problems”) and the best method of dealing with
such problems is to seek as many voices as possible. St Benedict's rule says that when facing difficult
problems the whole community should come together because “the Lord often
revealeth to the youngest what is best”.
If elected, I will continue to ask which voices are not being heard.
Confidence
in public mission. The Church of England
has a unique opportunity for mission due to its role as the established
church. At times this missionary
opportunity may appear inconvenient, perhaps especially so in challenging
times. But to step away from our calling
to promote the common good is a mistake.
If elected, I will encourage confidence in our public mission and resist
any changes that make the Church more inward-looking.
Sexuality
This
has been the elephant in the room for many years now. The Church of England has suffered from a
lack of honesty in conversations about this.
This has been to the detriment of our mission, especially mission to
young people. Honest conversation has
begun, and needs to continue. My view, founded on the Bible, is that there should
be an equal place for LGBTI people within the Church, and that we should
welcome the extension of the discipline of marriage to all couples. We need to find ways of allowing one another
to hold different views on this subject, and of welcoming our gay brothers and
sisters. If elected, I will support
honesty and openness in the church. I
will oppose any Synod measures that do not allow for the conscience of those
who disagree.
Safeguarding
With
the national historic cases review and on-going developments in the Church of
England, safeguarding is a major current issue.
It is important that the resulting rules are useable by clergy and
volunteers. If elected I will use my
experience in safeguarding at parish, cathedral and diocesan levels to ensure
that the Church is a safe place and that the rules are workable for all.
Thank you for your
consideration. Please be in touch if I
can answer any questions that you have.
I would be honoured if you would vote for
me. Please make me your first or second
choice in this election.
Comments
Regards
Paul
Thanks for the comment.
Not sure it is as simple as that. No twisting required. Scripture has the oft-quoted texts that say homosexuality is an abomination. But it also has (far more) sections that speak of the generous love of God and human love as showing God to the world.
My paper 'An invitation to the Feast' has my full Biblical argument in favour of marriage for all - see under 'online writing' in the right hand column!
We certainly need to be better at listening and more generous with those with whom we disagree than immediately dismissing a line as having 'no excuse' or painting a false 'either-or' position.
Good to hear from you.
Simon
I'm afraid your document 'an invitation to the feast' uses loaded language, equal marriage is described very adequately in Ephesians 5:22 to 5:29, since there is an absence of either a husband or a wife in a same sex relationship, the term is therefore attributable. Quite plainly, use of the term 'equal marriage' within these discussions is to provoke a negative representation of unfairness to people who hold the position that marriage is solely between a man and a woman. The use this term shows an agenda rather than a coherent argument, and for that I'm very disappointed in you.
Paul