Growing Forward Together Towards 2020

The article below appeared in the May 2008 edition of the Canterbury Diocesan Newspaper 'Outlook'

How might the Diocese of Canterbury be fulfilling its mission in the year 2020? The Revd Rob Mackintosh, Director of Ministry and Training and Diocesan Secretary Julian Hills look at the ways this question is being addressed and the contributions the Diocesan boards are making.

May marks the second anniversary of Bishop Stephen's Presidential Address to Diocesan Synod which opened up the question of what the Diocese of Canterbury might look like and how we might work together in the year 2020. Last May the Diocesan Synod made a commitment to an emerging set of themes and actions called Growing Forward Together Towards 2020. This month Synod will look at proposals for sharing this thinking more widely. What might all this mean for our Diocesan boards, deaneries, clusters, parishes and networks?

We believe that by looking ahead creatively now, we will enable more opportunities to let God shape our future.

There will be four practical steps before Synod which we could take together for the next decade.

Firstly, to pray to discern the mission for each parish, deanery and board, and for the people whom God is calling to share in it. As our church communities are led into deeper commitment and service to our Lord, we pray for the divine energy of the Holy Spirit to do God's will.

Then to enable the ministry of every baptised person - helping people to follow the Master and hear his voice, discovering and developing their gifts to use for ministering to others for example, through the Board of Ministry & Training, and the Vocations Team.

Thirdly, to plan locally the mission initiatives that will help our church grow and have greater impact. Then to form the partnerships to work on each particular mission task in parishes, clusters, deaneries, with ecumenical colleagues and other agencies as appropriate. A new Mission-Shaped Ministry programme begins this September to assist this. New ways of doing things become possible with the 2007 Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure. Area Deans, Lay Chairs and Archdeacons will help with the implementation of this.

Finally, to hold fast to our values in changing and uncertain times. We would continue to be recognisably Anglican, remaining true to our historical core values while being re-shaped under God. By travelling light, we become more of a movement for mission.

The central services and Boards of the Diocese - Mission, Ministry, Education, Church in Society, Property Services, Stewardship, Finance, and many more - are committed to serve the deaneries and the parishes; to help with the creative thinking and to make desired changes possible. They serve to create the environment in which our Diocesan values - loving, collaborative, generous, flexible, wanting to say Yes, and take risks - have real substance for all of us on our journey towards 2020.