Faith 5%

The six Church in Wales diocesan bishops with the newly appointed 'youngest ever bishop' (left)   Source: Church in Wales

An  extract from a 'Faith' News Alert from the Church in Wales:

"Some people say 'the Church is always after your money' and that money shouldn’t be discussed in church. We believe that with over 2,350 verses in the Bible relating to money and possessions, the subject cannot be ignored. Indeed, the Church in Wales recommends that its members should give 5% of their take-home pay to the Church. We believe that the way we deal with our money speaks volumes about our discipleship. Giving money is part of giving the whole of yourself to God."

In many churches money is necessarily discussed regularly as they try to make ends meet while struggling to pay their diocesan 'share'.

Using some rounded numbers, in Wales 5% of average monthly take home pay of £2,000 amounts to £100 (around £25 per week) which is earmarked for the Church before more deserving causes.

One may ask, What could be more deserving than the Church? There are many deserving causes. The poor. The hungry. The dispossessed. Many relying on charity. The list is endless.

Instead of being a place for worship the Church has become increasingly politicised providing a platform for secular causes, a situation many resent supporting with predictable consequences.

The Church in Wales has long since ceased to be an example of good stewardship, maintaining a bloated structure reminiscent its former thriving self. 

In 2012 the Harris Review recommended structural changes including reducing to three administrative centres (Recommendation XXII) followed by Recommendation XXV: "The recommendations XXII, XXIII and XXIV should be reviewed after three years and a judgement made about whether the Church in Wales is best served by six dioceses with three administrative centres or whether it would be more effective to reduce to three dioceses, together with four area bishops."

Instead the bench of bishops have extend their empire, adding assistant bishops, advisors and administrative staff while turning the Church into a home for factional groups seeking to  'legitimise' their secular activities at the expense of the faithful.

The Church in Wales says, "We believe that the way we deal with our money speaks volumes about our discipleship." - Exactly!

With dwindling membership a once thriving Church has become largely irrelevant to former worshipers.

Fortunately the good shepherd knows His sheep and His sheep know Him.

A sad commentary

Source:Source: Daily Post 

This is one of twelve redundant churches for sale referred  to in a May entry Your new home? The former Christ Church is located in the centre of the village of Rhosybol between Llanerchymedd and Amlwch on the Isle of Anglesey. It is still on the market.

The BBC is reporting that 110 Anglican churches have closed in Wales in 10 years or, as Premiere succinctly put it: "Eight per cent shut their doors for good during the decade covered, the Church in Wales statistics show. The decline leaves 1,319 Anglican churches in Wales still open."

Using the latest regular attendance figures that gives an average congregation of just 21 souls.

A Church in Wales spokesman said "there was a move to take a regional look at churches rather than let each one deal with the issue on its own. We're grouping a lot more parishes and congregations together, about 10-15 churches in an area, and thinking which ones can we sustain.

"There's a little bit more strategy - what's a sustainable congregation and where's the best place to do it?" The National Churches Trust said the rate of closures in Wales was relatively higher than England, given relative population size, where about 20 close each year.

Meanwhile in one of the buildings remaining open, at least for the time being, in the Church of England, the Rev Richard Coles, "radio presenter and Strictly Come Dancing 2017 star", has been seen entertaining his congregation with some mincing steps in a preview of his performance on Saturday evening.

The verdict? From the Telegraph: Ruth Langsford and Reverend Richard Coles were also down there at the bottom of the scoreboard but they possess both the entertainment value and fan base to keep them in the contest. We shall see next Sunday. 

After the launch of this year's series which includes a lesbian comedian as well as a gay vicar, there was a debate over whether gay contestants should be coupled with a dancing partner of the same sex prompting a previous gay contestant, Judge Rinder, to protest that the same-sex partner idea was 'absurd'.

If only the Archbishop of Canterbury could have been as forthright when he was asked in a LBC radio interview what his reaction was to a six year old boy being sent into a Church of England school dressed as and identifying as ‘a girl’. The Archbishop's reply was a boy wearing a dress to school was 'not a problem' indicating how far Anglican bishops have strayed like lost sheep.  A more profound response to the theology of cross-dressing amongst 6 year olds can be read here.

Back in Wales they have at least one claim to fame. According to 2011 census figures, Wales had the highest number of people in the UK with no religion. As attendance continues to fall more closures can be expected. Something for the bishops along with the Representative Body to ponder over in their spanking new Provincial office in the heart of Cardiff as the remaining 28,291 worshippers are encouraged to give far more than the average £9.41 per Sunday attender according to the latest (2016) membership and finance figures.

The Church in Wales recommends that its members should "give 5% of their take-home pay to the Church". For a single pensioner with no other source of income that amounts to £7.98 out of a weekly State Pension is £159.55 per week.

The current model is unsustainable with increasingly elderly congregations, that is, where the church still functions. Apart from toddler groups, messy church and the like, the traditional family where children sang in the choir, became servers, joined youth clubs, Scouts, Guides has become as scarce as the traditional parish church.

Traditionally the parish church has been at the heart of local communities. From the Church in Wales' Introduction to The Cure of Souls (1996): 

"The Church is at one and the same time a spiritual, moral and institutional community. Any attempt to isolate one aspect from the others misrepresents its reality.

What distinguishes the Church from other communities, at least in its own self-understanding, is that it is a ‘spiritual’ community – a fellowship/community of the Holy Spirit. That is, it claims to participate in the Spirit of God and to be established as the community it essentially is by the Spirit of God."

That should be the 'strategy' but Anglican bishops have decided to follow the failed TEC model, plodding along while becoming irrelevant to society as the edifice crumbles. What a sad commentary.

Archbishop's intervention argues for Brexit!

Source: Wales Online

Wales online reports that the Archbishop of Wales, who, in his episcopal capacity represents just 1% of the population of Wales, "urges Wales to vote to stay in the European Union".

Given his record of duff appointments and the state of the Church in Wales under his stewardship, the fact that Dr Morgan is in favour of remaining in the EU suggests that exit is probably advisable.

Average Sunday attendance has dwindled to around 30,000. Under his stewardship the Church in Wales faces extinction. With no accountability Dr Morgan has pursued a flawed agenda with his fixation on gay 'rights' culminating in a GB exercise to accept same sex marriage, reflecting the whims of a secular society rather than making disciples of all nations, Dr Morgan has followed a policy modelled on the example of the fatally flawed Episcopal Church of the United States.

As the Archbishop approaches retirement age, coincidentally the forthcoming meeting of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales is to consider the retirement age for clergy but fears that this had  been inspired by the Mugabe instinct of self perpetuation may be unfounded.

To their credit the Age Limits Working Group (Para. 29) favours retention of a compulsory retirement age for clergy believing that...
"this is justifiable, in terms of the Equality Act 2010, for a number of reasons. First, while recognising the high proportion of clergy approaching the current retirement age, the Group believes the future needs and mission of the Church would best be served by taking all steps necessary to encourage more (and younger) vocations rather than by permitting clergy to stay longer in office. A second reason is to avoid the potential tensions and harm – both to an organisation and to individuals – which can arise when it is deemed necessary to invoke capability procedures because of the declining performance of someone with long and valued service. Through Terms of Service the Church now has a mechanism to manage ‘competency’ issues but it would be undesirable for all involved for this to be used as a means of bringing about retirements. A third reason is that retention of a retirement age will, in time, provide the opportunity to achieve a better gender balance, particularly amongst clergy in senior posts. As the 2015 ‘Report on Representation of Women in the Church in Wales’ has shown, women are still significantly under-represented in senior posts. In 2014 only 11% of Bishops, Deans, Archdeacons and Area Deans were women. In part this is because women have only been ordained priest in the Church in Wales since 1996. But retirement of senior clerics now provides much more opportunity to select from both genders as many more women clerics have been ordained for sufficient time to have acquired the necessary experience for such posts. Retention of a compulsory retirement age also provides more opportunities for ‘career progression’ to senior appointments generally."

I would go further. The position of Archbishop should be subject to re-election after three years at the most to avoid repeating the sort of agenda which has split the Church resulting in faithful worshippers virtually excommunicated, attendance at an all time low and the demise of the historic Parish system. Without revival the Church in Wales has had its day. Headship must give way to leadership with a chance to change if leadership is not clearly demonstrated.

A can of worms

Llandaff Deanery with former temporary Dean, the Archbishop of Wales and current 'minder', the Archdeacon of Llandaff.

The Deanery on Llandaff Cathedral Green has been vacant ever since the last appointee did a runner in May after only weeks in the job. The mystery of why she left has not been solved but everything points to her having been sold a pup. Effectively the Deanery has been empty since the Ven John Lewis returned to the hills back in July 2012.

In the June issue of the Llandaff Parish Magazine, The Bell, Archbishop Morgan wrote: [The Cathedral] "..is the Bishop’s church, the place where he has his chair – the place, in other words, where he has his home but the place from which he exercises oversight over the wider diocesan family.  And, it is in my capacity as Bishop, that I have decided to exercise direct oversight over the Cathedral for the time being" while he 'pondered what to do next'. Having pondered for a while as Archbishop, Diocesan Bishop, Temp Dean and Vicar in addition to his political work, he reverted to the position of leaving the Archdeacon of Llandaff, the Venerable Peggy Jackson with the "necessary oversight of the Cathedral on his behalf, until a new Dean is appointed".

One has to ask who in their right mind would want to take on the task given the reported mess that the Cathedral is in, corporately and financially. The vogue of appointing women as Deans in preparation for accepting women bishops was an abject failure. Traditionalist clergy of the calibre of the late Dean of Monmouth, the Very Rev Jeremy Winston, are not wanted in today's church because they do not subscribe to the view that faith must be governed by society. As for the rest of the clergy we must draw our own conclusions from Dr Morgan's preference for looking outside the Province for senior staff. One suggestion I heard doing the rounds was that the Ass Bishop would be persuaded to move to the Deanery to write his books leaving the way open for Dr Morgan to achieve his goal of appointing the first woman bishop as Assistant Bishop of Llandaff before retiring, mission accomplished. 

The Venerable F A Jackson obviously had sufficient time on her hands while doing both jobs to work on the amendment which scuppered the Bishops' motion for a two stage Bill accepting the ordination of women to the episcopacy subject to statutory provision being made for "those faithful worshippers who, in good conscience, hold views of scripture and the tradition of the Church which makes it difficult or impossible for them to accept the role, of ordained women", as the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon succinctly put it. Could 'Bishop' Jackson be part of a deal?

Leaving speculation aside, one thing is clear from all the comments received. It is time that Archbishop Morgan made Llys Esgob vacant giving the Church in Wales a fresh start. That is not just a majority view, it is unanimous. The "Bishop’s church" is in dire straits. Membership is plummeting leaving the remainder with an ever increasing financial burden. There is a weariness of his stewardship but there is no oversight of the overseers. Under the Constitution of the Church in Wales unless the Archbishop becomes incapacitated by infirmity he is able to carry on regardless. That cannot be for the good of the Church.

"Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity". Titus 2:7.

God loves a cheerful giver

'God loves a cheerful giver' will be a verse increasingly familiar to worshippers involved in Stewardship campaigns which hope to persuade congregations to give more in their struggle to keep up with costs as their numbers dwindle. I can't say I found this phrase helpful. Far better, I used to think, if the verse read 'God loves a grudging giver' but that is ruled out in the full verse: "Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion". 

It is hard not to feel under compulsion when church politics get in the way. In the current debate on same-sex marriage the ink was barely dry on the paper for the first reading of the Bill before the Church in Wales was putting together a Press Release showing a clear intent to be open to a resolution from the Church’s Governing Body to allow ministers to marry same-sex couples, from previous utterances a position almost certainly insisted on by their Archbishop and well-know disciple of the ultra-liberal Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, an example of ecclesiastical destruction to come which should be obvious to all but the blinkered but congregations are still expected to pay for this political posturing.

The February edition of 'The Bell', The Magazine of the Cathedral and Parish of Llandaff, where the Archbishop is acting Dean despite being unable to fulfill his duties as Archbishop adequately without the assistance of an Ass Bishop, there is a plea for people to up their giving. The note says: Have you seen the notice on the back wall of the Cathedral indicating the revised 'cost' per worshipper per week that we are required to pay to the Diocese in our Parish Share for 2013? It is now £8.56 and so, if your contribution (whether paid weekly, monthly, or occasionally) isn't reaching that level you are implicitly expecting someone else to subsidise your attendance! Please think and pray about this when deciding on the amount that you, as an individual or a family, decide will comprise your offering. A fair point even if not strictly within the spirit of St Paul's Letter to the Corinthians. It is not unreasonable for the better off to contribute more based on contributing 5% of disposable income which still leaves those on the margin contributing relatively more - the widow's mite - but the message is clear enough bearing in mind that there are many other expenses to consider including heating, lighting and general maintenance as well as charitable giving to the many who are even less fortunate. 

Clearly this situation cannot continue indefinitely with fewer and fewer worshippers contributing more and more to sustain an organisation which appears to be completely out of touch with reality. Both in England and in Wales, those who now find themselves on the fringes are expected to pay their share regardless of the episcopal care they receive, if at all. Of first importance should be cost-cutting. In Wales, the good parishioners of Llandaff have to endure a dictatorial regime while, like others in the Province, being threatened with massive changes under the Church in Wales Review.  Their priority must be to reduce administrative costs (Section 15 of the Review) now, not wait four years so that worship in its present form becomes unsustainable; otherwise it will be impossible for the few who are left to keep the hierarchy in the style to which they have become accustomed. The lessons of the High Street should not be lost on the church when their main desire today is to be relevant to society.