Synod observer - day 3

The  General Synod decamped to a beautifully cool York Minister this morning for a service of Holy Communion led by the Archbishop of Canterbury at which the Archbishop of York preached.

There were some great hymns. I particularly liked Chris Idle's hymn 'Christ's church shall glory in his power' which begins:



Christ's church shall glory in his power
and grow to his perfection;
he is our rock, our mighty tower,
our life, our resurrection:
so by is skilful hand
the church of Christ shall stand;
the master-builder's plan
he works, as he began,
and soon will crown with splendour

Chris, one of our best hymnwriters, was formerly Rector of St Anne's, Limehouse and attends the Evangelical Ministry Assembly each year, as I do.

Over lunch I attended another fringe meeting: Statistics for Mission, led by the Church of England Statistics Unit. It sounds deadly dull but as always it was absolutely brilliant - really useful stuff including a CD for every parish setting out the results of the 2011 census, which even now, is on its way to Bermondsey. The Statistics Unit do a fantastic job serving the Church's mission and their presentations are always of a very high order. All power to their elbow.

After lunch (Roast Beef and, the local delicacy, Yorkshire Pudding) there were four options available to synod members:

1. Sleep
2. Go for a walk
3. Watch the Wimbledon final
4. Debate the Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure in a hot and sweaty Central Hall

I think its what is called a no-brainer.


After the refreshment of the afternoon, we moved at 5pm to consider the serious question of the safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults. This was a sober and moving debate in which penitence was expressed for children and vulnerable adults who had been abused by clergy or church members and the synod unanimously passed a motion calling for enhanced safeguarding procedures, rigorously enforced, throughout the church (see the BBC report here)

Next up was our Southwark Dinner. The Southwark contingent at synod is made up of Bishop Christopher, eight clergy elected by the clergy of the diocese, and eight lay members, elected by the laity, plus a number of other Southwark people who are present at the Synod in some other capacity (eg they are synod officers or members of the Archbishops' Council). Each York synod we meet for supper one evening  in one of the seminar rooms of the university. For London meetings we meet before synod for a business meeting and supper, in York our gathering is purely social.

Then it was back to the Central for the evening debate on welfare reform. This is one of those occasions where the synod addresses pressing issues in the life of the nation, attempting to bring a Christian perspective to bear. It was a good debate that made some constructive points about a key issue in national life in some well-informed speeches.

Thus ended another synod day. Tomorrow: back to women in the episcopate.