After another week of debates, motion, amendments,votes and all the obscure etiquette that is the modern governing body of the Church of England, it is now all over, and many observers will be asking what, if anything, was accomplished?
There was no groundbreaking new resolution passed – no ordination of women, no Methodist/Anglican covenant, no Fresh Expressions. It seemed to be a synod of ‘wait and see’; a decision to not make any decisions.
The report on Women Bishops was postponed, as it seems no final arrangement can be found; Fresh Expressions and other initiatives from Mission Shaped Church were given a pat on the back and told to carry on; the BBC were let off the hook in the emasculated ammendments to the debate about religion in the media; amendments also sanitised the potentially explosive debate about the ACNA – they were ‘recognised’ and ‘affirmed’ but anything else was put off until 2011. The only real decisions were to grant equal pensions rights to surviving partners in civil partnerships as married couples and various other financial issues.
It is, perhaps, ironic that the most moving and inspirational part of the who week was the address by the chair of the Methodist Conference, Revd David Gamble. Facing church decline that means the Methodist Church could cease to exist within 40 years, he spoke to synod with a blend of passion and humilty that gave him a prophetic force. He said that the Methodist approach the Covenant with the Church of England in the spirituality of the Covenant prayer, and that, “when we say to God ‘let me have all things let me have nothing’, we say it by extension to our partners in the Church of England as well. We are prepared to go out of existence not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission. In other words we are prepared to be changed and even to cease having a separate existence as a Church if that will serve the needs of the Kingdom.” Read the full text of teh speech here.
However, the biggest development of this Synod was the way technology involved people from all over the world. As well as a live audio stream Twitter, through #synod, became the means of a global community responding to and engaging with the debates as they happened. Participants included Synod members on the floor, the official Synod Twitter account, members of the press in the gallery (including me) and Anglicans from around the world who were listening in. The decisions may have been taken on the floor, but the issues raised have taken on a life of their own as the Anglican Communion moves beyond the formal structures to engage people in parishes and dioceses far beyond the confines of Church House.
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A couple of small factual corrections – it was the Feb 2009 synod session that was first significantly twittered; Bishop Pete Broadbent (@pete173) typically signing up and starting twittering from within the debates in chamber last year. The @GenSyn twitter identity is not an ‘official’ CofE one, but originally set up to twitter new posts from the GenSyn blog feed, http://gensyn.blogspot.com/. Not even that is an ‘official’ blog; but is made up of a number of self-selecting members of synod (any member may join), who post their own – rather varied – personal views.
I am not sure I agree that it was synod of ‘a decision not to make decisions’ – a daily list of the decisions made at each synod is published by Church House. Many in this final year of the 5-year cycle were, I grant you, in the ‘important, though tedious’ category: on things like pensions planning, church legislation on clergy terms of service and the ‘Mission measure’ – all part of co-orinating a large national church.
There was quite a lot on Fresh Expressions by the end, as it was emphasised in at least 3 debates (it’s own, Mission Shaped Church, and the Children/Young peoples ones). There was a surprisingly warm reception to the work of the armed forces chaplaincies (”average age of our congregations: 22″!); an encouraging debate on how Christianity is featured in the media; a widely reported debate on how it is possible to maintain integrity as both a Christian and as a scientist.
From the global press reports, and the tv coverage (on BBC Parliament channel this week), to twitter, to sharing verbal reports with local churches and deaneries: Synod is about trying to be God’s church in the best possible – if rather frail human way; using all means possible, if necessary, using words.