Dear sisters and brothers in Christ
As we start 2025 we can give thanks for the Christmas season where we celebrated the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. During this time, I am giving thanks for the work that you and your churches have done in proclaiming the Good News of Jesus’ birth as the true joy to be celebrated. From what I hear people are seeking that truth with large numbers coming to services across our diocese. This follows the encouraging news that our diocese has seen growth in numbers since the pandemic. I thank God that many people are being introduced to Jesus across our diocese.
I thank God for you and all in your church community who offer so much. I pray that you have found time to rest in the peace and love of God. And I pray that you continue to feel the presence of the God who came to be with us as you traverse 2025.
We must be honest that this year promises to be one full of challenges. We have the challenge presented by the state of the national church as we grapple with our safeguarding and leadership crises. February Synod will see deliberations on the Jay Report and I pray that the church takes this opportunity to do the right thing, seeking justice first, treating survivors properly and making sure that all wrongdoing is appropriately dealt with. I will certainly be arguing for, voting for and supporting measures that will introduce independent scrutiny.
This starts in our diocese. I want every church, worshipping community, school and congregation to offer a safe place for all. For it is in the local church where this matters, and in the local church where the difference is felt. So that means your leadership is important. We have an excellent safeguarding team in St James House and we must follow their advice, commit to the training and to deal with disclosures well and according to the right processes. You make a difference and through you we can make sure we have the best possible culture in our diocese.
We also face the challenge of the future shape of ministry in our diocese. The crucial conversations about Fit for Mission continue. I remain committed to this and the larger single parish as the best way to address some of the major challenges we face in parochial ministry. We have seen great fruit coming from the work of the church in Wigan, St Helens and West Derby as the figures we spoke about before Christmas showed. We must remember as well that these figures are not sales targets or profit margins but are people who have been introduced to Jesus and are being discipled in our worshipping communities.
I urge you to engage positively with these conversations. I know this involves working across traditions and resolving theological and doctrinal differences. I know this can create painful conversations however we need to keep talking, listening and praying. For I believe we are better and stronger together working to bring God’s kingdom into every place in our diocese. We can only achieve this with honest dialogue, the type that involves hearing each other’s hopes and anxieties so we can work with each other. It is a goal worth reaching for as the church in general faces decline and despair, together we can offer hope.
There is also hope in our conversation with the national church over our future funding. Again, this is a complicated discussion but we have been patiently talking and listening to one another and this has resulted in the in-principle agreement we announced late last year. We knew we would have to do further work on the detail and that work is ongoing so while we won’t be able to start work on the various ideas that support our plan until later on in the year we can spend a great amount of time preparing the way from the beginning of 2025. It will be a challenge and again supporting the principle of the larger single parish as set out in the bid will go a long way to meeting the challenge. But this involves us all if we are to thrive as a diocese and be fit for the future.
If we are to be fit for the future then we must also be financing the future. This involve each of us living out the biblical vision of mutuality to support the mission and ministry across all our diocese. I urge you to make sure that your parish pays their requirements for parish share in 2026 in full. Like others I am aware of the need to review our Parish Share system to make sure it is fair and trusted and a proposal to review this will come to Diocesan synod in March. To do this fairly will take time but we need to continue to fund our ministry in every parish to maintain a presence in all communities. This is our commitment to work between parish, diocese and national church to make the best of the assets, the creativity and the faith we have to fulfil our calling to God’s mission in this place.
These are the challenges that lay before us. We will be ably supported by the talented team at St James House, led by Sharon Parr our new Diocesan Secretary who joins us in February. But we need to face them together, we must look to the many things we have in common not the areas which cause division. We must pray together, commune together and work together for the common good which is in the mission God has given us.
I believe we can do it for Jesus Emmanuel is not simply the God of Christmas. Jesus Emmanuel is the God with us. He is with us in the joy of Christmas, the despair of Good Friday and the glorious resurrection of Easter. He is with us in our rest and our working and through Him, equipped by his Spirit, we can meet the challenges set before us.
So let us start the New Year with a commitment to live in love and fellowship with each other and meet the challenge of 2025 in the love and hope of the Lord Jesus Christ.
With my ongoing thanks, prayers and blessings.
You read Archbishop Stephen’s Epiphany letter here
