WEDNESDAY'S NEWS

RCB focuses on future growth of the Church

Planning for future growth of the Church of Ireland is a priority on the Representative Church Body's agenda and will require the Church to change the way it does business, said Mr Geoffrey Perrin, Chairman of the RCB Executive Committee, proposing this year’s RCB report.

Much of this work is focused on the RCB's involvement in the Policy and Co-ordination Adivsory Committee. This Committee was set up jointly by the RCB and Standing Committee in 1998 to develop mutual understanding of issues and in the past year it has been looking at the key areas on which the Church should focus and act. "The overall aim is to further the spiritual growth of the Church…the vision and mission rather than the management of the status quo – looking at what we'd like to do and then considering HOW", Mr Perrin explained.

Outlining the process by which this would be achieved, he told Synod members, "Ideas have been submitted, prioritised and sent to the House of Bishops, who have responded in a very positive and helpful way". Consultation with the central bodies and analysis of the objectives presented by these groups in their submissions and their reports would then highlight areas for prioritisation in terms of resource allocation.

Mr Perrin suggested that a radical rethink of how we do business would be implicit in allocating our resources to support the active work of mission. "To do new things will mean stopping doing some of the things we've always done, that we're comfortable with, that we don't want to change. But we have got to change…we've all got to accept the implications."

In seconding the report, the Rt Rev AET Harper, Bishop of Connor echoed Mr Perrin’s words in emphasising the importance of developing resources for the furtherance of the Church’s mission. He spoke of the responsibility of the appointed bodies to establish policy and give leadership, and the corresponding responsibility of the RCB’s staff – which he compared to a civil service – to implement established policy.

The debate on the report focused largely on issues relating to the resourcing of the Church’s ministry and included discussions on stipend levels, provision for clergy sabbaticals and the maintenance of historic church buildings.

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