On Saturday, 7th June, Bishop David made his Presidential Address to Synod:
"Last week saw the 12th anniversary of the announcement that the Queen had nominated me to be the 12th Bishop of Manchester. I can still remember how excited I was that morning, as I met representatives of the people of the diocese for the very first time, excited for my own future ministry, but even more excited about how we might live out the good news of Jesus Christ here together.
"A dozen years on, if there’s anything I could say to my younger self that might surprise him, it would be that I’m probably more excited today, about Manchester Diocese and being your bishop, than I was back then. Over that period we have both held on to our deserved high reputation for our work on the third and fourth Marks of Mission - caring for those in need and tackling injustice - at the same time as making huge strides on the other three Marks - proclaiming Jesus; nurturing disciples and tending God’s creation. What’s more, we’ve done that despite the huge hit we and most of the Church took from Covid and against a background of the Church of England having fewer stipendiary clergy to deploy. And we’ve done it because of the huge passion and commitment to the gospel demonstrated by the lay people and clergy in our parishes, chaplaincies and schools.
"Many of your will have heard my favourite quote from Archbishop Rowan Williams before, but it bears plenty of repetition. “The task of the Church”, Rowan asserted, “Is to spot what the Holy Spirit is up to, and join in”. It’s a challenging maxim, because the Holy Spirit seems to be pretty active right now - there’s a lot to join in with. And there’s only so much we can do with limited resources.
"Later in our agenda today, we’ll be looking at the state of our present and future resources. As the directors of the DBF, we will look at last year’s accounts, and hopefully send them to ourselves as Synod. Rachel Watts, our still fairly new Director of Vocations will share something of what she and her team are doing to support all of us in the task of building up the number of labourers in the vineyard. And not least we will look at the strategy behind an ambitious bid to the National Church Institutions for a major investment in Manchester Diocese over the next few years, across our four strategic objectives. Many of you will already have heard that the Pensions Board have invested so effectively over recent years, that it is now possible to make a major upgrade to the pensions, present and future, of many of our clergy. On Monday, the Church Commissioners will publish the Triennium Funding Programme for the next three years. My hope and expectation is that they will continue the policy of providing increasing funds to the wider church, whilst maintaining the value of the assets for future years, and being a world leading responsibility investor - the key things we worked hard to achieve in my years chairing the board. I have every hope that over the next few years we will be able to see some real improvement in clergy stipends and in the condition of our parsonage housing stock. These will be crucial to achieving our ambitions in the area of clergy wellbeing.
"Our most significant challenge lies in finding as many volunteers and stipendiary clergy as we would like to have. Many of our older members are reaching the point when they no longer feel able to hold the responsibilities they have carried in previous years, whilst younger ones have very busy lives beyond church. Where new people are joining our congregations, as they are, it can take a number of years before they, and sometimes we, feel they are ready and able to take on responsibilities. On stipendiary vocations, I do think, as Rachel will elaborate later, we have bucked much of the downward trend across the C of E in recent years. We remain committed to keeping the same complement of stipendiary posts as we now have. But against a background of a significant reduction in the national total of stipendiary incumbent ready clergy over the next few years, if we add more posts to our number, we will either be depriving other dioceses in the North from being able to recruit, or find posts becoming much harder to fill, especially in our poorer areas. Most likely we will see a combination of both. Against this backdrop, I would take some convincing that the Holy Spirit is telling us to create more stipendiary clergy posts.
"The good news is that our experience in recent years suggests we have other options. We will hear more about them later on this morning, but in summary, we have been very successful in recruiting to paid posts, such as with our children’s family, school and young people teams, in our deanery workers, and in lay staff at those churches which are being equipped to resource others. We can build on these achievements, not least in ensuring opportunities are provided across all parts of the diocese and all traditions. At the same time we can better equip our leaders with the skills required for the church Christ is calling us to be, and ensure that parishes have access to the kinds of modest grants that release opportunities for mission in their specific contexts. The bid that we plan to submit to the national church institutions in the autumn has a crucial part to play in resourcing us for the task. However, even if we are not successful in getting the funding we want, we will still need to follow broadly the same course of action.
"I continue to draw on the wisdom of my illustrious predecessor William Temple, whose memorial I stood close by earlier this week in Canterbury Cathedral. Two of his core teachings have been especially close to my heart throughout these 12 years. Firstly, that were we forced to choose between saving souls and meeting human need, we would be called to choose the former, but fortunately the two are not in opposition but go hand in hand. And secondly, that the Church of God is the only institution that exists primarily for those who are not its members. I’m convinced that it was here in Manchester, a century ago, in his early years as a bishop, and against the background of a city and its neighbouring towns that were already experiencing severe social problems in the aftermath of the First World War, that Temple developed the holistic understanding of mission that he took with him to York, to Canterbury and to Parliament. We stand in his shoes today, with the opportunity to continue to build on the foundations our predecessors have bequeathed us. It’s an opportunity I feel we are now better equipped to grasp that at any time in recent years. Which is what, 12 years on form the announcement of my appointment here, I am even more excited about serving Jesus among you than ever."