Who’s Got the Power?

The Church of England, General Synod, Oak Trees, Secret Doors and End of Level Monsters

In 2015, I stood in an election to represent the diocese of Bath and Wells in the House of Laity of the General Synod of the Church of England.

Precisely why I did that is hard to say, but if you care deeply about the Church of England – which I do – you might want to be part of the decision-making process.

In a hustings meeting in Wells in 2015, I was asked by more than one person what I would say when I stood up to speak at the General Synod if elected. The implied question was over what issue would I stand up and give them both barrels.

As a society, we have embraced the idea of ‘speaking truth to power’. And in the Church of England, the General Synod is where the power is, right? That’s where the decisions are made, right? RIGHT?

Well, yes. And no. Sorry. The answer itself could hardly be more Anglican. Let me explain.

Chain of Command

On paper, it looks like the General Synod sits at the top of a democratic chain of command. Parishes elect representatives to the local deanery. The deanery elects their representatives to the diocesan synod.

At the head of each diocese (eg. Bath and Wells, Rochester, Durham) is a bishop, elected by the diocesan synod? No. He or she is not elected but appointed by the Queen, although this power is devolved to the Prime Minister and a body called the Crown Nominations Commission.

You might expect that this diocesan synod in turn elects their representatives to General Synod. But they don’t. The members of the deanery synod are also the electors for the diocese’s representatives to the General Synod. The laity vote for candidates for the House of Laity, and the clergy for the House of Clergy.

Simple, right? No, it gets more complicated.

Convocational Complications

The Church of England’s diocese are split between two provinces, Canterbury and York, with their own synod called a Convocation, overseen by their respective Archbishops – and each have a prolocutor. (There’s also a position called a Pro-Prolocuter, but let’s not get into that.)

Oh, and there’s also the House of Bishops, not to be confused with the College of Bishops. And some bishops are Provincial Episcopal Visitors and… it’s all getting rather complicated, isn’t it?

That shouldn’t be any surprise. Old trees have many branches. And the Church of England is really old. Older than the oldest oak tree in England (pic?). In fact, one could argue the Church is older than England itself, which has only been a united nation for a thousand years. You could trace the Church of England back to four centuries earlier and the papal initiative to the angel-faced Angles in 597.

Back to General Synod

And yet the General Synod was only established in 1970. Why was everything not simplified then so that everyone can see where the power is?

This relates to the post I wrote last week about politics, and how a feverish desire to make rapid sweeping changes can, in the words of GK Chesterton, rush us into ruin. I noted how the American political system was set up by the Founding Fathers with checks and balances to prevent a President from being seduced into becoming a dictator, or a mob from establishing a junta.

The long and the short of it is this: if the Church of England had the kind of structures that enabled dramatic and rapid change, someone would have ruined it by now. Completely.

So how has the Church of England survived so long? Because every parish and diocese is a separate legal institution, which was united under the Pope for centuries, and then under the Sovereign, joined together in common worship with a Book of Common Prayer.

The General Synod does have power to change this liturgy and our canon law – with a two-thirds majority in each house. Changes have to be made to standing orders and various bodies held to account. The General Synod has many other important functions, not least of which is the way in which is a representative consultative body that provides checks and balances. But it is not the home of the lever of power.

End of Level Monsters

The quest for that lever of power might make you feel like you’re in an ecclesiastical computer game where you defeat the ‘end of level monster’, only to get through to the next level and be presented with a slightly bigger monster.

How that works in the case of General Synod is that you might battle through and eventually find the door to a chamber where the real power is: a mysterious body called the Archbishops’ Council.

I had the honour of being elected to represent the House of Laity of the General Synod on The Archbishops’ Council and can confirm that, having visited Lambeth Palace, Bishopthorpe, and Church House, there isn’t a lever being guarded by cherubim with flaming swords, or an aggressive archdeacon with a big stick.

What on earth is the Archbishops’ Council?

The Archbishops’ Council’s was set up in 1998 to “co-ordinate, promote, aid and further the work and mission of the Church of England”. The members of the council are trustees, ensuring that our charitable aims are being pursued legally and according to our strategic goals. The Council oversees National Church Institutions and supports dioceses who struggle to do big tasks on their own, such as provide training for ordained ministry. The Council can also provide resources and services, such as in safeguarding or digital, that might either require a consistent approach, or take too long to develop locally, or involve unnecessary duplication.

And then there’s the Church Commissioners and we could talk about pensions, but I think you get the idea. It is complicated and work on simplification is well under way. We are church seeking to be simpler, as well as bolder and humbler.

But the fact is that there are no big levers of power in hidden catacombs in secret locations scattered across England.

There are, however, thousands of smaller levers of power all over England. They are located in every parish, and you might find a slightly larger one at the heart of your dioceses.

We want to be bold, and the Great Commission couldn’t be bolder. Make disciples of all nations! But Jesus tells us many parables about waiting. We don’t like to wait, and especially not for changes that are clearly for the better. The apostle Paul reminds us that God calls us to serve him by serving the people he has put before us and around us – our friends, families and neighbours - and do the works that he has prepared in advance for us to do.

Truth to Power

When I was asked about what I would say to General Synod, when I was being invited to speak truth to power, I surprised myself with my answer. I said I would listen. I didn’t know how it worked, and I had a lot to learn. I know – that doesn’t sound like me, does it?

So far, I’ve learnt there are no silver bullets, no magic wands. The greatest weakness of the Church of England, its slowness to change, is also its greatest strength, in that it is still ministering to millions of people in many of the same places that it ministered to our ancestors for over a thousand years. And that’s something I care deeply about and in which I want to participate.

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