The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Diocesan Synod was held on 17 June at St Paul’s Church, Bursledon. Read Bishop Philip’s Presidential Address below:
There are certain passages of Scripture to which I come back time and time again, so inspirational do I find them, and I want to share one of them with you now: it’s Luke’s description of the early church in Acts 2, and it runs like this:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread from house to house and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Those words are more significant than perhaps we realise, for they are the very first description of the fledgling Christian community after the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. So there is nothing accidental about this community. As I often say, this is not just a snapshot of the church in the power of the Spirit; this is a blueprint of how things are supposed to be. And I would always suggest to any PCC that it would be a very fruitful exercise to take this passage and ask how the Church concerned measured up to it – and to ask what changes they might want to make it more of a reality.
Now I don’t want to be simplistic about that. I do realise that in many ways this picture of the church can seem far from reality as we know it. We have to be realistic and say that many people feel very stretched, recruiting local officers to fulfil all the responsibilities lad on us is a real challenge; we depend more than we should on retired clergy; and we have a congregational demographic significantly older than the community we serve. I’m not naïve about any of that, and indeed I’m deeply grateful for all that so many people do – for all that you do – to sustain the serving, worshipping life of the church across the parishes of this Diocese. Thank you so much.
But alongside all that we do, I think, have good reason to be encouraged, as a Diocese. So let me share some of those ways with you.
For five years in a row attendance in the Church of England has grown. It is true that on the whole we are not back to pre-pandemic levels, but growth is growth, and there was actually no reason to think, humanly at least, that the pre-pandemic slope of decline would not have continued post-pandemic. And besides the pandemic is several years behind us. Anyone who was going to come back to church would have done so a long time ago – and many people of course still watch online. No, if our numbers are up, it’s because new people are coming to church. It has to be. I think we can dare to say that, day by day the Lord [is adding to our] number those who were being saved.
Furthermore while we can rejoice in the national picture, whilst Winchester is not top of the list in any one area, we’re the only Diocese to have seen above average increases in all key attendance and growth stats. As a Diocese we are showing consistent growth across the board – and in that we should rejoice and thank God.
Here’s a further reason to be encouraged. In a few days’ time Bishops Kelly, Rhiannon and I will all be taking part in our annual ordinations of deacons and priests. It is always a real joy to meet the candidates before ordination -and indeed to have walked the journey to ordination with them beforehand – and what a very impressive group of people they are.
And the statistical picture is really encouraging too. The Church of England sets a national benchmark figure for the number of ordinands we should be aiming for in order to maintain and grow ministry nationally, and make up for retirements, and then each diocese is given its own benchmark figure. And there are only five dioceses exceeding their benchmark figure – and we are one of them! In fact we’re third on the list after Europe and London, which are always likely to be outliers anyway.
I do find that very encouraging and I’m sure it’s in no small part, as I’ve mentioned before, to the many non-threatening opportunities we give people to step into some form of authorised ministry that gives them a great taste for doing yet more. And of course it’s not just about ordination. It’s a joy to see so many people following God’s call and stepping into many different ministries, both lay and ordained.
And there are many other good reasons to be thankful and encouraged. Our Common Mission Fund contributions increased by 5.4% in 2025 to the tune of an extra £445,000. We’ve appointed two excellent new Archdeacons: Dr Gemma Foster from Guildford Diocese in succession to the now-Bishop Jean Burgess as Archdeacon of Bournemouth, and our very own Simon Butler, which done such a fantastic job not only as Rector of the North Hampshire Downs Benefice but has done so much to develop our Growing Rural parishes Programme. Simon will, I’m sure, be a very worthy successor to Richard Brand who served this Diocese so remarkably well over many years.
You will hear more about this later in this meeting but we have also had some very encouraging news around the work we’re doing on Diocesan Vision and Strategy and the bid we want to make to the Strategic Mission and Ministry Board to support it. More of that good news later.
I’m sure we could go on with other good news stories – and forgive me if I’ve forgotten something – but I do just want to mention the wonderful Thy Kingdom Come event held in the Cathedral a few weeks ago. It was a wonderful, joyful event – and wonderful in particular because we were led in it so very, very well by the young people of this Diocese.
So there is much to be encouraged by – so be encouraged. But in closing I want to come back to the challenge that this passage from Acts 2 poses for us. It calls out the best in us. It calls us to devote [ourselves] to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. It calls us to generosity, to hospitality, to joy. It calls us to all that the Lord calls us to be – and that by his Spirit he enables us to be.
This is not only what the Lord calls us to be – it’s what this world needs us to be. The good news of Jesus must not only be proclaimed. It must be lived.
And let me mention one area where that is particularly important – and to set a challenge and invitation to you and others in this Diocese. This year a new General Synod will be elected. I suggested earlier that it would be a good exercise to hold this passage up like a mirror to a PCC. Well that would be a good exercise for General Synod. It would be a thoroughly sobering exercise, I fear – and in saying that I’m not knocking the excellent way our own reps have conducted themselves over the last years. But I don’t think that’s been the case more generally, more’s the pity.
We are in a new season as a Church, post the wrangles over Living in Love and Faith, and with a new Archbishop, with a deep commitment to pastoral care, compassion and service. So I do encourage you to consider standing for General Synod – and in doing so I’d really encourage you to stand not on any party ticket, but rather on a Kingdom ticket: a ticket marked by generosity, hospitality, and joy, and by devotion to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, so that not only in this Diocese, but even through General Synod, day by day the Lord [might add] number those who were being saved. Wouldn’t that be something to pray for? I think so! Amen.
