Bishop Keith Sinclair, Acting Bishop of Chester, has used his Presidential Address to Diocesan Synod to invite people and parishes to pray with him for the diocese, the wider Church and the nation at large.
Speaking about the diocese, Keith gave thanks to the Vacancy in See Committee for their work producing the Statement of Needs. He prayed for wisdom during the vacancy process and this time of transition. He said now wasn't the time to "stand still just awaiting a new bishop," but that we must look forward and continue to "face squarely" the missional challenge around younger generations.
Bishop Keith said: "We have spent a good amount of time in the Diocesan Synod and across the deaneries wrestling with this over the last few years, and certainly the staff team believe with me that we shouldn’t stand still just awaiting a new bishop. I’m praying the Lord will give us wisdom not only in the right structure and appointments but in the synergy that will come when we celebrate the gift of God in the missional communities which are the existing parishes and face squarely the missional challenge around younger generations."
Read Bishop Keith's Presidential Address in full.
On the wider Church, Bishop Keith looked ahead to 2020 and to welcoming bishops from our link dioceses in Melanesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, who are travelling to the UK to attend the Lambeth Conference.
Bishop Keith also invited prayer for all those working on Living in Love and Faith, a Church of England project that aims to produce resources that will help the Church to learn how questions about human identity, relationships, marriage and sexuality fit within the bigger picture of what it means to embody a Christian vision of living holy lives in love and faith in our culture.
Bishop Keith said: "As I think we all know, nothing threatens to divide the Church as differences over human sexuality, marriage and gender identity. Please pray for the Church of England over this next 9-12 months; and pray for me as next summer two conferences of bishops are planned, one in Kigali, and the other at Lambeth. We will be welcoming bishops from our link dioceses in Melanesia and Congo who will be coming to Lambeth and some may also be going to Kigali."
On the nation at large, the upcoming General Election was the focus. Bishop Keith said that political leaders were failing to "speak in a way that others can hear". He said he prayed that there could be a growing sense of the Kingdom amongst politicians and that somehow they may have an, "increasing sense of where we need to turn in order for us as a country to recover our centre of gravity."
Bishop Keith said: "Do we need very consciously as individuals and churches to set aside time for silent prayer, for a listening to the God who speaks, for an intercession in the Spirit’s power, even with sighs too deep for words. For myself, I am wanting to pray that in our voting and in those for whom we vote, there can be a growing knowledge of the Lord as Daniel saw in the court of Belshazzar, that there is one, “to whom has been given dominion, and glory, and kingship, that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14), and that the purpose of our politics as much as the purpose of our personal lives is to know the glory and fullness of that kingdom life in us and between us. Politics is not ultimately to be about our own personal preference lists, but a recognition of that kingship from God given in our Lord Jesus Christ which finds expression in our response of faith, hope and love."
Read Bishop Keith's Presidential Address in full.
Other items at Diocesan Synod included a report from Emily Allen, Church Building Missioner in the Diocese of Chester. She presented a research and development paper, Buildings for God's Kingdom, which maps out the current landscape of buildings in our diocese. The aim of the paper is to enable us all to better understand and stimulate discussion on the role of buildings in the Diocese of Chester. This includes understanding the financial resources required, the impact of buildings on the mission and ministry of the church and views on the best way forward to manage church buildings in the future.
Read Emily Allen's paper here.