Church Governance and other exciting and fascinating matters.
A few weeks ago I asked the congregation if they would like me to spend
some of the sermon time this week on talking about 'Church governance'.
This is because this Sunday was 'Vestry Sunday' - our annual meeting
for receiving reports of all that has happened in the previous year,
saying thank you to the Wardens and Parish Council who work so hard for
the benefit of the church community, and considering the financial
situation of the Parish. There was an overwhelming 'yes' to that offer.
Each Church has it's own form of Governance, there is a need for some kind of order and accountability in any group. I think in the Anglican tradition we often make assumptions that people know what is going on without ever explaining these things - as if our structures and regulations might be passed on by some form of osmosis. This Sermon is a very broad attempt to give a picture of how we run our Churches and why we have the structures we do.
Each Church has it's own form of Governance, there is a need for some kind of order and accountability in any group. I think in the Anglican tradition we often make assumptions that people know what is going on without ever explaining these things - as if our structures and regulations might be passed on by some form of osmosis. This Sermon is a very broad attempt to give a picture of how we run our Churches and why we have the structures we do.
Epiphany
7 (2014) Year A RCL Principal
Foundations, Rules
& Temples
God is here!
Remember that? Those
three words, our words for the presentation, a reminder that God is a part of
our community and found in one another. They aren’t bad words to call to mind
as we go into our Annual Vestry meeting and indeed as I share something of my
understanding of what our Church order and governance consist of .
I should say that
when I put the question out a couple of weeks back ‘would you like me to say
something about what our Church structures are’ the response was quite
overwhelmingly ‘yes please’ in fact I
only had one person say no and that was because, as they said. “People really
should come to the vestry meeting to find out”.
I can see the logic in that, but I think that it might be worth saying
something of why vestry is important to encourage you all to come and take part
in this part of the life of our Church fellowship... [More]
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