First appearances can be deceiving.

I remember the first time my father brought a mobile phone home from work, a Motorola ‘brick’, and I thought to myself – ‘What’s the point? That’s never going to catch on’.

And I wonder if some people think the same way the first time they come across Synod?

I first became a member of Synod last year and before too long my mailbox was overflowing with reports, business papers and other pieces of paper, and then I was introduced, as I read through those papers, to the world of ordinances, amendments and a bewildering array of three-letter acronyms (EOS, SDS, PCR for example).

But actually going to Synod opened my eyes to the fact there’s more to Synod than first meets the eye.

I came to realise that Synod is much more than administration.
More than government.
More than spreadsheets and legislation and examination of minutiae.

But Synod is ultimately about seeing more people become disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, a fact that was very obvious from what we saw at Synod on Day 2.

The day started with the Rev Dr Michael Stead teaching the bible and encouraging the Synod from Zechariah chapter 3.

Then it wasn’t too long that we started to focus on people – expressing our support for our Christian brothers and sisters in Nigeria experiencing persecution, thanking God for the ministries of Dean Phillip Jensen, Mr Peter Kell and the Rev Dr John Woodhouse, and expressing our condolences and support for the family for Rev Paul Mostyn, who had recently died.

And as we focused on these people we also prayed.

Sounds a bit like church doesn’t it?

Sure, there were all sorts of other things that we looked at as well – the Parish Relationships Ordinance, the Discipline Ordinance, and the Bishopscourt Sale Ordinance (see…), but right at the heart of all the Synod proceedings was a concern for the word of God to be Proclaimed, so that People would grow in their knowledge of Jesus, all undergirded by a Prayerful dependence on God.

That’s what Synod’s about. That’s why we meet. And if you want to be praying for Synod, let me encourage you to be praying that the members of Synod would be working together to provide a platform for ministry that revolves around Proclamation, People and Prayer.