If we do not undertake the work of reforming our diocesan organisations and culture, we may find ourselves entirely by-passed in the society in which we live and unable to speak in a contemporary way.

For most of history, human beings have lived in relatively static circumstances. Rural life, even village life, changed little from generation to generation. People stayed where they were, inheriting from their parents both estates and attitudes.

Furthermore, conservatism was valued. People looked back to an alleged better time rather than forward. Improvement was slow. We may contrast this with the extraordinary rate of change in Western industrialised society.  The Industrial Revolution gave impetus to a continuous tech-nological advance which meant that human culture and skills were always changing. The mentality of the industrialised West is forward-looking. The pursuit of excellence is just the latest way of speaking about the ceaseless quest for improvement.

The benefits of these changes were matched by unease, and even distrust, among those who were passing through them. In a famous book, Alvin Toffler described this unease as ‘future shock’.

Certainly, the present generation has experienced an incredible number of changes. The revolution in commun-ications is a prime example.
We may be disturbed by these changes, resent them, or try to avoid them but, as we all know, avoidance is not a possible strategy. However much we have tried to keep our experience of church based on our childhood memories, it has not been possible in any part of the Western world to retain our experience as it was.

Now there are very good arguments for being conservative in matters to do with church. In fact, at one level we ought to be profoundly conservative. We do believe in the importance of the past and, most especially, the teaching of the Bible about what we ought to do when we meet. Christians are not among those who forget history. We are especially interested in the providential works of God in history as far as we can discern them.

On the other hand, if we wish to nurture modern people, and if we wish to evangelise in modern society, we are also going to have to alter our way of doing things to match reality. I do not doubt the pain involved in doing this, but it is both inevitable and necessary.  What we need to do is to change in a principled way.

The fourth policy of our Mission speaks of the need to reform the life of the Diocese (including its culture, ordinances, customs, use of resources, and deployment of ministry) to encourage and enable the fulfilment of the fundamental aim. This is a daunting prospect, but if we do not undertake the work we will find ourselves entirely by-passed in the society in which we live and unable to speak in a contemporary way.

Diocesan organisations have begun to work on these matters. But it is a local task as well. Thus, every local church needs to ask these questions: First, what are the unchanging principles by which the church lives? Second, how can they best find expression today? Third, what changes do we need to make so that we can fulfil our obligations to Christ?