The Bishop of South Sydney has called for help in reforming church law to aid the ten per cent goal.
In a major proposal spearheaded by Bishop Robert Forsyth, chairman of the Policy Four Committee of the Mission Taskforce, the structure of the church building as the centre of parish life may be overhauled in place of a parish-based model where congregations become the primary unit of church life in Sydney.
The move would allow members of church plants and branch churches to join parish councils, attend vestry meetings and become wardens. At present any congregation not meeting on licensed church property (for example in schools, RSL clubs and public halls) are not ‘churches’ under diocesan law.
The proposal is part of the committee’s initial focus on parish and church administration to achieve reform in light of the Mission. It takes into account the movement away from the church building as the primary administrative unit within a parish in favour of the congregation in its place.
The committee believes this development has been paralleled with the diminished role of churchwarden and an expansion of the role of the parish council, alongside the increasing phenomena of Anglican congregations meeting in buildings that are not churches within the meaning of diocesan ordinances.
“The committee welcomes this phenomena as a means of fulfilling the fundamental aim of the Mission,” Bishop Forsyth said. “However, since these ‘off-site’ congregations are not churches, its members are generally not entitled to attend a vestry meeting of a church in the parish. These persons are essentially excluded from participating in the governance of the parish.”
The requirement that a church be situated on church trust property is not conducive to church planting, he added.
The report calls for reform that would give branch church members a greater say in electing representatives to parish councils and Synod. Under the plan an annual parish meeting of the members of all congregations of the parish would replace the annual vestry meeting for each church and the office of churchwarden would be replaced with the office of parish warden.
The briefing paper is under consideration by the Standing Committee of Synod.
Bishop Forsyth said fewer laws and greater flexibility are needed to reform the life of the Diocese. “There should be an initial focus on whether flexibility in the existing systems and structures of the Diocese can be exploited to achieve reform,” he said, adding that feedback from church members is crucial.
Policy Four of the Mission calls for reform of church life.
“I’m very keen to hear from people,” Bishop Forsyth said. “We want simple structures on church administration. Church law does not run parishes but it’s the backbone of institutional relational life.”
He said it was not an attempt to give ministers ‘more power or less power’.
“We want to make it better and more effective. I see this as an evolution. It’s not going to change the relationship of minister and parish officers.
“We want good, clear unambiguous church law that provides a flexible framework for church life, whether you’re in a small congregation of 15 or a big one of 1500.”