Next month the Sydney Anglican Synod will be asked to approve a comprehensive reshaping of the Diocese's operations.
"We don't want to waste a good crisis," has become the catchphrase for the radical review of Diocesan structures brought on by its financial losses. This phrase was repeated numerous times to me by bishops as well as by Peter Kell, author of the Mission Board report The Diocesan Mission: strategic directions 2010-2012 which outlines the new overall strategy,
Over the past month I spoke to Mr Kell, Bishop Ivan Lee and other key Diocesan leaders and put to them some of the key questions readers are asking:
WHAT IS THE OVERALL FUNDING STRATEGY?
The financial crisis provides an opportunity to align funding priorities more closely with the goals of the Diocesan Mission as well as build "on the insights and momentum of Connect09 to reconnect with the wider community", says Mr Kell.
"Because of the sheer scale of the reduction of funds, it is neither strategic nor appropriate to simply apply a 50 percent reduction to every presently funded activity," he says. "All presently funded activities are worthwhile. But to ensure growth in the long term, some things are more heavily funded, some partly funded, and others unfortunately unable to be funded."
WILL PARISHES BE ASKED TO MAKE UP THE SHORTFALL?
Some other Anglican Dioceses use a levy or assessment on local parishes to fund central Diocesan activities, but this option has been soundly rejected.
In other words, the Diocesan Mission's fundamental principle that the parish is "the basic coalface of our gospel outreach" is to be maintained, and so "no assessments are imposed on parish giving to make up the shortfall in central income," explains Mr Kell.
HOW WILL MINISTRY TRAINING BE IMPACTED?
Peter Kell in his report on the Diocese's new strategic direction concludes that, "recruitment and training of gospel workers. is the best strategic use of central funds for church growth in the long term."
Ministry training is to be given first priority for funds.
As a result, Mr Kell says, funding of ministry training: Moore Theological College, Anglican Youthworks College and the Department of Ministry, Training and Development (MT&D) has been maintained 'as much as possible'.
Moore College's funding has been cut by 10 per cent, but the money will be delivered in one block rather than as specifically targeted 'line items'. This will give the College more flexibility in spending.
"However, we are asking that Moore gives priority in its spending to training future ministry leaders," says Mr Kell. "We are looking for them to provide specific training in leadership and church planting."
Separate Synod funding for the Social Issues Executive, chaired by Moore ethicist Dr Andrew Cameron, has been cut. But Moore College has been asked to provide research support for the Social Issues Executive.
A big winner is Anglican Youthworks Year 13 training program for young people in their 'gap year' between high school and tertiary study. The future of this pilot program has not only been assured but it will actually receive more funding. Research has shown that retaining twenty-somethings is a weak spot for Sydney Anglicans.
SO WILL PARISH SERVICES BE CUT BACK?
While efforts have been made to maintain funding of ministry training, the second tier of Diocesan organisations known as 'Policy 2' - those that directly support parish ministry - has been cut harder.
The overall strategy principle is this: the centre must fund what local parishes can’t. Yet there is flipside to this principle.
"In the relative abundance of the past, some central funding flowed the other way and was well used as seed funding for new ministries and pastoral staff through regional grants," Mr Kell writes. "However, in the changed conditions central funding must consolidate around Policy 3 [Ministry Training] and local projects will need to be funded through local fundraising."
This means funding of Regional Councils - whose main task was allocating grants to parish ministries - has been slashed by about 90 percent.
Other services in the Policy 2 category will be funded if they jump two hurdles: firstly if the service can not be provided by parishes at the local level; and secondly if they directly contribute to the goals of the Diocesan Mission.
So, for example, it is recommended that Anglican Media's grant be cut by 45 percent.
"We are happy to fund those services which directly support parishes to grow," Mr Kell said.
These new priorities see Anglicare take the biggest percentage cut of the organisations. It will no longer receive Diocesan funding for counselling.
However Mr Kell said he could confirm, wearing his hat as CEO of Anglicare, that the number of counsellors serving the Diocese would not be reduced.
"We will be able to maintain counselling services through our own funds," says Mr Kell. "It has also been fortunate that the Government has significantly increased its support of counselling by organisations such as Anglicare in the past two years through their funding of Family Relationship Centres."
WHAT IS THE MAIN STRUCTURAL CHANGE?
Regions will be far less important in the new structure, with 20 smaller 'mission districts' key to the new strategy.
Since 1997 the Diocese has been split into 5 regions, each run by a bishop, archdeacon and a regional council. In the new structure regional archdeacons will be redundant.
WHO WILL RUN THE NEW MISSION DISTRICTS?
The centre-piece of the Diocese's brand new structure, is the devolution of ministry strategy to 20 new Mission districts, each overseen by a Mission Leader.
"I must emphasise the Mission Leader is not a replacement for Archdeacons. This is a brand new role," says Bishop Ivan Lee who has been working on the details of the proposal. "We think our rectors have good ideas. This is a way of bringing them together."
"The aim is to see Connect09 embedded," he explains. "We want to keep the momentum going."
A key observation behind the proposal is that individual churches, left to their own devices, can focus too much on transfer growth.
"We have observed that often in a local area one church will grow at the expense of another. This is about providing strategy for a local district," Bishop Lee says.
Each Mission Leader will be a full-time parish rector who will be asked to inspire and motivate his neighbouring colleagues, providing strategic planning at the local district level.
Each Mission Leader will receive about $10,000 each year from the diocese to implement this work.
An initial $300,000 will pay for the training of the 20 Mission Leaders once they are selected.
"We will listen to the Mission Leaders and then work out their needs and requirements," says Bishop Lee.
Aren't the most competent rectors already too busy to take on this kind of role?
"The Mission Leader will be a natural leader. In many cases they will be doing this role informally already. They are the sorts of guys who are always helping the Diocese in lots of ways," says Bishop Lee.
The vibe at the pre-Synod briefings was generally positive towards the idea of bringing mission strategy closer to the front-line.
"The regions are too big," says Bishop Lee. "It is too hard to develop a strategy that is applicable across a whole region. This is a good idea that should have been implemented regardless of the cutbacks."
WHAT WILL THE REGIONAL COUNCILS DO?
The decision to focus Diocesan money on 'core' activities that parishes cannot provide, means Regional Councils will have their budgets cut by 90 percent or some $5million.
In the past most Regional grants went to fund ministry workers in parishes, particularly seed-funding for new initiatives.
From 2010, the remaining amount will be largely earmarked to kick-start ministries that can reach new migrant groups - a task that is difficult to co-ordinated from the local level.
However, Bishop Lee expects that about 50 per cent of the regional council budget will need to be spent on secretarial and executive property support to the bishops. Otherwise - with the 5 regional Archdeacon positions made redundant - there would be no one to oversee property issues in each region.
HOW THEN WILL ETHNIC MINISTRIES BE SUPPORTED?
The five regional councils will be asked to give 'priority in the grants' to cross-cultural ministries.
Peter Kell, author of the Mission Board report on the Diocese's new strategic direction, says many parishes do not have the resources needed to reach all 'the lost tribes' in their suburb.
"Most of our churches have a long way to go to reach out beyond Anglo-Australians," he said.
The grant allocation will no longer be evenly divided between each region. Mr Kell said that the new approach may mean the more ethnically diverse regions receive a higher percentage of the money.
Bishop Ivan Lee agrees, adding that it's hard to estimate whether the new situation will mean total funding for cross-cultural ministry will increase or decrease overall.
"In some regions this may actually mean more money for cross-cultural ministry," he said.
