LOOKING AHEAD WITH CONFIDENCE
Oliver Home, presentation to Diocesan Synod, 10 May 2008
I have been asked to talk about what it means to develop a Diocesan Strategy: the opportunities and constraints, the focal points and the parameters; and how, in spite of – and perhaps even because of – the challenges we face as a Diocese, we might look ahead with confidence.
My role as Strategic Development Assistant to the Bishop of Bristol involves assisting Bishop Mike and the Diocesan Strategy & Policy Group on planning for the future. It’s not appropriate at this stage to put forward proposals for a strategy for 2010 and beyond. In the year to come, we hope that Synod will have the opportunity to consider proposals for 2010 and beyond. I am going to frame the planning process and the kinds of considerations we take into account when forming those proposals.
It can be a hostage to fortune for people like me to start talking about ideas and strategies for the future. History is littered with gaffes when it comes to predictions about the future. Before the First World War, Marshall Foch, at that time the Professor of Strategy at the French Ecole Superieure de Guerre but who went on to be the Allied Commander, made the statement that “Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” Equally, Thomas Watson, the chairman of IBM in the 1940s, apparently speculated that “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.”
Hindsight is a wonderful thing of course and despite these predictions, the French were on the winning side in both World Wars and IBM was until recently the largest computer company in the world. The point is that things change: aeroplanes have changed the nature of warfare; computers have become ubiquitous and transformed how we approach many aspects of life. Our aims may stay the same, but how we set about achieving them in the future is going to be different from how we set about achieving them in the past. The only strategy I would bet on not working is the one that is justified and formed on the basis of ‘we’ve always done it this way’.
This idea seems a particular challenge to many in the Church of England. Some seem to confuse the Church’s regard for the part tradition might play in the formation of our faith for an uncritical adherence to traditions. The fact is that many of the practices that are espoused as inherent parts of Anglicanism are really not. But people hold onto some traditions very strongly.
Whether they should necessarily be parts of our faith or not, if they are prevalent, what they do is play a part in forming the current culture of the Church of England. ‘We’ve always done it this way’ is not far from the lay man’s definition of culture, ‘the way we do things around here’. Culture cannot be ignored. As Mark Greene of the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity memorably told the Lee Abbey Clergy Conference two years ago, ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’.
CULTURE MATTERS
Culture matters in strategy. What does that mean for us when we set about forming a Diocesan Strategy?
It means that every aspect of the way we do things needs to be subjected to scrutiny. ‘We’ve always done it this way’ is not a trump card that puts an area off limits. In fact, it might highlight where we need to start. Of course, there are good theological reasons why we do some things but it does not mean that the way we do things is not up for grabs.
It means that sometimes, where a cultural trait of the Church has led us off track, the strategy might need to be to change that culture.
Thirdly, where a strategy will have an impact on the prevailing culture of a strong sub-culture in the Diocese as a secondary effect, that effect cannot be ignored. It must be attended to or it will undermine what we are seeking to achieve. Rather than paying attention to the strategic change, people will be distracted by resisting the cultural change.
So, to form and implement a Diocesan Strategy, you’ve got to be aware of, scrutinise, sometimes change and challenge and always attend to culture and the sub-cultures of the Diocese.
UNDERSTANDING THE DIOCESE
Next, you’ve got to understand the nature of the organisation you’re planning for. If you don’t have a handle on what your organisation can take responsibility for implementing then your plans aren’t going to get very far.
A Diocese is a fairly complex organisation to get your head round. Rather than spend time explaining the array of structures, rules and dynamics that govern the way we operate and the effect it has on our planning I will draw attention to a few things.
We have got to understand that although a Diocesan Strategy aims to have a positive impact on the whole of the Diocese only some of the constituent parts that make up the Diocese can take responsibility for implementing that strategy.
By this I mean that, although the participation of parishes is integral to any Diocesan Strategy it is up to the parts of the Diocese associated with the oversight and resourcing of the Diocese – this Synod, the Boards and Councils, the Bishop and his Senior Staff and the Area Deans and Lay Chairs – to work in their spheres of influence to make it work.
This is because, although in some respects, the Church of England has the appearance of hierarchy, the apparent power is not backed up by executive power. It’s not like the army. Although priests do swear an oath of canonical obedience to the Bishop, they do not take orders from their Bishop and parishes do not take orders from the Diocese. It’s just not like that and neither should it be, because the Diocese has a diffuse power structure. Parishes have their own governance structures and although synodical structures and Diocesan and national church policy might influence the way parishes go about their mission, unless they are legally required to do so, neither the Diocese nor the Bishop are free to interfere in or dictate the way they do so. It’s about using influence and relationship, not power and status.
So a Diocesan Strategy must be persuasive in the areas that it hopes parishes to internalise aspects of it. The Growth Programme would be an example of that kind of aspect of a strategy: it is a resource offered by the Diocese to local churches to help them plan to grow and orient their activity; it is a challenge and an opportunity; but it is not an order.
At the same time, we have got to recognise the aspects of the Diocese that are centralized and the impact that has had on the way we work. The fact that since the 1960s and 1970s glebe land, parochial fees and a level of parochial income through Parish Share have been centralized in order to ensure clergy costs and parochial deployment are equitable and central costs are met makes a significant difference to the dynamics between parishes and, for want of a better expression, ‘the centre’. It creates a dynamic in the Diocese: ties in the Diocese were largely ecclesiological, all the parts held together by being in communion with the Bishop. These ties have been reinforced by financial relationships. Although this strengthens interdependence, it can also create an element of an ‘us and them’ dynamic between parishes and the diocese. We’ve got to think about how this might affect strategy and ownership.
This was part of the reason that attempts are being made to invest a greater level of Diocesan responsibility at Deanery level, to flatten out the gradient of the relationships in the Diocese and give a balcony view to oversight rather than just a helicopter view. I could talk about subsidiarity at length but clearly it affects the way we are as a Diocese. As we plan for the future, we’ve got to filter plans through the developing realities as well as the past realities of the Diocese.
So, in forming a Diocesan Strategy, we’ve got to understand and keep in mind the kind of organisation we are as a Diocese and how that affects strategic planning.
REMEMBERING OUR PURPOSE
We’re attending to the culture of the Diocese, we’re taking into account the structures of the Diocese but ultimately this is about fulfilling the aims of the Diocese, achieving what we’re about. The purpose statement for the whole of the Diocese is ‘creating communities of wholeness with Christ at the centre’. If there is a motivating force for those involved in the oversight and resourcing of those communities it is to empower them. As I said, the Church has an apparent hierarchy, even if it is not backed up by executive power. But the apparent hierarchy has affected our psychology and it is tempting for those in hierarchies to try to control energy rather than release it. Bishop Mike has alluded in his address to the psychology of power in our churches. Sara Savage makes a telling comment in her analysis of psychology in parish life in The Future of the Parish System: ‘Hierarchies stabilise but they rarely liberate’. If our driving force is to empower we’ve got to pinch ourselves constantly in our thinking not to put forward strategies collude with the restraint of energy. Instead we need to be actively providing the context, policies and resources centrally that might help release the energy of the whole people of God locally.
I have spent some time talking about attending to our culture, our structure and our purpose. I have done this because, in strategic planning, it is crucial to define the reality of who and what we are. Because if we think we are something we are not, our strategies for the future will actually be fantasies. We might have great aspirations but, unless we understand the context in which we work, we will be doing the wrong things in the wrong place using the wrong means – and we won’t get very far.
THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE
If we’re planning for the future, you’ve got to make some judgements about what the future context might be like. You’ve got to look at social trends, demographic trends, economic trends. You’ve got to think about cultural shifts, lifestyle changes, legislative changes. So we think about some scenarios and what it might mean for our planning.
I’m just going to highlight a few to give an idea of some factors that need to be taken into account.
Our society has become massively diverse and it will continue to become more so. Walk around fairly provincial towns and cities like Swindon and Bristol and you will see and hear a massive range of ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity. The issues around integration are plain to see. At the same time, the differences between the generations seem to be becoming more distinct. And even within British born youth culture, there are tens of tribes, separated from one another. I heard of a youth minister who could enumerate over 50 discernible youth subcultures. How do local churches successfully relate to, reach and make disciples of all the ethnos of the great commission when there are so many on our doorstep – in our parish, benefice or partnership or Deanery? How do they play a part in being a unifying force in a fragmenting society? And how does the Diocese resource and empower that?
Our population is not only increasingly diverse, it is increasingly elderly. People are healthier than they have been and are living longer. At the moment and in the coming years, the Church is benefitting from the efforts – and comparative wealth – of baby boomers in good health, some of whom have taken early retirement and others looking forward to an active retirement. But as people are also having to work until they are older, some of this trend will be cancelled out and into the future we will have a higher proportion of elderly and dependent people to support and minister to. With the fragmentation of family life compounding that, what does this mean for the local church and how might the Diocese empower them to minister?
How might legislative changes affect the way we plan as a Diocese? The latest edition of Halsbury’s Laws of England incorporating the laws of the last 20 years has more than doubled in size to over 100 volumes. The Companies Act is the largest piece of legislation ever in this country. Increased legislation regarding discrimination as well as new legislation on Data Protection and Freedom of Information is radically changing and altering the way organisations, charitable or otherwise, behave. It puts new burdens on largely voluntary organisations like ours. Legislation and regulation will only continue to grow and will in many cases constrain more and more the way we practice our faith and seek to make it known. It will also enable us to do a better job at things like protecting children and vulnerable adults, as we have looked at today. But we all know the levels of administration that come with these responsibilities. What role does the Diocese have to play in resourcing local churches to meet the demands or new legislation? What role can the centre play in releasing them from the time consuming tasks that are required to adhere to this legislation?
The economic climate, never entirely predictable, obviously has an impact. Compared with the generation that has gone before my generation are starting working life consistently with higher levels of debt and are spending a considerably higher proportion of their incomes on rent or mortgages. If, as the preceding generation retire, their giving becomes the mainstay of churches income, it is likely that, however sacrificially they give, there will be less available income to give out of.
In addition, the very uncertain global financial situation, you’ve got to question the ability of the Church’s investments to provide such a consistent return as they have done for the last decade. One of the many things this will have a knock on effect on is the clergy pension fund. You are all aware that the cost of clergy pensions is rising disproportionately. Since 1997, the direct cost to Dioceses of each stipendiary clergy person (stipend, pensions, national insurance etc) has risen by 93%. That level of increase is not going to slow down. Over the same period, average salaries have risen by 45%. Therefore, taking into account salary increases and on the assumption that people are giving the same proportion of their income to the Church as ten years ago, it still takes the giving of a third more people to meet the costs of each clergy person. In ten years’ time, I would speculate that it would be a third more people again.
The financial message is that even with significant numerical growth it might not be possible for the church in the future to base its strategies around stipendiary clergy as it has done in the past.
How do you respond to this scenario? Do you see it as the final nail in the coffin of the Church and that we must contract and die? Do you see it as a financial and numerical challenge to increase the level of giving and numbers of givers in the Church to restore stipendiary clergy numbers? Do you see it as an opportunity, a wake up call to the Church to hear a message about releasing the energy of the priesthood of all believers rather than overburdening the energy of the priesthood of the few?
Sometimes, Diocesan Strategies are accused of being finance driven. ‘The Diocese is only doing this because they don’t have enough money and they want to balance the books.’ Well, balancing the books – or getting fairly close to doing so – is not unimportant but clearly that should not be the end point. So it is here that the question Bishop Mike asks is helpful: ‘If we had all the money in the world, would we still do this or that strategy?’ Well sometimes the answer is no, not because it is not the right strategy, but because if we had all the money in the world, it would be much easier to maintain the status quo. I guess it is possible to have a finance driven strategy not because you have insufficient finances to maintain the status quo but because you have quite enough to do so.
A parallel example might be a household’s attitude towards their environmental impact. Finance can be an added incentive to do the right thing – cut down on unnecessary energy use, food waste, car travel, intercontinental travel and so on. But if you’ve got the money to waste energy and food, drive everywhere in a large car and take the dream holidays, it’s much easier to do so than think about changing.
Perhaps an equally helpful question to ask is, ‘If we had no money in the world, how would we go about empowering communities to become whole and Christ-centred?’ Between answering both, you might get close to discerning the extent to which your strategy is finance or Kingdom driven.
Not that finance cannot play a part in helping us discern what God is saying. As some of you might have felt when I asked how you responded to that financial scenario, perhaps we might be hearing from a financial source a message that we should have heard from a spiritual source? Maybe this is not a problem to be overcome but an opportunity to embrace, an opportunity to release the energy of the whole people of God in ministry and mission in a way that has not happened for years.
TAKING IT FORWARD
As I conclude, I just want to highlight three simple things as we go forward that will be essential to the success of our current work and our future strategy and will give us confidence as we go about achieving it.
Firstly, we’re in it with God. We are about his business and if we do not seek his guidance, his Spirit, his wisdom, his power and his strength, what ever we do will be useless.
Secondly, we’re in it together. The Diocese is interdependent – not just financially and organisationally, but theologically and relationally. A Diocesan Strategy will only be effective if we work with one another and not against one another. It will only be effective if we hold one another accountable and this Synod has a crucial part to play in that.
Thirdly, we’re in it for the long haul. The Growth Programme, for example, is not a two year programme but probably a ten year one. Developing leadership takes many years. Change can involve waiting. That will take perseverance, commitment and a lot of discipline. We’ve got to stick to the task and stay focused.
There are many more things I could have said, factors I could have examined, scenarios I could have outlined. But I hope this have given you a sense of what we’re trying to do in developing a strategy for the future and hope that, whatever the apparent constraints, you too are confident that we are working with a God who, in the words of St Paul, can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.
Oliver Home