The following address was delivered by the Rt Revd Neil Warwick, Acting Bishop of Bristol and Bishop of Swindon, to the Diocesan Synod that took place on Saturday 21 March 2026
Sisters and brothers in Christ, thank you for being here today. Synod gatherings remind us that the church is about people—faithful, prayerful, and committed people.
Thank you for the many ways you serve Christ and your communities through our diocese, seen and experienced as a church rooted in every local community and by a skilled team in Hillside House.
In recent months and years, I have seen three things again and again across our parishes: lives changed by making Jesus known, extraordinary social action, and remarkable financial giving. These are signs of a living Church.
First, lives changed by making Jesus known
Everywhere I go on a Sunday and in the week, people tell me about young people walking into church and wanting to know about Jesus and have a life of faith.
I also do regular confirmations…people from 8-to-eighty standing up and saying ‘I believe’…tens and tens and tens of people. I say to them, ‘God has called you by name and made you His own.’
What a moment…repeated again and again.
The sense, experience and testimonies of God at work - one 16-year-old stood up and said, ‘…life, school, my family are all better since I became a Christian.’
This evangelism and transformation in lives is our core calling…everything we do starts here.
Second, thank you for your social action.
Across our parishes people are responding to the needs around them with compassion and courage…
…41,000 people reached in 2025 by 1,600 volunteers (disciples) giving 122,000 hours of support.
Building community, reducing isolation, supporting families, feeding people… collaboration with other organisations for good.
Rural, urban, town, village, estate, school…amazing.
In Swindon a couple of weeks ago we gathered church leaders and community leaders to see the social action impact and hear from two vicars.
Two stories impacted me in particular - a vicar looking outside his window on a Swindon estate - saw a load of young people hiding in his garden. He went out to find out what was going on. ‘Sshhh,’ the teenagers said, ‘get down’. He thought the worst - in recent history groups of teenagers, some with knives, had run across the estate looking for a fight. ‘What’s going on?’ the vicar asked again. ‘We’re playing hide-and-seek.’
What a transformation…the church, Shine Pinehurst, and the vicar Simon Halls, had invested in a pizza oven on wheels with teenage chefs trained to make give away pizzas to young people across the estate. Embedded ministry on the estate over many years, with other organisations, had changed the climate, children could play out again. The church was part of the change. Much need is still present, and yet this is a transformative moment. Thanks be to God.
Secondly, social action, carried out visibly as a church community, has become central to the mission in Swindon New Town. Welcome spaces offer free warm drinks, snacks and games, and a free shop, run with SBC’s Live Well team, provides warm clothing for anyone in need, especially those in the asylum system or newly arrived as refugees. A youth group, toddler group and a series of summer clubs have also been established, each shaped by local need.
Opening churches in these ways has helped form and strengthen communities, breaking down barriers and making God’s love more visible. Many have begun a journey of faith through these projects, later seeking baptism, confirmation and participation in the Eucharist.
Similar work across our Diocese happens quietly. It rarely makes headlines. But it matters enormously. Through these acts of care, the Church is present where Jesus calls us to be—alongside those who need hope, dignity, and practical help.
In our communities where loneliness can be widespread and community fragile, across our Diocese, and in our churches you continue to make people feel known and valued. Your work in sustaining that life of community is deeply important.
Third, thank you for your financial giving.
These are challenging financial times. Costs rise —for households, for parishes, and for our diocese. At the same time, our financial giving in Parish Share, has remained level since Covid.
I want to acknowledge that it hasn’t been easy for any of us.
Financial giving is a central expression of Christian faith - something for which I am deeply grateful.
Honesty requires us to acknowledge that we are facing real financial pressures as a Diocese. Rising costs - some beyond our control, changing patterns of giving, and the realities of maintaining buildings and ministry mean the gap between our giving and the cost of ministry (vicars, housing, training) has moved apart. Our giving hasn’t covered the cost of ministry for some years.
We have remained faithful and maintained the level of clergy in our local communities and churches. God is with us and churches grow when they have good lay and ordained leadership.
This moment is not primarily about budgets and spreadsheets. It is about our shared commitment to a Church being present in the name of Jesus.
I am encouraged because I believe the foundations are already strong. The three things I mentioned—making Jesus known, social action, and your generosity are the signs of a Church that is alive.
Our task now is to build on those strengths.
When I was a parish priest for 10 years, paying parish share was sometimes a struggle, the parish had relied on other parishes to financially support it in the past - a net receiver not giver.
The PCC remembered that and was determined to pay Share.
Nehemiah
One year, I reminded the congregation of story of Nehemiah rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. It seemed overwhelming. The wall was broken down, people were discouraged.
The remarkable thing in that story is how the rebuilding happened.
It was not accomplished by a few heroic individuals doing everything themselves. Instead, the people worked side by side. People repaired the sections of wall nearest their homes. Craftsmen, merchants, priests, and ordinary labourers all took part. Each brought what they could—their skills, their time, their effort.
No single person rebuilt the wall. Together, they did it. The wall was restored and the life of the city renewed.
Be encouraged as we start from a much more encouraging foundation and like the people in Nehemiah’s day, we are not called to solve everything alone.
We can do this!
Some contribute through their time and service. Some through pastoral care and prayer. Some through leadership and vision. Some through financial giving. All of these matter. All of them are part of the work of building the life and mission of the Church.
Everyone brings what they can.
So as we face the financial realities before us, my hope is that we approach them in that same spirit— with confidence in God and each other through shared commitment.
We also need to work wisely on our costs and contingencies, which the team has been doing for several months.
I believe the financial resources to close the gap are out there. I personally commit to increase my financial giving to the diocese.
Conclusion
I heard the story of John recently. In a hospice and near death and sitting in the garden, he had a profound experience of a ball of light coming towards him and God saying, ‘do not be afraid.’ John asked to see the local vicar, Gaby Doherty, who sought to understand what God was doing in that moment. John was baptised and took communion - for the first time ever. Family and friends said John was transformed for the better. He died knowing Jesus and the peace that alone can give. I share that story for myself…
…I’m called to be a shepherd who seeks the lost…that vicar shares the cure of souls, and it reminded me, and I hope you, that we face life with confidence and faith.
Let our new bishop find us working and praying and giving for the transformation of lives and communities in the name of Jesus.
Let us continue the work you are already doing so faithfully - making Jesus known, serving our communities, nurturing relationships, and giving generously to God’s mission.
Thank you for all that you do. Thank you for your faithfulness. And thank you for being part of this shared work of the Gospel.
Amen