A year ago, I knocked on the door of the magnificent Liverpool Cathedral and was installed as the 9th Bishop of Liverpool. It has been a memorable year in this wonderful diocese. Thank you for your love and support.
People often say you need a year to understand the rhythm of life in a new ministry. To experience how a different place observes the seasons and festivals of the year. Once you have achieved that then you can be in a position to reflect on custom and practice and gain your impression of the place that God has called you to serve.
I came to the Diocese of Liverpool knowing a bit about you and I knew Liverpool thanks to my daughter having six marvellous years studying at the university. I knew the city, I felt your warmth, your humour and your hospitality. I also knew there were large parts of the diocese I didn’t know and had never visited. This year I have learned more about the many riches this diocese has to offer.
I am often asked what is my vision for the diocese. I am really certain. The diocese has a clear vision to see a bigger church making a bigger difference and I came to Liverpool fully supporting that. I believe that the mission of the church is God’s mission, not the bishops and I am glad to follow where God leads.
I have made it my mission to try and visit as many churches as possible, for Sunday services, confirmations, institutions/licensings or deanery gatherings. From Wigan to Warrington, Southport to St Helens I have delighted to be alongside God’s people serving God’s communities in a rich, diverse way. I give thanks for all the hospitality I have received and pray that I will be able to visit more of this wonderful diocese in the years to come. I have witnessed the passion and commitment of Christians across our diocese which is so heartening.
I have also greatly valued the ability to engage with our ecumenical partners and be involved in the civic life of our diocese. I have been greatly encouraged by how seriously the church is regarded in the fabric of society across our diocese.
I suspect we are taken seriously because of the work we do in matters of social justice. Parish upon parish are seriously engaged in a range of activities so vital as we minister to some of the UK’s most deprived communities. I have been encouraged to see the work of Together Liverpool in supporting parishes to do this important work.
There is a great deal going on. A massive amount of creativity, faith and trust with a rich variety of church traditions, and diversity of worship styles from superb traditional worship to excellent fresh expressions all striving to bring more people to Jesus to make a bigger difference in society. Yet I, like you, am fully aware of the challenges and difficulties we face as a church. The financial, spiritual and discipleship challenges need to be grasped urgently if the church we love is to remain as a sustained Christian presence in the world.
I feel that as a diocese we have recognised these challenges and have been working to address them over many years. This inevitably leads to difficult conversations and hard decisions as we try to find a shape for the church of today making it sustainable into the future. Trying to change brings scrutiny and criticism so we have needed to learn patience, resilience and graciousness in what we do.
I feel our diocese is dominated by some great and important conversations all of which come with controversy, inspiring passionate reflection.
Fit for Mission is the biggest, most significant conversation. I believe that it is the right way forward for our diocese, that it offers a model for the church of England to reinvent itself while remaining true to our values. I don’t think anyone could argue with the core principles of introducing people to Jesus, to deepening disciples, to developing leaders and to work for justice. This is an outworking of Jesus’ great commission as recorded in Matthew’s gospels. It follows the pattern of Jesus’s teachings. It reflects God’s heart, as revealed through the great swathe of scripture, to see justice in creation. I understand that there are different ideas about how we achieve this. This is why we have locally-led conversations enabling the heart of God’s people to travel this journey. We need to recognise that this is not an easy answer and while we have seen growth in areas with Church Wigan, Church St Helens and Christ our Hope we also have much to do. I am encouraged to see other deaneries seeking to come together and explore how they can be fit for mission.
The other challenging conversation is around how we are funded as a diocese. This is a massively important conversation with the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board and I don’t want to revisit that dialogue here. But to say that it starts with a positive desire on all sides to do what is best for our diocese and the wider church. We are all called to be stewards of the creation that God has given us and as we build God’s kingdom we recognise that we do this well if we talk, listen and pray together.
I believe that the Diocese of Liverpool is good at the difficult conversation. Our ability to reflect and respect each other’s position – understand the deep-rooted theological underpinning that leads each of us to our convictions -is important. To listen with love and talk with grace is the only way to navigate the matters of the day. I see that worked out in deaneries and parishes across this diocese.
We can only do this through an understanding of the Bible, the story that forms us. My longstanding passion is for God’s people to take God’s word seriously. We need to explore the deep riches of the biblical text so that we are confident in our own story that we find in the Scriptures, confident so that we can proclaim the Good News to the many in our communities who need to hear it. If we are confident in our faith, then we will be confident in the ways we introduce people to Jesus and in the decisions we need to make.
My first year has been a warm, encouraging year and I am deeply grateful for your welcome. I pray for you and our diocese daily and truly believe that we can grow together in God’s mission, with resilient congregations that are confident in the story we tell and nourished by God’s word, worship and fellowship, becoming a bigger church making a bigger difference with more people knowing Jesus and more justice in the world.
Finally, a huge thank you to you all, the faithful laity and clergy in this wonderful diocese, for your labour of love in the name of Jesus, often offered in difficult contexts. May the good Lord, the author and finisher of our faith, make us grow together in resilience, trust and hope as we travel together in God’s mission.
