Grumbles about the Church of England

[WhitegreeNcandle]

This is one for the Christians out there. I’ve been a lifelong member of the CofE. Two small village churches over my lifetime with a brief soujourn to a city CofE where I saw a much more evangelical side.

After decades of PCC meetings and harvest suppers with dwindling volunteers I’ve had enough. There’s a particular situation in our parish right now where the Archdeacon and Diocesan Secretary offer unlimited email support to our vicar and PCC but that is just covering up such inept management it’s effectively useless.

I can’t abide how much money the Diocese takes in Parish Share that we get no support for. Why do we not have a standard program for Messy Church or toddler group. We are completely reliant on a tiny group of dwindling volunteers and there seems to be little or no support from on high. I feel the Diocese are fiddling whilst Rome burns (or paying reparations whilst roofs fall in).

I moonlight at a local Evangelical non conformist. I mostly love it (despite some of the music managing to be jazzy but theologically wishy washy). I feel it’s very much how the early church would have looked. It’s in the next town over.

im umming and aahing about this being the final straw for me. But if I resign from the PCC there will only be one other person under 75. The toddler group would close, the beetle drives won’t happen. All the things I want to see in our rural village will die a death. Can I live in my village and watch that happen? There’s plenty of other families who manage it!

anyone else had any similar thoughts?

What are the particular things that you would like to see happen? Is yours a small Diocese? How many churches, parishes and stipendiary clergy?
Do you have a Friends group for your church?
Each Diocese has a Church Building Support Officer who is there specifically to help on the ground. Call them and ask for a visit. They will provide help. Also consider Asset Based Community Development (Google will give you pointers to people within the CofE who do this). It is very powerful and definitely works.
Alternatively take a step back for a year. Perhaps you need a period of rest and reflection. A fallow period to refresh. We all need that from time to time.

It’s around 350
churches. 2 Archdeaconries. 12 Deacons.

It’s not so much the building stuff - I know there’s support there. It’s more HR stuff - not fair to go into detail in a public forum but the lack of management has appalled me. The diocese just swing it back to the pcc but in a benefice of 4 different pcc’s take different perspectives and I feel strongly the diocese should step in supporting our vicar to back the pcc’s following employment law.

I suppose I’m wondering as well if we are too far down the path to ever see a Revival without some form of church plant.

HR can be very difficult. You will be aware that PCCs have the ultimate authority of decision making and that is difficult for Dioceses as they have very limited room in which to operate. If the issue relates to an employment matter I would ask for a phone meeting with either the Diocesan Registrar or the Chancellor's Clerk and ask for their advice as to how best to proceed. Alternatively, the main CofE website lists people to contact for specific HR support nationally.
Finally, you could consider getting outside HR support from the safeguarding team. They can often point you towards outside help to explain the law and ensure it is implemented.
I hope this helps

Thanks @oldestmumaintheworld we have done most of that. It’s a very very clear HR issue that with two minutes on ACAS or government website is incredibly clear. We have one PCC refusing to do their share meaning the other 3 parishes are picking up the pieces. The diocese agree with us until they sit in front of said PCC who are extremely difficult and then they capitulate. Two years to solve an issue that will cost a couple of grand across 4 parishes. The time spent on this by vicars and archdeacons is probably worth 4 of what the actual resolution would cost.

We have a Diocesan secretary not a registrar - are they the same thing?

No advice @WhitegreeNcandlebut well done for sticking it out and giving so much. village churches are a hotbed of peopley goings on and it’s so draining.

Is there any possibility of the vicar moving or retiring in the near future? If there is, could you stick it out until then and try with the successor?

No. Diocesan Registrar is different. Diocesan Secretary is the CEO , the Registrar is the legal advisor. It sounds like this is what you need.
I do appreciate how 'soft' some staff and clergy can be when faced with difficult decisions. Legal advice might be helpful.