Funding to hire the 11-person team comes from the church's Racial Justice Unit and includes a director, programme manager, theologian, communications catalyst and six development workers.
The team has three years of funding to 'fan into flame a movement of change' to transform the church and will involve 'reimagining parish and community activities', according to the job listing.
Read moreBut the problem facing the Church is, as Ed Shaw said, "We do not all believe the same things when it comes to identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage."
He moved an amendment that asked the General Synod to recognise that for many of their number, "Some of the issues raised are not matters on which they can simply agree to disagree,"
Read moreHaving spent £1m on two safeguarding reports, recommending the desperate need and process for creating independent safeguarding structures, the Synod voted for an internal team to consider the way forward. The tone of the debate and the comments being made appeared to show little understanding of the issues.
Read more'That this Synod welcome the further work carried out on Living in Love and Faith and the focus on reconciliation and bridge building; and ask that the proposal for a set of commitments through which the whole Church can continue to pursue the implementation of the motions previously passed by Synod on Living in Love and Faith, be brought back to Synod as soon as possible.'
In his opening speech, Bishop Martyn made three main points:
Read moreIn that time, adult attendance has fallen 30%, and the decline is accelerating. Child attendance has fallen 40% in the same period. And in the last three years, vocations to ordained ministry have collapsed by 40%. There is a very real prospect that ministry is going to collapse in large parts of the Church of England within the next five years. Where is this on our agenda?
Read moreThere are those who say that a law not enforced is not a law at all but this simply is not true. Laws may lay dormant for years before being put into use. The change of the makeup of the Supreme Court in the US in recent years and the overturning of Roe vs Wade that it led too show the enduring importance of laws even when they are deliberately misapplied for years by the umpires.
Read moreAt times, safeguarding has been used to address issues unrelated to a risk to children or vulnerable adults, she added.
For example, she wrote, matters referred to safeguarding staff included parishioners with no vulnerabilities who were having extra-marital affairs and a preacher "praying too vehemently".
Read moreBishop Martyn believes "firmly in the latter option" -- and goes on to outline ten 'Commitments' which will, in his view, provide the "basis of a settlement" to enable "people at both ends of the spectrum to continue within the Church of England."
These Commitments can be found in full at the end of this Blog post.
In 2023, The Telegraph published an investigation which revealed that parishes are closing at a record rate, prompting fears that the Church had been "dealt a death knell".
The investigation found that almost 300 parishes have disappeared in the past five years alone -- the fastest rate since records began in 1960.
Read moreLater, however, he was given permission to remain in Britain after he claimed to have converted to Christianity and a priest vouched that he was "wholly committed" to his new religion. In fact, those who know him have described him as "a good Muslim" who would regularly buy halal meat and who wanted to go back to Afghanistan to find a wife.
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