Church
Commissioners
The hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the
Church Commissioners, was asked—
Church Choirs: Engagement with Local Schools
(New Forest West) (Con)
1. What steps the Church of England is taking to encourage church
choirs to engage with local schools.(905370)
The Second Church Estates Commissioner ()
The Church of England has enthusiastically supported the
Government’s Sing Up programme, encouraging local music hubs to
partner with churches, and enabling the use of skills and
knowledge that schools would otherwise have to buy in. I am sure
that my right hon. Friend, as a strong supporter of singing in
church, will very much approve.
When will they be singing up in the New Forest?
I am very pleased to be able to tell my right hon. Friend that
the new co-director of music at St Mary’s church in
Fordingbridge, Hazel Ricketts, is running a singing club, working
with 53 children in local schools every week. Her expertise in
church music will enable that work to expand next term to include
all four local schools, both primary and secondary. I am sure
that my right hon. Friend will want to go to enjoy this wonderful
singing for himself.
Mr Speaker
Talking of singers, I call .
(Strangford) (DUP)
I am afraid that, as it says in the Bible, I make a joyful
noise—it is never melodious, but it is always joyful and always
noisy. I am very keen to encourage school choirs and church
choirs to sing together. We have a tradition of that in my
constituency. What can the hon. Gentleman do to ensure that
Strangford can be a part of the project he is talking about?
As the hon. Gentleman knows, sadly the Church of England does not
have any jurisdiction in Northern Ireland, but we are a
generous-hearted church and we will share everything we are doing
across England with churches in Northern Ireland. I am sure the
scheme could easily be copied there.
Diocese of Exeter: Additional Ordained Ministers
(Torbay) (Con)
2. What recent assessment the Church of England has made of the
potential merits of recruiting additional ordained ministers into
parish ministry in the diocese of Exeter.(905371)
I am delighted to tell my hon. Friend that, with financial
assistance from the Church Commissioners, the Diocese of Exeter
has increased the number of new curates to tell more people the
good news about Jesus. On 1 July it will ordain 18 new ministers,
11 of whom are stipendiary and seven are self-supporting.
My hon. Friend will be aware that some of the diocese of Exeter’s
most challenged parishes are in the Torbay deanery, where an
ordained minister can not only bring people into Christ’s flock
but be a lynchpin for wider community work. Has the Church of
England looked at the situation of deprived communities in
Torquay and Paignton to see where an additional ordained minister
may be able to bring real value to those communities?
I am very pleased to be able to tell my hon. Friend that Ordinand
Kenny Wickens is soon to be the curate at Our Lady and All
Saints, Torquay. I would also like to pass on my thanks to two
inspirational priests in my hon. Friend’s constituency, the
Reverend Sam Leach from Saint Mags church in Torquay and the
Reverend Matt Bray from the Bay Church in Paignton, for the work
they do in running the Living Room café, and groups for children
and young people across the Torbay constituency.
Support for Parish Life: Small Rural Communities
(Gainsborough) (Con)
5. What steps the Church of England is taking to support parish
life in small, rural communities. (905375)
The Second Church Estates Commissioner ()
Parish ministry is at the heart of the mission of the Church and,
per head of population, there is a higher proportion of ministers
in rural areas than in urban ones, although I fully recognise how
great the loss is to rural areas when they lose their minister.
Between 2023 and 2025, the Church Commissioners will distribute
£1.2 billion to support the Church’s mission and ministry, which
is a 30% increase on the current three-year period, and a
significant share of that funding will go towards revitalising
parish ministry.
Rural Lincolnshire has arguably the finest collection of medieval
churches in the country and it is a joy to visit them. Many are
open through the open churches event organised as part of the
West Lindsey Churches Festival. Does my hon. Friend agree that
the glory of the Church of England is the parish structure? Does
he agree with many of the points made by the Save the Parish
campaign, which prioritises keeping our parish churches open and
functioning through worship, despite increasing diocesan
bureaucracy?
I completely understand where my right hon. Friend is coming
from. His concerns are shared by many colleagues across the
House, because they care so much about the great work done in
local parishes. If any of the communities in his constituency
have candidates for non-stipendiary ministry—or self-supporting
ministry, as we call it these days—that might be a way to provide
a focal minister at slightly less cost; the Caleb stream might be
one way to provide that. The Church of England’s lead bishop for
rural affairs, the , has also recently
published “How Village Churches Thrive: a practical guide”, which
might be helpful to my right hon. Friend’s local churches.
Family Relationships, Parenting and Marriage
(East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)
7. What steps the Church of England is taking to support family
relationships, parenting and marriage following the report of the
Archbishops’ commission on families and households. (905377)
The commissioners made 36 recommendations to the Church of
England and 29 to the Government, and now the focus must turn to
implementation. Recommendations include supporting a consistent
and universal roll-out of family hubs, requiring registrars to
signpost high-quality marriage preparation, and a call to the
Church to build relational capability at all life stages, not
just for couples preparing for marriage.
I declare an interest as the son of a former Church of England
rector.
In 2011, there were 51,000 weddings in Church of England
churches; by 2019, pre-covid, that figure had dropped to 29,000;
and since the current came to office in
2013, as he readily admitted last week, the average
congregational attendance has dropped by 15%. How can the Church
of England influence the population on family relationships and
marriage matters, when too many of the congregations are voting
with their feet?
That is a good challenge from my hon. Friend, who I know cares
about these things. The work the commissioners are doing to fund
the Church to try new types of ministry is proving successful in
different parts of the country. I know he will join me in
supporting the objectives of the Church Commissioners to try to
strengthen family life, which was the subject of his question. In
particular, I think he will agree with me about the role that
registrars have to play, but he makes a fair point that we need
people in the churches. That is central to what the Church of
England is doing.
(Exeter) (Lab)
There might be more weddings in church were the Church of England
to allow same-sex couples to get married in church. In that
context, does he welcome the commissioners’ conclusion, as I do,
that
“‘family’ does not necessitate a certain type of relationship or
a specific family form. What matters is the depth of the
connections and the support which can always be relied upon”?
Is that not completely inconsistent with the Church’s continued
rejection of families where the couple happens to be of the same
sex, and its refusal to solemnise their committed
relationships?
I know that the right hon. Gentleman follows these issues
closely. This was an independent report to the archbishops, which
has been welcomed by the Church. It is based on deep evidence
collecting over a two-year period, which involved talking to, in
particular, young people up and down the country. I agree with
the right hon. Gentleman that it contains some sensible
suggestions, and the matters to which he refers are on the agenda
of the General Synod of the Church of England, which will take
place in York early next month.
