Ecclesall's 101st (but my 1st) Deanery Synod

What's a Deanery Synod?

In between parish churches in the Church of England, and the Dioceses (how do you pronounce that word?) are the Deaneries . They are the way in which the Anglican churches in a fairly small geographical area are supposed to work together. Our Deanery covers south Sheffield, from St Matthews' Carver Street in the City Centre, to All Saints Totley on the edge of the city.

Julian our Vicar, is the Area Dean ie, he oversees the clergy of the Deanery. The support which Julian provides for hard-pressed clergy is one of the most important benefits of the Deanery system - if there is an Interregnum (when a Vicar leaves), or the clergy have personal, spiritual, pastoral, or managerial problems, the Area Dean is often the first point of call. We should remember to support Julian in this.

Each church in the Deanery elects two lay representatives from the PCC (ie not ordained clergy) onto the Deanery Synod which meets 3 times each year. Giles and Steve are St Marys' reps. Clergy get to go anyway. From the Deanery Synod, about 10 lay members, and about 10 clergy are elected onto the Diocesan synod. Giles has just been elected on to the Diocesan synod.

Nick Jowett, the Minister at St Andrews Psalter Lane ( http://www.standrewspsalterlane.org.uk ) , welcomed us to their beautifully refurbished church, and led a time of worship. The new building includes a stunning stained-glass window, which includes representations of Jesus' s parables about salt (after which Psalter lane actually gets its name), yeast, seeds, and light. [Might be worth an inspection visit, St Marys fabric committee?]. St Andrews is an ecumenical church, the union of St Andrews Anglican Church, with Psalter Lane Methodists.

There was an interesting report about the review of Whirlow Grange - the recommendations seem to lean towards managing Whirlow as a non-profit-making public limited company, giving the opportunity for individual members to be more involved with work there. There are plans to upgrade the accommodation there (en-suite bathrooms etc.), the conference facilities, and disabled access.

Other notices from around the deanery:

• Holy Trinity Millhouses has a new Curate, Jenny Lee.
• Abbeydale St Peter, and Millhouses, St Oswald have a Priest in Charge of them both, Brian Coleman.
• The building of St Peters is being demolished, but the congregation continue to worship in the church hall.
• The Cathedral has appointed a new Precentor, Howard Such, and a new Dean, Peter Bradley.

Farewell was said to Ken Gale , who was retiring after 10 years as Lay Chair of the deanery synod.

The rest of the meeting was taken up with a viewing of the video sent to all Anglican parishes by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Restoring Hope in our Church . Our PCC at St Marys have already seen this once. Afterwards there was chance to discuss aspects of the video's message in small groups, and key points were fed back in a plenary session. There wasn't much time for discussion afterwards, but for me it was an interesting opportunity actually to talk with some of my new colleagues on the deanery synod, and to hear a very wide range of views within my small group.