INTRODUCTION
The April meeting was held while the Anglican Consultative Council was meeting in Hong Kong, and the Governing Body received a video message from Dr Heather Payne and the Ven Mary Stallard, its two representatives. In his presidential address to the September meeting, the Archbishop of Wales spoke of the challenges facing the Church and said that those who challenged the Church, asking sometimes uncomfortable questions, deserved to be taken seriously. He also highlighted some of the initiatives that the Church in Wales was undertaking as part of the acknowledgement that the status quo for ministry in Wales was unlikely to meet the needs of the province in the decades ahead.
STANDING COMMITTEE REPORT AND MINOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
At the April meeting, various minor amendments to the Constitution of the Church in Wales were proposed by the Standing Committee and approved by the Governing Body. These included a new requirement that a churchwarden be a confirmed communicant (a requirement felt necessary following the Bench of Bishops’ 2016 pastoral letter extending admission to Holy Communion to all baptised persons) and a new constitutional definition for a ‘ministry/mission area’. Minor alterations were also made to provisions concerning cathedrals, including formal authorisation for lay, ecumenical and metropolitical canons.
The report demonstrated some of the challenges inherent in a bilingual legislature. It was pointed out from the floor that the committee's report had translated the ‘Archdeacon for New Church Communities’ into Welsh as ‘Archdeacon for Communities in Whitchurch’ (‘Eglwys Newydd’). It also included a monitoring report on the work of the Provincial Safeguarding Team and Panel (in accordance with the Church in Wales safeguarding policy), and details of work being undertaken in anticipation of the centenary of the province in 2020.
The September report of the Standing Committee included an announcement of a review of the standing orders of the Governing Body and a proposal for video of future Governing Body meetings to be live-streamed online. It updated members on the programme of events to commemorate the centenary of the Church in Wales in 2020, and on the progress of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) investigations into the Anglican Churches in England and Wales.
REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
The annual report of the Representative Body of the Church in Wales and its accounts for the year ending 31 December 2019 were presented to the September meeting and duly received, together with reports from a number of other bodies including the University of Wales Trinity St David and the Church in Wales Widows Orphans and Dependents Society.
LEGISLATIVE BUSINESS
Two legislative items were before the September session. The April meeting had approved a request from Llandaff Cathedral to adopt a new charitable constitution for an experimental period, pending the likely consideration of wholesale reform of the regulation of Welsh cathedrals at the September session.Footnote 1 The September session duly passed and promulged a Canon to simplify and liberalise governance arrangements in the six Welsh cathedrals. It removes the full text of each cathedral scheme from the Constitution of the Church in Wales and replaces it with a short framework specifying certain minimum requirements for each cathedral to adopt in its own scheme/constitution. Within that framework, it is now for each cathedral to consider and adopt its own governance arrangements, in liaison with the Charity Commission.
A Bill to reform the initial stages of the Church's disciplinary processes was referred back to the Select Committee for further drafting. It is anticipated that the Bill will return to Governing Body in April 2020.
SAME-SEX RELATIONSHIPS
In April, the archbishop gave an update on the Bench of Bishops’ ongoing work and discussions on this topic, following the Governing Body's informal resolution in September 2018 that to continue to make no liturgical provision for couples in same-sex relationships was pastorally unsustainable. The Bench of Bishops has asked the Church's Standing Doctrinal Commission to produce a statement to help the bench reflect on same-sex unions within a Christian understanding of marriage, and the Standing Liturgical Advisory Commission to advise on possible options for services of affirmation or blessing of such relationships, to be considered by Governing Body at a later date.
EVANGELISM FUND AND PIONEER MINISTRY
At the April meeting, the Governing Body received an update from Sir Paul Silk, a member of the Representative Body, on diocesan bids for funding from the £10 million Evangelism Fund scheme announced by the Church in 2018. In September, Helen Shepherd, from St Padarn's Institute (the Church in Wales’ Training Institute), updated the Governing Body on the ongoing work to provide a provincial and diocesan framework for pioneer ministry in the Church in Wales, while representatives from the Diocese of St Asaph gave a presentation on Hope Church Wrexham, a new worshipping community shortly to open in former retail premises in Wrexham town centre, supported by a significant grant from the Evangelism Fund.
RURAL LIFE
The Governing Body received a presentation at the April meeting on rural issues, focusing particularly on rural isolation and issues affecting the farming community. A motion was passed requesting that each diocese appoint a rural life adviser, with dedicated time and resources to perform this role.
SEE OF MONMOUTH: ELECTORAL COLLEGE
Following the announcement of the resignation of the See of Monmouth by the Rt Revd Richard Pain and his retirement owing to ill-health, the Governing Body agreed in April to extend the time limits set out in the Constitution for an electoral college to convene (before the right of appointment lapses to the House of Bishops) from three to six months.
REPORT ON REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN
At its April meeting the Governing Body received and welcomed the report of the Working Group on Representation of Women in the Church in Wales and endorsed its recommendations (which included training in understanding of unconscious bias, positive action to move towards gender equality on cathedral clergy teams, and investment in leadership training and mentoring). A further report was requested by the Governing Body in 2025.
BUILDINGS FOR MISSION
The Head of Property Services at the Representative Body delivered a presentation to the April session on how to develop the Church's buildings better to serve its mission needs. The Governing Body then broke into small groups to discuss these issues; summaries of the group discussions are being undertaken by the Provincial Office.
PRIVATE MEMBER'S MOTION
The Archdeacon of Llandaff proposed a motion at the April meeting that the Governing Body request that the Bench of Bishops (a) not hold separate ordination services for any candidates on the grounds of those candidates’ views on gender and ordained ministry; and (b) cease to ordain those who, refusing the sacramental ministry of women, expect to rely on the ‘conscience clauses’ contained within the Bench of Bishops’ 2014 Code of Practice. Following extended debate, the motion was defeated by 63 votes to 19.
LIFE EVENTS
The September meeting heard a presentation from the Revd Dr Sandra Miller, Head of Life Events at the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, who spoke of the work in developing the Church's offering to its communities in respect of baptisms, weddings and funerals, both in England and in Wales. Governing Body passed a motion commending the work and urging further development of strategy at a local level.
MODERN SLAVERY
The former United Kingdom Anti-Slavery Commissioner Kevin Hyland addressed the September meeting, with the Bishop of St Asaph then proposing a motion urging the Church to take every opportunity to play its part in the prevention and detection of modern slavery and human trafficking, and in offering support to its victims.
ELECTORAL COLLEGE REVIEW
The Chair of the Working Group, the Revd Canon Steven Kirk, presented a paper to the September session containing proposals to reform the Church's procedures for electing bishops. The proposals recommend moving to a two-stage process, with open applications, shortlisting and interviewing of candidates, while retaining the existing electoral college structure for the election of a shortlisted candidate as the new bishop. Governing Body welcomed the proposals, without endorsing all the recommendations, referring the matter to the Standing Committee for further development and the introduction of the requisite legislation.
FAREWELLS
At the end of the September meeting, among other farewells, the Archbishop of Wales led tributes to Mr Julian Luke following his appointment as the Head of Policy and Legislation Committee Service at the National Assembly for Wales. Mr Luke has served the Church in Wales ably for the last 23 years, most recently as the Head of Secretariat and Archbishop's Deputy Registrar.
