The Leadership Role of the Bishop and his Staff Team in the Formation of Strategy for Missional Ministry

Abstract

Dioceses of the Church of England are engaged in the process of forming strategies for missional ministry. Three facts influence this process: the decline in the number of stipendiary clergy, the decline in Church attendance, and the decline in financial resources. In the latter part of the 20th century the assumptions behind the ‘Christendom model’ of Christianity have been challenged. It was recognised that the Church needed to reconceive itself as God’s agent for mission in the world. The narrative of growth has displaced the narrative of decline.

Diocesan strategies and recent Church legislation have placed mission at the centre of the Church’s task in witnessing to the nation. Ministry is called to be missional. In the formation of strategy for missional ministry, the leadership role of the bishop and his staff team is crucial. The context of their work is the diocese; a complex diverse organisation set in the wider institutional Church.

This study draws on Trinity as a model of relational diversity and Body of Christ as communal diversity. Organisation studies offer a model of organisational diversity, drawing on complexity theory and practical tools for change and development. The research focuses on four dioceses and the bishop’s oversight and leadership role in collaboration with his staff. Such leadership calls for a balance between leading in mission and holiness, reversing decline and encouraging growth.

This thesis argues that the formation of strategy is not primarily about plans but the engagement of people through consultation and listening, envisioning a future they can work together for and own. However, in the formation process a tension emerges between the conceptual and the pragmatic, vision and utility. This calls for a locally adaptive re-shaping of the role of leadership and oversight; a development encouraged by an Anglican theology of episcopacy.