Bishop Philip writes

'The day will be a chance to explore the boundless generosity of God who just goes on and on giving, above all through the gift of his Son upon the cross. In response to his grace, God invites us to be generous also with our lives, our talents and our money. When we are, the ministry of the Church blossoms and grows.

The keynote speaker on March 26th will be Alan Smith who has recently been appointed First Estates Commissioner. This means that he is in effect Chief Executive of the Church Commissioners who hold the Church of England’s £9.3 billion investment portfolio. So we need to make a good impression! It will be fascinating to hear him speak and ask him questions about how those investments are to be used to support mission and ministry in our diocese, especially in our most deprived communities. Alan is an interesting and engaging speaker so it will be good to welcome him.

And then, because this is one area where the national church is helping us, we will hear of some new developments in youth ministry. With our outstanding schools and some superb children’s work across the Diocese, addressing the post 11 drop-off is a key priority for many of our Parishes. We will hear from Rachel Gardner about the excellent Launchpad scheme and from Ben Green about learning communities that support parishes in ministry to the young.

Finally, we will be formally launching the Parish Giving Scheme, with a presentation from Grant Forrest, CEO of the Parish Giving Scheme. This is a new and time-efficient way of managing people’s giving to the Parish Church and it is incredibly easy to use – I speak from personal experience!

In addition to members of Diocesan Synod, we are inviting TWO PEOPLE FROM EVERY PARISH to come along on March 26th. Ideally that will be the incumbent and the treasurer, but that is a decision best made locally.'

Registrations are closed

Resourcing the Mission of God in Lancashire - Open Synod March 26 2022