Synod 2015

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Synod 2015

Letter from Bishop Larry Robertson, Bishop of Yukon
Report by Dean Sean Murphy, Christ Church Cathedral

The 40th Synod of the Diocese of Yukon - April, 2015

The smallest Diocese in Canada met in their 40th synod to seek God's will in this time of changing situations. Changing for the Church both within the Diocese and within the national Anglican Church of Canada. Twenty-nine delegates met in Christ Church Cathedral in Whitehorse, Yukon to seek the leading of God's Spirit.

We began not with business but with teaching. Whenever we meet together it is important to make it a learning time. The Chaplain for the Synod, the Rev. Lesley Wheeler-Dame led a day workshop in Pastoral Care which was attend by over 30 people. Rev Wheeler-Dame a former priest of this diocese was able to impart, from her many years experience in this diocese and her current diocese, wisdom and practical experience that was both relevant and delivered in a clear and understandable format. The theme of our Synod was "Reaching Out ... Because we Care" As we begin the day to day business of how does the Church reach out, there became evident that there was a need for change. Financially we are doing better, but we are still spending more than we are bringing in, not much but it still causes us to go into our reserves. This can not continue. It was notice that our pastoral care is limited do to the fact that we have far fewer clergy than we did in the past. The question was "How do we best use our shrinking resources to effectively reach out to as many as possible?" This became the overriding question behind many of the Synods decisions. Following are a few of the decisions of the Synod and the reasoning behind them.

Issues

  1. Lessening financial resources resulting in fewer traditional clergy
  2. Fewer traditional clergy resulting in less pastoral care to fewer people.

Facing the Issues - It has been admitted that the Diocesan financial position will not get better soon. Therefore a way is needed to increase pastoral Care not relying on tradition sources. Therefore is was decided that:

  1. To continue and build upon the Ministry of Presence Program that already enables parishes to have regular ministry. (This is a program that puts experienced lay or ordained persons in a parish for a period of a year in a volunteer leadership position).
  2. To emphasize local lay ministry and diaconal training among the Laity. Currently 4 congregations are served through people who have been trained locally.
  3. To increase the number of experienced and trained personnel in parishes the Synod has requested that the Bishop of Yukon take on a Parish as part of his/her normal duties. This would be revised in 3 years.
    • This would open another parish to regular ministry by an experienced priest
    • As the Bishop would now live in a parish rectory the bishop's residence could now be used as an income source increasing the finances of the Diocese.
    • As the cost of the Bishop's accommodations would now be shared with the local parish the expense to the Diocese would be lessened.
    • The process for finding a suitable parish for the Bishop has already begun.

Issue

A noticeable decline in First Nation's participation in the Church. Along with this is the decline of First Nation leadership in the Church

Facing the Issue:

  1. As what has been successful in the past is no longer as effective, new forms of ministry are being thought to reach out to First Nations peoples. The Diocese has been in contact with the Anglican Council of Indigenous People (ACIP) and a Leadership Training Program is being started beginning in June 2015 led by ACIP members.
  2. As a way to reach out to the whole community Messy Church was started at Christ Church Cathedral in Whitehorse. Of the over 30 people that attend over 1/2 of the attendees are either First Nations or Inuit. The reasons for this needs to be studied.

As bishop of Yukon one of the joys for me was to hear from the Synod the fact that they had good news stories to tell and that they wanted to share them with the world. A motion was passed requesting that parishes share regularly (monthly if possible) with the Diocesan office the good news stories in the parish so that they can be shared with the world.

The other significant decision made at Synod was to encourage parishes to develop Circle Ministry (Mutual Ministry) in their parish and to identify training and education needs to help Circle Ministries grow in the parish.

These decisions speak of people taking responsibility for their church and diocese. We ask your prayers and support as we move forward into the future continually seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Reaching Out .... Because We Care

In Christ

Rt. Rev. Dr. Larry Robertson

Bishop of Yukon

Report on the Synod of the Diocese of Yukon
April 24-25, 2015
By Dean Sean Murphy

The Synod was held in Whitehorse at Christ Church Cathedral. The theme was “Reaching Out...Because We Care.”

Some highlights:

  1. The Rev. Lesley Wheeler-Dame of the Diocese of Athabasca led a workshop on pastoral care before Synod began. We were encouraged in this workshop to be good listeners, work on communication and to be intentional, practical and faithful in ministering to the hurts and needs within our parishes. We were reminded that it is not just the clergy who do pastoral care, but many others who have gifts to do it and need to be trained for this ministry. In a larger sense, we all minister to one another in different ways.
  2. In his charge to Synod, Bishop Robertson called us to continue to reach out because we care in a time if diminishing resources but also of great spiritual need. He spoke of two committees he asked to be formed to address how we can define our ministry and do the best we can with what we have in the future – the Shaping of Our Future Committee and the Committee to study the training of the Bishop's School of Ministry and make suggestions for the future. A number of the decisions of Synod mentioned below emerge from, or relate to , the work of these Committees. He expressed concern about the lack of indigenous leadership in the diocese, and informed us that Bishop Mark MacDonald (National Indigenous Bishop) and other members of the Anglican Council of Indigenous Peoples would be coming up to lead a training workshop in June. He has asked, he said, Bishop Mark to help us in addressing this concern. He said as he concluded his charge, of the diocese as a whole, that we are a family and that we need to support one another and work together and avoid the go it alone mentality as parishes.
  3. A key decision of Synod was to “support our Bishop taking a parish on a trial basis of three years after set-up, provided the parish has a strong ministry team and that the community offers a suitable base for travel within and beyond the diocese. The bishop has the prerogative to shorten the three year term.” The main impetus for this move is that it would put one more trained clergy in local parish ministry. Our Bishop has written to all the vestries of the diocese asking whether their respective parishes would be suitable residences for him in the future. Please pray for our vestry as we consider this matter at our October meeting.
  4. Another motion was to have “the Executive of the Diocese of Yukon explore the possibility of moving the Synod office and the administrative officer to another location, and to undertake such a move if the need arises.” One rationale for this motion is the need to trim costs in a time of diminishing resources; another is that technology now makes such a move more than possible.
  5. Our Bishop's School and present efforts to re-examine its curriculum was also affirmed, with a “request that the diocesan office send the completed revised curriculum to all incumbents to be used for training clergy and lay leaders.”
  6. Reflecting our Synod theme, “Reaching Out...Because We Care,” parishes were encouraged to develop at least one outreach ministry in the coming year, already existing or new, and report progress to the diocese on a regular basis.
  7. Supporting our Bishop's call to get what's happening in our parishes out there, a motion passed for “parishes to submit at least one good news story per month to the Synod office and the Northern Lights editor.”
  8. In keeping with the ongoing importance of local leadership training and mutual ministry development, also stressed by our Bishop in his charge, parishes were encouraged to identify folks called to take part in training events, and the diocese was asked to develop curriculum to meet the needs of the participants.
  9. Sarah Usher was ordained a presbyter, or priest, in the Church at our closing Synod service on Sunday. See 2015 Summer Northern Lights, page 8.
Download and print report

Previous Synod, 2012: click here