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The Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure 2007
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2008
Abstract
The Dioceses, Pastoral and Mission Measure 2007 is the longest and widest-ranging piece of legislation to come before the General Synod since the early 1980s. Like the recommendations of the Review Group under Professor Peter Toyne, to which it gives effect, the Measure focuses on the twin themes of mission and ministry. The Review Group's remit was ‘to ensure flexible and cost effective procedures which fully meet changing pastoral and mission needs’, and the Measure extends to areas of the life and legislation of the Church of England as diverse as the Church's provincial and diocesan structure, the delegation of episcopal functions, diocesan administration, and the processes for making changes to local church organisation and closing churches for regular public worship. The Measure also establishes a single central Church source of information and advice on church buildings. Finally, it provides a very practical example of the concept of a ‘mixed-economy church’ by laying down the legal framework for the new bishops' mission orders, which are intended to provide endorsement, supervision and support for a wide and growing variety of new mission initiatives, but without undermining the traditional parochial structures. The article sets out to provide an overview of the legislation, and to highlight the provisions that are likely to be of particular importance in practice or of particular interest for the study of ecclesiastical law.
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References
1 2007 No. 1, referred to throughout this article as ‘the 2007 Measure’ or, for repeated references, ‘the Measure’.
2 For that, the reader may find it helpful to consult the full text of the report on the Measure which the Legislative Committee of the General Synod submitted to the Ecclesiastical Committee of Parliament in April 2007. (This can be obtained from the Legal Office of the National Institutions of the Church of England.)
3 GS 1528, published London, 2004.
4 GS 1523, published London, 2004.
5 This expression has been used by the Archbishop on a number of occasions, but originally, so far as the General Synod was concerned, in his first Presidential Address 14 July 2003. See (2003) 34(2) Report of Proceedings of the General Synod, 235–240, also available at <http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/gensynod/proceedings/2003jul/rp2003julday4.pdf>, accessed 25 June 2008.
6 Beginning with the new section 2 inserted into the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 by the Synodical Government Measure 1969, s 6.
7 The Archbishops' Council was given this function by the National Institutions of the Church of England (Transfer of Functions) Order 1998, SI 1998/1715. Previously, it had been exercised by the Standing Committee of the General Synod.
8 Again taking over a function of the Standing Committee of the General Synod under the Order referred to in the previous footnote.
9 The Measure recognises that a reorganisation scheme could not be used to change the number of provinces.
10 The Diocese of Truro.
11 The Vacancy in See Committees (Amendment) Regulation.
12 It has also repealed the provisions in the 1978 Measure and elsewhere for area synods, which were no longer being used in practice.
13 The exceptions are the See of Dover and the sees of the Provincial Episcopal Visitors under the Episcopal Ministry Act of Synod 1993.
14 See <http://www.ccpastoral.org>, accessed 18 August 2008.
15 Schedule 5 to the 2007 Measure also makes some amendments to the provisions on the Trust in the 1983 Measure, so as to increase its powers and the possible membership of its governing body.
16 Members of the Ecclesiastical Law Society, and other readers of this article, who wish to visit or consult this interesting and useful collection should contact [email protected].
17 Appendix 1 to the Code of Practice on Part V, referred to below, outlines a number of the other possible legal structures that were available even before the 2007 Measure. One example is a chaplaincy under section 2 of the Extra-Parochial Ministry Measure 1967; however, this has as a pre-requisite the existence of a charitable institution with a base in premises that have a geographical location, and that limits its usefulness for some fresh expressions of church.
18 A limited amount of guidance on this will appear in the notes to the ‘skeleton’ order referred to above.
19 Bayes, P and Croft, S, Bishops' Mission Orders: a beginners guide (London, 2008)Google Scholar.