visitation news Sane, shared leadership and responsibility...

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1 visitation news Spring issue 14 Sane, shared leadership and responsibility... There has been a lot of talk lately in the Church about leadership. On the one hand good leadership does need to be developed, on the other too much expectation on the leader can lead to burn out and stress. A balance needs to be struck. We are very aware of the demands of leadership on both churchwardens and our clergy in your service of the Church, hence the need for mutual support and affirmation between you, and for the right resourcing from those of us entrusted with your care and well-being. These pressures are nothing new. In the Old Testament we find Moses overwhelmed by his workload (Exodus 18:13 16), labouring from morning until night, attempting to solve all the problems that came his way. It took his father-in-law, Jethro, to step in as his consultant. Seeing that the workload was unsustainable, he wisely pulled Moses aside with the helpful suggestion that he shared his load with others. Shared leadership means talking together about the difficulties that we face personally, professionally and through our volunteering. It is about understanding the unique calling of lay and ordained people, jointly selecting people to assist in the task, giving others responsibility and doing effectively the specific task that God has given to us. We hope this Archdeacons Visitation News will help you in your task. As a way of relieving some of the local pressures, the national Church is seriously discussing simplifying some of its structures. This will include the collection of data. As your Archdeacons, we are committed to this too, and to finding ways in which you can flourish and be supported in your role as much as possible. Thank you for all you do. Karen, Olivia, Martin and Judy The Ven. Karen Gorham Archdeacon of Buckingham archdbuc@ oxford.anglican.org Tel: The Ven. Olivia Graham Archdeacon of Berkshire archdber@ oxford.anglican.org Tel: The Ven. Martin Gorick Archdeacon of Oxford archdeacon.oxford@ oxford.anglican.org Tel: The Ven. Judy French Archdeacon of Dorchester archdeacon.dorchester@ oxford.anglican.org Tel: Produced and printed by

2 Making friends across the generations From its beginnings, Christianity has sought a radical togetherness of people across boundaries of ethnicity, status and gender. In his letter to the Galatians, Paul says: There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus... (Galatians 3: 28) We know that our churches often fall short of this ideal. An aspect of our common life that causes concern for many is how we are together as church with respect to age. How many people below the age of 40 are there in your church? Where are the people different in age and lifestyle to us? Where are the young people? What can we do that might turn the present situation around? A recent report entitled Sticky Faith has highlighted the importance of intergenerational relationships if faith is to stick with young people. It suggests that too often the emphasis has been on teaching young people, at the expense of developing strong relationships across the Church community that offer opportunities to see faith lived out and practised. Messy Fiesta at the Grand Day Out Photograph by Philip King We all learn to a huge degree by watching and then by trying out what we have seen modelled. We all have much to learn from the experience and questions of young people, much to gain from their energy. We all have much to benefit from the wisdom and faith experience of older generations who have lived out their faith for many years, and through many challenges. How might we achieve such learning across the generations? Many churches seek to address such a question by setting up an all-age service. But as anyone who s ever sought to run one will tell you, these are arguably the most difficult type of service to run well, and to be genuinely inclusive and meaningful to ALL ages. Maybe services are not the best starting point. Before we can help people of all ages enter into our primary purpose of worship, might we need first to understand what makes people of different generations tick? Being intentionally more all age in our socialising and in the difference the Church makes in the community might be the way to foster not just relationships and understanding, but faith too. An example is a games evening we heard about from one of the churches in our diocese. It was an intentionally all-age evening of eating and playing together. The genius of it was that each generation was invited to teach a game they loved to the gathered group, which was then played by all. A huge amount of fun was had, not only playing the games, but in the stories and conversations that flowed from them: a genuinely all-age encounter. Beetle drive was the surprise hit of the evening! So if we want to become an intergenerational church, perhaps we need to learn first how to be before we go on to do. Being demands intentional choices, sometimes rather tricky ones! When adults in churches find themselves alongside children, they are faced with the noise, the whole body experience that life is for the young. They are faced with difficult questions, great stories, beautiful artwork, profound prayers, playfulness and observations. When children find themselves alongside adults, they observe the lifelong journey of faith. They see life in its various forms of togetherness, singleness, loneliness, disability, pain, suffering and joy. How might you start a discussion around these issues in your church and its community? In this diocese we ve developed a resource to help get the ball rolling. Our Child and Youth Friendly Church Awards help churches take a fresh look at the welcome and community we offer to children, young people and families, to look at what we do with fresh eyes. The aim is to celebrate what is going well, while challenging what may need to be changed, tweaked or added. The awards act as a prompt to discussion, conversation and reflection. They re not some kind of heavy inspection! Why not take a look at what they involve on the diocesan website and see if they would be something you d like to try, among all generations, where you are? Ian Macdonald Diocesan Youth Adviser Yvonne Morris Diocesan Children s Adviser

3 Church Insurance Made Simple We ve been talking to you, our customers, over the last year to find out how we can help make it easier for you to understand your insurance cover. Thanks to what you have told us, we have now developed a new series of Made Simple documents to help you with key topics where you wanted straightforward, easy-to-follow, advice. The new guides are available to read or download from our website. Each provides a simple summary of a topic together with links to web pages and other documents that include moredetailed information. For those of you looking after your church insurance, we now have a simple guide to administering your policy. This includes help and advice on paying premiums and ways you might save money, including interest-free direct debits or increasing the excess on your policy (the amount you pay if there is a claim). It also explains when you need to tell us about changes or activities at your church. In addition we have also produced the following Made Simple guides: Church Buildings an explanation of the insurance issues related to church buildings such as ensuring you have fire risk assessments and avoiding slips, trips and falls. People in Church Premises looking at health and safety and other matters to consider to help keep regular visitors to your buildings safe. Events from fundraising to Christmas services, a summary of what you need to know and when you need to tell us about events at your church. Community outreach churches increasingly offer services such as night shelters here we summarise the main topics and what you need to consider with your outreach activities. The Made Simple guides reflect our desire to make sure that churches understand what is covered by their insurance and what is not. Plus we hope they will help to encourage churches to take simple steps to mitigate possible risks. The guides supplement the wide range of content we have on our Church Matters website. If you have any feedback on the new guides or ideas for topics we might cover, why not us at churches@ecclesiastical.com with your thoughts? All the new guides can be found at National Crime Helpline for Churches The Church Buildings Council has set up a national crime helpline for churches to use after a theft. Once a theft is reported it will trigger an alert to auctions houses, museums and crime prevention agencies which is a fast, effective way of preventing the sale and permanent loss of treasures. Both the Church Buildings Council and Ecclesiastical are keen that we can all enjoy the many treasures and artworks in churches. But, while the fear of crime is greater than the reality there is no room for complacency and we encourage churches to take simple security measures to protect their church contents such as marking metal items with SmartWater (see overleaf). To report the loss of a treasure or artwork from your church contact the Church Crime Alert team on , or churchcrimealert@churchofengland. org. Visit churchsecurity for more information on keeping your church secure. Top Tip... If you feel your church should normally be kept locked, you might like to consider making the key available to visitors. You could ask a local shop, Post Office or garage to safeguard the keys and take details of those visitors who wish to use them. Information about where to obtain the keys can be displayed in the porch area or on the church notice board.

4 Top Tip... SmartWater can be used on other items in addition to lead roofing make sure you mark all church owned metals including memorial plaques as well as other valuables you may have inside your church such as silver, altar ware and valuable portable furnishings. Case Study Man jailed for melting stolen lead An Abergavenny man has been jailed after being caught with 3,700 of stolen SmartWater-marked lead from a church roof. Jonathan Vaughn, 35, was caught after police received an anonymous call to say he was melting lead in his garden in St Llanfoist. When officers recovered the lead it was found to be marked with SmartWater traceable liquid. Subsequent analysis identified the lead as having come from St Mary s Church roof in Abergavenny. At Cwmbran Magistrates Court, Vaughn admitted a charge of handling stolen goods. He was sentenced to four months for the offence and 113 days for a previous offence of assault after magistrates activated a suspended sentence. Mr Vaughn stated he had bought the lead to melt for Christmas money and refused to say where he d bought it from. The Ongoing Fight against Metal Thieves Ecclesiastical has led a concerted effort in recent years to make churches less-attractive targets for thieves by working with the Church of England, parliament and other interested parties to tighten up the law on scrap metal dealing and increase building security. While we have seen a reduction in recorded theft of lead roofing, it is important that we remain vigilant as metal theft has not gone away. This is one of the reasons why Ecclesiastical is continuing its proactive work with SmartWater and the police to target metal thieves. We also continue to encourage the use of other security products such as roof alarms to protect churches. One key aspect of the ongoing fight against metal thieves has been to target the scrap metal and recycling industries in order to make it more difficult for thieves to sell on stolen goods. In the last 5 years, our partners at SmartWater have made over 1,150 visits to scrap yards accompanied by regional police forces in proactive Days of Action to search for SmartWater-marked metals. The purpose of these visits is to remind scrap dealers that they face being arrested and convicted of handling stolen goods if they buy SmartWater-marked metals. If scrap dealers COVER UPDATE are checking for SmartWater and refusing to buy anything marked with it then thieves will quickly learn there is no point in stealing it in the first place. For this reason, it is very important that you continue to display SmartWater deterrent signs around your church. These should be placed in highly visible locations where would-be thieves are most likely to see them. If you require new signage then please call SmartWater on Remember, you will not be covered for metal theft or any subsequent damage as a result of theft or attempted theft of metal unless you have applied SmartWater (or an alternative forensic marker approved by us), displayed the signage, and registered the product. A number of helpful crime prevention tips including information about SmartWater and roof alarms can be found on the Ecclesiastical website at We have recently increased the maximum you may claim for theft of external metal for more information see your next policy renewal pack. We are also now able to provide cover for metal theft when scaffolding is erected subject to certain conditions. For more information, visit or call

5 Allchurches Trust aims to raise giving to record levels This January, insurer Ecclesiastical announced it had donated over 23m in 2014 to its charitable owner Allchurches Trust (ATL), a huge sum by any standard. But what is ATL and how does it use its resources to promote the Christian faith? Case Study St Giles Dell Centre, Ashtead, Surrey Ashtead is about 15 miles from London, close to the M25 motorway. Faced with an old wooden church hall now well past its sell by date, members of the congregation have set about fundraising for new facilities. Designs for the new Dell Centre include meeting rooms, a professional kitchen and a host of other facilities which the congregation envisage being used by the whole community. Pre- and afterschool clubs, social gatherings, fitness, dance and art classes are all on their agenda, alongside mentoring job seekers, community support and activities for the elderly. The charity, founded in 1972, is chaired by Sir Philip Mawer, former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and previously Secretary General of the General Synod of the Church of England. A career public servant, he remains closely involved with the work of the Church and its clergy. According to Sir Philip, ATL s role is to support churches and other worthy causes linked to the Christian faith through a programme of financial grants. Over the last decade, it has donated over 75m to projects as diverse as church building refurbishments and repairs, creating new facilities for people in need even helping Anglicans in New Zealand establish a temporary cathedral following the devastating Christchurch earthquake. In 2014 alone, ATL distributed grants of 9.7m, which went to a wide range of churches, dioceses and cathedrals throughout the British Isles. ATL s mission is to promote and support the Christian religion, Sir Philip explains. In broad terms, it does this by contributing financially to charitable organisations and churches. Every month, we receive over 100 applications for grants, which are considered carefully by our trustees. Although the majority of our support goes to the Church of England, grants are also made in response to applications from ecumenical partner churches, church schools and charities. We particularly welcome applications from less well-off parishes and for projects which will benefit mission and help local communities. Grants to parishes from ATL range in size depending on the scale of the project to be undertaken. The prospects for ATL s activities are very positive based on Ecclesiastical s commitment to donate 50m during This is a hugely commendable ambition, Sir Philip notes. What this means is that, given Ecclesiastical s solid financial performance and favourable conditions in the insurance market, we hope to be able to increase our giving to the Church to record levels over the coming three years. For more information or to apply for a grant, visit ATL s website at where full details are available. Case Study St Aidan s Church, Stobhill, Morpeth St Aidan s is a modern church located in a deprived area on the outskirts of the market town of Morpeth, Northumberland. With an outdated hall, the church was desperately in need of more community space. An exciting project was devised, resulting in the sale of the old church hall and the proceeds funding an extension to the church for community use. The new building will house a crèche, holiday clubs, a luncheon club and meeting rooms, and it can also be used to provide extra seating capacity for larger services, concerts and other events in the church.

6 Keeping up to date WIN an ipad Home insurance prize draw Just call us for a quote or let us have your home insurance renewal date and we will enter you into a prize draw to win an ipad for you or your church. You can enter the draw by calling and quote IPAD15 or go on line at Top Tip... If you are planning to support your community, for example, through providing a night shelter, food bank or parish nursing, there are important regulatory issues you need to be aware of. We can help you with free advice to make sure you comply with the regulatory requirements. We hope you are familiar with our Church Matters website which has a wide range of information, guidance and tools you can use to help you look after your church. All our risk management guidance notes are collected together and sorted into the key categories of security, health and safety, fire, and storms and bad weather. Many customers also now get updates by just let us have your address if you, too, would like to be updated in this way. For further information: Our website: Customer services: call or churches@ecclesiastical.com Claims: Did you know? call (24-hour service) or faithclaims@ecclesiastical.com Our customer service lines are normally open Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm, except for bank holidays. However, claims can be registered at any time during the day or night. Here we highlight two features of your Parishguard policy that you may not be aware of. Consequential loss Consequential loss cover is included in your Parishguard policy to help offset loss of income if your church has to close for repairs following insured damage that Ecclesiastical is covering under the Property section of your Parishguard policy. You may be able to claim up to 100,000 over a four-year period for loss of income from your normal church activities, such as service collections, income from hirers not being able to use the building and costs such as hiring alternate premises. Independent Financial Advice Do you need help with your finances? Ecclesiastical Financial Advisory Services can offer you totally independent financial advice on investments, retirement and protection. They can also help parishes who have funds to invest with their investment strategy. Please note, the value of investments can fall as well as rise and past performance is not a guide to future performance. For more information call: or getadvice@ecclesiastical.com Money cover The prospect of having money stolen by a church official or a volunteer is never an easy one for a church to contemplate, but sadly this is a risk that needs to be addressed. In the last year there have been a number of court cases involving theft from church funds. For example, in 2014, a deputy church treasurer in the Wirral was found guilty of systematically stealing collection money for over a decade, amounting to almost 20,000. The good news is that our Parishguard policy offers some protection against the risk of misappropriation. However, in order to meet the conditions of the policy and ensure that a claim can be defended, you will need to provide specific information and make certain that important checks are carried out. For example, regular reconciliations should be carried out of bank statements, cash-inhand and petty cash, and these checks should be conducted by someone not usually responsible for money, so that thefts cannot be concealed during the reconciliation. Our website has more information about how to limit the risk of internal fraud.

7 Update on funding for major repair and development projects Back in November last year, the Government announced a one-off 15m give-away for listed churches in urgent need of repairs to their roofs, rainwater disposal systems and high-level masonry... Photograph: Jigsaw Design The closing date was 29 January, with funds to be allocated by the end of March. The number of churches applying for this fund since its unveiling has surprised everyone Oxford DAC received close to 60 applications! Due to the sheer number of applications, only 15 churches within the diocese were successful in getting a grant. However, the Chancellor has since announced that a further 25m will be made available, so we hope that more churches will be successful in the second round of funding. A very important outcome of this scheme, apart from the benefit to the successful churches, will be the demonstration to the Government of the necessity of funding for major works to the fabric of our churches, 75% of which are listed buildings. A recognition of our significant role as guardians of the nation s heritage. But those PCCs that are not lucky enough to be recipients of this grant can still apply elsewhere for funds. Below is a brief explanation of the other major grant-givers PCCs can apply to for help with repairs. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) is a key funder for fabric repairs, and through its Grants for Places of Worship scheme can consider applications for projects to listed church buildings costing 10, ,000. These single-phase projects, in addition to urgent and structural fabric repair work, are expected to deliver at least two outcomes for heritage, individuals, communities and society: applications should show that the heritage will be in better condition and that more and a wider range of people will have engaged with it. There are four opportunities to apply each year and the scheme has two rounds (a full specification and tender documents are necessary for the second round). We recommend that potential applicants contact their regional HLF office (southeast office for the Diocese of Oxford) at an early stage to benefit from their preapplication support and advice and to ensure they are applying for the right programme: Although VAT is charged on repair works to historic fabric, it can be reclaimed through the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme: Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire each have their own Historic Churches Trust, which usually gives grants of less than ten per cent of the value of the project, but will helpfully often fund the early stages of projects. If you need to fundraise and don t know where to begin, then you may be interested in a series of workshops, Giving to Heritage, being run by the Heritage Alliance in partnership with the Institute of Fundraising. These are designed to boost skills and confidence in accessing funding from private and corporate sources and cover themes such as developing a heritage fundraising plan, making the case to donors, approaching grant bodies, communication and measuring success. See further details at: For details about the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund see Contact details for DAC: Natalie Merry (DAC Secretary): natalie.merry@oxford.anglican.org Sophie Hammond (Executive Assistant to the DAC): sophie.hammond@ oxford.anglican.org or tel: From the Dean of Christ Church... Christ Church, the cathedral church for the Diocese of Oxford, is unique in the world. Christ Church has a dual foundation it is both a college and a cathedral, with the cathedral also serving as a college chapel for the several hundred who study and work here. As a chapel, it serves one of the largest colleges in the University of Oxford. There is no other place on earth quite like it. Founded in 1546, our cathedral stands on the much more ancient site of St Frideswide s Priory (Oxford s patron saint), where her reconstructed shrine still stands today. Its Latin name is Aedes Christi, meaning the house of Christ, or The House as it is more usually known. However Christ Church is not just a house, but a home. It is a place of hospitality, a place of development, a habitat for wisdom. Cathedrals are sacred spaces and common ground. Cathedrals stand as signs of God s love and grace in the midst of a distracted world. They provide serious spaces and places for prayer and contemplation in a busy world. Cathedrals meet, greet and minister to every visitor, and enable every casual wanderer to take those first steps to becoming an intentional, seeking pilgrim. Above all else, Christ Church is your cathedral a place of prayer and a home for the diocese. Our hope and prayer is that you will find peace and space in this house of prayer a living community of worship and learning. You are always welcome to visit and attend our services, to hear the world-renowned choir and to pray as many have down the centuries in this fascinating sacred space. The Very Revd Professor Martyn Percy, Dean of Christ Church More information on how to visit us is available at: -information

8 From the Diocesan Registry The new Faculty Rules came into force on 1 January They brought together into one place the rules that relate to faculties, injunctions and restoration orders. This was the beginning of work undertaken by the Simplification Group chaired by Mrs Ann Sloman, then the chair of the national Church Buildings Council. A prayer for the appointment of the new Bishop Gracious Lord and shepherd of your pilgrim Church, We bless you and praise you that you have gathered us, from across this diocese, to be one flock, within one fold. By your Spirit, Give us wisdom, courage and faith as we seek a faithful pastor who will sustain us on the journey, feed us with word and sacrament and nurture our Living Faith, inspiring us to follow you ever more closely. This we ask in the name of Jesus, our loving, faithful shepherd who is the beginning and the end of all that we are and seek and do. The most noticeable change has probably been the introduction of a running Standard Information Form, intended to gather basic information about the church and specific features of its architecture, history and contents in order to save time in filling out this information each time a fresh application is made. This has been a welcome development, and over time will enable both the diocese and the Church nationally to build up a comprehensive picture of our churches and their significant features. Later this year, the General Synod will be dealing with some other changes, intended by the Simplification Group to further streamline the operation of the system. These will include the introduction of Lists A and B : List A will be a list of items that will need no faculty or consent at all; List B will contain items that require approval by the Archdeacon, after consultation with the DAC (but will not require a formal faculty). It is envisaged that these new arrangements will come into force on 1 January 2016, but we shall be writing to churchwardens and putting additional information on the diocesan website when the General Synod has considered and approved the changes. Finally, I would like to introduce the new Deputy Diocesan Registrar, Darren Oliver, and Registry Clerk, Helen Lambourne (both pictured). They will both be familiar to many of you through the contact you will have had with the Registry, both in relation to faculties and general enquiries. Darren has been with us for six years, and last year Helen took over the work that had been looked after so ably by Lucy Scott for over 20 years. We warmly welcome them both and look forward to your getting to know them better in the coming years. Canon John Rees Diocesan Registrar Amen. The Archdeacons thank Ecclesiastical Insurance for their generosity in the publication of this Visitation News. Whilst Ecclesiastical has used reasonable endeavours to ensure that the information in this newsletter is correct at the time of publication, please note: (a) the information is not intended to constitute a definitive or complete statement of the law on any subject, (b) the information may over the course of time become incorrect or out of date; and (c) neither Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc. nor its subsidiaries can accept any responsibility or liability for action taken or losses suffered as a result of reliance placed on the information provided in this newsletter. For more information call information@ecclesiastical.com visit Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc (EIO) Reg. No Ecclesiastical Insurance Group plc (EIG) Reg. No Ecclesiastical Life Ltd (ELL) Reg. No Ecclesiastical Investment Management Ltd (EIM) Reg. No Ecclesiastical Financial Advisory Services Ltd (EFAS) Reg. No Ecclesiastical Services Ltd (ESL) Reg. No E.I.O. Trustees Ltd Reg. No All companies are registered in England at Beaufort House, Brunswick Road, Gloucester, GL1 1JZ, UK. EIO and ELL are authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. EFAS and EIM are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. ESL is an appointed representative of EIO who is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Ecclesiastical Insurance Office plc /15