Seeing yet another diocese consulting about how they can reduce clergy numbers by changing their models of ministry. Can we just not, please? Learn from the experience of the dioceses who tried this before,and discovered that it’s a recipe for decline.

A decade ago my diocese, Eds and Ips, were trying to aggressively cut stipendiary clergy to balance the books. We had consultations about Minster models and hub models and all sorts of different ideas.

Benefices that were doing well were kept in vacancy for years to amalgamate them with another, despite everyone paying their share and lots of lay ministry etc

Those of us on the ground said it wouldn’t help, it would just make the churches decline. Sure enough they did, so they then couldn’t pay even the smaller amount they were now asked for.

A new Bishop started who could see what a disaster this policy had been, as our diocese got deeper and deeper into deficit and sold more and more parsonages.

He stopped the policy of indiscriminate cuts, worked instead on increasing generosity and stripped down the diocesan costs to keep share as low as possible.

Every year since the deficit has reduced and 2020 was going to be the year we broke even, without reducing clergy numbers. Thanks to central CofE support of 600k we managed to break even.

We still cut stipendiary posts sometimes, because sometimes a post becomes unviable, but that’s after many resources and opportunities to turn it around. But the aim is to grow, and everyone knows that this needs priests, even if that is an inconvenient truth.

Budgets need to be balanced and there are dioceses with odd historic arrangements that now seem unfair, and do need addressing. But any diocesan strategy based around cutting stipendiary clergy numbers will mean a diocese will decline.And maybe sometimes that’s just the situation

But don’t pretend that you are becoming more agile to enable growth. It just doesn’t work like that. And the very places that many want to reduce ministry in are often rural areas which subsidise the urban ministry they want more of (in most share systems)

The mantra so many diocesan clergy repeat is “doing nothing isn’t an option”, but can I suggest that doing nothing is still far better than doing the wrong thing. And of course, preaching the gospel and celebrating the sacraments isn’t actually doing nothing.

You don’t just need priests to grow, you need them to be well trained and godly, you need well supported lay ministry, etc etc, but without them, growth won’t happen. It’s that simple.