Church of Ireland archbishop reports optimistically on Church's strong 'heartbeat'

The two-day general synod was attended by 650 delegates and hosted by Meath and Kildare diocese, with the welcome extended by Belfast-born bishop the Rev Pat Storey (Mrs).

Archbishop McDowell said: "The survey is an indication that many of our parishes continue to be strong with young and, often not so young, adults using their talents and sacrificing their time to encourage young people in their spiritual journey.

"These adult leaders act as role models, examples of the truth that to be a disciple of Jesus Christ is a good way, in fact the best way, to lead your life.

"And young people will look above all else to the authenticity of experience rather than some movement which passes for the discussion of faith and spirituality.

"For them, Christian leadership is an active expression of faith; they have very little time for ecclesiastical jargon. They can see that Christian discipleship is not the line of least resistance in life and their experiences of the ups and downs of their lives so far commends that to them. It has reality about it. They are all too well aware of the arbitrariness and unfairness of life. They prefer a divine foundation to a polite atmosphere."

The primate added: "Leadership matters, as I think another survey - 2023-24 parish census - also demonstrates. When I say leadership matters, in strengthening and deepening of faith, hope and love as well as the recovery of numbers, although that is also important. The church census seems to show that we have held our ground over the time since we last undertook the exercise. It will be several years before we have sufficient comparable data to plot trends, but we can now at least say what the baseline looks like. Our surveys vary from place to place and it looks like rural and county-town religion has held up much better than inner city and suburban religion.

"We know too that no more than around 20 per cent of people who see themselves as Church of Ireland attend worship regularly. Although that is not the gold standard by which faithfulness to Jesus Christ and His teachings is to be measured, it is of great significance. We all know people who for one reason or another find the fellowship of a parish or congregation impossible to live with; but for the great majority of churchgoers it is impossible to live without."

Archbishop McDowell, who underlined reconciliation as a constant theme of his primacy, added: "To make inroads into even the Church of Ireland shortfall, never mind wider evangelisation, we need leadership in parishes and in the Church in general that has three qualities: confidence, humility and resilience. First, confidence in the gospel that we are heralds of and witnesses to. Confidence that, as the church ordinal tells us, people are saved through Christ for ever and that to be His friend and his disciple is the greatest privilege in life. We will fail as a Christian tradition if we lose that as our primary focus.

"We need also the humility to know that God’s ways are not our ways and to learn the discipline of self-suspicion: that probably 75 per cent of my plans are just that - my plans and not God’s plans. Because of that, especially as leaders,

we need resilience. To face the inevitable occasions when things go wrong; when the Kingdom of God begins to feel like the kingdom of this world. But then why should we expect to succeed in a way that Our Lord and the Apostle Paul did not? For every resurrection to celebrate, there will be a cross first to carry."

Referencing, leadership and authority, the primate said authority within Anglicanism can be difficult to pin down. "It can indeed result in evasions and prevarications, when what is needed is leadership. However, authority and leadership closely relate. A leader at any level is someone authorised to do certain things. In the Church of Jesus Christ to be 'authorised' is to know that the Lord stands with you as you preach or witness or teach or lead in any way; you do so in His Name.

"My own experience of both secular and church roles has convinced me leadership at any level cannot be delegated. Certain functions can be devolved to specialists or people with specific gifts. Leadership can also be exercised collaboratively, and in the Church of Ireland it often is at all levels. But always there needs to be a co-ordinating mind, a focus of unity and a Shepherd’s hand; and, in the Anglican understanding of authority and leadership, that lies with the diocesan bishop. Each of us who are of that order need your prayers for those gifts of confidence in the gospel, humility in our exercise of leadership, and resilience in the face of frustrations and fragility."

* The Church of Ireland has approximately 343,00 members, with two-thirds reesiding in Northern Ireland parishes, about one-third in the Irish Republic.