Heavy agenda and serious issues facing General Synod

This article in the Church Times touches on someting I drew attention to a little while back [New provincial structure for the CofE? Jan 7 '04] with the article by Gareth Miller. Well Gareth's idea has been seen and commented on by the ABofC -who apparently suggested something similar himself 20 years ago and still seems to think it's worth an airing I would guess.

So look at Tuesday's General Synod agenda [follow the leads and use the title here to do a search if necessary] "The Dioceses Measure had been very little used, said Dr Colin Podmore of the Dioceses’ Commission, but there needed to be a review of diocesan structures. Some people argued for reducing the number of bishops and dioceses, and thus the administrative costs; others argued for more, smaller dioceses, with shared administration." [CT Jan 7]. Gareth's suggestions are to increase the number of provinces, smaller dioceses collaborating and sharing resources provincially, one bishop and one archdeacon per diocese, dioceses closely following local authority boundaries.

It seems significant to me that this will be the same day that the emerging church debate takes place because I actually think that a structure like this would be a real help to being able to foster alternative and emerging forms of church. If you want to see a really encouraging comment on the subject of the CofE and emerging church ...