Give up  freehold, take more risks, Bishop John tells clergy

The Bishop of Ripon and Leeds says that he hopes clergy will be willing to surrender their parish ‘freehold’ under new conditions of service legislation -  and  be prepared to take more risks. Speaking to a congregation largely made up of parish clergy from across the diocese, Bishop John Packer used the annual Advent Lecture at Ripon Cathedral to speak on ‘Risk, The Gospel and Culture’.  

Click the audio player below to hear Bishop John's lecture.

In his address, given on St Andrew’s day,  Bishop Packer told the congregation that the church “ought to be a place where we take risks and discover the consequences”. He cited the example of risk taking which Andrew, the disciple, witnessed in the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand and said that the church ought to take more risks: “The church ought to be a place where we take risks and discover the consequences.  Yet we live in a risk-averse culture where the response to mistakes is not to forgive but to seek redress.”

Bishop Packer gave as an example of risk, a memorial event at Elland Road, Leeds for Baroness Nicky Chapman, the ‘people’s peer,  who died at the age of 48. “She was prepared to risk her life for the cause in which she believed and which she exemplified.” 

The church, he said, was taking risks in the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, and examples could be seen in recent appointments and developments: “There is risk and excitement in the appointment of Rob Hinton as our Chaplain for the Business Community in Leeds.  There is risk in the development of St Mary Harrogate as a network church.  There are risks in café church and cell church.  If you want to criticise it is easy to do so.  We need to defy the critical, suspicious and risk-averse culture and do what we can to create opportunities for the gospel.”

But Bishop John also went on to suggest that clergy could themselves become overly concerned with security, and avoid risk. “I think of an ordinand, not in this diocese, who last year attempted to sue their diocese for not finding them the curacy they craved.  We live in a church as well as a society where mistakes are not forgiven; their perpetrators are sued.”

As new Terms and Conditions of service become law, Bishop Packer said that he, for one, would be relinquishing his own ancient right of ‘freehold’, a right which gave some clergy security of tenure for life.  “In the church some argue that we as clergy need to hold on to our freeholds – those of us who have them – in order to protect ourselves from bishops and maybe congregations.  The normal provisions of employment law are not enough for us, apparently.  We need more than that to protect us.  I look forward to surrendering my freehold when the new Terms and Conditions of Service legislation permits me to do so.  Surely we do not need that protection in a church which should accept and welcome risk.”

There is  no right for Christians to a “risk-free environment” said the Bishop. And he concluded, “When we do open ourselves up to take risks, then we shall know the freedom of God which is beyond human understanding.”

The full text of the Advent Address can be read and downloaded as a PDF by clicking here.