Part 1 of the Mission and Pastoral Measure
2011 lays down the general principle that it is the duty of
any person or body carrying out functions under this
Measure "to have due regard to the furtherance of the mission
of the Church of England".
Mission means "the whole mission of the Church of England,
pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical."
These pages outline some of the possibilities under legislation
to provide for "mission initiatives" and innovative and unusual
types of pastoral reorganisation.
Part 7 of the 2011 Measure deals with new
bishops' mission orders which bishops can use to endorse and
provide recognition and oversight for new forms of Church
developing alongside traditional ones.
Code of
Practice
In order to provide the correct references to the legislation
governing bishops' mission orders, a working text reproduction
of the House of Bishops' Code of Practice on bishops' mission
orders is available under the Resources sidebar. This incorporates,
for the benefit of users, minor changes (references to legislation)
to reflect the effect of the Mission and Pastoral Measure 2011.
The original House of Bishops' Code of Practice on bishops'
mission orders was approved by General Synod in February 2008 and
can also be downloaded by clicking on the appropriate link on the
Resources sidebar.
Skeletons
A skeleton Bishop's Mission Order and Supplementary Instrument
have been prepared in order to assist those making the Order and
can be downloaded from the Resources sidebar. This
is intended as a guide in framing the documentation; different
arrangements can be made locally if the bishop agrees. These
documents will be reviewed in the light of experience.
As other resources are developed, details of where to find them
will appear on www.sharetheguide.org a new resource created by
Fresh Expressions and Church Army in order to develop practical
wisdom on planting and sustaining fresh expressions of church. It
will also hold a developing list of Frequently Asked Questions
(FAQs).
If you have a general enquiry or comments about these web
pages please contact Fiona McKenzie.