“We’re called to be a blessing,” Bishop Harold tells Down and Dromore Synod
“We’re called to be a blessing,” was Bishop Harold Miller’s message to the Down and Dromore Diocesan Synod which met on 19 June in Bangor Abbey.
“We, the people of God are actually entrusted with the joyful task of being a blessing in and to the communities in which we live,” said the bishop in his Presidential Address. We receive the blessings of the Lord so that we can be a blessing to those around us.”
Bishop Harold recounted some of the many blessings the diocese has enjoyed in the last 12 months: the Bible Week last August with the largest numbers ever; the donation of £70,000 seed funding for church planting in the diocese; two church plants established since the autumn with another (in the Glen, Newtownards) ready to begin this August; blessing on Wells and the Dock Café, the two existing ‘fresh expressions’; twelve diocesan evangelists in training and a new batch being selected for next year; the encouragement of the episcopal visitations; the re–opening of St Comgall’s, Bangor; the redevelopment of the Kilbroney Centre, due to open next month; the engagement of so many parishes with foodbanks, Christians Against Poverty and discipleship courses; increasing numbers of adults and particularly adult men coming to faith and being baptized and confirmed; and the generosity of the diocese with regard to South Sudan.
The synod acknowledged these blessings by saying together the General Thanksgiving before Bishop Harold addressed what it meant to be a blessing – something, he stressed, which was never sentimental and often challenging.
“Being God’s blessing to the world does not mean that we fit in to the world and its mould,” he said.” It actually often means the opposite – that we speak with a distinctive but loving voice, and move to a different beat. We are in the world but not of it.”
He went on to apply that idea to four challenges faced by the church in Northern Ireland today: reconciliation and peacemaking in Northern Ireland; racism and the abuse of people of other religions; issues of sexuality and finally the Girlguiding promise.
Acknowledging the complexity of the issues and the important role, where appropriate, of both church and state, the bishop appealed to individual Christians to make a difference and to bless others in an attitude of love and humility.
Turing at the close of his address to the recently released results of the Church of Ireland census, Bishop Harold acknowledged some numerical decline in the diocese over the last two years. He challenged each parish to grow their worshipping congregation by 10% by the end of 2015, saying that he has, “absolutely no doubt that the mix of prayer and godly strategy…can be the tipping point that moves us into growth, and can make the year of our Lord 2015 the year of our Lord in a new way, and one which will bless others with the blessing with which God has blessed us.”
The bishop said that he had seen the idea of blessing in a very striking way when visiting many of the diocese’s 24/7 prayer rooms with their emphasis on serving and praying for their communities. The 19th June was the 170th day of continuous prayer in Down and Dromore and during the afternoon session the synod witnessed and blessed the 43rd handover of the prayer scroll from St Patrick’s Newry to St Patrick’s Drumbeg.
Also during the afternoon, Revd Andrew Forster and Mrs Ethne Harkness reported from the Commission on Episcopal Ministry and Structures and Ronnie Briggs reflected on 200 years of partnership in CMS Ireland.
Time was also given over to a ‘Conversation on the Work of God’ when standing orders are suspended and the floor is open to those who would like to bring encouragement to the synod. We heard stories of blessing and exhortations to bless and make friends with our communities, all conveyed amidst the overriding sense that ‘God is on the move’.
Attendance was high at this diocesan synod which was the first of a new triennium and of three years in Bangor. We warmly thank Bishop Ken Clarke who preached at the opening service of Holy Communion and to Canon Ronnie Nesbitt and Bangor Abbey for their hospitality.
In changes to the secretariat, Revd Mark Harvey, rector of the parish of Ballybeen, is the new Clerical Honorary Secretary for Down, replacing Archdeacon David McClay.
Download Bishop Harold Miller’s Presidential Address in full as PDF.
See our synod photo gallery here.