St Mary's Church, Dymock
925th anniversary Year
|
|
| The Church of England |
| The Anglican Communion | |||||
| The Anglican Communion International association of national Anglican Churches sharing mutual agreement on essential doctrine (teaching). Each has its own 'Primate' (chief bishop) |
There isn't a single organisation or central authority. Each church is fully independent but accepts the first Anglican church as the ‘Mother Church' - that is, The Church of England and its primate the Archbishop of Canterbury. Each accepts the ministry and Communion Service of the others and is expected to mutually accept the essential doctrines recognised by the Anglican Communion. The primates and other bishops come together every 10 years in the ‘Lambeth Conference’ for mutual support and discussion, which may include discussing the essential doctrines. The Conference is called and hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Anglican Church is the 3rd largest Christian church after the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. (Return to top)
|
||||
| The Church of England (C of E) | |||||
| The Church of England The first 'Anglican' Church, created in the 16th century when Henry VIII declared the church in England independent of Papal authority. The head is the monarch. |
Like the other churches in the Anglican Communion, the C of E tries to keep to the catholic doctrines (eg: the Creeds) that were agreed in the 4th century before the Christian Church split into different factions, but unlike the Roman Catholic Church, the C of E has adopted many of the principals of the Protestant Reformation. The C of E therefore describes itself as ‘Catholic and Reformed’ ('catholic' is the Latin word for 'universal').
The Church of England is the official church of the land (England only) so is termed the ‘Established Church’. Consequently its head is the reigning monarch and many of its rules are debated and agreed by the UK parliament, so become part of English law. Major changes, such as the amalgamation of parishes/deaneries and appointments to some office, including some parish priests as well as bishops etc, have to be approved by the Crown, which is done through the 'Privy Council' which advises the monarch. (Return to Top)
|
||||
| Provinces of Canterbury & York | |||||
| Provinces of Canterbury and York The C of E is divided into two very large regions called a Province, each led by an Archbishop. |
The church of England is divided into two Provinces, Canterbury and York, currently led by the Most Revd and Right Honourable Rowan Williams and the Most Revd and Right Honourable John Sentamu respectively. (‘Right Honourable’ means the person is a member of the Privy Council). (Return to Top)
|
||||
| Diocese | |||||
| Diocese The main body for day to day management. Each diocese is led by a ‘Diocesan Bishop’ who may be assisted by one or more 'Suffragan Bishops'. |
Each diocese is led by a ‘Diocesan Bishop’, who may be assisted by one or more assistants called a ‘Suffragan Bishop’ (Suffragan is Latin for Assistant). Suffragans are usually named after an area in their Diocese. The (Diocesan) Bishop of Gloucester is currently the Right Revd Michael Perham, assisted by the (Suffragan) Bishop of Tewkesbury, the Right Revd John Went. There are 43 UK dioceses + ‘Europe’ = 44 in total. (Return to Top)
|
||||
| Archdeaconry | |||||
| Archdeaconry Dioceses may have one or more management and support areas under the leadership of an ‘Archdeacon’. |
Gloucester Diocese has two, headed by the Archdeacon of Gloucester (The Venerable Geoffrey Sidaway) and the Archdeacon of Cheltenham (The Venerable Robert Springett). Deaneries are allocated to one or other archdeaconry according to their geographic location. The Archdeacon has powers delegated by the Diocesan Bishop to provide oversight of the parishes, to ensure they are adhering to the various church regulations and properly maintaining their buildings, worship and pastoral care. The archdeacon also acts as ‘personnel manager’ for the priests in their Archdeaconry. (Return to Top) | ||||
| Deanery | |||||
| Deanery A group of parishes (and/or benefices) from a particular area grouped together under the leadership of an ‘Area Dean’. |
1. The Deanery is a centre of support for the parish ministers, both spiritually and personally through the ‘Deanery Chapter’ which meets regularly under the chairmanship of the Area Dean (previously called the ‘Rural Dean’).
2. It provides fellowship and spirituality for the member parishes, offering them any assistance it is in a position to provide, especially if there should be a dispute in or between a parish(s) and during a 'Vacancy' (ie: change of priest - previously called an Interregnum). Ideally a Deanery should enable expertise & experience to be shared between its parishes. 3. Through the deanery's links with its parishes, the diocese gains information to enable it to share the costs of the diocesan budget fairly (now called Parish Share - previously called the 'Quota'). Some Deanery Synods have recently been given ‘teeth’ by being allocated the total Parish Share for their area and charged with organising and managing its collection as appropriate to their parishes' abilities to pay. (Return to Top)
|
||||
| Parish / Benefice | |||||
| Parish / Benefice The lowest level of the structure is the individual parish. Traditionally this was one church with one priest (Incumbent). More recently, several parishes have been grouped together as a 'Benefice' under one full time (paid) priest. |
This is the lowest level of the structure. It is managed by the Parochial Church Council (PCC) which comprises the Incumbent, two Churchwardens and several elected representatives of the congregation. A benefice was usually one local church with its priest (known as the Incumbent or Curate) and possibly one or more newish priests, usually called the ‘Curate’, though technically the ‘Assistant Curate’, who were placed there as part of their training or to assist the Incumbent of a large parish. There may also be one or more (Lay) Readers. More recently, several parishes have been grouped together under one Incumbent, with or without other Assistant Priests or Readers, because of the scarcity and cost of stipendiary (paid) priests to act as Incumbents in each parish. (Return to Top)
|
||||
Note: |
Key to coloured boxes:
|
||||