The Commission on Reimagining Care has been charged by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York to develop a radical and inspiring long-term vision for care and support in England, underpinned by a renewed set of values and principles, drawing on Christian theology and ethics.The focus of the Commission is on adults with disabilities and those with care and support needs in later life.The Commission began work in June 2021 and is due to publish a final report in September 2022.Today, the Commission is publishing a draft set of values which draw on Christian theology and ethics. The Commission believes these should underpin any future vision for care and support in England.The Commission is inviting feedback on these values as part of a wider Listening and Engagement exercise.The values include concepts that are not usually heard in policy discussions about care such as flourishing, loving kindness, empathy, trust and justice.A full list of proposed values can be accessed on the Commission website. Today marks the start of a formal period of Listening and Engagement which will run until Friday 10 December. The Commission wants to hear from a wide range of individuals and organisations and ensure that its work is shaped by the views and voices of people and organisations who have experience of care and care giving.They are calling for contributions from:Those who draw on formal services. Unpaid carers, and the relatives and friends of those who draw on care and support. Those who work in the care sector and the voluntary and community sector. Churches of all denominations and other faith communities. Those who commission, provide and regulate formal services. Community groups and people who provide informal supportThe consultation launched today aims to gather views about the challenges experienced by those currently drawing on care and support and those who work in the sector.They are also interested in identifying examples of good practice.The Commission is particularly interested in the role that communities play in supporting people with disability and in later life to live well, in particular the role of church and other faith communities.The Commission hopes to generate information, insights and ideas through the Listening and Engagement Exercise that can inform the work of the Commission and contribute to the findings of a report to be published in September 2022.Commenting on the Listening and Engagement exercise, the Commission Chair, Dr Anna Dixon MBE (see photo) said: “The early focus of the Commission has been on understanding the principles that have informed past reports and policies on social care and reflecting on what Christian theology and ethics have to say about the values that should underpin care and support."Our draft values are not the language of policymakers or indeed professionals, but we hope that these resonate with those who draw on care, their family and friends, and those who provide care."As we continue our work to develop an inspiring vision of care we want to get some new and different perspectives, people from all walks of life, people from different faith backgrounds and those with no faith."The Listening and Engagement exercise we are launching is an essential stage of our work. "We want to hear about where care and support is working well, but also the honest stories of where things need to change."We want to gather ideas to help shape a reimagined future of care and support, not just a reformed statutory care system, but wider changes that will enable people with disability and in later life to live a full life.”The Rt Revd. James Newcome, Bishop of Carlisle, and Co-Chair of the Commission added: “The insights, thoughts and examples that we receive in response to this listening and engagement exercise will be vital for our work over the coming months. "We look forward to taking the insights, ideas and experiences gathered, and going out into communities to listen and learn in greater depth from the people and groups who respond to us.”About the Listening and Engagement Exercise and ConsultationThe evidence gathering starts today and finishes on Friday 10 December 2021. There is an online form on the website, or a printed form which can be downloaded and sent to:Call for Evidence – SecretariatReimagining Care CommissionLambeth PalaceLondon SE1 7JU
“What would you be, you wide East Anglian sky / Without church towers to recognise you by?” Even when Sir John Betjeman spoke these lines during his 1974 BBC documentary A Passion for Churches, they struck an elegiac note. Traditional religious practice in the Church of England was already in significant decline. Half a century on, Anglicans find themselves at a historic crossroads – obliged by dire financial circumstance and sparse congregations to rethink what the church is for, and where it should be.There are growing fears that at next month’s General Synod, measures will be taken to make it easier to close hundreds of parish churches, drastically reduce numbers of “vicars on the beat” and sell off assets to raise funds. Moving away from the traditional vision of providing for “the cure of souls” in every parish – with a Sunday service at the local church its focal point – the Anglican hierarchy envisions a future mixed ecology in which a variety of venues host groups of believers, some of which will be lay-led.According to plans drawn up in Manchester diocese, for example, a gradually reduced number of stipendiary clergy would provide support and oversight over new “mission communities”, which would absorb existing parishes.This prospect is being fought tooth and nail by furious congregations and clergy, in a struggle which is becoming as bitter as previous battles over the ordination of women and same-sex marriage. During the summer, a Save the Parish movement was founded to oppose the mooted changes. The archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, who is seen as one of the chief architects of the new strategy, has admitted to sleepless nights as the backlash has gained momentum. The Anglican hierarchy stands accused of overseeing a soulless managerial approach to a budgetary crisis which the pandemic has made far worse.The pain felt at a local level is real and understandable. But in the context of a 40% decline in church attendance over the past 30 years, radical action seems unavoidable. Before the pandemic struck, around 5,000 parishes needed financial help from their diocese to meet the costs of ministry. Lincoln diocese has an annual £3m operating deficit and has said that after 2025 it will no longer be able to rely on historic assets to get by. On the current model, the old ideal of a priest for every parish no longer seems affordable. And given the huge decline in traditional forms of religious observance, it seems reasonable that the Church of England should look to experiment with new forms of mission in the community, in new settings. An enhanced leadership role for lay people may turn out to be a means of renewal and reinvigoration as well as a financial imperative.For atheists, agnostics and those of other denominations and faiths, the Church of England’s deeply uncertain future might seem very much someone else’s problem. But there is a wider pathos to the current crisis and the bitter divisions it is causing. As studies have shown, the widespread rejection of traditional churchgoing in Britain does not mean that we have become a nation of atheists. A more individualised and diffuse sense of the spiritual is still commonplace. Most people don’t go to church. But many people like the idea that these sites of hospitality and reflection are still around, especially in moments of crisis or for crucial rites of passage.That backdrop is not one which can permit the Church of England to carry on indefinitely as it has been doing. But as well as being a reason for it to exercise great caution in navigating a fraught future, it can also be a source of what is, after all, a theological virtue – hope.
In 2009 the UK Environment Agency asked 25 secular environmental leaders what might ‘save the planet’. Second on the list of 50 items, behind only greater energy efficiency, was for world faiths to become engaged on the issue of environmental protection. As nations prepare to gather for COP26, the most important climate summit since the signing of the Paris Agreement and the biggest diplomatic event to take place on British soil since World War 2, I’m pleased to see the global church taking a more active role in creation care. In 2015 there was Pope Francis’ papal encyclical Laudato Si and the Lambeth Declaration on climate change, not to mention only last month we saw for the first time the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion jointly warning of the urgency of environmental sustainability and its impact on the poor. That impact was something I witnessed myself three years ago when travelling in a part of Northern Kenya where it hadn’t rained for 18 months. Seeing children waving empty plastic bottles at us, begging for water was one of the saddest things I have experienced. Every day the equivalent of 12 jumbo jets worth of people die because they do not have access to fresh water. This horror is only going to worsen without tackling the injustice of the climate crisis.For me the challenge of the environmental emergency is captured in the Lord’s Prayer. We pray “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as in heaven.” If you look in the Book of Common Prayer you’ll notice it says “in earth, as it is in heaven.” Somewhere in the last hundred years or so “in earth as it is in heaven” has somehow changed to, “on earth as it is in heaven”. It was not an organized change by some church commission, it just happened. We used to believe, and to know, that we lived in earth, that we were part of it, interdependent with it. And if we had a relationship with the earth it was to be its good stewards, living in it, and with it, and serving it. Then somewhere in the last couple of hundred years we moved to a position from living in the earth to living on the earth. And now I’m separate from the earth. The earth is mine, and I can do with it what I will. And from that, disaster upon disaster has flowed. We've been blind to the consequences of our actions, and we now live in a time where we must take action.The prayer also suggests a solution to our broken relationship with creation. It continues, “Give us today our daily bread.” Give me enough for today, save me from wanting more than my share. So no, I don't want strawberries on Christmas Day flown in from the other side of the world. I need to live differently, I need to inhabit the planet in a different, more sustainable way.It’s right that we advocate and campaign for better legislation for the environment, that we look for progress at meetings like COP26. We have political power to use our voice for these things. But we also need a change of heart, where we recognise that we live in the earth, where we start to learn to know what enough looks like.I welcome the interventions from church leaders and the words of the Lambeth Declaration. But we must also remember that the church manifesting a more sustainable relationship with creation is happening in individual churches and homes across the country. There is Arocha’s Eco Church scheme which has seen thousands of churches being awarded gold, silver and bronze awards for taking steps to ensure their church acts as better stewards of creation. The Church of England has made the commitment to be net carbon zero by 2030 – in just nine years time. I am proud of this bold decision, which is aligned with the most ambitious and forward-thinking institutions and ahead of the vast majority of others. If we want to speak prophetically into this debate it’s important that we act prophetically too. It’s going to be a big challenge but there is a huge amount happening. Churches are switching to renewable electricity providers, we’re reducing our energy waste, fitting solar panels and ground source heaters. It may be a cliché but yes, there’s a role for changing to LED light bulbs too. Some of our buildings already have a very small carbon footprint, others are bigger. It’s a huge, ambitious and pretty terrifying programme. And I don't know whether we'll get there by 2030. But if we get a long way towards it, it will be a significant achievement. The first step for anyone wanting to help join us is to do a simple audit of your church’s energy using a CofE app: churchofengland.org/energy-footprinting-toolOver the next few weeks we will be watching and praying in hope for a positive outcome at COP26 which will see the world take a major step forward in bringing climate justice to those in need of it. But whatever the outcome in Glasgow, there will be a need for a movement of people with changed hearts that live in the earth and not just on it, that cherishes the gift of ‘enough’ and that tries to model a way of living which works in harmony with God’s creation, not against it.
