Diocese of Liverpool

Church and Society

WHAT IS CHURCH & SOCIETY’S ROLE?

It advises and supports Bishop James, Bishop David, parishes, sector ministers, community projects and others by:

Promoting and celebrating outstanding examples of community involvement undertaken by parishes, the Mothers’ Union and others.
Commenting on items of sub regional concern especially social and moral issues raised by the Bishop, parishes, and Committees.
Working collaboratively with statutory and voluntary agencies.
Supporting Bishop James on his key priorities of regeneration, racial justice, international Anglican relations and the environment.
Offering training on issues in its remit in partnership with others in the Department for Lifelong Learning (including Ordained Local Ministry, and the Officer for Lifelong Learning).
Supporting Church Community Projects in collaboration with the Resources Department (who lead on this) on areas including equal opportunities, volunteering and employment.
Developing Bishop James’s & Bishop David’s vision of the parishes becoming Houses of Prayer for all People by supporting Anglicans from ethnic minority communities, reviewing pastoral care for people in residential institutions and promoting disability awareness.
Cooperating with Church Growth & Ecumenism on practical ecumenism including Churches Together in the Merseyside Region (CTMR), Mission in the Economy (MitE) and the Churches Officer for the North West.
Working with sector ministers serving hospitals, prisons and seafarers.
Promoting justice and fair trade at the international level and celebrating all that parishes achieve by supporting mission and development agencies.

WHAT IS CHURCH & SOCIETY DOING?

Life is constantly evolving for Church and Society. Current work includes:

Producing resource material to assist parishes in the involvement of care of people with learning disabilities in the life of the local church.
Taking the lead on behalf of Churches Together in the Merseyside Region for engagement with Local Strategic Partnerships which includes serving on the Greater Merseyside ChangeUp Consortium (alongside Councils for Voluntary Service, Volunteer Centres, etc) and commenting on government policy and major reports.
Staging conferences to support parish involvement in pastoral care (e.g. disability awareness and elderly people in residential homes).
Supporting the ChangeUp Rural Officer based in Church & Society but working for the whole of Greater Merseyside’s voluntary sector.
Strengthening our links with Akure and Virginia Dioceses notably as we prepare for 2007 and the Bi-Centenary of the Wilberforce Bill.
Advocating Equal Opportunities in the Diocese principally via the Equal Opportunities & the Everyone Together Disability Awareness packs and developing work on women’s issues notably women at the margins.
Looking at how to enable churches to link with local statutory and voluntary bodies (complex as our Diocese covers 8 Local Authorities).
Servicing a Forum with the Resources Dept for lay community workers.
Promoting Operation EDEN which is a major interfaith initiative to promote neighbourhood based involvement in practical environmental action and training volunteers. Diocesan Synod recently approved a Diocesan Environmental policy.
Offering professional support to the Diocesan Council for Social Aid whose key role is running Adelaide House bail hostel for women and supporting the Hostel’s Chaplain.

HONORARY OFFICERS

Canon Angela White (Departmental Chair)

Revd Canon Cynthia Dowdle (Chair, Anglican Partnership & Links Forum)

John Flamson (Consultant on Renewal & Regeneration)

Val Jackson (Chair, Action Group for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns)

Revd Canon Carol Kidd (Chair, Operation EDEN/Environmental Steering Group)

Revd Dr Ian Lovett JP (Chair, Ethics Think Tank)

Revd Joan Matthews (Chair, Women’s Issues Forum)

Joyce Roberts (Chair, Diocesan Council for Social Aid)

Joe Steen (Chair, Disability Action Group)

STAFF

Ultan Russell (Senior Officer, Church & Society)

Revd Dr Hannah Lewis (Team Leader Pastoral Services for the Deaf Community)

Chris Leggett (ChangeUp Rural Issues Research & Development Officer)

Sue Mullally (Office Assistant)

Sister Ruth Reed (Disability Awareness Officer)

Irene Summers (Office Administrator)

Hyacinth Sweeney Dixon (Racial Justice Officer, Anglican/Methodist/URC Project)

ADVISERS

Helen Clarey (Adviser on Women’s Issues)

Revd Roy Doran (Akure Link Adviser)

Revd Julie Fleming (Church & World Adviser)

Marion Hawley (Penal Affairs Coordinator)

Mary Kessler (Adviser on Older Peoples’ Issues)

Revd Canon Noel Michell (Rural Issues Adviser)

Revd Joyce Weaver (Relationships Adviser)

OPERATION EDEN

Annie Merry (Coordinator, Operation Eden)

Sister Marjorie Griffin (Administrator, Operation EDEN)

Initial contact point is 0151 705 2130 and churchandsociety@liverpool.anglican.org