Pastoral letters
A Pastoral Letter to the Diocese of Winchester from the Bishop of Winchester, the Bishop of Basingstoke and the Bishop Designate of Southampton
Following the example of St Paul, we offer to 'the saints of the Diocese of Winchester' the following advice, guidance and encouragement as part of the Bishops’ distinctive ministry of leadership and teaching. If you wonder whether we are writing to you because you don't think of yourself as a 'saint', please read on!
Like St Paul, we use the word to mean 'Christian', someone set apart at Baptism to be a friend, a follower and a representative of Jesus. So we follow St Paul in praying for you just as he prayed for the Christians at Corinth at the very end of his second Letter to them:
'May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the sharing in the Holy Spirit be with all of you.'
Our constant prayer for this Diocese in these next years is that each of us comes fully to believe that these words, and the new life in the Risen Christ to which they point, are the fundamental truth about each other, our churches and ourselves. We live in demanding times for Christians, both globally and in this country. We need to trust in God's equipping us richly to be his people in the circumstances of today. We need to be prepared to engage confidently and unapologetically as Christians in the issues around us. We need to do this whether in our work, in public affairs, in our daily discipleship or in our family and home lives.
Alongside the gifts from God which we share with Christians everywhere – we think of the Scriptures, the Sacraments, our fellow-Christians of every Church and every century – we have received particular gifts in this Diocese:
- Our friendships with Anglicans in our partner dioceses overseas - often places where the Church is faithful and thriving in the face of acute hardship and danger
- Our share in the rich inheritance of the Church of England's history of worship, service and witness in and for this country, and its commitment to Christian engagement in public life and with the political questions of the day
- The financial and intellectual wealth of this region, through which we believe that God gives to this Diocese responsibilities to other parts of the Church and of the world.
We offer to you, as God's people of the Diocese of Winchester made new through Christ and richly equipped to serve Him, five elements of our Vision for these next years – understanding that it is the privilege and calling of every parish and deanery, every church school and chaplaincy, and of the Cathedral, to discern in detail God’s priorities for the mission and ministry that He has entrusted to us.
- A Missionary Community - Becoming 'Good News', attracting and welcoming people of all ages and all sorts to discover God’s love for them and for His world and to grow to worship Him in Jesus; bringing evangelism and renewal to the heart of every church’s life
- A Compassionate Community - Recognising that the Church exists for God's world, and witnessing to Christ’s compassion and lordship in marriage, friendship and family life, in the places where we live and work, and in the social and political issues of the day
- A Learning Community - Calling, training and nurturing the lay and ordained leaders that the Church needs, and encouraging them everywhere to collaborate with each other
- An Expectant Community - Reviewing with our ecumenical colleagues our patterns of church life and the use of our buildings, trusting God to be showing us quite fresh ways as well as doing better what we do already
- A Generous Community - Responding to God’s generosity by budgeting for the work of the Church in the parish and across the Diocese and the Church of England, and for the support of our Partners in Myanmar and in Central Africa; and meeting these budgets through regular, sacrificial and proportionate giving.
As we commit ourselves freshly to serve with you as your Bishops, we end with some other words of St Paul which we hear as addressed to every part of the Church and to each of us:
'God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-control'.
Ascensiontide 2004