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This Report begins by recalling the various other reports and initiatives that the Church of England has published and undertaken, roughly every 10-15 years, since “Towards the Conversion of England” in 1945 and yet the challenge remains essentially the same, namely that in order for the Church to be effective it needs the whole People of God to be active in God’s Mission.
This is not really about enabling lay ministry within the Church – although there are plenty of internal benefits from doing that and we should continue to build on the progress that has been made in that direction – it is about the laity being equipped to live all aspects of their lives beyond the Church as instruments of Mission.
Therefore while the Faith and Order Commission has produced a perfectly good report the earlier reports were also more that adequate – it was the action, or lack of it, that came after that left the need unaddressed, and as such I am not sure there is any reason to conclude the response will be any different on this occasion. More likely, when in 10 to 15 years time the Church of England returns to this question this will just be added to the already long list of missed opportunities.
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