The outline timetable for the February 2015 sessions of the General Synod of the Church of England is now available to download as a pdf file, and is copied below.
GENERAL SYNOD: FEBRUARY 2015 GROUP OF SESSIONS
Timetable
Tuesday 10 February
1.00 pm – 7.15 pm
1.00 pm Worship
Formal Business
Short address by Ecumenical Guest
Report by the Business Committee
Report by the Business Committee on the Allocation of Seats in the 2015 General Elections
Presidential Address by the Archbishop of Canterbury
Report on Immersion Experience in India by Regional Representatives of House of Bishops
Legislative Business
4.15 pm Questions
5.40 pm Presentation on the Task Groups and Discipleship Report
7.00–7.15 pm Evening worship
Wednesday 11 February
(9.15 am – 11.15 am Worship followed by Group Work on Discipleship)
(11.20 am – 1.00 pm Discussion in Four Larger Groups on Task Groups)
2.30 pm – 7.15 pm
2.30 pm Discipleship:
Debate on a Motion from the Ministry Council
Resourcing the Future and Resourcing Ministerial Education
Debate on a Motion from the Archbishops’ Council
Simplification
Debate on a Motion
Debate on Inter-generational Equity
Debate on a Motion from the Church Commissioners
7.00–7.15 pm Evening worship
Thursday 12 February
9.15 am – 1.00 pm
9.15 am Holy Communion in the Assembly Hall
10.30 Legislative Business
Standing Orders Debate
Private Member’s Motion – Canon B38
2.30 pm – 5.00 pm
2.30 pm Liturgical Business
Alternative Baptism Texts – Revision Stage
Mission and Growth in Rural Multi-Parish Benefices
Take Note Debate from the Mission and Public Affairs Council
4.45 p.m Farewells
Prorogation
Contingency Business
Diocesan Synod Motion – Nature And Structure Of The Church Of England: National Debate
Debate on a motion on a Report from the World Council of Churches: ‘The Church: Towards a Common Vision’
My eyes may be deceiving me and I may have missed something but I don’t see any item concerning the much maligned “Green Report” on the Agenda? Surely if the National Church is expected to shell out two million pounds on what many regard as a White Elephant our elected representatives on the General Synod should have an opportunity to debate such massive expenditure at a time when some dioceses are declaring themselves to be virtually on Skid Row?
I think that you will find that the Green report is included in the “Resourcing the Future and Resourcing Ministerial Education” debate on the Wednesday afternoon. It will also be covered in the Tuesday presentation.
Thank you for that clarification Peter, that is reassuring but will Synod members get to vote to approve or otherwise on spending two million pounds of the Church’s scarce resources on a scheme which has received such scathing reviews, not least from the occupants of two highly significant and important Deaneries – Durham and Oxford?
I’m a member of the GS Business Committee. Peter Owen is right. There will also be a Larger Group in the morning for some different and more open-ended engagement with the Green Report
We won’t know what General Synod will be asked to agree to until we see the wording of the motions to be debated on the Wednesday. These may not be available until the full agenda is published in the second half of January.
But the Church Commissioners do not require General Synod approval to spend their own money on their charitable purposes, which include supporting the ministry of bishops and cathedrals, which the proposals in the Green report are intended to do.
In the timetable for Tuesday afternoon there appears:
“Report by the Business Committee on the Allocation of Seats in the 2015 General Elections”
I know that this is an exact quotation from the release on the CofE website, but I think it should read “2015 General _Synod_ Elections”.
For readers outwith the UK, (there’s that word again – “outwith”) there is also a _parliamentary_ General Election due in 2015.