Will there be a new 'headship' bishop?

On the 23rd September 2015, the Rt Revd Rod Thomas was consecrated as the Bishop of Maidstone, in order to provide extended episcopal oversight (EEO) to parishes holding a complementarian view of the roles of men and women. His consecration was needed because the 2014 House of Bishops' Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests had acknowledged that:

"The House also accepts that the presence in the College of Bishops of at least one bishop who takes the Conservative Evangelical view on headship is important for sustaining the necessary climate of trust." (GS Misc 1077 Paragraph 30).

This 'declaration' also set out more widely how the bishops intended to ensure that the Five Guiding Principles enabled the 'mutual flourishing' of both those in favour of admitting women to the episcopate and those who in conscience could not accept their ministry.

The Rt Revd Rod Thomas retired in 2022 and was succeeded in his role by the Rt Revd Rob Munro, although, due to some episcopal reorganisation, Bishop Rob is the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, rather than Maidstone.

Yesterday, exactly ten years on from that first consecration, the Independent Reviewer, Canon Maggie Swinson has recommended that extra support is needed for those providing extended episcopal oversight to conservatives. Her report investigated the Bishop of Ebbsfleet's workload and that of the Provincial Episcopal Visitors (PEVs) who serve the traditional catholic congregations.

The report reveals that in 2024, Bishop Rob served about 152 parishes, almost 50% more parishes than the average bishop in the Church of England. But what is more, those 152 parishes have an average electoral roll of 165 and a Usual Sunday Attendance (USA) of 158, with many more children than average. The only dioceses with anything like that kind of attendance are London, Oxford, Southwark and Chichester. The table below offers some of their relevant statistics for comparison, alongside those for Bath and Wells which has been included as an 'average' diocese.

Diocesan statistics taken from https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2024-12/statisticsformission2023_tables.xlsx

In effect, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet is offering pastoral and sacramental episcopal ministry to one of the largest dioceses in the Church of England, with nothing like the same levels of episcopal support. It should, of course, be recognised that Bishop Rob does not have the same legal responsibilities as a diocesan, but as the report says "these roles do not fit neatly into the role of suffragan, having aspects of the diocesan bishop’s role but generally without the ultimate safeguarding and governance responsibilities which are carried by Diocesan Bishops."

Yet, given that his parishes are also scattered across the country, from Plymouth to Newcastle (not forgetting the occasional visit to Leipzig, in the Diocese of Europe), it is perhaps unsurprising that Canon Swinson concluded that, "this ministry is, in its current form, unsustainable in the medium and long term."

The Independent Reviewer also found that provision for traditional catholic parishes in the Province of York, "is potentially inadequate because of the increase in workload of the Bishop of Beverley following the retirement of the Bishop of Wakefield."

The good news for conservatives is that Canon Maggie Swinson has recommended that further epsicopal support is provided in both cases. She suggests a part-time bishop to help the Bishop of Beverley and the need for, "[S]ome deputisable support" for the Bishop of Ebbsfleet. In both cases, she also proposes that in the interim, additional support should be provided,"with those tasks not requiring episcopal ordination." Perhaps each of these posts would benefit from an Archdeacon?

Forward in Faith have welcomed the Report, saying that they are, "strongly of the view that it is vitally important for the Church of England’s future good health, including its standing within the universal church, that the full breadth of its Christian witness continues to flourish, and consequently that the additional resources required to conduct episcopal ministry under the Declaration are provided in full."

It is understood that the Bishop of Ebbsfleet would echo that view.

One fly in the ointment, however, is that the Independent Reviewer, appears to believe that it will be sufficient for further episcopal support to come from, "a male bishop who is a member of a diocesan House of Bishops," which she claims is, "in line with paragraph 26 of the Declaration". This appears to ignore the earlier part of paragraph 26, where diocesan bishops are told to avoid, "conflict with the theological conviction on this issue" underlying a parish's resolution when choosing who will provide episcopal ministry.

The report also notes that the Bishop of Ebbsfleet has seen his ministry impacted by the uncertainty caused by the two hot topics of the day - safeguarding and sexuality.

• The workload of the Bishop of Ebbsfleet is reported to have increased following "the Makin report and other recent safeguarding scandals," which have led churches under his care to seek his advice as they "professionalise their staff teams."

• The introduction of the 'Prayers of Love and Faith' for use in regular services, "has had a noticeable effect on parish finances, and although the number is still relatively small, some congregations have either left or are considering leaving the Church of England."

• While other congregations are looking at how they can survive within the Church of England with, "some churches with complementarian views which had not previously passed resolutions under the Declaration have now done so."

The mention of LLF suggests that the timing of this Report is not just significant because it coincides with the tenth anniversary of the consecration of the first 'headship' bishop. It also comes just weeks before the bishops of the Church of England face 'key decisions' about the future of the 'Living in Love and Faith' project.

The Autumn LLF Update says that the House of Bishops will meet next month to consider among other matters, "drafts of a Bishops’ Statement, Code of Practice, and Pastoral Guidelines for the use of the Prayers of Love and Faith". 

The Church of England Evangelical Council has consistently said that the use of the Prayers of Love and Faith in standalone services would require far greater episcopal differentiation than that which was provided for 'headship' conservatives and traditional catholics when women bishops were introduced. However, in May it is reported that the "the mood" of the House of Bishops was that even delegated episcopal ministry "risked a structural change that fundamentally changed the nature of episcopacy to resolve a problem that could be dealt with in other ways."

There is therefore a danger that if, as the report suggests, parishes are in fact looking to the Bishop of Ebbsfleet as an answer to the LLF crisis, those 'other ways' will mean that the promised 'Bishops' Statement' will at best offer a similar 'settlement' to the 2014 'Bishops' Declaration.' It is even possible that the additional episcopal support suggested by the Independent Reviewer will end up being tied to accepting that deal.

Sometimes what the right hand gives, the left just takes away.