Lay Rep Report

Lay Rep Report and Prayer for a new Bishop

My main activity since the last edition of the magazine was the Diocesan meeting held at St Johns in Perth in August when the selection process was commenced to appoint a new Bishop. The Eucharist was celebrated by Bishop John Armes who is overseeing the process for our Diocese.  During the service he introduced the prayer for an Episcopal vacancy, which Rev Alison has used every Sunday at the same time as the collect for the day:

Almighty God, the giver of every good gift, bestow at this time, we pray, your especial blessing upon the clergy and lay representatives of the Diocese of St Andrew’s, Dunkeld and Dunblane, and grant them in their deliberations the spirit of wisdom and understanding, that they may be guided by you to the choice of a chief Pastor who shall minister before you to the glory of your holy name, the good government of your flock and the welfare of your whole church, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

After the service the process was officially started and all the representatives from the charges were reminded that having now started the process their places could not be filled by anybody else – a case of “You’ve started so you have to finish”.  Small discussion groups were formed to look at what we wanted in our new Bishop.

Since then, nominations have been sought and it is now up to the Preparatory committee (a Provincial-wide group) to determine whether there are any suitable candidates to make up a short list.  Rebecca Cromwell is one of the Diocesan members of this committee.

If things go according to plan and a short list is drawn up, the next step will be on the 27th January 2018 when the Lay Representatives and clergy of the diocese will meet with the candidates. Voting will take place on 3rd February 2018.

Please keep all those involved in the process over the coming months in your prayers.