Deanery Briefing: What’s the point of the Deanery?

The extra-ordinary survival powers of the Deanery

With Tug Wilson and Bex Chapman From the NDN

Deanery Briefing: 7:30pm Wednesday 20 November 2024
Whenever there is a whisper or hint that changes for the deanery are a foot, something stirs across the dioceses in the deanery community. There is a surge of objection and protest that leads to a rethink and the Deanery survives.
NDN leaflets

25 years on from the Bridge Report (that proposed doing away with the Deanery!) in some areas the Deanery has become the powerhouse driving the Church’s mission and ministry however, in others it has not faired so well.  …. But how and why in some areas the Deanery has flourished and in others that’s not the case?

So …..

  • What’s the point of the Deanery?
  • What is it that causes such an outcry when the Deanery is threatened?
  • What are the characteristics of a good deanery?

The Deanery Today

In this Deanery Briefing we look at what has shaped the Deanery since the Bridge Report, how to use the synodical structure to influence national policy and support the mission and ministry in the deanery locality.

Tug Wilson

John (or Tug as he is known in church circles) Wilson is a member of General Synod and served as Lay Chair of the Lichfield Diocese for over 15 years. He has also served as a Churchwarden and was Lay Chair of the Lichfield Deanery for over 20 years.

He is one of the longest serving members (almost 30 years) on the Steering Group for the National Deaneries Network. For over 20 years now he has looked after the marketing and bookings for the NDN Conferences as well as overseeing the finances.

Tug is passionate about the role of the Deanery. He sees the Deanery as a key element in co-ordinating and deploying resources and supporting Parishes and Dioceses in their task of mission and evangelism. He speaks at events – particularly Deanery and Diocesan Synods – on the role and opportunities for Deaneries. He often comments that if you cut him he bleeds Deanery Blood!

Bex is lay chair of the diocese of Southwark, and lay chair of the Lambeth North Deanery, and also a member of the Southwark Diocese Council of Trustees.

She is also a member of the General Synod, and Vice Chair of Christians in Media and executive producer of its Faith in Media podcast. She is a non-executive director of The Tablet magazine, and writes a monthly column on culture for the Church of England Newspaper.

She has three very lively young sons, and cycles most places! One of her favourite things to do is get together Anglicans from different places, spaces and traditions, whether that's at a deanery level or just for drinks in the bar at General Synod.