Diocesan clergy gathered this morning in St Paul's Cathedral for the annual Chrism Mass.
The Bishop of London took the opportunity to announce plans for ‘Capital Vision 2020’ which will seek to renew the collective vision of how Jesus Christ is served in the Diocese of London.
During his sermon, Bishop Richard outlined the achievements from the previous initiative, the London Challenge 2012, which included:
- The success of the church planting strategy;
- The opening of academies and the provision of 2012 new places at secondary schools across the Diocese;
- The recruitment of young ambassadors for Jesus Christ who will serve during the Olympic Games and contribute to the Olympic legacy;
- The successful campaign to become a Fairtrade Diocese;
- The outstanding work in energy conservation that has set standards for the Church throughout the country; and
- The funds raised to support the link through ALMA.
Capital Vision 2020 will begin with Area Deans exploring three questions which will eventually be put to the whole Diocese:
- What is the Spirit saying to us in the life of London?
- Where does the Church invest effort and resources at present?
- In what ways do we need to rethink and act differently?
The many conversations will be distilled into Capital Vision 2020, to be adopted by Diocesan Synod in the spring of next year, and launched at a great assembly in St Paul's in June 2013.
The full text of Bishop Richard's sermon is available here.