Life in all its fullness: a renewed vision for the Diocese of Newcastle
I’d like to begin with gratitude and appreciation by expressing firstly congratulations to those across our Diocese who have been recognised in this year’s King’s Birthday Honours:
● Dom Llewelyn OBE
● John Marshall OBE
● Nigel Coates MBE
● Glyn Evans MBE
Each honour reflects lives of faithful service offered with generosity, humility and commitment. We rejoice with them and thank God for the gifts they continue to offer to our Diocese and to the communities and organisations they serve.
I also want to express my deep gratitude to those who have represented this Diocese on General Synod over the last five years (can I ask them if present please to stand). That ministry has required wisdom, resilience, patience and courage during a period that has often been demanding and, at times, deeply painful. They have represented us faithfully, while caring for one another with grace through difficult debates and decisions.
Robin Brims, Nic Denyer, Izzy MacDonald Booth, Ian Flintoft, Claire Robson and Robert Lawrance.
As new elections approach, I encourage others to consider offering themselves for this ministry. General Synod is not simply another committee. It is one of the places where we discern together the future of the Church of England. If you are wondering whether God might be calling you to serve, I know our outgoing representatives would be delighted to speak with you about what the role involves. The Church of England holds a unique role in the life of our nation, and our voice is needed in the public square perhaps more than ever before. The political landscape is complex and filled with uncertainty and in many local communities, the presence of the church represents a continuity that has remained over generations. Life ebbs and flows, but God’s faithfulness endures.
Gratitude matters because we begin by recognising what God has already done before asking what God may yet be calling us to do. Hanna Reichel, a theologian whose work I have appreciated hugely in recent months argues that theology and the Church must continually return to Christ as their starting point rather than building around institutional power or personalities. That conviction lies at the heart of what I want to say today. Good leaders, she reflects cultivate participation rather than dependency.
When I first addressed this Synod in May 2023, I spoke about the discernment that had led to my calling as your Bishop. The CNC process invited your new Bishop to lead a Diocese committed to turning outwards in mission and growing younger and more diverse, language drawn from the vision of the national Church.
By that point, our own Deanery Development process was already well underway, and looking back, I believe beginning that work before my arrival was exactly the right decision. It gave the Diocese momentum at an important moment and enabled conversations to begin that could not wait. At the same time, I recognised that there was only so much new language a Diocese could absorb. Again and again I heard the observation:
“This needs to be Newcastle-shaped.”
Those words have stayed with me because they remind us that every Diocese is called to embody the Gospel within its own landscape, its own history and its own communities. During the past year I have reflected often on what a Newcastle-shaped vision might look like. One conversation in particular proved especially helpful, with Tony Gates, recently retired as Chief Executive of the Northumberland National Park Authority. We spoke about place, identity and stewardship. We spoke about landscapes that have been shaped over centuries, not by one generation acting alone but by countless people whose lives have left quiet marks upon the land. That conversation prompted me to look again at our own vision. Not because it has fundamentally changed. But because I believe we are now ready to hear it afresh.
Today I want to offer not a new strategy but a renewed vision.
A few weeks ago I visited St John the Baptist, Edlingham. Many of you will know something of its recent story. The church suffered serious flooding at Christmas 2023. Before repairs had been completed, it flooded again in April 2024. Then again in October. For a building that has stood for almost one thousand years, the past eighteen months have been especially difficult. Its Norman architecture and Grade I listing mean every repair has required painstaking care. Nothing can simply be replaced. Everything must be restored with patience and skill. Yet when I visited recently, I discovered something remarkable. The source of the flooding had finally been addressed. The approach to the church had been rebuilt, raised above flood level and made fully accessible. One visitor, moved by the determination of the local community, had made a generous donation enabling one of the church’s beautiful windows to be restored.
What began as recovery had become renewal. We gathered for a service of thanksgiving before sharing afternoon tea together. As we sat talking, a group of walkers happened to pass. Seeing the church open, they wandered inside. No invitation had been issued. No programme had been organised. They simply became part of the afternoon. Church and community. Visitors and villagers. History and hope. All meeting together around shared hospitality. As I reflected afterwards, I realised I had seen our diocesan vision made visible. The church had done far more than repair stonework. It had removed barriers. It had welcomed strangers. It had strengthened relationships. It had honoured its heritage while preparing for the future. It had become a place where more and different people experienced something of God’s abundant life.
That phrase: more and different people experiencing life in all its fullness captures what I have long wanted to express. It says in language rooted directly in Scripture what we have previously described as turning outwards in mission and growing younger and more diverse. Most importantly, it begins not with the Church but taking a lead from Hanna Reichel, it starts with Christ. Jesus says in John's Gospel: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." The abundant life Christ offers is not simply personal fulfilment. It is life lived in communion with God, with one another and indeed in reconciliation with creation itself. It is marked by hope, justice, generosity, joy and peace. It is the flourishing God has always desired for the whole world.
That vision changes the questions we ask.
Instead of asking first, "What sort of Church do we want to become?", we ask:
Where is God already bringing abundant life, and how is God inviting us to join in?
Because that is where mission begins. God is already present in our diverse communities, including our schools. Schools (increasingly now at the forefront of complex social issues) are places where curiosity is nurtured, relationships are formed and hope is planted. Whether schools carry a Church foundation or serve the wider community, they are places where we have the privilege of walking alongside others in service of the common good and where we often glimpse God already at work. Many of us here might have attended a church school, I did, and know the benefits of it for our personal and faith development. For that reason I will always be a strong supporter of this work.
Our task is not to persuade God to bless our work. Our task is to discern where God is already at work and join faithfully in that mission. That conviction changes everything. It changes how we think about mission. It changes how we think about governance. It changes how we think about strategy. We are not merely custodians of an institution. We are stewards of God's mission.
That is why prayer and worship remain the foundation of everything we do. Budgets matter. Buildings matter. Governance matters. Finance matters. But they matter because they enable us to participate more faithfully in God’s life-giving work.
We have been here before.
The Diocese of Newcastle itself was born out of missionary imagination. Created in 1882 from the Diocese of Durham, it was established because the Church recognised that the extraordinary growth of Northumberland and Tyneside during the Industrial Revolution required a Church that was closer to its people, rooted in local communities and equipped for a changing world. Our founders were not primarily creating another administrative structure. They were responding to God’s mission. They recognised that changing circumstances demanded fresh imagination and courageous leadership. Today our context is different, but the challenge is remarkably similar. Our response cannot simply be to preserve what we inherited. Like those who founded this Diocese, we are called to ask what faithfulness looks like now.
For me, the most important words in our vision are the simplest.
More
and
Different.
“More” is first of all a statement about the expansive generosity of God.
Every decision we make should therefore prompt one simple question:
Will this enable more people to experience the life in all its fullness?
The second word is equally significant.
“Different”.
Throughout Scripture, God continually widens the circle. Abraham is blessed so that all nations may be blessed. Israel is commanded to care for the stranger, the widow and the orphan. Jesus repeatedly crosses social, cultural and religious boundaries. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gathers people of every language into one body. The Kingdom of God is always broader than our expectations. So our questions become: Who is not yet flourishing? Whose voice has not yet been heard? Whose gifts have not yet been recognised? Who experiences barriers to belonging that we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to remove?
That work includes our commitment to racial justice and I am deeply grateful to Kelechi as she begins her work among us. It includes our continuing commitment to victims and survivors of church related abuse. It speaks also to ensuring that LGBTQI+ people know they are welcomed, respected, listened to and able to offer their gifts fully within the life of the Church. Whatever our theological differences, we cannot escape the Gospel’s call to honour the dignity of every person made in the image of God. Justice is not a distraction from mission. Justice is mission. The flourishing Christ offers can never be separated from the dignity of every human being. Nor can our concern stop at the boundaries of this Diocese. The commandment to love our neighbour has never recognised national borders. As members of the worldwide Anglican Communion we belong to a global family. We recognise our own diocesan Links with Botswana and the Lutheran Diocese of Møre as having great meaning and significance. We must ask how our choices affect our global neighbour. This is one reason why our commitment to climate justice matters so profoundly. Care for creation is not an optional extra. It is integral to the Gospel. The abundant life Jesus promises embraces the whole created order.
By now I hope, we are familiar with the language of Seeking, Sharing and Sending.
Today I want to remind us what these are for. They are not programmes. They are commitments.
Seeking God means cultivating discernment before decision-making. The Church should never become merely managerial. Budgets, compliance, governance and strategy all matter. But they are always servants of mission. The first question must always be: What is God already doing, and how are we being called to respond?
Sharing God’s Love is a commitment that calls us outward. God’s love is expressed through welcome, compassion, generosity, service and justice. Every governance decision, whether at PCC, deanery or diocesan level, ultimately shapes our ability to embody Christ’s love within our communities. Healthy governance creates healthy mission.
And, sending disciples into the World to Transform It. The Church does not exist for itself. It exists for the world God loves. Our calling is not simply to gather people. It is to form disciples whose lives bear witness to Christ wherever they live and work.
These commitments find practical expression in the strategic work already underway. The Deanery Development work is an investment in collaborative mission. Many of the opportunities before us cannot be addressed by individual parishes acting alone. Leadership development. Changing demographics. Financial sustainability. Children and young people. Community engagement. These all require partnership. Healthy deaneries become places of shared discernment, shared learning and shared courage.
I believe this work will prove to be one of the defining foundations of our Diocese over the next decade. Alongside this, our recent successful Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board Capacity Bid represents another significant step forward and I am delighted to share that good news with you today. This capacity funding will enable us to prepare for our substantial application for National Funding. The message I need to convey now is that the decision to award this funding represents a positive vote of confidence in our diocese at this time. I want to express my great gratitude to our Diocesan Secretary, Chris Elder, and all who contributed to that work. This is not simply about securing funding. It is about investing in the future rather than preserving the present. Likewise, the Bishop Alec Legacy Fund (to be known as The Bishop of Newcastle Foundation) in collaboration with Community Foundation NE, reminds us that stewardship is always connected and intergenerational. We honour those who have gone before us not by freezing the Church in time but by exercising the same courage and imagination that they showed in their own generation.
Taken together, these are not separate initiatives. They are expressions of one vision. A Diocese that is collaborative, prayerful, courageous, generous and responsive to where God is already at work. Governance is often described as oversight, accountability and stewardship. That is true. But Christian governance is also an act of hope. Every budget we approve. Every property decision we make. Every safeguarding policy we strengthen. Every strategic priority we endorse. Every risk we manage. All ask that fundamental question:
Will this help more and different people experience life in all its fullness?
Last weekend in this Cathedral we ordained new deacons and priests for the Church of God. Ordinations are points of continuity but they are also the doorways to an as yet unknown future. In my charge to the ordinands, delivered at their retreat, I said this: “I don’t know what the future holds for each of you in ministry; none of us do, but I do know that God goes before us, so I and we have nothing to fear”. Like the beautiful photos I was sent earlier in the week of a vicarage garden meadow: planted last year, today it is full of colour, variety, beauty and life. The future God would offer us often begins in small acts of faithful and patient hope.