The 2015 report (due out quite soon) will be much more specific about the particular operational issues, and lists<\/p>\n
Failure to recruit sufficient new clergy and lay leaders
\nFailure of new initiatives to deliver church growth
\nFailure of safeguarding processes, and impact of national enquiries (such as the Goddard report)
\nFailure to gain support for the Renewal and Reform programme
\nFinancial insolvency in a significant part of the church
\nIT capacity and security.
\nI wonder how that compares with your own list? I suspect most people would suggest that there is one very significant strategic risk for the church as a whole which isn\u2019t covered by the above list of operational risks: the danger of schism over a major issue of belief or practice. Reading newspaper headlines, or attending to the internal workings of the Church, it would be hard not to notice that the debate on sexuality and its outcome is the \u201d\u02dcmajor issue\u2019 currently threatening the future of the C of E as we know it.<\/p>\n
If that is the case, why would any diocesan bishop act in a way to exacerbate this risk? Yet in the last month, two appear to have done just that.<\/p>\n