EDN - Feb 09 issue.indd - St Edward's Church, Eggbuckland ...

Poisoned Chalice for DAC Chair!
The Bishop has handed me a “poisoned
chalice”. I am the new chairman of the
Diocesan Advisory Committee.
I call it a “poisoned chalice” because I know
before I start that the DAC and its chairman
cannot always win. However well as a
committee we do our job, there will be some
people who will feel that we have let them
down. Quite frequently the disaffected will
be church congregations who either a) in the
interests of mission and worship want to do
what they think are exciting things to their
church building and have been advised not
to do so or b) are wanting to carry out repairs
to their buildings but are advised from doing
it in what the parish deems to be the most
obvious and economical way and are instead
directed towards using expensive materials
and personnel.
As a parish priest in Devon for 27 years, I have
often been one of the disaffected and was
indeed very much to the fore in proposing a
motion from Honiton Deanery nearly 10 years
ago which resulted in a working party being
set up to review the workings of the DAC.
That working party’s recommendations have
been taken on board and I believe that things
are running very much better on the whole
but I am under no illusion that there will still
be dissatisfaction because the DAC cannot
always agree with parishes doing what they
want. The reason for that is that the DAC
has an important role in law to make sure
that our rich architectural, historic, artistic
heritage is protected, however sympathetic
one may be to churches that want to maximise
the opportunities provided by their church
buildings for effective worship, ministry and
mission.
My task is to try to ensure that the DAC really
does get alongside parishes in helping them
achieve their aspirations for their buildings
in a way that is sensible, economical and
achievable but at the same time does not
fail to comply with the legislation regarding
church buildings. Our churches are not only
historic monuments, they exist for a purpose
– the worship of God and the mission of the
church. They should be living buildings which
fulfil that important gospel-based role. As
Christians in Devon, soon to be celebrating
1100 years as a diocese, we are proud of the
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fact that our churches and their contents are
among the country’s finest historic, artistic and
architectural treasures. As churches we have
a task to safeguard this inheritance which has
been handed down by past generations of
Devonian Christians and which is part of our
county’s history as well as the church’s. We
also have a God given task of preaching the
gospel to everyone in Devon and using modern
methods to do so. Juggling these different
aims and priorities is not easy for parishes and
it is not easy for the DAC, made up as it is of
representatives of various conservation bodies,
architects, archdeacons and lay members of
Devon’s congregations. Church congregations
need great wisdom in getting the balance
right and the DAC similarly needs wisdom and
understanding.
We pledge to do our best.
Nigel Freathy
Chair, DAC for the Care of Churches
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