Governance

The Parochial Church Council (PCC), as the board of the church, is responsible for the overall governance and oversight of everything that happens with the church and its activities, so the agenda for each meeting is both full and varied and always begins and ends with prayers for its work.  This structure is laid down by the Church of England in the Church Representation Rules which we follow. As all churches are also charities the PCC members are also charity trustees and subject to the oversight of the Charity Commission and have to be of good standing and not ineligible to be trustees. For any major changes to the fabric of the church or its activities there is also the need to obtain agreement from the Diocese in the form of obtaining what is known as a Faculty (permission).

All major decisions are taken at PCC level and I wish to pay tribute to the professional and assiduous approach on all these matters by PCC members who take their duties so seriously and have copious papers to read before each meeting. The PCC is also the principal forum for discussion about church life wishing to interact as much as possible with the congregation. Feedback either in person or online from our congregation is most important and we encourage all who wish to do so to contact either individual members of the PCC or myself as Secretary. Considerable thought has been given as to how to improve the interaction between the congregation and the PCC and more regular feedback and involvement is now being rolled out. Part of this process is the posting of a summary of all PCC meetings in the Governance section of our website.

The PCC comprises the 5 Clergy of the Parish, the 2 Churchwardens, 9 elected lay members and currently 3 elected Deanery Synod representatives (as determined by the number of people on St James’s electoral roll).

The PCC operates throughout the year with four quarterly business meetings and two Congregational Life ones. All meetings are hybrid (both in-person and remote access) which has enabled a consistently high turnout and engagement of all PCC members. All business is conducted within the Church Representation Rules. At the business meetings close scrutiny is given to financial performance and monthly management accounts as well as to the Risk Register and Dashboard which is regularly updated and sets out in tabular form the objectives and progress as well as challenges of each of the five programmes together with green/amber/red markings. The five strategic programmes are: Voice & Community; Faith, Earth & Social Justice Initiatives; Culture & Diversity; Transformation & Rebalancing; Sustainability & Resilience. All PCC members have access to the Dashboard and Risk Register remotely and not just at times of the meetings. In addition to these meetings the PCC holds two Awaydays (in January and the summer) either in the church premises or at an outside venue at which matters can be discussed in greater depth and time than is allowed in a packed regular meeting agenda.

Between PCC meetings the Senior Management Team (Rector, Associate Rector, the Directors and Church Wardens) has met formally with an agenda and minutes taken monthly and also, informally with the Rector and Directors, weekly. This enables a close degree of governance in times which have seen rapid transition.

I hope that all members of the congregation who have any questions about these issues will ask members of the PCC or speak or write to me.

Keith Best
PCC Secretary