Realising the Vision

The vital role of the Church Commissioners in serving the Church of England was stressed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams in an address to mark the 300th anniversary of Queen Anne’s Bounty, the endowment made in 1704 that gave the Church a new financial basis.

He said: “The Church Commissioners are the people to whom the particular ministry has been given of realising the vision that the Church has of its future.”

Speaking at a service in Westminster Abbey, the Archbishop said that the way the Church allocated its resources demonstrated “where its heart is” and that the Church needed to look at how resources could be “put at the service of new things”, including seed money for mission initiatives.

Dr Williams also described the rectifying of injustice between rich and poor communities in the Church as “a contemporary priority”. He said: “We cannot pretend to be living as the Body of Christ if we do not constantly scrutinise what we have that can and should be at the service of others less visibly resourced – whether this is money, personnel or skill.”

He continued: “These are some of the hopes and concerns that are stirring our Church; these are also the hopes and visions that the Commissioners are eager to serve in honest partnership with their brothers and sisters.”

 The full text of the Archbishop’s address is at www.archbishopofcanterbury.org

• LATEST figures from the Church Commissioners show a 3.4 per cent increase in the value of their UK shares portfolio – outperforming the stock exchange by half a per cent. Good performance in the property market has also continued. The figures cover the three months up to the end of September, as given in the Commissioners’ latest quarterly report.