Diocesan finances, clergy wellbeing and our Barnabas work were all part of a busy agenda of the most recent meeting of Diocesan Synod.
Synod on met at Holy Trinity Boar Lane in Leeds on Saturday, October 18, and began with worship led by Kay Brown and other members of the North West Leeds Deanery.
The Rt Revd Toby Howarth, Bishop of Bradford and Acting Bishop of Leeds, gave his first Presidential Address as president of Synod.
He spoke of our need to learn from how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and how we need to support each other in mission across our diocese.
Bishop Toby’s full address can be read here.
There was one question to Synod before the meeting about diocesan progress to promoting Fairtrade across the diocese.
The diocesan website has been refreshed with updated information Fairtrade information, and the Diocesan Board of Finance has reviewed its purchasing processes for consumables to ensure Fairtrade products are purchased wherever possible.
The Revd Catherine Shelley, member of General Synod, took questions on her report about the latest meeting of General Synod, which took place in July 2025.
Revd Catherine’s report covered items such as hearing about the war in Gaza and situation in Israel from the Archbishop of Jerusalem, the Most Revd Hosam Naoum; a greater need for volunteer chaplains, as Europe moves towards a war footing; work on the Abuse Redress Measure, which sets out a package of support for those who harmed by abuse at the hands of Church officers, both clergy and lay; the replacement of the document Issues in Human Sexuality in the discernment process with the Guidelines for the Professional Conduct of the Clergy document; a debate responding to the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, and more.
There was good discussion around this report, as many of these areas had strong engagement from Leeds General Synod members.
The Revd Canon Jude Smith, Diocesan Director of Mission and Revitalisation, then gave an update on our Barnabas work.
Our Barnabas work is designed to support churches in a whole manner of ways, around mission, buildings, finance and more, all in a relational way, working alongside parishes in ways suitable to their contexts.
Almost two thirds of our churches have engaged with Barnabas in some way, and Synod heard from the Revd Lindsay Pearson, of the Aire and Worth Deanery, about what that looks like for real people in real churches.
This included her church’s use of our Compass tool, which works with church teams to guide people to what the next priorities for a parish should be.
Revd Linday also shared about Confident Leadership for Missional Churches, a course to help church leaders consider all things in the round, working in the challenging context we find ourselves in.
Revd Jude also shared about Every Good Work, a project in Wakefield that disciples young people and engages them in social action projects.
Revd Jude also talked through the data behind Barnabas, looking at where our churches are at in their mission and sustainability, with lots of our churches having seen growth in their mission over the last few years.
More about Barnabas can be found here.
Synod then heard from the Revd Canon Rachel Firth, from Huddersfield Deanery, as she moved a motion encouraging all PCCs to reflect on the Church of England’s new Covenant for the Care and Wellbeing of Clergy in the next twelve months.
Synod heard from Revd Rachel and Vanessa, a lay member from Lindley, about their experience reflecting on the covenant, thinking through the issues it brought up and how their churches have supported their clergy.
Lots of practical tips were shared about how a church can support their clergy person, to make sure their wellbeing is looked after, and there was a time of discussion around the motion.
After debating the motion, where conversations were had about building trust between clergy, PCCs and everyone, which is key to any process supporting wellbeing, the motion was approved.
After a coffee break, Canon Irving Warnett, Chair of the Diocesan Finance, Assets and Investments Committee, and Diocesan Chief Finance Officer Geoff Park gave a presentation on our diocesan finances, budget for 2026, and Parish Share.
Canon Irving spoke about the importance of Parish Share, in covering the costs of clergy (their stipends, housing and pensions), and emphasised Bishop Toby’s call to talk about money, which is vital to meeting our financial challenges.
Geoff shared about our financial situation in 2025 and our budget for 2026, and emphasised the vital importance of growing generosity in our churches, so Share can increase and ministry can be supported and grow across the diocese.
As part of our financial plans, we’ve started our Parish Share Agreements process, which is all about working with parishes to work out Share requests that are positive and achievable when looking at a church’s local context.
More on Share can be found here.
Bishop Toby encouraged Synod to respond to the challenges we face now, looking to have helpful conversations now with neighbours and the wider diocese to prepare for the Parish Share Agreements process.
Synod passed the motion approving the diocesan budget for 2026.
Synod ended with Bishop Toby praying and offering and a blessing for all the important work done by members and all people in parishes.