Companions of St Aidan

Statue of St Aidan on Lindisfarne

I was at a meeting of Diocesan Synod which was devoted to a new initiative: Companions of St Aidan.

This is a project in formation. It was described by one person as 'missional order network' which I thought sounded accurate and unclear.

It is a new thing, modelled as a (loose) religious order.  It seeks to tie clergy and lay church members together in mutual support, and to encourage Companions to make a practical difference in their community.

The Synod looked at some of its key aspects:

1. Rule of Life
2. Prayer - a possible daily prayer and office of the Companions of St Aidan was distributed (not yet on the website). 
3. Mission networks 
4. Living the values - the document is half-hidden on this page - click on SARA for a pdf.

There is a lot to commend in this. I trust the motivations and the people behind it (though who they are wasn't very clear)

But there was no mention of governance.
This large omission leaves huge uncertainties:

• who will lead, administer and guide the Companions?  
• how is it to be funded?
• will it be a part of the Diocesan structures or an independent body (a charity, perhaps)? 
• will it be governed by trustees or by vote of all members, or through some other structure? 

Lindisfarne: St Aidan's base and ret

Rule or no Rule there will be significant challenges of governance from the very beginning.

For example:

• how will the Companions encompass the existing tensions and divisions in the Church of England?  

Will those who reject the priesthood of women automatically rule themselves out?

Will conservative evangelicals sit down happily with gay priests or with liberals who relate to scripture in fundamentally different ways?

Or will the Companions only appeal to those more-or-less of the same mind to begin with?

• how will contentious differences in the Rule of Life be resolved? 

The existing document has plenty of scope for disagreement. It states: "The way that one person expresses the Rule of Life in the place where they live might look quite different to the way someone else expresses it in theirs."

But there's a good chance at some point one person's expression of the Rule is likely to become another person's Step Too Far. How will such differences be adjudicated?

• is fundamental equality of members feasible? 

"In embracing a common Rule of Life there is recognition of a ‘level playing field’, where all members of the community are understood to be able to contribute and participate equally. 

This means that there can be no division, or difference in status, between ‘ordained’ and ‘lay’, and that the mission order should compliment (sic), rather than  emulate, a parish model of church. 

Indeed, the Companions of St Aidan might be best understood as a ‘lay’ community, of which some members may also be ‘ordained’." (Rule of Life, paragraph  breaks added)

Really?

The Church of England is hierarchical from its core to its fingertips. Look how it loves processions, how it clings to symbols of status.

It is hard to imagine that ordained clergy will speak and behave in ways which are egalitarian just because they join the Companions. They would have to shed years of presumption of leadership and authority. (And if clergy know how to set their status aside, what stops them now?)

At best, let egalitarianism be an aspiration. But failure to recognise and name differences in power - and the consequences which flow from it - directly (and cynically) will risk warping the whole project.

• how will membership of the Companions interact with considerations of employment? 

A relationship (or even the the suspicion of a relationship) between membership of the Companions (or failure to be a member) and an individual's job prospects could quickly become a worryingly insidious factor.

Companion membership will almost certainly be on an applicant's CV. Within the Diocese there will be a high probability that one or more interviewer may also be Companion. Can bias be avoided? Even in the most meticulous system it is very difficult to see how suspicion of bias can be avoided.

St Matthew - Lindisfarne Gospel 

Again, failure to face this issue cynically (and directly) risks hosting a potentially distorting element that could be almost impossible to address directly.

And, looking ahead, if the project becomes strong and popular:

• what will be the implications for clergy who choose not to join? 
• what will be the implications for synodical government? 

Prospects
I want to end this post positively. I want to think the Companions of St Aidan have the potential to explore new patterns of discipleship, drawing on the strengths of the old.

Or, at least, I would like to think that the Companions could be a space which is safe and secure enough for faithful exploration to take place.

Perhaps it can. At the moment I just don't have enough information even for an educated guess.

Maybe there is some prospect that the Companions could offer a new pattern of communication and relationships between clergy and laity in the Diocese. Or, at least, between those who choose to be members.

But for any of this to happen those currently responsible for sustaining the present patterns would have to allow, even endorse, the critique and potential demise of the system which nurtured, promoted and sustains them. Senior diocesan staff would have to run the risk of organizational suicide.

One key element of governance which is in the documentation argues against such radical prospects. It seems that new members will only be accepted after interview. Applicants "before signing up" will be asked to

"Participate in a brief introductory conversation either individually or in a locally based group" (Joining up)

This process, however relaxed it might be in practice, is a drama of control at entry into the project. Sadly it seems improbable that this beginning will open the door to a project capable of embodying an effective alternative to the current and failing system.

Perhaps
Perhaps I am measuring the project against the wrong criteria, or haven't understood just what the vision for it really is.

And maybe, in God's grace, the Companions might model a communal, diverse, purposeful, open egalitarian and creative expression of Christian faith. Perhaps the CofE can give birth to its replacement. Perhaps it can bring up a child that will be at home in a new, post-Christian, post-everything world.  Perhaps; we'll just have to wait and see.

As the proverb is: we make our paths by walking.

Paul Bagshaw