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The meeting, held from Monday to Wednesday, focused on “discussion of emerging work and matters of common concern across the Church”, a summary provided by Church House, Westminster, said.
This included work being done on episcopal appointments. Bishops noted “the cost of long vacancies and shared experiences of identifying and encouraging candidates for episcopal ministry”.
Nine sees are currently vacant, and, in recent years, the failure of the Crown Nominations Commission to appoint, the withdrawal of candidates, and suspension of bishops have resulted in suffragan bishops’ serving as acting bishops for longer periods of time.
In the General Synod, members have been raising concerns about the functioning of the system, and the backlog. In 2024, Archbishop Welby spoke of “unprecedented demand in the senior appointments system”.
The meeting this week also received an update on safeguarding, which noted a “significant improvement in safeguarding provision and training over the past 15 years” and “the enormous culture change in the Church during that period”.
There had been more than 850,000 “instances of people being trained” in the Church of England since 2016, the Bishops heard.
The Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, Dr Joanne Grenfell, gave an update on the work being done by the Safeguarding Structures Programme Board.
Also discussed were ways of encouraging those considering a call to ordination; and interfaith relationships in local communities, The Bishops “examined how the Church could work for the common good at a time of increased societal division”.
They discussed the work being undertaken on the governance and culture of the House of Bishops, after its announcement in June last year, including “any practical changes needed to help increase Standing Committee transparency”.
On the final day, the Bishops discussed the National Funding for Diocesan Ministry Review. This was commissioned last year in response to a Synod motion that called for “early in the next triennium a full debate that will enable Synod to express its view on the approach to disbursing funding, including support for local stipendiary ministry”.
An update provided in July referred to “shared recognition that many of the challenges facing the Church, including clergy numbers, diocesan deficits and parish viability, cannot be meaningfully addressed within short-term funding cycles”.