Membership

Communicants’ Roll Declaration

Members of General Synod will be aware that in the course of the last few years there have been a number of debates on the question of church membership. Those debates have not resulted in any formal canonical change. The Provincial Faith and Order Board set up a working group to consider the matter further.

Whilst no further canonical changes are proposed at the present time, it remains the case that, under the present Canon, Communicants are not actively required to consent to their names being included on the Communicants’ Roll and for that reason the Working Group produced a short style of declaration as a means of enabling active consent to be given.

A related question is that of data protection. The Vestry Handbook already contains guidance regarding matters of data protection and includes a consent form so that members can give their consent to the inclusion of their personal details on address lists etc.

The College of Bishops considered it would be helpful to produce a composite form covering both membership and data protection matters. Below, is a style of form for use in congregations. Whilst the form has no canonical status, it is ‘recommended’ by the College of Bishops.