Together with the Rector, the Church Council works to promote the whole mission of the church in the parish. Within that role, the Church Council is responsible for the church’s governance and the Church Council members are the church’s trustees.

The Church Council is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the church buildings and property. It also has overall charge of all expenditure by the church, which includes setting budgets, with the advice of the Church’s Treasurer.

With the exception of the clergy, the Church Council is the employer of all All Souls, Langham Place staff.

The full powers and duties of the Church Council are defined by legislation and can principally be found in the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956.

As the trustees of the church, Council members carry a range of legal obligations which are overseen by the Charity Commission, including to make decisions as a Church Council only in the best interest of the Church.

All Souls Church also includes two other charities, All Souls Serve the City and All Souls Music (registered as Langham Arts Trust), who have committed to work together. While they have distinct boards of trustees, all the All Souls Church trustees work together, not least through the system of governance committees (see below).

The Church Council includes people who are elected by the church family as well as others who are members because of a post that they hold (“ex officio”). Ex officio members include the Rector, other ordained ministers in the parish and the churchwardens.

Together with the churchwardens, it is the job of those elected by the church family to ensure that your interests are properly represented in decision-making. The elections are held every May.

Synod members, whose role it is to represent church members in the governance structures of the Church of England, are also ex officio members of the PCC. There are three types of Synod members, reflecting the three layers of government in the Church of England - Deanery (local, Two Cities), Diocesan (regional, London) and General (national, England). We elect members to the Deanery Synod every three years. Elections to the Diocesan and General Synods are not carried out at church level.

The full list of the Church Council’s current membership is here.

Church Council members who are not ex officio are normally elected for a term of 3 years and usually stand for no more than 2 consecutive terms. The Church Council is chaired by the Rector of All Souls Church, currently Charlie Skrine.

You can read more about the roles of Church Council members, Synod members and churchwardens in the role descriptions.

The Church Council will vote on a wide range of matters important to church life, including the budget for the year, new paid posts, and the maintenance and repair of the church, church buildings and church property. The Church Council will review all areas of the church’s ministry to make sure that we have the correct policies in place and that those policies are being followed. The Church Council must also consider risks to the church, such as fire, health and safety, and ensure that proper measures are in place to manage those risks responsibly.

The Church Council meets most months on a Monday evening for around two hours. The meeting agendas vary although there are some “standing items” which are reported every month, such as finances. As well as formal decision-making, the Rector and other ministers will consult Church Council on matters to do with the life of the church where the Council does not have formal decision-making powers, to hear views and get advice.

For matters which the Church Council needs to determine, Council members will have received a paper setting out the decision at hand, which often includes a recommendation. At the meeting, they may listen to a presentation, followed by group discussions to allow more people to ask questions and explore the proposals in discussion. Discussion then comes back to the Council as a whole before a vote is taken.

The Church Council is a “body corporate”, so individual Church Council members have no decision-making powers on their own.

The Church Council generally meets monthly, with a few exceptions, such as August during the holidays. The Church Council also has an annual away day with the trustees of All Souls Serve the City and All Souls Music in the summer term.

A list of upcoming meetings is included below:

The Church Council has 5 Governance committees, which include trustees from All Souls Serve the City and All Souls Music. These committees are:

• Risk and Governance
• Human Resources and Remuneration
• Buildings
• Finance
• Safeguarding

These committees look in greater depth at particular areas of church life and make recommendations to the Church Council and trust boards for All Souls Serve the City and All Souls Music. The committees have limited decision-making powers themselves. Each committee has Terms of Reference which are updated annually.

Church Council elections are held annually at our Annual Church Meeting^[2], normally held in May.

To be eligible to stand for election to the Church Council, candidates must:

• Be 16 years old or over;
• Have been on the electoral roll of the parish of All Souls, Langham Place for at least 6 months; and
• Be a communicant^[3] at the church.

We also ask that people who stand for election are committed to:

• All Souls Church’s Vision and Values;
• Working with the Rector in promoting in the parish the whole mission of the church. This includes almost everything to do with the church’s work in the parish, and its relationship with the deanery and the diocese; and
• Adhering to the Code of Ethics for Those In Ministry and Senior Leadership within All Souls Church.

You don’t need any particular expertise - the most important qualification for serving on Church Council is that you love the Lord, his Word and his people.

You do, however, need to be nominated and seconded by people who are on the All Souls electoral roll. At All Souls, we ask for nomination forms to be submitted four weeks before the Annual Church Meeting simply to allow church members to see who is nominated in advance and prayerfully consider who they would like to vote for. This is not a requirement, however, and candidates can stand even on the night of the meeting. The results of the elections are declared during the meeting.

Everyone elected to the Church Council must, by law, complete a DBS check (Disclosure and Barring Service) to confirm that there is no legal reason why they cannot serve as a trustee. There are also a number safeguarding training modules that all Church Council members need to complete, including the courses covering Basic and Foundation Safeguarding and Domestic Abuse Awareness. These need to be completed even when individuals have received similar training in other contexts outside of the church. Most courses can be completed online.

Nomination forms are available from the Church Council secretary, where you can also check if you are on the electoral roll: pccsecretary@allsouls.org.

Membership of the Church Council is a leadership position within All Souls Church, which is why we ask every Council member to sign our Code of Ethics.

The code is intended to make clear what to expect from our leaders and to support a culture of accountability and grace, which is important for everyone’s growth as well as for a healthier, safer culture.

The code affirms four foundational principles as the basis for Christian living:

• Human beings are made in the image of God and each person is of unique value. We seek to treat everyone with dignity and respect.
• Christian leadership follows in the example of Jesus. Leaders are to be humble and to actively seek to love, to serve and do good.
• Christian leaders are called to seek justice and truth. Leaders are to be people who do the right thing by others and to act with honesty.
• Christian leaders are dependent on God’s grace. We seek mutual encouragement and for every Christian to be an active participant in ministry, each according to their gifts. We need each other.

You can read the full code here.

We continually develop the induction training that we provide to new Church Council members which covers everything from the church’s legal structures, financial calendar and trustee’s duties through to the Church Council’s safeguarding responsibilities.

All Church Council members are also required to do the London Diocesan Safeguarding Training (Basic, Foundation and Domestic Abuse Awareness). There is additional training from time to time during the year and usually a training element at the All Souls Church Annual Trustees’ Away Day.

As a Church Council, we have some members who have decades of experience and knowledge of All Souls Church life, as well as others who have served on the Church council for less than a year. All perspectives are hugely valuable, so we make great efforts so that those who are newer are equipped to contribute fully to discussions.

By early November
Join the electoral roll by early November to be eligible to stand for the Church Council/to be a churchwarden at the Annual Church Meeting^[2] in May.

April
Submit nomination forms to be considered for the roles of churchwarden and Church Council.

14 May 2024
Annual Church Meeting when new Church Council and Synod members and churchwardens are elected. All Souls, Langham Place, 7pm.

June
Trustees’ Annual Away Day