British institutions: The Church of England

With its attendance falling rapidly, Matthew Engel wonders what can secure the Church’s future

It was a Saturday evening in July, and a fine, warm one at that: a very strange time for any parliament to be meeting. Still, the atmosphere in the chamber was surprisingly informal.

The General Synod, ruling body of the Church of England, meets three times a year – twice in London and once, in midsummer, amid the brutalist architecture of the University of York. I am told the Synod is generally far more casual than it used to be: “It’s all first names now,” one old hand said. “That would have been unthinkable 20 years ago.”

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