A short summary of Revd Tim Hillier’s valedictory address to the recent Synod meeting:
Ten or fifteen years ago, a motion went through General Synod to cut out the deanery tier of church government as a cumbersome dinosaur that has no relevance in today’s world. The motion was defeated but the question mark over the deaneries’ purpose has remained. In the Diocese of Guildford, however, something has happened – and Runnymede Deanery has played a pilot part. Following Bishop Christopher’s “Common Purpose” document, Tim proudly recalled the installation of the first Deanery Administrator and the mission networks system which over his six years of deanship have transformed the Runnymede parishes into an entity sharing good practice on many common grounds and supporting each others’ events for mutual benefit. His priorities of seeking cohesion across the different churchmanships within the Deanery, a level of unity in diversity, and actively involving all parishes in decision making, have been successfully achieved. Tim’s hope for the future is that this idea will continue to grow and spread beyond the boundaries of Runnymede Deanery.
Tim will be retiring on 24th July after an extra year of deanship over and above the usual five years, due to a local crisis that required stability. To date, we have not been informed who the new Rural Dean will be – waiting for the “smoke from Bishop Christopher’s office”, as Tim put it.