The General Synod of the Church of England might not sound like a spiritual theme, for it, like all human assemblies, has its own share of politics and inevitably falls short of the Christian assembly it is supposed to be.

But the Christian faith is an incarnational religion, with at its heart the belief that the Universe is God’s creation, that human beings are created in the image of God, and that in Jesus God took our human nature and knew His creation and our human need from the inside. God did not stand aside from the sin and evil of the world, and therefore from the political and religious organisations that shape human history and human society.

The Church on which the Risen Christ breathed out his life-giving Spirit is not an abstract idea, but a visible society, called in its life and witness to point to God’s kingdom of justice, love and peace. A Church therefore needs, in responding to that call and to that mission, to meet, to pray and to wrestle with how that calling and mission is to be taken forward.

The word “synod” comes from two Greek words meaning journeying together on the way. Just as we all know that the last thing many “meetings” are about is meeting in any deep sense, so synods can all too easily be bogged down in detail, be mired in process, and be the victim of political pressures, rather than living out the spiritual journey to which Christians are called. Likewise, partly because the General Synod as a law-making body which forwards measures to Parliament, the parliamentary structure can tell against the need to wait on God. The Church is not a democracy; it is a pilgrim people obedient to the call of God. Every democracy has a deficit, when a minority is outvoted by a majority, and yet in the Church the minority remains faithful, it does not go away. The Church is called to witness to God’s revelation of His truth and will in Jesus Christ. The declaration of assent made by ministers of the Church of England speaks of the Church as being a part, not the whole, of Christ’s holy, catholic Church, professing the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds. In synod the Church is therefore bound by the apostolic faith, and the apostolic order it shares. It cannot simply respond to the culture of the day. Within the Synod the bishops have a particular role as teachers and guardians of the faith, which is a responsibility given to them at their consecration. They are the focus of unity of the church and the leaders of its mission.

The Church is called to witness to the truth that “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son”. God did not love the Church, but the world — the whole human family which is His creation, and the whole of the fragile and wonderful natural order of which we are part. The Christian religion can therefore never be a private matter, reduced and confined to the abstract ideas or feelings of individuals. The mission of the church is to embody in the world the love of God in Jesus Christ. It is for this reason that in this last General Synod there was a moving and powerful debate on the evil of human trafficking — forced labour, the selling into sexual and other slavery of women, and the procuring of babies for adoption and children for abuse and exploitation; and another debate on justice and asylum seekers, where harrowing tales were told of enforced destitution, and a culture of mistrust and suspicion. The synod provides a forum for the first-hand experience of the Church to challenge unjust policies and evil practices in the name of humanity, for that is God’s kingdom of justice, love and peace. Sadly, the media rarely report such debates because conflict in the Church seems the only topic to engage their interest.

Synods are certainly not perfect, but at their best they enable the service of God’s kingdom of justice and love and peace. There was much in what was said and done in the recent General Synod that did just that.

The Right Rev Geoffrey Rowell is Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe