The meeting of the General Synod of the Church of England took place in February in London. The meeting was called to allow the Synod to consider in particular draft legislation designed to enable the introduction of new arrangements for funding clergy pensions. The Synod also debated amended proposals in order to implement the "Turnbull Commission Report" (Working As one Body: A framework for legislation) on reorganisation of the central Church structures; additional Eucharistic prayers; a mid-point review of the Decade of Evangelism; clergy stipend differentials and a study booklet from the Board of Education entitled "Tomorrow is Another Country" which is a series of essays on the post-modern British culture.

Archbishop Hope calls for change in the House of Bishops

In the debate on the Turnbull Report Archbishop David Hope of York made comments on the role of the House of Bishops. He said that the House was failing to give the leadership asked of it, and the structure of meetings needed radical change. "The time has come to blow the whistle on the largely reactive nature of what we are about; half an hour for this paper, 20 minutes for that, and so on. We simply cannot go on in this way." The House of Bishops meeting in January met for three days and discussed 23 papers. Dr Hope went on to say that the House of Bishops was "a more confident and purposeful body than it was...ten years ago." But if it was to give the vision and leadership people wanted, it would need to rethink radically the nature and content of its meetings. "The time we have together needs to be less 'driven', he said. "We need more time for reflection and deeper consideration under God."

On the Turnbull Report itself the Synod agreed to consider legislation based on the report and the responses evoked by it at the Synod in July.

A move to make Church members responsible for clergy pension went another step forward at the Synod. Six draft eucharistic prayers designed for a two-year period of experimentation were thrown out by the Synod at the final approval stage. The prayers had grown out a request in the Faith in the City report for a liturgy that was more concrete and accessible to congregations. The Liturgical Commission had been asked to draft prayers that were more suitable for children but there was widespread concern that the prayers would cause confusion.

A motion brought by the Carlisle diocesan synod calling for action to abolish differentials in clergy pay (between curates, parish priests, archdeacons and bishops) was lost in all three Houses of the Synod in a two-hour debate. The Bishops voted 4 for, 16 against, the Clergy 77 for and 89 against and the Laity 68 for and 105 against.

The Synod commended a report by the Board of Mission entitled Signs of Life on the progress of the Decade of Evangelism in the Church of England.