St Paul’s draws together in its ministry and daily life a complexity of activities, projections and aspirations. Amongst other roles, it is the Cathedral of the Diocese of London and the seat of its Bishop, a national church and an international spiritual focus, a space for worship and holiness, a place of debate and challenge, an icon of resilience in the face of adversity, an architectural heritage centre, a partner in the City of London, and a commercial enterprise. It is a Christian church and seeks to preach and share the Gospel, yet is also ‘owned’ by many who would profess no Christian faith.
At one level the fact that St Paul’s stands for so many different things is a great gift; at another it adds significant complexity to its ministry. A need identified in the appointment of the current Dean was to lead Chapter and staff in articulating and implementing an integrating Christian vision for the Cathedral's ministry which embraces the diverse hopes and aspirations for this world-famous building and all that it symbolises. Following on from work begun in 2011, a process of consultation and development from September 2012 resulted in Chapter agreeing a Vision and Values statement with a five-year Strategic Plan agreed and issued in July 2013, and the second more detailed Mission-Directed Business Plan has been issued at the beginning of 2018.
The heart of our vision and strategy is ‘to enable people in all their diversity to encounter the transforming presence of God in Jesus Christ’. One of the ongoing issues facing the Cathedral is the nature of its role in sharing the Christian gospel, and what the impact of this should be. This is partly linked to the challenge of holding together the Cathedral’s spiritual and commercial life, but is also part of the task of working to make the Cathedral a place of hospitality and spiritual encounter, enabling it to engage with and challenge the people of London with the good news of the Gospel of Christ. A particular theme of our vision is diversity, and the Cathedral has to engage with the issues of how to express the diversity of London appropriately in its life and work.