Last changes: January 2012

 

Churchwarden

What is a Churchwarden in Church of Sweden?
Trying to tell about it.

It is a very old commission of trust, dating from ancient times of the Church. I have read that in the ancient church the title could be for instance "custodes bonorum" or "procuratores ecclesiae".
The task was to represent the congregation, to defend and be in response for the property of the congregation, to care for the common resources.

But in Church of Sweden today - what are our responsibilities?
We are in response for the sacramental silver of the church and the mass vestments and other textiles. We help in the service by bring up the collections and we are responsible for those gifts. We usually read the texts and welcome the congregation. There can be other tasks too, there are different customs in the parishes.

Some of the earlier tasks of the churchwarden nowadays are a responsibility for the Board of the Congregation, for instance the church building in itself, the juridical function etc.
I hope that my explanation in rough English is satisfying.

If someone is interested in The Church of Sweden you may look up the homepage in English. The organisation of our church is not like the organisation in Britain, Canada or USA.

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