Month: March 2016

Is Archbishops’ Council too powerful?

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I spent most of the last two days in my first meeting of Archbishops’ Council. I think I am still processing the experience, not least because to what one person called ‘institutional vertigo’—it feels a little surreal to be considering questions of national and strategic importance, when there are few other places to experience this. … Continue Reading

Evangelicalism and the Church of England

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This guest post by Andrew Goddard is a review of Andrew Atherstone & John Maiden (eds), Evangelicalism and the Church of England in the Twentieth Century (The Boydell Press, 2014). Evangelicals in the Church of England are often remarkably confused and ignorant about their recent past. The wider church knows even less about who we are and … Continue Reading

The Language of Leadership

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It is often commented that ‘leadership’ is not a very biblical word, and this should be a concern not just to evangelicals (who particularly want to root their understanding in the biblical texts) but to anyone who is in a reformed or Protestant church for which Scripture is a key locus of authority. The first … Continue Reading

What are the ‘new wineskins’?

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In all three Synoptic gospels, Jesus concludes a conversation about the contrast between his teaching and practice and that of the Pharisees (and John the Baptist) by means of a parable about wine and wineskins. No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the … Continue Reading

How to sustain long-term ministry

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The latest Grove Pastoral booklet is P 144 on Long-term Ministry by Paul Rosier, a Baptist minister. It is a fascinating exploration of the advantages and challenges of both long-term and short-term ministry in the same place. It starts with some rather startling statistics about the frequency of change in jobs in general and ministry in … Continue Reading

Can the C of E do evangelism?

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One of Justin Welby’s personal commitments for his time in office is to prioritise evangelism. With the Archbishop of York he set up the Evangelism Task Group as part of Archbishops’ Council, and it reported to Synod earlier this month. Introducing it, Welby emphasised the centrality of evangelism to the life of the church: On … Continue Reading