Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
Summary: This article, along with supporting linked data that enables exploration of the election results, seeks to offer an initial analysis of the recent elections to General Synod. After noting the complexities that such an analysis faces, it provides an overview of some of the key features of the election results. The composition of the …
A lengthy new report argues that the primary reason for decline in the Church of England is the wrong allocation of money and resources. It proposes that decisions about ministry should be delegated to deaneries, and that this will resolve many of its problems. But do its claims stand up to scrutiny—even on the report’s …
Mike Starkey writes: It’s early afternoon on Friday 16 October 2026. I enter the public transport office in central Strasbourg, next to the Alt Winmärik tram stop. Alt Winmärik means Old Wine Market in the old Germanic Alsace dialect. From the 14th century onwards, this street was the place wine was bought and sold. A …
Why was a faculty application for a portable baptismal pool in a church in Southwell and Nottingham rejected? What does that tell us about processes in the Church of England—and are they fit for purpose? It is not often that a consistory court judgment makes the national press, and when it does it is usually …
The Green Party has become one of the most extreme in the UK following its annual conference. If the Church of England bans clergy from being members of other extreme parties, why not this one? At their annual conference, the Green Party passed a number of measures, most of which went unreported. They included: Inclusive …
Andrew Goddard writes: The election process for the new General Synod of the Church of England is now well underway with the voting period having opened just over a week ago on Monday 21st September and closing on Monday 12th (postal) or Tuesday 13th October (online). Results will be declared over the rest of that …
Why are our conversations (!) about Israel-Palestine so problematic? Why is there an apparently unbridgeable chasm between the two sets of views on this issue? Is there a way to actually listen well to each other? The Grove Ethics group has offered the beginnings of an answer. Two people, Colin Chapman and James Patrick, have …
Several times in the last week or so, I have received a communication from someone which says ‘I know you are very busy…’ and these have stuck in my mind. One of these said ‘I am sure you are very busy—I know that I am.’ A couple of things struck me immediately. The first, and …
Elections are now taking place for the next quinquennium (five year term) for the General Synod in the Church of England. This is my ‘address’ (manifesto) as I stand for election. If you are clergy in my diocese (Southwell and Nottingham) I would love you to give me a high preference in the STV voting …
Guy Hordern writes: For more than eighty years, the Church of England has had a formal place in determining what is taught in Religious Education in England. That may shortly change. The Government is proposing that Religious Education should become part of the National Curriculum. I am not writing to argue for or against that proposal. …
The harsh reality of demographics means that the numbers of stipendiary clergy will continue to decline significantly over the next ten years. What will that mean in practice for the future of the Church? What issues does it raise—and is anyone actually facing up to these questions? Save the Parish, who are campaigning (not least …
