scholarship. serving. ministry.
Frog Orr-Ewing writes: On Tuesday 3rd August, a gathering was hosted by Marcus Walker in St Bartholomew the Great, London’s oldest parish church, to launch a campaign to “Save the Parish”. This small conference was intended to begin a campaign for General Synod, expressly to stop resources being siphoned away from parishes, and to ‘resist any … Continue Reading
One of the (several) highly contentious issues in the Church of England at the moment is the question of racism, its extent in the Church, and appropriate and effective responses to it. It has long been a question of interest to me, since soon after coming to faith I felt that God might be calling … Continue Reading
I wrote this piece five years ago, at the time of the 2016 Rio Olympics. I am not sure much has changed, has it? In addition, we are staging a potentially virus-super-spreading event in a country whose population mostly don’t want it, who have been put into lockdown to allow the event to take place. … Continue Reading
There has been a rather heated debate in the last few weeks about new church-planting initiatives in the Church of England, particularly with recent reporting of an initiative called Myriad, and its partnership with the Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication. The Gregory Centre describes itself in these terms: The Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication supports … Continue Reading
Thomas Renz writes: Decisions that had to be made in response to the current pandemic previously prompted me to write briefly on the history of withholding the cup, on arguments against it, on the Communion of the sick, on the doctrines of transubstantiation and concomitance, and on God’s real presence, pondering the implications for celebrating … Continue Reading
Yesterday I had a delightful, brief conversation with a friend about what is happening in different dioceses. Friend: Our bishop has turned our diocese around. Me: How has he done that? Friend: By not cutting clergy posts, and not appointing an archdeacon. Instead we have focussed on the question of stewardship. Me: Surely it isn’t … Continue Reading
Dear Giles You are a very engaging writer, and I often enjoy reading your pieces. You have a great turn of phrase, and there are times when you are able to cut through all the complexity and dissembling, and hit the nail on the head (if you don’t mind me mixing my metaphors somewhat). But … Continue Reading
The weekend was rather stormy, with thunder and lightning and some heavy downpours in places. The weather wasn’t that good either, but I am referring to the Church of England on social media. The storm brewed up because of an article in the Church Times about the plan, as part of the new ‘Vision and … Continue Reading
Last year, Alan Wilson invited me to contribute to his Leadership Journey podcast. Alan is from Northern Ireland, and has been in pastoral ministry for many years, much of that time in Switzerland. He started interviewing leaders as part of his research for a DMin degree, and the podcast has now become a really useful … Continue Reading
I was invited by Lichfield Diocese to talk to them about the greatest challenge currency facing the Church of England, and what resources we had to hand to address it. This is part of a series, which is a fascinating initiative. I was quite intrigued to find that my observation about the challenge we are … Continue Reading
Giles Udy writes: George Floyd’s death was deeply traumatic for many people. In the months that followed as those who had experienced racism found a voice to express the history of their pain, I felt it was important for me not only to listen to them but to educate myself as much as I could, … Continue Reading
Ian Paul: theologian, author, speaker, academic consultant. Associate Senior Research Fellow, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology; Associate Minister, St Nic's, Nottingham; Managing Editor, Grove Books; member of General Synod and Archbishops' Council. Mac user; chocoholic. Tweets at @psephizo
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