Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
Lee Proudlove writes: Deborah Samuel, a Christian teenager in Sokoto state in north western Nigeria, was brutally killed last week. Following a discussion on WhatsApp, Deborah was accused of blasphemy; she was dragged into the midst of a mob, stoned, and then her body was set on fire. The Guardian, reporting Deborah’s death, commented that in Nigeria …
A service was held on Sunday 8th May to mark the 800th anniversary (one day early) of the Synod of Oxford of 9th May 1222 which introduced the first measures against Jews in England, and led to more harsh measures and the eventual expulsion of Jews from England in 1290. This appeared to have encouraged …
Dear Richard I really enjoyed your honest reflections in The Times on Sunday April 17th in the light of your retirement this week. I felt as though I ought to respond in the second person, writing to you rather than writing about you, for several reasons. First, we are fellow clergy in the Church; we …
Stephen Kuhrt writes: For a number of years, I have written a Children’s Carol Service for use the Sunday before Christmas at Christ Church, New Malden. Both children and adults come in biblical costumes. The aim has been to combine something of the fun of Christmas Panto with conveying biblical theology that draws out the significance …
As I write the title for this piece, I feel rather hesitant. Why is it worth talking about discontent? Isn’t it best left, so that we can focus on things that are positive? Sometimes that is true—but the difficulty with ignoring the discontent, or other negative feelings, is that they then fester, and become worse. …
There continues to be some heated debate in the C of E about the respective roles of clergy and laity. On the one hand, research shows that the deployment of stipendiary ministry and leadership is a key to church growth, and so cutting clergy numbers runs counter to current stated strategy. On the other hand, …
At the beginning of Lent, it is traditional to consider taking up a spiritual discipline for the season—or perhaps giving something up. I have just read a number of posts telling me of friends who are giving up on social media until Easter! In the past, a key discipline has been that of fasting, but …
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book this year is Embracing Justice by Dr Isabelle Hamley. Here, Alianore Smith explores why the arguments of the book are so important in practice, and introduces us to the work of International Justice Mission. Alianore Smith writes: I want introduce you to Thaiyamma. Thaiyamma was in her early 20s when she and …
A little while ago I had a curious discussion with someone online. Commenting on one of the events for Remembrance, I noted that the prayer said by the Christian leader took the form of a general invocation of a deity, but wasn’t actually a Christian prayer. ‘What do you mean by a Christian prayer?’ …
Jon Kuhrt writes: It is a matter of historical fact that a huge number of the charities established to address homelessness were set up by committed Christians. Some retain a strong link to their founding beliefs; others have retreated from them. Some may be tempted to assume this is just a piece of history, a natural …
I have just returned from the second session, in London, of the new Synod which first met last November. Some commented that the agenda looked rather dull, but (to coin a phrase) ‘the devil is in the detail’, and in amongst the boring-but-important discussions about faculties, boilers, and internet cabling, there were some startling insights …
