Scholarship • Serving • Ministry – Ian Paul
One of the impacts of the lockdown in response to the coronavirus has been the abandonment of church buildings, and the move to broadcast services from the homes of clergy and other lay leaders involved in leading worship. The strong guidance from the Archbishops on this has been hotly debated, and the question raised as …
Richard Bauckham writes: “The message of Easter is hope, and hope is what we very much need in these times.” Something like that is what many church leaders interviewed in the media were saying around Eastertime. Unfortunately, to people who know nothing much at all about what Easter celebrates, it can come across as a rather …
Oliver Harrison writes: Often, in normal times and in a normal church service, we start our prayers of confession with a very short excerpt from the Bible. The minister reads out Jesus’ words from Matthew chapter 22.37–40: The first and greatest commandment is this: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your …
Matthew Frost writes: There’s no doubt about it. Companies and charities are going through incredibly challenging times—unprecedented financial pressures, moving everyone to remote working, ongoing crisis management and uncertainty with no end in sight. There’s a silver lining though. Many are also observing newfound attentiveness to staff wellbeing and relationships, bursts of unexpected creativity, and …
Is God using the Covid-19 virus and the ensuing crisis to punish people and bring them to repentance? Two voices I have read recently are quite clear that the answer is ‘Yes’. The first comes from Adam Young, writing on the Church Society blog. He begins with an event cited to prove that God does …
Last weekend there was some anxiety, a few woes, but much elation at the first experience of being ‘online church’. There was most anxiety about technical challenges, but many reported a positive experience—and higher numbers attracted to online participation than usually attended in person. The situation this weekend offers new challenges: with the ‘lockdown’ measures …
So, the first day of the new era of ‘online church’ has come and gone! It feels as though our children’s children will one day ask us ‘What did you do on the first day of online church?’ After our morning online service yesterday, I asked of the experience of others, and most of the 300 …
Mark Ireland writes: Last night in my role as archdeacon I inducted a new Vicar to his new Lancashire parishes behind closed doors. Instead of a packed church of congregation, community and friends from previous parishes, there were just three churchwardens, the priest’s spouse, the patron and the bishop – all sitting spaced as far apart …
Nick Moore writes: With ever stronger advice against social interaction and the prospect of restrictions on personal movement along the lines of those seen in China and other European countries, the concepts of ‘social distancing’ and ‘self-isolation’ have become everyday talk. Then in the last couple of days, as the Church of England has suspended …
Jeremy Marshall writes: I know absolutely nothing about infectious diseases or how to stop Coronavirus. I have no scientific or medical training. But I do know quite a bit about the fear of dying. Seven years ago I felt fear when I was told I had cancer. Four and a half years ago I felt intense, …
In the US, according to a recent survey, 38% of citizens would not buy a Corona beer because of concern about the Coronavirus. (It is probably not true, but it is still not good news for the Mexican brand.) More seriously, fears about the virus have led to ‘ political and economic instability… xenophobia and racism …
