Life & Ministry

How to save the Church of England

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There has been quite a lot of interest in my previous post on How to Save a Diocese (great to see that mission can excite as much interest as sexuality!) and some really interesting things coming out in the comments. I offer here some further thoughts on the issue. First, it is apparent that there … Continue Reading

How to save a diocese

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Julian Henderson, Bishop of Blackburn, one year in post and after having got to know the lie of the land, has warned that unless the Church reinvents itself in his own diocese, it would disappear like the region’s textile industry. I am convinced that we need to embark on radical change. We need to reinvent … Continue Reading

(How) does Jesus fulfil our longings?

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To long for things is characteristic of being human. It is in our nature to reach into the future, to envisage that things will be different from how they are now, to imagine our possessing of things, qualities and attitudes that we do not at present have—even to be people that we are not yet. This sense of longing often focuses on key issues, things of central importance to us:

Free healthcare cannot continue

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So says a Conservative minister in admitting that Andrew Lansley’s NHS reorganisation was the ‘biggest blunder of the Coalition government.’ I never thought I would admit it, but I think he is right. The Health Service is facing massive, and apparently intractable, problems, and many believe that the ‘reforms’ just made them all worse. Unsurprisingly, … Continue Reading

Jesus’ view of mission

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I spent part of last week at our excellent clergy conference in Swanwick. (I will leave it ambiguous as to whether the clergy or the conference was excellent—or both!). As is the practice with the Partnership for Missional Church approach to mission (being used in a number of diocese including ours), we repeatedly spent time reflecting … Continue Reading

What does it mean to be ‘lost’?

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The idea that those outside the Christian faith are ‘lost’ has, in the past, been of central importance in evangelical devotion. Around 10 million times a year, Christians sing John Newton’s autobiographical devotional hymn: Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, Was blind, … Continue Reading

Can we make sense of beheading?

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It was surely only going to be a matter of time, following the execution of two Americans, that a British citizen was going to be the next victim of the brutal violence of the self-styled ‘Islamic State.’ David Haines was, by all account, an impressive individual, someone of ‘unstoppable energy’ who was deeply committed to … Continue Reading

What kind of leader is Justin Welby?

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One of the books I read over the summer was Andrew Atherstone’s fascinating biography of Justin Welby. It is a considerably expanded version of  the short book which Atherstone wrote immediately after it was announced that Welby would be Archbishop. The first thing which strikes you in opening the book is the thoroughness of the research. Atherstone … Continue Reading

What is education for?

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As both a parent and a governor during this year’s GCSE results, I found myself in an odd predicament. Should I be pleased with my son’s results because they were his achievement, or because the school had succeeded in ‘adding value’? How did we get into this strange dilemma? A generation ago, there would have … Continue Reading