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The Church Times has been running a series of interesting article on the state of the Church, with some significant insights from Linda Woodhead, Professor of the Sociology of Religion at the University of Lancaster. Previous articles have explored issues of church growth, leadership, and some of the reasons behind the decline in church attendance. … Continue Reading
This is the first of three posts exploring in turn starting, building and sharing a blog Like many aspects of the internet and in particular social media, blogging divides the world. On the one hand, in some circles it seems that everyone blogs copiously and effortlessly. On the other hand, a good number of people … Continue Reading
The House of Bishops issued a statement in response to the Government’s introduction of ‘gay marriage’ on Saturday—just managing to avoid St Valentine’s Day. I suggested earlier that this was the next ‘banana skin’ that they faced, and (to mix metaphors) they have played it with a straight bat (no pun intended). The pastoral statement … Continue Reading
Today I was caught out very nicely by a fantastic blog post at The Gospel Coalition: Here are some of the things I really hate in a worship song. Too simplistic, banal, lacking in depth, shallow, doctrineless: Consider that one that just talks about unity among brothers that only mentions God in passing at the very end. … Continue Reading
Or so says this report in the Independent: Unemployed clergy are twice as likely to look for work in the South-East as in the North of England. In London, it takes on average just four months to fill a vacancy, with three vicars applying for every post, according to research by The Church Times…In Guildford, … Continue Reading
Here is my letter written to the Church Times this week: Dear Sir Thank you for the fascinating and insightful articles on the state of the Church. But two issues hover just under the surface and need more attention. The first is that the real need is not for greater understanding, but for greater willingness … Continue Reading
I wonder if you have heard this kind of story recently. A friend of yours is perhaps happy in a particular job or ministry role, or perhaps senses a need for change. An new opportunity comes up, and something stirs in your friend. Other people sense the same, and perhaps get in touch. ‘Could this … Continue Reading
Nigel Roberts has made a video, principally for the Grove Youth Series, on how to write. On it a number of published writers exploring different dimensions of writing, including: • what inspires you to write? • how do you write? • how should you use the Bible in your writing? • how to get started My contributions are … Continue Reading
Vicky Beeching has written on children and the internet this week in the Church Times. The main point of her argument is that Christian parents shouldn’t see the internet as a dangerous thing to be avoided, but a tool to be used, and that we should encourage children to use it responsibly. She hits her … Continue Reading
Nineteenth-century missionaries were culturally insensitive colonials, colluding with the colonial powers to oppress local culture and impose their own values, to the detriment of those they were proselytising. Right? Wrong, according to some remarkable research reported in this month’s Christianity Today. For many of our contemporaries, no one sums up missionaries of an earlier era … Continue Reading
My previous two posts, reflecting on the findings on church growth, and then the particular issue of the age of selection of leaders, has provoked quite a discussion on Facebook. To put this in context, I include here some paragraphs from Bob Jackson’s book The Road to Growth which was published nearly 10 years ago in … 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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