scholarship. serving. ministry.
Tim Murray is one of the pastors at Amblecote Christian Centre in Dudley, West Midlands, and he has written a great book Life Examined: why I am a Christian exploring in an accessible way the reasons for faith. I asked him about why he wrote the book, his approach, and how it can be used well. IP: You have … Continue Reading
Each year, during November, the Morning Prayer weekday lectionary takes us through the first few chapters of the Book of Revelation. In chapters 2 and 3, we have messages to the ekklesiae in seven cities of Roman Asia, the west end of what we now know as Turkey. There are some important and challenging things to note … Continue Reading
The Church of England finds itself in a very odd situation. On the one hand, it is facing continued decline in attendance, and I think in influence and reputation in our culture. The decline in attendance has been calculated with mathematical precision at John Hayward’s Church Model website; if nothing changes, then he calculates that … Continue Reading
This week saw the first meeting of the new General Synod following elections last month. It was designed to be a largely uncontroversial first session, not least because around 60% of the members were new—something fairly unprecedented, which resulted in a surprising number of established members not being re-elected. Most of the items of business … Continue Reading
On 9th October, Leicester Diocesan Synod voted to move to what they call a ‘Minster communities framework’ for ministry: The Diocese of Leicester Synod has voted in favour of a Minster Community framework with an amendment that the stipendiary (paid) leadership team of at least four people (including lay and ordained roles) in each of … Continue Reading
Two years ago, one of the fringe meetings at July’s session of the General Synod focussed on the needs of ‘mid-sized churches’, in this case defined as worshipping communities of 20 to 60. The reason for this was a question that William Nye, Secretary General of Synod and the Archbishops’ Council, had raised: Without meaning … 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
The gospel lectionary reading for Trinity 2 in Year B is Mark 4.26–34. Once again, the lectionary makes a slightly odd choice, picking up the teaching of Jesus midway through a sequence of pericopes mostly related to parables and the kingdom. But it contains one of my favourite images in the teaching of Jesus, unique … Continue Reading
At around this time each year, the Church of England statistics team release the data on what has been happening with attendance and services in the Church of England, based on the returns from churches from the previous year. This information is very useful, though also needs to be handled with care. On the one … Continue Reading
At last week’s Diocesan Synod in Chelmsford Diocese, a paper was discussed which proposed a radical reduction of stipendiary clergy posts from 275 to 215 within the next 18 months, a reduction of 22%. (Since these papers are in the public domain, you can read it for yourself here.) Despite some of these positions already … Continue Reading
What are you aiming to do in your Christmas services this year? For many, it is an opportunity to make use of this season which is rooted in Christian festivities—though we hardly need reminding how far many Christmas traditions have moved from that. Five years ago, it was reported that one third of children aged … Continue Reading