church: what colour is yours (Appendix 2)

This is a great piece - makes you realise how valuable the Church times is as reading matter:

APPENDIX TWO                  Church Times article (Madeline Davies 28^th Feb 2020)

(my italics for emphasis)

PARISHES in the diocese of Chelmsford are to be given a stark message next month: if they want a priest, they will have to pay the going rate. Last Sunday was designated a day of prayer, asking God to “loosen the drawstrings of our hearts”.

In the diocesan synod meeting next month, members will be asked to agree changes to the way clergy vacancies are filled. Benefices that are unable to cover the costs of a full-time stipendiary priest — on average, £80,180, which includes a portion of central diocesan costs — will enter a new process in which alternatives are discussed, such as interim ministry, a self-supporting priest-in-charge, or a licensed lay minister. If voted through, the new processes will come into effect immediately.

This week, the Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, soon to move to York, said that the diocese had needed “a big reality check. My text for all this has been ‘the truth will set you free’. . . People may hate what I am saying, but it’s simply impossible to disagree with it: the accounts reveal everything.”

The immediate cause is the loss of a substantial subsidy from the Church Commissioners. Under the previous formula (known as “Darlow”, which is currently being phased out), Chelmsford received £3.1 million a year, enabling it to balance its budget. It now receives £1 million from the Lowest Income Communities Fund (LICF), and further funds from Strategic Development grants, but that still means a deficit of at least a £1 million. Last year, parish-share receipts fell to 92.59 per cent of the total needed. Over half the shortfall was attributable to 21 parishes.

“The situation has become startlingly simple,” Bishop Cottrell told the diocesan synod in November. “If you want a priest you have to pay. . . If we don’t make these changes, it will lead to much more drastic and unplanned decisions being forced upon us.” Even parishes that met their parish share were not fully covering the cost of ministry, and would be asked to give more.

On Monday, Bishop Cottrell said that the debate in November had been “really good. There was a lot of pain expressed and honesty.” Leaving the problem for another ten years would have been a “terrible irresponsibility”. He was confident that the synod would vote in favour of the proposals. The diocese was not in “crisis mode”, and he believed that the diocese would respond with greater levels of giving. “And if not, there will have to be some cuts in clergy numbers.”

He wanted stipendiary ministry to grow, he said, and the diocese remained committed to the poorest communities. The entirety of the central LICF funding would go to subsidising their parish share, and if parish share was sufficient to pay for ministry, then all of the diocese’s investment income would also go to these parishes.

The changes build on existing reforms in the diocese. When Bishop Cottrell arrived as diocesan bishop in 2010, a pressing problem was clergy retirements: 47 per cent of stipendiary clergy were due to retire within the next decade. This was one of the drivers of the formation of Mission and Ministry Units (MMUs), whereby parishes and benefices have voluntarily joined together to share resources and mission. More than half (57 per cent) of parishes are now part of an MMU.

The “mantra” behind this was that “no priest should ever work on their own ever again,” Bishop Cottrell said on Monday. “It sounds obvious and sensible, but it’s a massive culture shock for the C of E where, for centuries, clergy have led in isolation.” Another driver was the desire to plant more churches — something that individual churches were unlikely to be able to do alone.

The population of east London and Essex is set to grow by 300,000 over the next ten years, and the diocese plans to plant 101 new Christian communities. Last year, it received  a Strategic Development Funding grant of  £3.85 million towards this goal.

“What we are really trying to do is define what we mean by ‘church’,” Bishop Cottrell said. “I think for too long, ‘church’ has meant a building and a vicar and possibly a geographic area to serve, and our job is to sustain that. . . I would say vicars only came into being as a consequence of evangelism not a cause. Europe was evangelised by movements of mission — usually monastic movements. . . We need new movements of mission, and vicars aren’t necessarily the best way of achieving that.”

church - what colour is yours (appendix 1)

This document is helpful in outlining and clarifying much of that referred to the in first post:

APPENDIX ONE                                                                               DS(2020)06 

DIOCESAN SYNOD: AN APPROACH TO REDUCING STIPENDIARY NUMBERS 

AUTHOR:  INTERIM CEO                                         6 JUNE 2020 

1. CONTEXT 

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were following two pathways towards sustainability: 

1. a)  First, we have been progressively reducing the number of stipendiary incumbency 

posts. This work began in 2011 in response to the high average age of clergy and the inevitable rate of retirements. This produced our ‘minimum sustainable number’ of 215 stipendiary posts in 2025 to which all deaneries are working and some have already achieved. With the withdrawal of Darlow funding, which is being phased out and will disappear entirely in 2025, our 2019 estimate of the number of stipendiary incumbents we could afford in 2025 reduced to 202. This assumed that giving levels remained constant. 

2. b)  Second, we have recognised that a very high number of parishes do not cover their “full cost of ministry” and are being subsidised (even if they have faithfully paid their allocated parish share in full). These issues were first discussed by Diocesan Synod in November 2019 and a formal proposal to implement a new approach to how vacancies will be handled would have come to the March 2020 meeting for approval. See the paper From Subsidy to Sustainability DS(20)02. 

These approaches remain valid but are now not sufficient to address the financial crisis we face. As a result, DS(20)02 is not being brought for approval at this meeting of Synod but its principles will help to inform the proposals in this paper. 

At their meeting on 12 May 2020, the Finance Committee has approved the proposal to bring forward implementation of the planned 2025 numbers to the end of 2021. This means reducing the number of stipendiary incumbent posts from 275 (as at 31 March 2020) to 215 in the next 18 months. This paper sets out a proposed method to achieve this. 

2. GUIDING PRINCIPLES 

In doing this work, it will be important that we do not unnecessarily damage our capacity for mission and ministry. As far as possible we plan to: 

a) Prune in order to enable growth. Based on Jesus’ teaching in John 15, our aim must be to enable gospel growth. Care will be taken not to cut posts that have strategic potential.

b)  Include our Strategic Development Funded Church Planting Projects in this planning alongside existing incumbencies. 

c)  Recognise and build on existing deanery plans. 

d)  Make phased decisions so that further cuts can be implemented without major re
       planning work if our financial position deteriorates and, conversely, our plans for
       reducing numbers can be scaled back if we can afford to do so. 

e)  To proceed in hope and confidence that God’s Spirit will lead us into new and fruitful
      ways of being church. 

f)  Expect that reducing our reliance on stipendiary ordained ministry will foster new
     vocations to lay and ordained ministry including self-supporting, part-time and
     House for Duty ministry. 

HANDLING CURRENT VACANCIES 

We have an unprecedented number of vacancies across the diocese which totalled 48.5 posts at the end of March. 

Freezing these vacancies would take us to within 12 posts of our 2025 objective. However, this is not recommended – not least because it would not address Principle a) above. Also, these vacancies are not uniformly distributed across all deaneries and a blanket approach would be neither missional nor fair.  However, to avoid the risk of compromising this planning task, it would be sensible to pause filling as many stipendiary vacancies as possible until September. 

4. PLANNING THE REDUCTION OF STIPENDIARY POSTS 

Archdeacons are asked to coordinate this work in partnership with Area Deans, Lay Chairs and Area Teams to code each stipendiary post as Green, Amber or Red. In summary, Green would mean this post is of strategic importance and is to be retained (or filled if vacant). Amber means this post is desirable and should be retained if finances permit but other options for enabling ministry could be considered. Red means this post is unlikely to be filled with a full-time stipendiary incumbent and other options for enabling ministry should be considered. This is a deliberately simple and subjective assessment to start the ball rolling. Please note, this coding is about stipendiary posts and is not an assessment of parishes or benefices – many of which are thriving with other patterns of ordained and lay ministry. 

In order to encourage reimagining ministry for mission, the maximum number of ‘green’ posts across the diocese should be restricted to 150. This is 25% below the affordable number determined in 2019 and is a reasonable worse-case scenario for long-term affordability. By limiting ‘green’ posts to this number we should not have to repeat this exercise in the foreseeable future. 

Once the ‘green’ posts are agreed, the ‘amber’ posts can be ranked in each deanery to determine those which will be retained subject to overall affordability. Thus, we expect a significant number of ‘amber’ posts to be retained when the 2025 number of posts (215) is reached at the end of 2021.

There can be flexibility between deaneries to allow Archdeacons and Bishops to provide for particular mission opportunities. Such changes would need agreement by Area Mission and Pastoral Committees or the Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Committee, as appropriate. 

Archdeacons are asked to produce an initial coding of posts in each of their deaneries by the end of July. This will allow refinement at AMPC and DMPC leading to a plan that can be ratified by Synod in November 2020. 

Some implementation, where there is agreement between all parties, can begin immediately, subject to the approval of the bishops and CEO. This includes making appointments to ‘green’ posts and initiating any necessary pastoral reorganisation needed to close ‘red’ posts currently in vacancy. 

We recognise that a simple allocation of posts into three categories may not be sufficient to record the effects of, for example, potential pastoral reorganisation or the deployment of time-limited Interim Ministry posts. We plan to develop more detailed guidance in the coming days so that a consistent approach can be used across the diocese. 

5. ACHIEVING THE REDUCTION IN POSTS 

Once the plan for stipendiary posts is agreed, work can then begin on any necessary pastoral reorganisation of parishes and a range of options can be explored for those incumbents who are in posts that will not be retained beyond the end of 2021. These options will be explored sensitively, confidentially, pastorally and vocationally in individual conversations with bishops and archdeacons. 

It is expected that in most instances a mutually agreed plan can be put in place. However, there may be instances where financial support will be needed to enable an incumbent to follow a different vocational pathway and, in the last resort, some Common Tenure posts may have to be made redundant. We anticipate that the Church Commissioners will consider grants for such transformation costs where necessary. 

6. APPROVAL SOUGHT 

Diocesan Synod is invited to NOTE this paper and SUPPORT the actions proposed, subject to formal AGREEMENT in November 2020. 

Church: What is it good for? (What others see: Hypocrites and Moaners!)

Recently, when asking this question of people around me, the response has sounded a lot like the Whitfield and Strong song ‘War’ for the answer has been: “Absolutely nothing!”

This is the fourth in a series of reflections I have been engaging with. After considering the Church to be ‘dodgy’, the next most cited opinion was that we are a bunch of miserable hypocritical moaners. People seemed to think the Church was, “Always on about what it didn’t like and yet did much of the stuff they moaned about themselves.”

I find this a challenging area because even though I have amalgamated ‘miserable’ and ‘moaners’ and added the blanket term ‘hypocritical’ I can see some truth in the whole response. The hypocrite label can easily apply to yesterday’s concealing sin and turning a blind eye to things and one common assessment was that Christians tell the world to do what they tell them to do rather than what they do themselves!” This is something quite troubling, for if they see no integrity in the Church and it’s member then surely they won’t trust the one whose message we bring!

I have often got into trouble because of the fact that upon becoming self-identifying as a Christian, one of my first mentors told me that I always had to tell the truth. So I did, and people didn’t like it! I should add that I still do, and people still don’t like it! I have often found myself drawn into a place that exists somewhere between, “Let your ‘yes’ be ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ be ‘no’,” (James 5) and the words of St Thumper of Bambi: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nuffin’ at all!”. I try to choose my battles, after all there’s no point in entering into combat with people just for the point of it; but there is no warrant to ignore what is obviously wrong either.

This leads us to the bedrock of Anglican thinking and praxis: “Where is the via media to be found?” This is something to bookmark for a later think and have us move on methinks.

I asked those who engage with me why they have their view and the responses are a litany of awful encounters with what sounds like awful people. One group of people I visit ocassionally are old and miserable and yet they regard themselves as a lovely bunch of people. The problem is that they generally are lively to each other, but not to the stranger who comes into contact with them. They are unhappy that those outside their group don’t dress up for their services. They will be quite aggressive and rather rude to those who enter wearing hats. They are sad at the obvious demise of the church and yet unwelcoming to those who might dare to come.

When I was a student, one of the many posters that adorned my walls had a cartoon of a hippy with the words, “You can’t love God and hate your brother!”(1 Jn 4.20) written below it. The image of the invisible God is made visible in the person before us and we are called to serve God and humanity - this should be something that’s generally popular as I see it. These words changed my mindset and saw me doing things that others didn’t always ‘get’.

One of the strangest fruits that grew from this changed outlook came when a bunch of the church I was in visited London to see Jesus Christ Superstar. Having got off the bus we found ourselves walking through Soho Square. Passing some of the women plying their trade the people with me were a bit surprised that many of them greeted me by name (something the Pastor asked me about the next day when he asked to see me). The answer was simple; I worked around the corner and on cold nights (when in the night shift) I’d take them coffee and toast. This was where I was taught about the appearance of evil - a valuable lesson sometimes wrongly applied it seems.

I believe I have a duty to engage with those who are ‘caught in a sin’ so that I can ‘restore them, gently), but I don’t engage with them to deal with their sin (neither do I engage with them to convert them) but I engage with them because they are fellow humans with stories to tell and relationships to be made. Once we know each other we might discuss sin (mine and theirs) and dialogue and even see one or both of us change through the encounter - but Church is not called to be a bunch of judgemental ‘holier that Thou’s,’ and neither is it to proclaim all is well when challenged over another’s sin!

So, are Christians miserable? The answer has to be: Sometimes.

Are they hypocrites? Sometimes.

Are they a bunch of moaners? Sometimes?

Do they show and make real the love of God, exhibiting concern and care to others? Sometimes.

Are they human? Always?

Can they be taught? Sometimes.

The caveat I have used with many who have labelled us as miserable moaning hypocrites is: “We are all sinners aren’t we?” This can provide us an entry to dialogue deeper and consider our own shortcomings, sometimes not. We sense the direction the wind is blowing (could that be the Soirit’s breath) and act accordingly. The trouble is that many of us, when pressed or under pressure feel the need to defend ourselves by means of attack and in doing so, take upon ourselves those negative labels.

Acceptance, love, forgiveness (which requires an understanding of that which requires forgiveness in our lives) and the desire to see those ‘far off’ brought near: isn’t that what we are here to be?

Seems we have a lot of teaching to do with a people who far too often present themselves as an extremely high inertial load.

So, twenty minutes done, time to move on up and out and do the stuff with the prayer that the day will result in many great encounters. Who knows, I might learn something new and even be taught :-)

Pax

Abuses of Trust and Power: whose problem is it?

There are many (too many) who would respond to this question with the answer, "The Church's".

Is this a fair response?  The answer has to be, "Nah, don't think so!"

There there are many stories relating to sexual impropriety and abuse of trust and power doing the rounds of late, and they pose a number of questions and even more learning outcomes. To set for ourselves some sort of datum from which we can work and perhaps establish some norms and set standards, let us reflect on the media times that have come into my consciousness so far this year (you will undoubtedly know of others, but let's see where this takes us before we start posting names and other cases, eh?):

The Gibb report (An abuse of faith) which relates to a former Bishop Peter Ball and what appears to be a fair degree of complicity from senior clerics and the institution.

The news stories relating to the Revd Andrew Sloane, who misappropriated £14,500 of church funds to pay for rent boys.

The Netflix series 'Keepers' and the awful tales of complicity, cover-up and betrayal by the Catholic church in Baltimore relating to sexual abuse and the murder of Nun.

The film 'Philomena' - a true story of forced adoption,  abuse of power and trust, cover-up and lies from the Catholic Church relating to Philomena Lee and the search for her son, Anthony.

The data handed to an Australian commission on abuse in the Catholic church suggesting that in the period 1950 - 2010 some 1,265 Catholic priests, brothers and nuns had their names passed on to some 93 Catholic authorities as abusers by 4,444 people. Following the commission's report, Australia's senior cleric, Cardinal George Pell, was quoted as saying, "The Church had made 'enormous mistakes' and 'catastrophic' choices by refusing to believe abused children, shuffling abusive priests from parish to parish and over-relying on counseling of priests to solve the problem."

Sadly,  just over a week ago Cardinal Pell was charged  with a number of historic sex offences and is awaiting a visit to the magistrate's court. Regardless of the outcome, that's sure to open a bigger can of worms!

This week I've read of an eighty year old Muslim man (Mohammed Haji Sadiq) who apparently  taught at a Cardiff' mosque and abused children there for something up to thirty years before being caught and convicted.

There's been numerous football coaches accused of sexual (and other) abuse this year.

A doctor associated with US Gymnastics has been committed for trial for sexual abuse of some of those under his care. There was also a recent piece in the news of a Canadian ski coach who also abused those he taught.

The Rochdale sexual abuse scandal, complete with cover-ups, looking the other way by authorities and the accusations that this was an 'Asian' problem (not helped by the "Rotherham' and other cases in the news) makes for poor and uncomfortable reading. Add to this the Jersey care home scandal and the abuse by foster parents, by natural parents, by adoptive parents, family members and friend of the family, the abuse by media stars, DJs, and entertainers and what do we have?


Only this week a Reigate Scout leader was jailed for 26 years for sexual abuse and I've found another eight stories relating to Scouting. These were all historical, the reason for this being that the organisation, being aware of past problems, has become more proactive and alert to safeguarding needs..

The BBC's Panorama programme recently looked at abuse in the uniformed cadet organisations. Statistics produced during the programmes the statistics on the left were quoted.


The reality is that sexual (and other) abuse can occur in every area of life and the perpetrator can be almost anyone. I remember the sixties when the jokes about sexual abuse and Scout leaders were always going the rounds and now they are one of the better examples of safeguarding practice.

My problem with abuse, regardless of what form it takes or the group in which it has occurred, is the breach of trust that causes it to happen and the institutional deceit that seems to raise its ugly head to work at concealing the sin (for sin it is) and further destroy any remaining trust in the organisation that might have existed.

Worse still is the fact that people judge Jesus and the Church as a whole when individuals act to abuse. Now I have to say that we, as the Gibbs report shows, don't help ourselves in this area and the lies, cover up, misdirection and ignoring of the abused only seek to show Church to be full of hypocrites and liars.

BUT NOT EVERY CHRISTIAN DESERVES OR FITS THIS LABEL!

We need to be vigilant but not paranoid.

We need to be trusting but not naive.

We need to protect the weak, the vulnerable and the young - remembering that everyone is vulnerable at some time in their life.

Gentle as doves, cunning as serpents and protective of all as if they were our own.

Pax

An interesting funeral day

What an interesting and varied funeral-related day it has been. I've done a service in church, a service in the crematorium, another service in a rain soaked cemetery a memorial service, arranged two more funerals, given one away and had a much loved church member die (the second in less than a week).

Anyone who knows me also knows just how much I love funerals- for I regard them as one of the best bits of the clerical role a along with evangelism, apologetics, seeing people make a decision for Christ, preaching, studying, making music, being pastoral, and making time with God in prayer and reflection (which is a very special place I get to visit far too rarely).

So today I climb out of bed and having written my final bits of paper for the services, I read them through so that everything is fresh in my memory so I don't need to look at the paper when speaking at the deceased. This is a small and simple step but I have to say I struggle with people reading stuff (usually in a wooden manner) about the deceased. This, along with getting names and material facts wrong, is a sin that's up there with running over allotted time in the crem'

I almost always burn a back up CD of the music to be played in the service - it's part of the OCD funeral person I have become - and this is something that has served me and the people I'm doing the funeral for extremely well as the number of times a CD doesn't play is now in excess of 10%.

There are a number of reasons for doing a backup CD:
i. It means that there is a back up system in place should things go wrongs,
ii. It means that I have a CD at the service whose quality and ability to play is assured,
iii. If the people for whom I am doing the service need help, then I have provided it by producing the CD for them - this ticks box i. and ii. and adds a little more support to the bereaved as it takes pressure off them and resolves some of my concerns (I still burn two CDs though).

So today, having finished with stuff by 02:00 and being just a tad tired after a riotous 17hr day, for some reason, I didn't burn a CD. Arriving at the church for the first service I find that the CD is nowhere to be seen - so I jump in the car, pop home and burn one for them. Arriving back we get started and as we process in the verger stands at the nave and says / mouthes / sort of half shouts, "It won't play!" (I swear I hear the word Gromit at the end, but who knows I could just be going a bit bonkers!!).

Undeterred we carry on and I do the beginning of the service and as the congregation sing the first hymn I pop and have a try. Nope, the same CD that played in the car on my return journey to the church is not playing - the CD player has given up the ghost - on to plan B.

As the congregation continue to sing (thank You Lord for long hymns) I swiftly visit the iTunes Store and purchase the tracks required for the rest of the service. After this the service potters along the well worn tracks of funeral with nary a hitch, although playing the first of the reflection pieces by plonking my iPhone on the microphone did cause more than a few smiles from some of the assembled folk. And as we left, microphone pointing to iPhone, I thanked God for the ability to problem solve, smile and possess technology.

So that was an interesting start to the day and the trip to the crematorium, for a man I cared about and have much respect, was the complete opposite experience as it was one of those where the rhythm turned a potentially leaden service into pure gold.

The visit to the cemetery, in torrential rain (thank God for cloaks) was a pretty long drawn out affair and many of those who arrived did so in dribs and drabs and this meant some of us had been gathered for almost twenty-five minutes. That's sure to see me with a cold by the time we hit next week!!

But a straightforward and steady service, as I walked from the grave whilst, a la Beatles, no one might have been saved, they were certainly shown the Saviour :-)

Memorial services are always a little challenging because there is a danger that as the service progresses we will introduce to the assembled masses a new deity, The balance between pointing to God, doing the deceased justice, telling the stories, comforting the bereaved and celebrating a life lived is delicate and precise. The blessing of having my own PA and microphones and other kit means that I can control and manage the talk and technical side - like burning CDs - another OCD belt and braces element.

But the memorial went well. It had God and the deceased standing side-by-side, and those present happy at the end result.

All in all, a very pleasing and blessed day - amazing to walk in and realise that eleven of the hours that today has contained has been directly associated with funeral. Perhaps this have been the 'one day' I work sorted then?

Journal: visiting a new old place

This morning started with heavy frost and the sort of beautiful blue skies that Winter often provides as I climbed out of bed and made my way to a new place of worship for an 'early' Book of Common Prayer (BCP) Communion. The morning may have been cold but the welcome, and the building, were warm - and that's always a blessing!

Today's service was a straightforward BCP service in which we reflected upon The Presentation and Jesus coming into contact with Simeon and Anna. The people alongside me were keen to make sure I had what I needed to get through the service and as I was about to leave the altar rail a hand grabbed me to let me know that we stayed where we were until everyone was communicated.

When the service was done I had a quick look around the building (and having been pointed to 'something of interest' I paid an interesting tomb a bit of a visit before mooching for a few minutes before heading for the door, only to find myself engaged with by one of the people who'd been at the service and offered tea and toast!

What made this nice was that I got to chat to people, and the local dogcollar too, and learnt much about the building and the changes, glimpses of the ministry and the 'messy church' like children's work to be engaged with the following week (please pray for those running it and those who might come to St Hilda's). The pews in the place had gone and they'd installed effective heating and the warmth of the place bore testimony to that - But the sacred space that this building is and the rubbing shoulders with saints past was made special by rubbing shoulders with those present.

I can honestly say that this has to be one of the best church visits I have made for ages.
The building was welcoming and obviously cared for,
The liturgy was straightforward and thoughtfully presented without deviating or distracting us from the particular form that is BCP.
The Church made real in the living stones alongside me was engaged and welcoming - the offer of tea and toast was earnest and hard to pass up as the person asking me, having ascertained that I was merely passing though, didn't walk away as they realised I was a scalp but persevered as if they valued the fact that I was family.

So I stayed for tea and toast and engaged in making koinonia a reality - and am sure that the next time I'm in that place I'll be visiting again. And until I do thee will be prayers offered up for the work of the Church in that building that doors would be opened and lives changed by its ministry, history and the work of the people there. A real bleeding and great start to my day.

And the day continued to be just as good - a new addition to the family engaged with, and the in-laws looking good, and the new family unit being everything one could pray for - Lord, bless them and surround them with your love and your presence. Sadly though time was such that before it got going the road to Tamworth beckoned and we had to depart.

Lord for our families, for new life (and for old life too) I can but thank you. Keep us united and help us to see the strength and value that each one of us bring to, and the importance that thee is in, family.

Thank you for the places of worship, and the welcome, warmth, and family that is to be found within their walls - bless the family of St Hilda's and strengthen their arms that the battle might be won in that place.

Thank you for my own places of worship - help us to look to You and stay authentic, tolerant, selfless and open-handed. Help us to not see the fault in others but to see the feet of clay that impede us in our journey through this life, and thus enlightened, bless those who might otherwise be cursed by our own folly.

I pray for the day ahead and the opportunities a new week will bring - help us to do nothing in our own strength and to pray, consider, and obediently go forward - in Your name and for Your namesake.

Bless our families, biological, ecclesial, and gathered by means odd and otherwise and make us a blessing in them also.

For the bread today, the forgiveness and the presence of you love I give you thanks and looking expectantly to another day, bless you for all You are to me, and in me.

Jesus, I thank You for the cross and the ability to proclaim that You are risen indeed!

No heat but plenty of fire

two great services today - the challenge of circumcision and being part of a family of faith is a really tough one for it makes calling a real issue and additionally turns us around to look at what it means to be family too.

Today was a privilege, I only hope I took the opportunities that were before me and did justice to the challenges today presented. Two different congregations and so two different, and yet in essence the same, messages in a day of challenges which saw late starts, later starts and no heating.

Commitment looks like turning up for a early service, especially when the weather is poor and the season cold - we need to cherish our early service congrations for they are not the old stalewarts but the bedrock! For those who came to the 'main" service in a cold church, this is another facet of commitment that deserves to be nurtured and treasured. How do we pastor our sheep and be the good shepherds God, and they, desire?

This appears to be on God's books as a season of nurture and for treasuring those who make up our churches. A season of caring for the newcomers and for raising the bar in terms of Bible knowledge and lifestyle choices for all who follow Jesus, the Christ.

Lord, help me to reach the lost and to treasure every encounter this year. Bring me divine appointments and make me slow to engage with the dross of everyday church life, choosing instead to be present at the partying that surrounds new birth and the discipline of our calling.

Help me to make my diary a tool that assists rather than a chain that constrains and keeps me stuck in the dungeon of excessive work. I have nothing to prove and nothing to give but my love and worship, help me to take more time with you and to calm the daily rush of oft unnecessary toil.

Help me to cherish being part of a physical family and to walk the centreline that divides the two, putting neither to the sword and fulfilling that which I should be doing and giving opportunities for that which I desire to be doing.

Church should be a party not a homework session - a place of love, acceptance, and tolerance. MY this be the reality for me and the people I serve and the church of which I am a member.

Hallelujah

Mental Heath in Crisis? No, it's on autopilot!

One of the safety nets for those who suffer from mental health issues is that of the crisis team, a bunch of people who monitor the telephone and await calls from those who know they are in the midst of a brain squall (those storms which come from nowhere and sink many a life) - for many of those who suffer from mental illness this is the equivalent of the lifeboat service; you call and the flare is sent up and help is made theirs.

Of course it's not just the mentally ill who suffer through mental illness - there are also the family and friends who, finding a loved one sinking and unable to cope, need to call the crisis team  in the hope that they might get advice and the help of those who are trained to deal with the squalls and waves of depressions, mania and confusion.

I have a great deal of respect for many of those who work in the support and care of the mentally ill, but of course there are some who challenge my Christian love and there are situations which cause me to mutter and moan (after all, we are all human, aren't we?). This is one of those situations:

One of the people we know and seek to support obviously 'in crisis' and in need of assistance and this, as always, presents itself as a 'walking on eggshells' exercise to avoid adding to the ill person's stress and getting the right person to do the right thing in the right way around them!

It wasn't that long ago that we found ourselves in a similar situation which went really wrong and eventually saw the Police enforcing a section 136 (a Police section which permits them to take the ill person into custody at a mental health unit and detain them, without any right to leave so full assessment can be made, for up to 72 hours.) on them.

But here comes the problem.

Imaging you're on an aircraft flying along at 10,000 feet when you notice the pilots come out of the cabin, don parachutes and leave by the nearest exit (OK, we'll forget about decompression and the closing of the door afterwards, it's an analogy not an accurate account of flying at FL100 and the effects of pressure). What would you do?

Imagine you ring the attendant call and ask the steward what's going on, only to be told that the pilot and copilot have started their holidays and since they were flying over their chosen destinations thought it would be handy to parachute in rather than get a flight back after they'd landed the aircraft you are in.

How would you fell - especially when invited to have a peek at the flight deck to reassure you and saw this:

Would you be reassured?

Not even if the steward told you that everything was pre-programmed  for the aircraft to land at your destination automatically and that, "Nothing can go wrong! - all will be well by the time the end arrives."

Well that's the situation my ill person has found themselves in - they've rung their CPN and their support worker, their case worker and, having had no response, called the crisis team to be told, "Your team are all away on holiday but will be back soon and will be able to help you!"

Now imaging you had a fire and heard the message that the firefighters were all on holiday but will get back to you as soon as they return. What do you do? You have the equivalent of a blaze inside someone's head and there's no help on the horizon?

Looking at the situation I find that a combination of reduced provision, holiday season and the usual (yes, it even happens in mental health care) 'jobsworth' attitudes (brought on by too much workload and perhaps not enough training) are all at play here. Were the ill person just up the road I could get involved and 'do stuff' but this usually results in us becoming the carer and support person (and workload means that once in that frame those 'carers' are more than happy to step back and leave us to it) - not always an easy task.

So a plea to those who have people in crisis: MAKE A NOISE - BE BLOODY MINDED!

I am not rabble rousing here but unless the MPs, the local and County government departments, the NHS trusts and the like are challenged and niggled, nothing is going to change and the tide, with regard to mental health care, has already gone out too far - it cannot go out any further without tragedy becoming a daily reality for our communities.

If you read this and are in mental health care, please realise that this is not a knock at you (unless you're the person who told me that those around you were, "Too busy at the moment!") but an acknowledgement that you are part of an underfunded and overstretched occupation and call to draw a line and reverse the trends and to get you some able (and present) coworkers).

In the area I inhabit there are only two mental health units running now and the danger is that soon the stewards will be leaving the aircraft too. Think about the aircraft analogy and ask yourself why, when no one would tolerate such a thing happening, we are willing as a society to let the same scenario be the daily experience of our mentally ill?

Find out the facts - talk to the mentally ill you know - make noise.

And of course, Christian or not, come alongside (and if you're Christian then pray too).

Pax

40 Acts - Day 13:' Second Fiddle '

For some of us, relinquishing control and sacrificing our own agendas or plans is difficult.

It means that (a) we don't get our own way and (b) we have to trust someone else or put them first.

But practising playing second fiddle sometimes is important and generous: it shows the other person that you recognise their worth.

Love from the centre of who you are; don’t fake it. 

Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. 

Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. 

(Romans 12:10 The Message)

Fifteen years ago my husband and I visited Bangladesh with World Vision to meet our 11-year-old sponsor child in one of the world’s worst slums, on the edge of Dhaka. We were excited to meet her and confident about our role, which was to gather facts for a book that might encourage people to give and thereby improve conditions for some of the world's forgotten.

We loved the fact that to Jesus there were no unimportant people. However exhausted, however pressured by those in authority, he set aside his own needs to concentrate on whoever stood in front of him, showing respect and love for the marginalised, the children, the women and those who had physical problems which literally placed them out of bounds.

His example had been the solid ground on which we had tried to live our lives and perhaps we saw visiting Shanaj and her family as an opportunity to demonstrate this.

We had not anticipated a lesson in what that really means.

I had taken gifts, colourfully wrapped, and we had both imagined handing them over to Shanaj and her brother and sister. Pictured their eyes shining as they excitedly tore off the paper.

It wasn't like that. After politely thanking me they calmly placed the unwrapped parcels behind them, and returned their attention to us.

I panicked. Had I broken some cultural rule? Did they not like the colour of the wrapping paper?

Oh no, our translator explained, they will be wanting more than anything to open their presents, but they have been taught to value the giver more than the gift.

So here we had it. Three children, the poorest of the poor, setting aside their own agenda to show respect and love to us because at that moment they wanted to demonstrate that we were the most important people in their world.

Today's blog was written by Bridget Plass.

Find out more about her and support her chosen charity here.

To see today's challenge in full - Click HERE

40 Acts 2016 - Day 2

Alright. Some of us are clean freaks. Others prefer to live in organised chaos.
One thing we can all agree on, though, is that our communities feel like nicer places when they're litter-free. It's better for the environment, and easier on the eye.

Roll your sleeves up and make your world cleaner today.

'The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.'

(Genesis 2:15 NIV) 

 It had been years since I’d seen one of these. Like a near-extinct bird, the lesser-spotted Christian bumper sticker caught my eye last summer. It was old and peeling around the edges, but the ‘This is not my home, I’m just passing through’ sticker was still intact. Some of us have been thinking about creation and the planet so long we have forgotten that there are those who still believe that planet earth is only a stopgap before the main performance on the stage of heaven.

Genesis 2:15 makes clear that from the start we were made to ’work, dress and care for creation’. So the plan was never that the bumper sticker would be true.

Earth isn’t a stop-off; it is our home and – as shown in Revelation 21– heaven is going to invade earth. There isn’t going to be some mass evacuation, but heaven is coming to us.

Which means we need to roll up our sleeves because we have work to do. We need to be involved in working, dressing and caring for creation. It’s not something to consume and then destroy, but to care for and restore. Our role is to be stewards of the great gift of earth, stone, water and air. We are to work to bring about a restored creation, a beautiful creation, a creation that reminds us of Eden.

Where is your Garden of Eden? What are your Eden streets called? Eden scrub ground and Eden car parks? We each have a Garden of Eden to love, treasure, clean, restore, dress, preserve and bring justice for. So let’s not wait for someone else to do our job; let’s get involved and live up to the first challenge in the Bible.

Today's blog was written by Cris Rogers from All Hallows Bow. Find out more about them and support their chosen charity here.

To visit today's web page, click here

Church: Bad Shepherds

As we head toward the close of yet another year I have been thinking and praying over the issues in the churches I am engaged in at home and a little further afield. To do that I often take up a 'black box' method of considering them so that I might work to understand what Church (universal) and church (the local entity) are doing what they, and I, are doing. To do this I try to stop, step back and ask the question:

Is there a difference between what we have and what is required?

This immediately causes panic in some as the word 'required' brings the problem of defining what that word means; for it always seems to differ from person to person and congregation to congregation.

Speaking to some of my clergy colleagues, it is obvious that many of them struggle with the word 'sin'., especially when the issue of correcting it in those around us arises. When I ask people how their prayer life is, I am berated by some colleagues for being too direct and for introducing something that might cause embarrassment and disaffection with the whole Christian thing. To quote a bright young cleric recently, "If you challenge people like that they won't stay in your church for long. You have to embrace them and look past what you see as not living as you think is required to see that they need to be made welcome and accepted not abused." I have to say that being labelled an abuser because I ask people how they are living out their life as a Christian is not abuse but the whole point of the pastoral role managed to wind me up - but the other person left the conversation unharmed (see I am growing up Lord!).

The problem is that I believe I am called to welcome and accept people  for who they are (hopefully I do) BUT I am also called to talk to people about how they are living and growing in their faith.  To not do so is to be a bad shepherd of the flock God has entrusted to me - have a read of Ezekiel 34 and see if you recognise the description of what a bad shepherd does - here's a taster from that book:

'The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.'

Now, I was a bit niggled at being told that I mustn't challenge people over their lifestyles or their prayer life or Bible reading and the like, for I have to say that what I heard was a soft-touch, hands off, 'I just want to be their friend' approach to Church; and this is wrong! It is like a parent who wants to be their kid's friend rather than their parent. The kids are allowed to do whatever it is that makes the parents popular with the result that they are a blessed pain in the proverbials. I'm sure you know weak and indulgent parents and the nightmare that their kids are.

Those of us who are called to be shepherds of the flock that is church are called to protect, to provide for and to lead. These are fixed 'essential' roles, there is no way we can excuse ourselves from them. We are called to stand between them and things that might bring them harm (physically, morally, spiritually, mentally and emotionally) - and this means that we have no choice but to act when we perceive there is a clear and present danger.  But this is not always popular - as I have found to my cost. but as we find in 2 Peter 2: tells us, “There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.”  and that is what I am seeing in some around me. I find so many preaching a weakened Gospel as they seek popularity over rectitude.

I pray for those under my charge and/or known by me. This isn't part of a 'look how good I am' but a look at the things I 'must' do as part of my job activity - I do enjoy doing it, but even if I didn't, that would be tough as it's part of the role.

To provide for the sheep we are called to read and master the word of God so that we can feel the flock from it. The problem is that many of us are feeding our sheep dried up and reheated stuff or stuff that has little nutritional value. After all, once we've got past the conversations regarding feeding the congregation milk because there are spiritual babies present the issue of feeding them meat is often forgotten and set aside as we provide great worship (meaning singing the latest stuff and being lost in the moment) - which, when the wolf comes a knocking ain't gonna be of much help!

We do not come with persuasive words. We do not come with expensive suits and TV shows, books and merchandise. No, we come but preaching Christ - foe we, like the Apostle Paul have nothing but Him, and Him crucified ... and this is a hard message which calls us to pout off the former things and live as we should (which means according to the Bible).

In Acts 20, we find Paul telling those before him,
“I did not shrink form declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in Christ.”

This is what we, as shepherds are called to do. It might not be popular, but it right if we are to discharge our duties as shepherds properly.

Those in leadership are called to lead! Now, it doesn't get any simpler than that, does it?

The Western model of the shepherd is a bloke who walks behind the sheep and kicks them up the rear end to keep them moving - this is, I suspect, what the bright young things who complain about being directive and having closed questions are revolting against.

The Eastern model of the shepherd if someone the sheep follow because they trust the person for lead them into green pastures and to protect them from those things that would harm or devour them. The follow the shepherd because they are the source of food, protection and care.

This is what a shepherd truly is, that way I prefer to think of myself as a 'Pastor' as that is what I seek to be for those under my charge. And this means that I do lead them and act to protect them from the wolves in sheep clothing we encounter from time to time.

So, as I start to reflect upon the year gone and the highs and lows - I wonder what sort of a shepherd I have been - and what I need to do to make me a better one in the year ahead?

A Christmas Thought

A very merry Christmas and a peaceful, and prosperous, New Year to you all.

Don't we all Boss?

Church: It's all about sound management skills!

Or is it?

There I was discussing a situation facing a group of churches with a colleague who told me of the different family members in their patch. Starting at the top (according to my companion's rating that is) we had:

+ The 'comfortable' church: one of those picturesque places with the lytchgate, the nicely kept graveyard and the financially comfortable members. Adored by the diocese as a 'good giver' and desired by the wedding couples as a suitable backdrop for their big day, this was the jewel in the crown that was the parish.

+ The 'Mother' church - representing Christian witness in the area since Christianity first hit our shores this was the church building from which all others in the area owed their existence. Wonderfully ancient building containing almost equally ancient members and an astounding inability to raise enough to pay their parish share and yet manage to pay it thanks to monies saved and invested 'back in the day' when it was standing room only!

+ The 'Zombie' church - as pretty as the comfortable church and almost as old as the 'Mother' this place boasted a congregation of six (if all them turned up at the same time and an inability to pay what was needed, for income inversely matched the average age of the congregation!

+ The 'Estate' church - boasting a stable attendance with a moderately young congregation and a much reduced ability to raise income. Not surprising when you consider the profile of the people coming in terms of income. Few had jobs and yet here growth and engagement was to be found.

+ The 'Mission' church - built to serve a community who had long since moved away, this once community church had become very much a gathered church and the numbers were small and decreasing.

+ The 'rural' church - picturesque and historic to the extent that it was a real treasure and something all in the community agreed valued and loved. Sadly though, this love affair had no influence on attendance or income and it was now open on a monthly basis to cater for the handful who faithfully came when the doors were unlocked and the bell rung!

Nothing remarkable thus far, I am sure that many reading this will recognise one or more of the churches described here. Many might have suspected, and some will understand, that some in the diocesan organisation were looking to get rid of some of the buildings to save the endless outlays on maintenance and upkeep. The demise of a time which saw 'a priest in every parish' meant that now, where there was once five clergy there were now but two and 'sound management principles' and good ecclesial practice indicated that the key was to develop a 'Minster' model whereby the 'mother' became the place everyone else retreated in to.

Sorry, did I say, "Retreat?" No what I meant (if there are any bishops reading this) was establish Church (meaning the universal collective of living stones) in the oldest building as a means of 'taking the parish forward' by reliving the past and removing some of the distractions and dissipation that was to be found across the parish. "This," a bishop's staff member told me, "Is the 'consolidation' that sound business practice demands when a weakening customer base and diminishing finances become an organisational reality."

I recall that the ILO 'Introduction to Work Study' there were two 'must remember' elements:

1.  Other that in the case of a 'sole trader, one-man' business the work of balancing the use 
     of one resource against another is the job of the manager.
     If the manager fails to do what is necessary, then the whole enterprise will fall.

2. Any organisation consists of four 'resources':
   i.   Land and buildings - Buildings portfolios, their maintenance and upkeep
   ii.  Material - in this context this is the means to make the desired product
   iii. People - to create, market and support the customer base (i.e. communicants and community
   iv.  Plant - in this case the organ, sound equipment, audio visual, heating. light, offices, etc.

Now what we are seeing here is nothing more than good business practice. Look at the five churches my colleague spoke of. If we were to regard them using the criteria of resource, customer base and balance sheets then it it obvious that the rural church needs to be closed as it is presents a low yield (in terms of 'customers' and income) and a high outlay (in terms of staffing and running costs).

The same is true in the Zombie church, another high outlay and low income and attendance entity that needs to be closed as soon as possible.

Of course, we wouldn't leave the people who went to those churches as orphans, because we are providing services for them in the Mother church so all they need to do is get themselves from where they live - and it might come as no surprise to hear that both these churches were in a rural setting which means that unless private transport is essential - and nothing will have changed. Church will continue with nary a blip!

One of the series of lectures on downsizing and contraction as means of organisational survival I had to attend during my management days talked of the fact that should a company remove itself from a community, the likelihood of return under the same branding was minimal. Not only that but, if the product was something valued, the closing of a branch was seen as an act against the people and the global product recognition and approval declined such that in other places customer base transferred to a competitor. But hey, we are Church and that means we are happy to see people leave us for another Christian denomination or grouping. We just want to see Church flourish and at the end of the day aren't bothered where people go as long as they go, right?

And of course, that's a load of tosh for we care deeply about numbers in terms of money, attendance, market share and the like. I can prove this because when asked how our church was doing I replied that the people were growing, we were seeing vocations and things were generally very positive. "Oh that's great," said the bishop, "But I meant in terms of numbers!'  Says it all, doesn't it? And things will get no better as we find senior staff engaging in SWOT, costflow analysis. It will see us consider the use of 'sessional' clergy (and if a 0.3 post isn't that already, tell me what it is!) and the 'contracting out' of services in one direction and the increase of multiple beneficed entities (seen one this week for a ten church vacancy - which my lectures would have listed as little more than 'nominalism').

Here's a little homework for you and you church councils and congregations: Management theory and practice are great, but where is the Gospel in all this? Where will the 'can't pay - can't have' policy some diocesan staff bleat on about take us?)

The next to come under the hammer will probably be the mission church,after all the customer base has moved away and so better to start drawing up plans to bring them back in to the Minister now so that we can go forward from a position of strength. Now I don't know what those who run things read but as I understand it, once the troops have retreated into a central base, the nest thing is that they either fight to the death or are withdrawn by a friendly Chinook out of there.

The comfortable church remains comfortable and since the weddings and the well-off keep the money coming it the Archdeacon and the diocesan staff with all nod fondly towards them and thank God for their successes. Mind you, like many churches whose attendance is static and their parish share is paid, no one looks at the missional element regarding that place do they?

And of the Mother church, a place filled with the dwindling numbers (attendance and income) and increasing age of the congregation. Will we see them active and engaged? Will they be pleased at the increase caused by the closures elsewhere  - which to be brutally honest won't happen - of course they won't! I rarely see a welcome for the intruders from the other places, even when the fact that the daughters have returned is satisfying to them.

Those in the closed churches will merely fade into the distance that separates their communities from the town centre Minister - the final nail in the coffin of our rural communities will have been banged home and the opportunity for the Gospel will be effectively gone forever where the C of E is concerned.

But at least the management models will be sound, won't they?

How will they hear is there are none to tell them?

*International Labour Organisation - Introduction to Work Study, second edition 1969

Making Church 'Relevant and attractive'

Sitting in the study this morning, the room temperature a balmy 12.4 degrees celsius, daily office said and prayers done I find myself reflecting upon the past week and some of the conversations Ithat occurred during it.

There were the conversations relating to making Church 'more relevant and engaged'; conversations shared over bread and wine in the homes of those unable to make it to the church building; conversations with people troubled by the apparent chasm that exists between clergy and those things which are biblical and were taught to them as right thinking (orthodox) throughout their Christian lives thus far, but are now being rewritten by those who are called to lead them.

I have wept with people at loss, betrayal and exclusion; exclusion from family, friends and employment.

I have smiled, laughed and celebrated the pinnacles of life made all the sweeter by comparison with the absurd, challenging and  often arduous bits of our existence.

I have met colleagues who have challenged me and taught me, and others who have taught me that avoidance where they are concerned might be the least damaging to my enthusiasm and spirit!

I've dressed up and made the journey as one of the Magi from the Orient (no, I wasn't in Leyton!) to a stable in Bethlehem in the company of a couple of other similarly dressed folk in preparation for the 'Living Nativity' which will be performed (three times) during the lighting of Tamworth's Christmas lights (gets earlier each year) - the Christmas tree festival is now in full swing in the Parish church and Ho, Ho, Holy cow;  the poppies weren't gone before the decorations were up!

One of the main reasons this blog exists is to enable me to have a scratch pad which originally was shared with a few friends as a means of internal dialogue with self being made visible so others could pray, suggest and offer correction where necessary.

I have been 'taught' how to 'do church' by people who, to be quite blunt, don't even know hop to get the building set up for a service! The arrogance that we all display when younger (and some continue with it into their dotage it seems) which speaks in clichéd terms of the obvious and resorts to the same trite statements that once resonated, and emanated, from us once as well. The reality is that those newly ordained might bring fresh eyes to a situation but they don't always accompany those eyes with informed brains and experienced hands and so, having gleaned, the rest is gently put to one side.

BUT (and there's always a 'but' somewhere, isn't there?)

Top of the list of all the things that have challenged, wounded and made me sad this week (and there have been more than a few of them) has to be the amalgam that is 'relevant and attractive' - the reason being that I don't find what they peddle to be either. Let me give you three little points* which will illustrate the places I need counselling and care:

WARNING. I can make no apologies for the word 'sin' appearing, for this is the correct term in this context. The the same for the use of the words 'He' when referring to God (I know He's male and female, but grammar and tradition apply here).

i. Church is about being sinful people who have been reconciled to their Creator by the death of one man who took our place on a cross.

ii. We are called to turn away from our sin (repent) and to believe in Jesus, the Christ, and living accordingly as His followers (apprentices or disciples) we uphold His teachings and live lives of service emulating Him for He is the servant of all.

iii. Christian life is about setting ourselves, and others, free from those things that bind us. It is about choosing the right course of action - after all, even on a one-way street, we can always park the car and walk in the opposite direction! We are not compelled to act in any way we don't want to, there is always a choice before us - a 'Yes' or 'No' moment which leads us in a different direction.This is as true a choosing to follow Christ as it is in choosing to act as we do in our daily lives.

Here's a little note on life: It is always about choice!

But apparently where someone makes a choice that is contrary to that which Christians are called to do, then in order to not make those around us who have chosen not to accept or follow Jesus feel uncomfortable or slighted or acted against we, being 'called to peace', are expected to compromise our position and beliefs so as not to upset those who have chosen something contrary to our own position. If we don't do this then were are making the Church irrelevant and unattractive.

Here's the rub: If we do compromise such that we endorse wrong choices then we deny Jesus and in watering down the Word (here meaning both written and living: Jesus and the Bible) we are not attractive or relevant but are apostate and fallen!

We can engage in gender issues with open hands and hearts - taking the middle path where neither Misogyny or Misandry are indulged in or entertained (personal note: I see more Misandry than I see Misogny these days, the latter being something people are afraid of being labelled!).

We can deal with sexual issues without condemning but also without compromise or the applauding of wrong** attitudes or actions. The 'God just wants you to be happy' brigade are, it seems, more often indulging in their cowardice rather than their courage. Nothing separates any of us from God's love and the Eucharist was never meant to be used as a weapon but those who condone, encourage or 'turn a blind eye' to those engaged in sexual sin are weakening the word and are themselves making the Church relevant and dualistic - this is the cancer that is killing the Church!

Politics are great, they allow us to make our point, have arguments and stand on our soapboxes. But don't confuse the soapbox with the pulpit! If you want to get political then head for Hyde Park's 'Speakers Corner' or find a street corner and make your point - but remember that whilst the Church should be involved in politics (because that's what democracy is about - and we are good citizens of this place even though we are but 'aliens and sojourners' here) the pulpit is not the place for your own views. Interestingly, even though many assume that the CofE is 'the Conservative party at prayer' I have to say that I hear increasing left-wing views coming from the space above many dogcollars these day - sadly too many seem to think that Jesus was the first socialist/Communist, but this is not the case; Jesus was the first Christian. I think that might just be a hint!

The problem is that, for many, attractive means toothless, valueless and impotent and this doesn't build the kingdom and doesn't fill your church building either. So why don't we start being 'counter-cultural' and stand up for what we believe (which is easy because you'll find it in the Bible) and state it without fear of opposition or criticism or being unpopular. If we seek to make Church popular by making it more and more like the world around us then we remove any reason for people to come in and engage with us because where' and what is the difference between us and the world?

The answer, in case you are unsure is: JESUS!

* There could be many more but I think these three tick the basic boxes.
** 'Wrong' here refers to those things that are contrary to that which the Bible teaches and the Church has traditionally upheld as being right behaviour and thinking.