Madeleine Davies Why are clergy wasting their time on social media?
Tom Lamont The Observer Mission impossible? Meet the new chaplains
[The Theos report mentioned in this article is available for purchase or free download here.]
Tinyiko Maluleke Mail & Guardian Desmond Tutu, archbishop of the world
4 CommentsUpdated Thursday
Press release from Number 10
Bishop of Newcastle: Christine Hardman
From: Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street
First published: 2 September 2015The Venerable Christine Hardman is appointed as Her Majesty’s Bishop in the diocese of Newcastle.
The Queen has approved the nomination of the Venerable Christine Hardman BSc (Econ), M.Th, formerly Archdeacon of Lewisham and Greenwich and now Honorary Assistant Priest in the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie Southwark, for election as Bishop of Newcastle in succession to the Right Reverend Martin Wharton, BA, on his resignation on 30th November 2014.
Notes for editors
The Venerable Christine Hardman, aged 64, holds a B.Sc (Econ) from the University of London and trained for the ministry on the St Albans Ministerial Training Scheme. She later studied for an M.Th. in Applied Theology from the University of Oxford. She was ordained Deacon in 1987 and served her title at St John the Baptist, Markyate Street in the diocese of St Albans. She took up the role of Course Director on the St Albans Ministerial Training Scheme in 1988 and was appointed Director of Mission Studies in 1991.
Christine was ordained Priest in 1994 and became Vicar of Holy Trinity and Christ the King, Stevenage in 1996 and also Rural Dean of Stevenage in 1999. She took up the role of Archdeacon of Lewisham and Greenwich in 2001 in the Diocese of Southwark and retired from this office in 2012. Christine is married to Roger and they have 2 adult daughters, Elinor and Isabel.
Her interests include making connections between the worlds of economics and Christian faith, theatre, being in the mountains and cycling (especially bike tours in other countries and cultures).
The Newcastle diocesan website has Christine Hardman to be Twelfth Bishop of Newcastle.
Update
Tim Wyatt Church Times Christine Hardman named as C of E’s next woman bishop
The Eastern Region Ministry Course, the successor organisation to the St Albans Ministerial Training Scheme, has issued the statement below the fold.
44 CommentsMichael Spencer Internet Monk Thoughts on “Gear” [scroll down to find it]
Simon Jenkins Reform Jumble sales of the apocalypse: Typing in tongues
Paul Bayes The Barlow Stick [part of the Intimate:Inanimate project]
Jayne Ozanne Church of England Newspaper A Tale of Two Archbishops [image on Twitter]
There’s a better copy here.
Optimising the role of the National Church Institutions (GS Misc 1094) was issued in January 2015 by the Joint Employment and Common Services Board of the National Church Institutions of the Church of England. Amongst other recommendations it proposed a new enabling measure that would simplify the process for amending existing church legislation.
The Archbishops’ Council subsequently issued a consultation document on this proposal (A Simpler Way of Reforming Church Legislation GS Misc 1103) in April; responses were required by the end of last month.
One response was this from the Ecclesiastical Law Society (ELS): Reforming Church Legislation: A Response by a Working Party of the Ecclesiastical Law Society to the Archbishops’ Council’s Consultation Document, GS Misc 1103.
Last week Ruth Gledhill wrote about this for Christian Today under the headline Senior lawyers launch devastating critique on church law reform plans.
David Pocklington has now written a rather more considered article on the ELS response for Law & Religion UK, which I commend to readers: “Henry VIII powers” for the bishops?
38 CommentsIan Paul looks at the articles by John Hayward that I linked to a fortnight ago: When will the C of E be extinct? and The Extinction of the C of E: Two Issues.
Vic Van Den Bergh No Communion for you! – the woes of trying to go to church on holiday and failing!
Giles Fraser The Guardian At a Christian funeral all are equal before God – even Cilla Black
Sarah Puryear has been talking to the Revd Anders Litzell (prior of the Community of St Anselm at Lambeth Palace) for The Living Church Lambeth’s Benedict Option
26 CommentsUpdated Thursday and Friday
The Church of England has issued its Cathedral Statistics 2014 today, and this press release.
Cathedrals in England welcome over 10 million annually
19 August 2015
More than 10 million people visited Cathedrals in England in 2014, according to new figures published today in the Church of England’s Cathedral Research and Statistics report. Research shows that the highest motivating factors for Cathedral attendance were peace and contemplation, worship and music and friendly atmosphere.*
In 2014 the average number of adults and children attending Cathedral services each week was 36,000. This has increased by more than a fifth in the last decade. The three regions showing the strongest growth are Yorkshire and the Humber, London and the South East. Key aspects of growth that have been identified were creating a sense of community, quality of worship, service, preaching and music, exploring new patterns of service, spiritual openness and emphasis on families and young people.
Bev Botting, Head of Research and Statistics at the Archbishops Council, said: “Over the last decade we have seen growth in both visitors and worship at Cathedrals. Cathedral promotes spiritual openness, inclusivity and diversity in membership and outreach. Christmas and Easter are particularly busy times but we have also seen the increase of adult and child mid-week attendance. Cathedrals continue to play an important role in religious life, education and music.”
The number of young people attending educational events at cathedrals increased by nearly 14% between 2004 and 2014. At the centre of cathedral life is the daily offering of worship and praise. 4000 child and adult choristers were involved in providing traditional choral music in 2014, half as volunteers. Indeed over the last ten years the number of volunteers supporting the mission and ministry of cathedrals has risen to 15,200.
The Very Reverend Christopher Dalliston, the Dean of St Nicholas’ Cathedral, Newcastle,said: “One of the things we’ve done is to try to respond to the number of tourists and visitors. We’ve developed a chaplaincy scheme so as well as having welcomers to help people who want to come and explore we can articulate clearly the spiritual dimension of the cathedral and we have found that’s been enormously appreciated.
St Nicholas has also developed to meet the needs of the night time economy and for several years has hosted the street pastors scheme in the cathedral and outside to care for the vulnerable members of the night time economy and people who need pastoral care. The cathedral has introduced a night church model and from time to time is open on Friday nights to enable people to come and find stillness, peace and spiritual exploration in an informal context. Two to three hundred people have been attending a late night compline service.
The Dean continued: “What people have really discovered is that when they drop in to worship or visit they find a community that is welcoming, open and inclusive. I think that’s one of the things that’s been really significant in cathedral growth in every respect: in worship, developing groups and responding to the needs of the community. It’s the fact that permission is offered for anyone to come whenever and for whatever purpose but that there is an opportunity to engage at a deeper level.”
ENDS
Notes:
“A place of peace to worship and pray after a busy day at work.” From Anecdote to Evidence – Findings from the Church Growth Research Programme.
Read Reverend Christopher Dalliston, the Dean of St Nicholas’ Cathedral, Newcastle blog ‘Open All Hours’ here.
Listen to Revered Christopher Dalliston, the Dean of St Nicholas’ Cathedral, Newcastle, interview here.
View the Cathedral Research and Statistics Report here.
Thursday Update
John Bingham The Telegraph Cathedrals booming thanks to ‘late night shopping’ tactics
Katherine Backler The Tablet Church of England reports 10 million visitors to English cathedrals last year
Aaron James Premier 10 million visited cathedrals in 2014
Friday update
Tim Wyatt Church Times Cathedrals enjoy increased growth in visitors and worshippers
Ruth Gledhill Christian Today Cathedral attendance falls for first time in 7 years
30 CommentsMargaret Duggan looks back on her time reporting on life in the parishes for Church Times The salt and the sweetness
Maggi Dawn “There are no women on my theology bookshelf…”
Christopher Howse The Telegraph Clothes designed for the kingdom of heaven
Patrick Strudwick has been talking to Vicky Beeching for Buzzfeed This Is What It’s Like Being A Gay Christian Rock Star
5 CommentsThe second report of the Independent Reviewer in relation to resolving disputes arising from the operation of the House of Bishops’ Declaration is now available and can be read here.
Report from Independent Reviewer on All Saints, Cheltenham
10 August 2015As part of the settlement by which the Church of England agreed to the ordination of women as bishops in 2014, it agreed to an ombudsman-style procedure by which those with concerns about the operation of the new arrangements could appeal to an Independent Reviewer.
In October last year the Archbishops of Canterbury and York appointed Sir Philip Mawer as the Independent Reviewer in relation to resolving disputes arising from the operation of the House of Bishops’ Declaration.
Sir Philip’s report on All Saints, Cheltenham is published today.
Notes:
Further details on the work of the Independent Reviewer can be found here.
This report considers the “licensing of the Revd Angela Smith as an “Associate Priest in the North Cheltenham Team” despite the fact that the Team Benefice included the Parish of All Saints where, by virtue of paragraph 43 of the House of Bishops’ Declaration, the PCC was to be treated as having passed a Resolution under paragraph 20 of the Declaration”.
Forward in Faith has issued this statement.
David Pocklington of Law & Religion UK writes about this second report.
9 CommentsJohn Hayward Anglican Church Decline in the West – The Data
Anglican Church Decline in the West – Possible Reasons
Christopher Whitby Church Times Smug and weird — no wonder it’s a turn-off
Carey Lodge interviews Archbishop Josiah Idowu-Fearon for Christian Today Meet the man who’s in charge of leading 85 million Christians
Andrew Brown The Guardian Signs of hope in a ‘secular’ land
Giles Fraser The Guardian The migrants’ church in Calais is a place of raw prayer and defiant hope
9 CommentsThe Bishop of Ely has said that “The delivery of new training programmes for senior leaders in the Church of England is already bearing fruit.” Details are in this blog by the bishop and in this press release.
New leadership training already showing “first fruits” in Church of England
04 August 2015The delivery of new training programmes for senior leaders in the Church of England is already bearing fruit, according to the senior bishop overseeing the programme.
Writing in the first of a series of blogs reflecting on Leadership and Development training, Stephen Conway, Bishop of Ely, who chairs the Development and Appointments Group of the House of Bishops, said that feedback from those having attended the courses “has been extremely positive and we feel blessed for the fruits it is already bearing.”
The first leadership programme for cathedral deans and leaders of greater churches held in March at Judge Business School in Cambridge, included remarks by one participant who observed that it had been “by a country mile, the most impressive course I have under taken in over 30 years of ordained ministry”. Another said, “Overall this has been an outstanding week, both in content and shape. Of course, there has been much value in conversations, etc., but the stand-out feature has been the sessions, with speakers of very high quality, genuinely addressing core issues for this very specific audience”.
As a result of the positive feedback, a repeat of the programme next year has been requested for those unable to attend in March, whilst seminars on some of the key themes will be run in due course for members of the cathedral teams.
The new modular development programmes for bishops have also attracted encouraging feedback, Bishop Stephen said, with 18 bishops gathering at Leicester’s Cathedral Centre earlier this year for the first module with one bishop commenting that the first module was “probably the best piece of in-service training I’ve had since I was a Team Vicar in the 1980s”.
The first meeting of the new Learning Community in July, to help prepare those who might take on wider responsibilities in the future, has also received generous feedback with one participant reflecting on how the training would have an immediate impact on their parish ministry: “The models and insights offered were very helpful, but grounded in practice and in the reality of church, and the balance of presentation, reflection and group work was just right in my view… I haven’t been so enthused and inspired for a long time”.
The full text of Bishop Stephen’s blog is here and is copied below the fold.
24 CommentsThe Bishop of Stepney’s sermon at the consecration of Rachel Treweek and Sarah Mullally
Robert Chalmers Newsweek Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby Interview: ‘I Have No Right to Be Here’
Eleanor Course Christ, comic books and popular culture
Philip Jones Ecclesiastical Law Reformatio Legum Ecclesiasticum: Of Martyrs and Mice
Giles Fraser The Guardian I believe in an authority greater than David Cameron’s. Am I an extremist?
21 CommentsThe first report of the Independent Reviewer in relation to resolving disputes arising from the operation of the House of Bishops’ Declaration is now available and can be read here.
84 CommentsFirst report from Independent Reviewer
31 July 2015As part of the settlement by which the Church of England agreed to the ordination of women as bishops in 2014, it agreed to an ombudsman-style procedure by which those with concerns about the operation of the new arrangements could appeal to an Independent Reviewer.
In October last year the Archbishops of Canterbury and York appointed Sir Philip Mawer as the Independent Reviewer in relation to resolving disputes arising from the operation of the House of Bishops’ Declaration.
Sir Philip’s first Report is published today and can be read here.
Notes:
Further details on the work of the Independent Reviewer can be found here.
The Church of England has released Finance Statistics 2013, containing information provided by parishes in their annual finance returns. They can be downloaded as a 25 page pdf document.
There is an accompanying press release.
Almost £1billion sets new record for Church of England parish giving
30 July 2015Parish Churches across the country raised a record £953 million in 2013 to fund the mission and ministry of the Church of England according to statistics published today. Parishes raised these important funds from a combination of regular and one-off donations as well as investments and legacies.
Parishes have seen a combined increase in income of £24m over figures from 2012, and after total expenditure, which also decreased on 2012, saw a £33m surplus.
In addition to supporting the work of the Church at parish, diocesan and national level, Parishes have continued to give more than £46m to other organisations working around the world, from foodbanks and local children’s charities to international aid appeals.
Dr John Preston, the Church of England’s national stewardship adviser, said:
“With the latest financial statistics, we’ve seen average weekly giving rise in 2013 to our highest ever level. We rely on the generosity of our committed church members to support the mission and ministry of the Church. Post-downturn, people have really looked at what is important to them and found a sense of community and belonging within the Church.”
Average weekly giving per tax-efficient subscriber has continued to rise year on year with members giving on average £11.60 in 2013. Average weekly giving per church member rose to £7 in 2013, matching the peak level seen in 2009.The average ‘Church member’ contributed 3.3% of their income to the Church. with 2.9% to general funds, and a further 0.4% to special purpose funds.
The information in the Finance statistics document is collated from the annual parish returns, and is available here.
You can read a blog by John Preston on the latest statistics here.
The press release also includes some case studies.
Some earlier parish finance statistics are available here.
3 CommentsKrish Kandiah Christian Today 5 good reasons not to go to church on holiday and 5 good reasons to go to church on holiday
At Liverpool John Moores University on Monday, Archbishop Justin Welby delivered a Roscoe Lecture entitled ‘The Abolition of the Global – Learning to Live in the World in One City’. The text of the lecture and a video are here, and there is an audio recording here.
Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool, preached this sermon when the Open Table LGBTIQ Christian community celebrated its seventh anniversary at St Bride’s Church.
5 CommentsUpdated Friday
Everyone Counts is a diversity audit. A congregational survey was carried out in autumn 2014 in a sample of Church of England parishes with a particular focus on ethnicity, disability and locality. Background information is available here.
Key findings have now been published. Here are a few that I have picked at random.
If congregations in England were 100 people:
59 would be female
11 would be children aged 11 or younger
19 would be aged 76 or older
7 would be minority ethnic Anglicans
37 would have at least one health issue or disability (including 8 with mobility impairments and 3 with mental health conditions).
There are 6 adults in church to every 1 child or young person.
35% of churches are in rural hamlets and isolated areas, but only 1% of the population lives there.
There is a difference of about 18 years between the median age of minority ethnic and white British Anglicans (44 and 62 years).
Update
The Church of England issued the following statement this evening (Friday 24 July):
37 CommentsStatement on ‘Everyone Counts’ survey
24 July 2015In response to questions in correspondence and on social media over the choice of questions included in the “Everybody Counts” survey, Dr. Bev Botting, Head of Research and Statistics at the Archbishops Council said:
“The ‘Everybody Counts’ statistical exercise was carried out to build upon the Diversity Audit carried out in 2007. By carrying out further work in this area it was hoped to establish trends over time rather than one off snapshots of particular data.
The Diversity Audit originated from formal requests from members of CMEAC (The Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns) for a statistical picture of dioceses on ethnic diversity. In designing the latest survey our starting point was to replicate the 2007 data which did not include a question on sexual orientation. The national disability adviser for the Church had recognised that we did not have any information on people with disabilities which was why that added question appeared.
I am sorry for the hurt and disappointment raised by members of our congregations who feel that the lack of a question on sexual orientation meant that they are not a valued part of our church. I promise this was never the intention. I am entirely open to including additional questions in any further work.”
More information about Everyone Counts can be found at:
https://www.churchofengland.org/about-us/facts-stats/research-statistics/everyone-counts-2014.aspx
The 2010-2015 General Synod was dissolved on Monday 13 July 2015 immediately after it finished its July group of sessions in York. The election of a new Synod will take place over the summer and early autumn.
There is official information on the elections on this webpage including these papers.
The second of these includes this draft timetable for the diocesan elections.
1 Notification to electors of the election timetable to be followed in the diocese and issue of nomination papers – Not later than Tuesday 21st July
2 Notification of the validity of any nomination – As soon as any nomination is received
3 Closing date for nominations – Friday 4th September
4 Issue of voting papers – Friday 18th September
5 Closing date for return of voting papers – Friday 9th October
6 Day of the count – Monday 12th, Tuesday 13th, Wednesday 14th, or Thursday 15th October.
7 Names and addresses of those elected and result sheet to be sent to the diocesan bishop, the Clerk to the Synod, every candidate and to the Election Scrutineer. – Not later than the fourth working day after the date of the declaration of the result.
However dioceses have some discretion, so candidates and electors should check carefully what the dates are in their own diocese, particularly the closing dates for nominations and the return of voting papers.
The numbers of clergy (“proctors”) and laity to be elected by each diocese are contained in appendices A and B of GS 1975.
Changes to the rules since 2010 mean that dioceses must now publish all election addresses on the diocesan website before issuing the voting papers. After the election the the full return of the result and the result sheet (with voting figures) must also be posted on the website until the end of the first group of sessions of the new General Synod (ie 25 November 2015).
6 CommentsJemima Thackray The Telegraph Women bishops first anniversary: Why the Church needs ‘gobby’ women more than ever
Ruth Gledhill and Carey Lodge Christian Today Women Bishops one year on: The women who have broken the stained glass ceiling
St Hilda’s Church, Marden with Preston Grange Eight impossible things the C of E will never do
Mark Greaves The Spectator God’s management consultants: the Church of England turns to bankers for salvation
The Archbishop of Canterbury has written this article for The Times Archbishop of Canterbury on religious freedom.
[The article on The Times website is titled “Faith must be strong enough to take offence”.]
Barnabas Piper Christianity Today 10 Social Media Posts Only the Best Pastors Send
Andrew Brown The Guardian Does the Bible really say that global warming will make the Earth ‘vomit us out’?
12 CommentsAs I reported here and here, General Synod’s business over the weekend included several items regarding safeguarding.
In Safeguarding, the C of E and deposition from orders Frank Cranmer of Law & Religion UK summarises the contents of the new legislative package, and looks at what deposition (“defrocking”) actually means.
1 CommentThis question on the possible restoration of the canonical penalty of deposition from Holy Orders was asked at General Synod on Friday evening.
The Revd Neil Patterson (Hereford) to ask the Chair of the House of Bishops:
Q74. Following the concerns expressed by MACSAS and others about clergy convicted of serious offences continuing to maintain their clerical style and dress, will the House of Bishops consider bringing forward proposals to restore the canonical penalty of deposition from Holy Orders, in order that the Church may more clearly repudiate from its ministry those who have seriously betrayed the trust placed in them?
The Bishop of Durham to reply on behalf of the Chair:
A There are two issues here. Firstly, with regard to the wearing of clerical dress- including clerical collars- taking power to prevent prohibited clergy from wearing clerical dress would be problematic, not least since it would be unenforceable in practice. With regard to exercising ministry, prohibition for life already exists as the most severe penalty under the Clergy Discipline Measure and may be invoked in the case of serious safeguarding offences. When the draft Clergy Discipline Measure was being considered in 2000 the Synod decided not to include deposition in the range of penalties available under the Measure.
I intend to invite the House of Bishops to reconsider whether that decision was wise but amending the CDM to allow deposition would require a Measure, so change would take some considerable time.
The question was not reached in the available time, so no supplementary questions were possible, although as with all questions now the answer was published in advance.
Press reports include:
Steve Doughty Daily Mail Church of England brings back powers to defrock vicars guilty of sex abuse and other crimes
John Bingham The Telegraph Church of England could return to defrocking rogue priests after child abuse scandals
The first report appears to confuse “The House of Bishops will be asked to think about doing it” with “It will be done”.
0 CommentsOrder paper 5 lists the day’s business.
Official summary of the day’s business
morning
afternoon
Sound recordings
morning
afternoon
In the morning Synod debated climate change and passed this motion:
That this Synod, believing that God’s creation is holy, that we are called to protect the earth now and for the future, and that climate change disproportionately affects the world’s poorest, and welcoming the convergence of ecumenical partners and faith communities in demanding that the nations of the world urgently seek to limit the global rise in average temperatures to a maximum of 2 ̊C, as agreed by the United Nations in Cancun:
(a) urge all governments at the COP 21 meeting in Paris to agree long term pathways to a low carbon future, supported by meaningful short to medium term national emissions pledges from all major carbon emitting nations;
(b) endorse the World Bank’s call for the ending of fossil fuel subsidies and the redirection of those resources into renewable energy options
(c) encourage the redirection of resources into other lower carbon energy options;
(d) request the Environment Working Group to develop Shrinking the Footprint to enable the whole Church to address the issue of climate change, and to develop and promote new ‘ecotheological resources’, as proposed by the Anglican Communion Environmental Network in February 2015;
(e) request the Ministry Division to hear the call of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network bishops for programmes of ministerial formation and in-servicetraining to include components on eco-justice and ecotheology; and
(f) encourage parishes and dioceses to draw attention to the initiative supported by members of the Faith and Climate network encouraging Christians to pray and fast for climate justice on the first day of each month.
The Bishop of Salisbury opened the debate with this speech.
The Archbishop of Canterbury made this contribution to the debate.
Bishop of Sheffield’s speech
There is also this official press release: Urgent action needed on climate change urges Synod.
In the afternoon, Synod debated climate change and investment policy and passed this motion:
That this Synod, accepting that the threat posed by climate change to the environment and human wellbeing requires urgent action to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, and recognising that achieving this effectively without creating damaging and unintended economic consequences requires political subtlety, flexibility and a focus on achievable change:
(a) affirm the policy on climate change and fossil fuel investment developed following the Southwark DSM passed by the Synod in February 2014, recommended by the EIAG, and adopted by the National Investing Bodies (‘the NIBs’);
(b) welcome the disinvestment by the NIBs from companies focused on the extraction of oil sands and thermal coal;
(c) urge the NIBs to engage robustly with companies and policy makers on the need to act to support the transition to a low carbon economy and, where necessary, to use the threat of disinvestment from companies as a key lever for change;
(d) urge the NIBs to encourage the work of those energy companies committed to carbon pricing and investing in research into cleaner fuels, natural gas and carbon capture and storage;
(e) urge the NIBs proactively to seek and scale up investment in renewable energy and other low carbon energy sectors and to track low carbon indices;
(f) request the EIAG and the NIBs to publish their ‘engagement framework’ by June 2016; and
(g) request the EIAG and the NIBs to report to the Synod within three years with an assessment of the impact of the policy adopted, including the efficacy of engagement and the progress made on portfolio decarbonisation.
The Bishop of Manchester opened the debate with this speech.
There is also this official press release: General Synod welcomes climate change policy.
Press reports and comments
Madeleine Davies, Gavin Drake and Tim Wyatt Church Times Synod urges investors to act on climate change
Steve Doughty Daily Mail Going green is holy, say Church of England bishops: General Synod calls for vicars to have training in ‘eco-theology’
Andrew Brown The Guardian Church of England governing body approves divestment policy
David Pocklington Law & Religion UK General Synod: Carbon capture, fracking and fasting
36 Comments
