Helen King sharedconversations Farewell August: time for the Church of England to wake up?
Martyn Percy Surviving Church Alpha-Mater
Colin Coward Unadulterated Love Doing some theology – a sermon about the boy Jesus in the temple
Sam Rylands The Gregory Centre for Church Multiplication Is church tradition an obstacle to growing young disciples?
What a joy to see Martyn Percy back in print, with a characteristically critical and reflective piece encompassing both the limitations of formulaic approaches to mission and the present state of the Church of England! His insistence that we are always in a condition of becoming Christian, of learning spirituality, of developing understanding is one the Church – and each of us – needs to hear.
Helen’s article reminded me of two church wardens I knew who were summoned to meet with the archdeacon to plan for the appointment of a new incumbent. They explained that they both worked full time and so it would have to be in the evening. The archdeacon explained that he had a rule that there were no evening meetings in August, nor was he prepared to meet on a Saturday as it was his day off. He said that the matter couldn’t wait until September; the wardens refused to use precious annual leave for a daytime meeting. Stalemate.
Classic, Fr Dean. Alongside the sacred status of August, in your example yet again working laity are not considered ‘normal’. I note that in my own diocese the inaugural training session for diocesan synod members is happening on a Thursday at 4 pm… and in a very large diocese (Oxford) at that. Really not helpful for working people or for those needing to collect children from school.