New CofE Flower Arrangements

 Yesterday at a rowdy General Synod, the Church of Englands governing body, the divisive topic of church flowers finally came out into the open. Features of the debate were:

 - The Archbishop of Canterbury promised 'radical new arrangements' for church flowers. Nobody knows what this means, but everyone is already upset or excited by it, or possibly both. 

- The Church will begin a 10 year process of reflection, called 'Learning about Leaves and Flowers' (LLF for short). This will include a 500 page book and a labyrinthine website with videos about different arrangements. The resource will be imposed on the church at an inconvenient time, and is intended to divert as much time and energy away from prayer and mission as possible. 

 - The resulting Prayers for Leaves and Flowers will be produced by the Bishops. Hopes for arrangements for standalone flowers in services are expected to be met with a compromise, that flowers may be blessed but only when contained within something else. 

 - . Some clergy have made their own arrangements and are seeking to have them recognised.

 - Traditionalists who can't accept the new arrangements are campaigning for Alternative Horticultural Oversight, and have set up The Carnation Fund, so that parishes can be sure their contributions aren't being spent on the wrong sort of foliage. 

Should the CofE pay slavery reparations?

 'Project Spire' has been in the news in the last few days, with a poll showing that the vast majority of CofE members would rather £100m was spent on frontline parish ministry, than on reparations for historic slavery. I agree with them. 

A couple of good articles which set out the arguments, and the flaws in the reasoning of the original report which proposed the £100m, which seems to have been accepted without question by the CofE hierarchy. 

https://thecritic.co.uk/the-church-of-england-must-change-course/  from Katie Lam MP, one of a group of MPs who has written to the CofE to ask them to pull the plug on the idea. 

An interview with Nigel Biggar, author of Reparations: Slavery and the Tyranny of Imaginary Guilt, by Ian Paul at the Psephizo blog. An extract:

As I have reported in my book, several eminent historians have shown that the Church did not profit from slave-trading. Moreover, Project Spire is based on the cartoonishly racist—and racially divisive—narrative of white oppressors exploiting black victims. Since February 2024 I and others have been arguing in public that the project is historically groundless, ethically unjustified, procedurally reckless, and should be stopped. ‘We’ include a former incumbent of the Anglican Church’s premier professorial chair of moral theology, a professor of history at Cambridge, a professor of history at Oxford, a professor of international banking and author of a book on the South Sea Company, a KC and former Old Bailey judge, the Anglo-Indian director of an anti-racist body, and an eminent descendant of African slaves brought to Jamaica.

How has the Church—in the form of the Church Commissioners for England—responded to us? With defamation, evasiveness, silence, and intimidation. This is not behaviour befitting any organisation, especially not a Christian one, and most especially not the body responsible for managing the Church of England’s assets. Nor is it the response of a body confident of its own position

The Church of England itself has an extensive FAQ section on its website dealing with the fund, and some of the objections to it. 

Media stories on 'Quiet Revival'

 Two very positive stories in the mainstream media today on the growing number of Gen Z engaging with church and Christian faith.

From the Guardian

For Christian booksellers, any good news about Bible sales has been few and far between. But recent retail figures have shown a revival.

Sales of the good book reached a record high in the UK in 2025, increasing by 134% since 2019 – the highest since records began – according to industry research. Last year, total sales of Bibles in the UK reached £6.3m, £3.61m up on 2019 sales.

The sudden uptick of interest has caused booksellers and scholars to ask some profound questions of their own, such as where these newly curious readers are coming from and whether faith, or another more modern phenomenon – namely social media influencers – have called them to the word of God.

And from Sky News

"Priests and clerics are telling researchers that they are seeing an influx of young people knocking on their doors because they have encountered a religious idea on Instagram," says Dr David.

"A lot of young people are learning about religion for the very first time via social media. They might see a 30-second video and then they are hungry for more," 

We're coming to the end of an Alpha course, and have (potentially) 6 other people beginning a 'START' enquirers course this coming week, all aged 16-45.