An excellent booklet from Southwell diocese, available online here, which summarises all the main stuff on the market for:
- Christian basics courses (Alpha, START, Christianity Explored etc.)
- Discipleship courses (Foundations 21, Discipleship Explored, Lifeshapes etc.)
- Faith sharing training (J. Johns 'Breaking News', Lost for Words, Contagious Christian etc.)
Each one has a brief summary, price details, contact and web details, and its a great place to start if you're thinking about running something in these areas but aren't sure what's out there. Well done to Mark Brown, the diocesan missioner, for putting it together. Now, the sensible thing would be for every other diocese to make this available on their website, rather than all copying each other.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
What Everyone Else is Saying
Occasionally I run through all the blogs on my favourites list, and here's what some of them are on about:
Bishop Gene Robinson - Madpriest breaks the news that he won't be allowed to speak or do communions during the Lambeth conference, so he's getting in early by doing a tour promoting his new book. Why is it only Bishops who have the time to do books and international speaking tours? Don't they have anything else to do? Dave Walker is blogging about this too: I quit my Church Times subscription because all they ever printed was stories about bishops, however Dave has just posted 3 in a row, his blog seems to have become a bit more serious since it moved there.
Ruth Gledhill has been been posting about persecution of Christians. Ruths series of 6 reminds me of Amos, who lists the nations around Israel one by one, itemising their sins, before rounding on the Israelites themselves. Having picked out Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe, the final entry is on the UK. A Christian Solidarity Worldwide report 'No place to call home' was launched yesterday, on the persecution faced by people who convert to Christ from Islam. Meanwhile Start the Week links to an upcoming conference on 'ethical evanglism' of people from other faiths.
Steve Tilley muses on what people's t-shirts say about them. Howard Jamieson has an interesting post applying the signs of life to church (does your church excrete?), Dunc.info reflects on how having the Bible to hand as an object, rather than in our ears as part of a body of common stories, affects the way we treat it.
Mark Meynell has posted this, on the folk employed by the Japanese subway to get people on board:
remind you of any church you know? And then we wonder why people want to get off at the next stop...
Bishop Alan's excellent blog has again come back to the topic of bullying in the church. My experience hasn't always been that the church hierarchy dealt with reports of bullying very well, so here's at least 1 bishop who admits it exists and wants to address it. A friend who went for an interview to be curate in a particular parish decided it wasn't for him, and the vicar shouted at him for having the temerity to 'refuse' him, and effectively tried to bully him into accepting. As far as I know, that parish/vicar is still getting curates.
Finally David Couchman has some stuff on emerging church pioneer Mike Frost, who is touring the UK in October, and will be well worth getting to see. Frost, author of 'The Shaping of Things to Come' with Alan Hirsch, is one of the top thinkers on change in society and the church, and mission in the post-Christian West.
Bishop Gene Robinson - Madpriest breaks the news that he won't be allowed to speak or do communions during the Lambeth conference, so he's getting in early by doing a tour promoting his new book. Why is it only Bishops who have the time to do books and international speaking tours? Don't they have anything else to do? Dave Walker is blogging about this too: I quit my Church Times subscription because all they ever printed was stories about bishops, however Dave has just posted 3 in a row, his blog seems to have become a bit more serious since it moved there.
Ruth Gledhill has been been posting about persecution of Christians. Ruths series of 6 reminds me of Amos, who lists the nations around Israel one by one, itemising their sins, before rounding on the Israelites themselves. Having picked out Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe, the final entry is on the UK. A Christian Solidarity Worldwide report 'No place to call home' was launched yesterday, on the persecution faced by people who convert to Christ from Islam. Meanwhile Start the Week links to an upcoming conference on 'ethical evanglism' of people from other faiths.
Steve Tilley muses on what people's t-shirts say about them. Howard Jamieson has an interesting post applying the signs of life to church (does your church excrete?), Dunc.info reflects on how having the Bible to hand as an object, rather than in our ears as part of a body of common stories, affects the way we treat it.
Mark Meynell has posted this, on the folk employed by the Japanese subway to get people on board:
remind you of any church you know? And then we wonder why people want to get off at the next stop...
Bishop Alan's excellent blog has again come back to the topic of bullying in the church. My experience hasn't always been that the church hierarchy dealt with reports of bullying very well, so here's at least 1 bishop who admits it exists and wants to address it. A friend who went for an interview to be curate in a particular parish decided it wasn't for him, and the vicar shouted at him for having the temerity to 'refuse' him, and effectively tried to bully him into accepting. As far as I know, that parish/vicar is still getting curates.
Finally David Couchman has some stuff on emerging church pioneer Mike Frost, who is touring the UK in October, and will be well worth getting to see. Frost, author of 'The Shaping of Things to Come' with Alan Hirsch, is one of the top thinkers on change in society and the church, and mission in the post-Christian West.
Scholes goal
Sorry, this site is no longer a football-free zone
it was a cracker though. And don't you love the commentary? It's probably what Alan Green sounds like to a Turk.
it was a cracker though. And don't you love the commentary? It's probably what Alan Green sounds like to a Turk.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
New Coldplay Single
In case, like me, you're struggling to download 'Violet Hill' from http://www.coldplay.com/ they've also put it on their myspace site. On first listen it sounds like something from Pink Floyds 'The Wall', grungier sound than X&Y. Hmmm, not sure yet. In the meantime, try to work out what Chris Martin means when he sings:
Was a long and dark December/When the banks became cathedrals
And the fog/Became God
Priests clutched onto bibles/Hollowed out to fit their rifles
And the cross/was held aloft
Was a long and dark December/When the banks became cathedrals
And the fog/Became God
Priests clutched onto bibles/Hollowed out to fit their rifles
And the cross/was held aloft
Monday, April 28, 2008
Downsizing our Pop idols
Justin Thacker at CommentisFree has some good things to say about the recent Joseph Rowntree foundation report on social evils. The JRF concluded, from a survey of 3500 people, that the greatest social evil was individualism and consumerism.
Feeding this worship of the self were the twin gods of consumerism and celebrity culture. Consumerism feeds it because every act of consumption reinforces the idea that I exist purely for my own sake. The celebrity culture fuels it because as soon as we start worshipping people for no other reason than their ability to attract such worship then our locus of admiration has shifted from an aptitude, such as artistic ability, to the individual as an individual.
In the report, the responsibility for this plague of self-indulgence was laid squarely at the doors of politicians, financial institutions and in particular the media (understood broadly to include advertising).
Thacker goes on to ask:
What if instead we pursued the logic of satisfaction whereby our goal is not the endless pursuit of desire itself, but rather contentment with what we already have? Indeed, what if contentment was found not in satisfying new desires, but in the deliberate relinquishment for the sake of others of what we already possess? What if personal downsizing became not just the mantra, but the practice, of our age?
It is more blessed to give than to recieve.(Acts 20:36)
Godliness with contenment is great gain. (1 Tim 6:6)
Feeding this worship of the self were the twin gods of consumerism and celebrity culture. Consumerism feeds it because every act of consumption reinforces the idea that I exist purely for my own sake. The celebrity culture fuels it because as soon as we start worshipping people for no other reason than their ability to attract such worship then our locus of admiration has shifted from an aptitude, such as artistic ability, to the individual as an individual.
In the report, the responsibility for this plague of self-indulgence was laid squarely at the doors of politicians, financial institutions and in particular the media (understood broadly to include advertising).
Thacker goes on to ask:
What if instead we pursued the logic of satisfaction whereby our goal is not the endless pursuit of desire itself, but rather contentment with what we already have? Indeed, what if contentment was found not in satisfying new desires, but in the deliberate relinquishment for the sake of others of what we already possess? What if personal downsizing became not just the mantra, but the practice, of our age?
It is more blessed to give than to recieve.(Acts 20:36)
Godliness with contenment is great gain. (1 Tim 6:6)
A Good Diocesan Website, Mission Action Plans, and Diocesan Growth (or not)
Stumbled across the Norwich Diocese website today, including an excellent & simple links page to resources on worship and discipleship. The links on Bible study and leadership need developing, but the discipleship one was excellent - offering a breakdown of most of the discipleship/Christian basics courses on the market, what they're about and what the sessions cover. A different section of the website has links to all sorts of church growth resources.
Norwich says it's "Committed to Growth", and is one of an increasing number of Dioceses who are encouraging their parishes to develop mission action plans - though they don't all call them that. Unfortunately there isn't really enough research in the public domain to know how well MAP's work - there seems to have been positive experience in York, Blackburn and Lichfield dioceses, but most have only recently started to use them. London have been using MAP's for 15 years, though Bob Jackson isn't sure how much of a factor they've played in the growth of that diocese.
There isn't any doubt that London is growing though. Despite the complex and serpentine presentation of the CofE national stats, here are the top 5 dioceses for 2001-6, in terms of growth in total weekly attendance (adults and children)
London 12.9%
Gloucester 2.2%
Canterbury 2.1%
Southwark 1.6%
Winchester 1.4%
5 other dioceses have grown on this measure during the 01-06 period (Newcastle, Hereford, York, Manchester, St. Albans), which means that 33 have shrunk. The bottom 4 are all Northern - Liverpool, Sheffield, Durham and Blackburn.
Taking childrens attendance on its own, the picture is better: 7 dioceses have held steady, and 16 have grown. Worcester, Salisbury, Coventy and Canterbury have all seen growth of over 20%, another 5 have seen growth of 10% or more (Southwell, London, St. Albans, Southwark and Winchester).
By the law of averages, if the picture among children is better, that for adult attendance is worse, with only 7 dioceses growing, and only London growing by more than 3% (11.7%). The Northern dioceses do a bit better here, with York, Manchester and Newcastle growing, and Wakefield holding steady.
As I've said, its frustrating to have to work with figures which are 2 years out of date. Bob Jacksons work (see link above) does a far better job than I could of explaining why London has bucked the trend. The main factor he identifies is Diocesan leadership, with a 15-year long commitment to mission which has included MAP's, but covers appointment strategy, money, resources, encouraging church planting, and a host of other things.
Being an online dummy, I can't post the Excel file with the 2001-6 comparisons in, but if you want a copy let me know.
Norwich says it's "Committed to Growth", and is one of an increasing number of Dioceses who are encouraging their parishes to develop mission action plans - though they don't all call them that. Unfortunately there isn't really enough research in the public domain to know how well MAP's work - there seems to have been positive experience in York, Blackburn and Lichfield dioceses, but most have only recently started to use them. London have been using MAP's for 15 years, though Bob Jackson isn't sure how much of a factor they've played in the growth of that diocese.
There isn't any doubt that London is growing though. Despite the complex and serpentine presentation of the CofE national stats, here are the top 5 dioceses for 2001-6, in terms of growth in total weekly attendance (adults and children)
London 12.9%
Gloucester 2.2%
Canterbury 2.1%
Southwark 1.6%
Winchester 1.4%
5 other dioceses have grown on this measure during the 01-06 period (Newcastle, Hereford, York, Manchester, St. Albans), which means that 33 have shrunk. The bottom 4 are all Northern - Liverpool, Sheffield, Durham and Blackburn.
Taking childrens attendance on its own, the picture is better: 7 dioceses have held steady, and 16 have grown. Worcester, Salisbury, Coventy and Canterbury have all seen growth of over 20%, another 5 have seen growth of 10% or more (Southwell, London, St. Albans, Southwark and Winchester).
By the law of averages, if the picture among children is better, that for adult attendance is worse, with only 7 dioceses growing, and only London growing by more than 3% (11.7%). The Northern dioceses do a bit better here, with York, Manchester and Newcastle growing, and Wakefield holding steady.
As I've said, its frustrating to have to work with figures which are 2 years out of date. Bob Jacksons work (see link above) does a far better job than I could of explaining why London has bucked the trend. The main factor he identifies is Diocesan leadership, with a 15-year long commitment to mission which has included MAP's, but covers appointment strategy, money, resources, encouraging church planting, and a host of other things.
Being an online dummy, I can't post the Excel file with the 2001-6 comparisons in, but if you want a copy let me know.
Diocesan Mission Fund spending
Start the Week has a fascinating document listing all the things that CofE 'mission fund' money has been spent on in 2007. Examples include
- hiring a tent
- converting a former rectory into a drop in centre
- youth and communty workers galore
- developing a goth eucharist
- pub outreach
- shopping centre chaplain
- internet cafe manager
- 'mobile church' in Hackenthorpe - I'd love to know what that is.
There are over 500 separate mission initiatives on the list, so plenty of good ideas. What I want to know is, if we can get financial figures nationwide for 2007 so quickly, how come the Cofe only has provisional attendance data for 2006? And the link doesn't even work?
- hiring a tent
- converting a former rectory into a drop in centre
- youth and communty workers galore
- developing a goth eucharist
- pub outreach
- shopping centre chaplain
- internet cafe manager
- 'mobile church' in Hackenthorpe - I'd love to know what that is.
There are over 500 separate mission initiatives on the list, so plenty of good ideas. What I want to know is, if we can get financial figures nationwide for 2007 so quickly, how come the Cofe only has provisional attendance data for 2006? And the link doesn't even work?
SSDC Consultation Deadline Extended
For no obvious reason, the deadline for the response to the South Somerset Core Strategy consultation has now been extended to 30th May. This means if you've not got round to responding, there's still time, and if you want to go back and add to your response, ditto.
I have no idea why this has happened: 6 weeks seems to be the national standard for consultations (e.g. on the Post Office closures), so maybe the person who processes all the forms is on holiday for a bit. There are now getting on for 70 responses, keep 'em coming. If you're arguing the case for places of worship, it's good to put a few reasons down - Michael Hayes response is a good example (you can view this on the site). I'm going to revisit my own response, now there's a bit more time, and see if I can express it any better.
I have no idea why this has happened: 6 weeks seems to be the national standard for consultations (e.g. on the Post Office closures), so maybe the person who processes all the forms is on holiday for a bit. There are now getting on for 70 responses, keep 'em coming. If you're arguing the case for places of worship, it's good to put a few reasons down - Michael Hayes response is a good example (you can view this on the site). I'm going to revisit my own response, now there's a bit more time, and see if I can express it any better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)