There is a disturbing report by Jonathan Petre on the Mail Online that one of the knock-on effects of the recession wiping £1.3 billion off the Church Commissioners' assets is the fact that around a dozen ordinands have been unable to find curacies. According to his report, this is impacting particularly on ordinands at the Evangelical theological colleges, Wycliffe Hall, Oak Hill and Trinity, Bristol. In the light of these developments, which are an urgent matter for prayer, this article by your curate published on Anglican Mainstream in November last year (before Cranmer's Curate was launched) may interest the youth group:
The recession could turn out to be good for our souls, as commentators both Christian and secular have been suggesting. A dose of austerity could well be what the doctor ordered for our morally obese souls weighed down with the flab of materialism.
However, the only real solution to Mammon-worship, namely the proclamation of Christ's Gospel to sinful men and women, could be seriously set back if this recession turns into slump. Indeed, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that some Church of England dioceses, particularly in the north of England, which are subsidising Gospel ministry in net-receiving parishes, could go bust.
Dioceses which even before the recession hit were trying to obliterate budget deficits by asking for parish share increases could be pushed over the edge as faithful Christians who are regular and generous givers to their local churches lose their jobs and are forced to reduce or even stop their giving. Many churches are already struggling to pay the parish share they are asked for - this situation is likely to get worse.
It is not being fantastically apocalyptic to imagine the following scenario: front-line parochial clergy could find themselves living in their vicarages but without receiving a salary because their diocese is unable to pay it.
The bishops, being paid directly by the Church Commissioners, are unlikely to face such inconvenience. But some parochial clergy could be forced to take up secular jobs in a very competitive market. That may be good for some of us, but it will disrupt Christ’s mission in parishes.
Furthermore, consider the appalling consequences of economic recession on our fragile social fabric. The permissive society and the breakdown of family life have done immense damage already to our social stability. This recession if it turns into slump is likely to lead to massive problems in the breakdown of law and order and that is very bad for the Gospel.
Normatively, effective Gospel proclamation requires social stability – the Pax Romana in the first century AD allowed for the rapid spread of the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire and the Apostles knew that. That is why the Apostle Paul in his first epistle to St Timothy (chapter 2v2-4) urges that Christians pray for ‘kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectable in every way. This is good and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth’ (RSV).
So, I for one am praying that this recession will not turn into a slump or even a depression by God’s mercy and that, even though we do not deserve it, the United Kingdom remains a stable country in which Christian churches can grow and the good news of our Lord and Saviour can continue to be proclaimed. That is the only way for the British nation to rechristianise and for people to be saved from Mammon-worship.
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Saturday, 30 May 2009
COULD A WHIT WALK REVIVAL WORK FOR PARISH EVANGELISM?
For many people who grew up in South Yorkshire in the 1940s and '50s, the Whit Walks are a memorable part of their childhood.
They were a prominent feature of Christian Britian, certainly in this region, before their demise in the 1960s and '70s. The Sunday Schools would parade through the streets of their local communities displaying their banners with the children wearing their new summer clothes. People in this parish have fond memories of the Whit Walk through the villages.
In fact, there was even an attempt by a lady in her 30s on our PCC, whose mother has fond memories of the Whit Walk, to revive it as a churches together event in the parish. Cranmer's Curate put the suggestion to the other churches on the local Christian council but there was not much enthusiasm.
Your curate remembers the Archdeacon of Sheffield, Richard Blackburn, saying on one occasion at a Service of Visitation in the Cathedral that what used to happen in our churches but now no longer does is 'safe in God's hands'. That perspective is surely a very helpful way of freeing people from the tyranny of the past and liberating us to try new things for the Gospel.
Having said that, retro can work, hence the success of the Back to Church Sunday initiative. Maybe a Whit Walk revival could work in this community, culminating in a picnic where there would be a clear proclamation of the living Christ.
The wonderful BCP Collect for Whit Sunday is so very pertinent for local churches faced with the challenge of coming up with imaginative ways of reaching our communities for Christ:
God, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
They were a prominent feature of Christian Britian, certainly in this region, before their demise in the 1960s and '70s. The Sunday Schools would parade through the streets of their local communities displaying their banners with the children wearing their new summer clothes. People in this parish have fond memories of the Whit Walk through the villages.
In fact, there was even an attempt by a lady in her 30s on our PCC, whose mother has fond memories of the Whit Walk, to revive it as a churches together event in the parish. Cranmer's Curate put the suggestion to the other churches on the local Christian council but there was not much enthusiasm.
Your curate remembers the Archdeacon of Sheffield, Richard Blackburn, saying on one occasion at a Service of Visitation in the Cathedral that what used to happen in our churches but now no longer does is 'safe in God's hands'. That perspective is surely a very helpful way of freeing people from the tyranny of the past and liberating us to try new things for the Gospel.
Having said that, retro can work, hence the success of the Back to Church Sunday initiative. Maybe a Whit Walk revival could work in this community, culminating in a picnic where there would be a clear proclamation of the living Christ.
The wonderful BCP Collect for Whit Sunday is so very pertinent for local churches faced with the challenge of coming up with imaginative ways of reaching our communities for Christ:
God, who as at this time didst teach the hearts of thy faithful people, by the sending to them the light of thy Holy Spirit; Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgement in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through the merits of Christ Jesus our Saviour, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.
Thursday, 28 May 2009
WHY OPEN EVANGELICALISM DAMAGES GOSPEL UNITY
This letter to the Ugley Vicar, the Revd John Richardson, on the damage to true Gospel unity from Open Evangelicalism may interest the youth group:
Dear John,
In his talk at Fulcrum's Spirituality of Unity conference now available on Anglican Mainstream, Canon Hugh Palmer referred to a blog-post he had been shown that made a list of ‘demands’ as to what he should say as the representative Reform speaker on the platform.
I have to put my hand up as the guilty blogger in question – see the post in the March archive of Cranmer’s Curate: ‘Spirituality of Unity Must Include Rebuke for Fulcrum’. It was also published on VirtueOnline.
You mentioned in your talk at the Oak Hill Annual School of Theology how unhelpful Open Evangelicalism is as a theological approach. I would like to add a practical perspective to what you said as the minister of a small turnaround parish church here in South Yorkshire.
When he was vicar of Christ Church Fulwood before becoming rector of All Souls' Langham Place, Canon Palmer was chairman of the Sheffield diocesan mission committee. The parish statistics for this diocese make very humbling and sobering reading indeed with the overwhelming majority of parish churches both financially and numerically unviable.
That includes the parish church I am privileged to serve. There are tremendous opportunities for the Gospel in Anglican parochial ministry but Open Evangelicalism is in fact a hindrance to the deep spiritual culture change that is necessary in small turnaround churches if they are by God’s grace to become effective witnesses and partners for the Gospel in their dioceses:
· Open Evangelicalism sits loose to the traditional Anglican doctrinal formularies and liturgy. As I have found, the Book of Common Prayer, the 39 Articles of Religion and the Ordinal are the best and most reliable theological ally for an Evangelical minister coming into a church that has drifted spiritually.
· Open Evangelicalism will not embrace Reform in both senses of the word. It will not join the group called Reform but also fights shy of clearly Evangelical reform that is urgently needed to make a local church evangelistically effective.
· Open Evangelicalism treats 'people skills' as more important than doctrinal faithfulness. Handling people wisely and winsomely is important, but not as important as faithfully and lovingly proclaiming God’s Word and indicating a clear practical intention to act on it in the reform of the local church for the sake of the Gospel.
Therefore, if practised in small parish churches that desperately need deep spiritual culture change, Open Evangelicalism ill serves the existing members who need to be firmly grounded on the Gospel; ill serves the lost to whom those parish churches should be proclaiming Christ’s Gospel in the power of His Holy Spirit; and ill serves the net-giving orthodox churches in their dioceses which are subsidising their ministry of Word and Sacrament.
In all, Open Evangelicalism is hardly a soundtrack for a true spirituality of Gospel unity in and through the local church. In fact, it is downright dishonouring to Christ.
With all Christian good wishes,
Julian Mann
The Parish Church of the Ascension
Oughtibridge
www.oughtibridgechurch.org.uk
Dear John,
In his talk at Fulcrum's Spirituality of Unity conference now available on Anglican Mainstream, Canon Hugh Palmer referred to a blog-post he had been shown that made a list of ‘demands’ as to what he should say as the representative Reform speaker on the platform.
I have to put my hand up as the guilty blogger in question – see the post in the March archive of Cranmer’s Curate: ‘Spirituality of Unity Must Include Rebuke for Fulcrum’. It was also published on VirtueOnline.
You mentioned in your talk at the Oak Hill Annual School of Theology how unhelpful Open Evangelicalism is as a theological approach. I would like to add a practical perspective to what you said as the minister of a small turnaround parish church here in South Yorkshire.
When he was vicar of Christ Church Fulwood before becoming rector of All Souls' Langham Place, Canon Palmer was chairman of the Sheffield diocesan mission committee. The parish statistics for this diocese make very humbling and sobering reading indeed with the overwhelming majority of parish churches both financially and numerically unviable.
That includes the parish church I am privileged to serve. There are tremendous opportunities for the Gospel in Anglican parochial ministry but Open Evangelicalism is in fact a hindrance to the deep spiritual culture change that is necessary in small turnaround churches if they are by God’s grace to become effective witnesses and partners for the Gospel in their dioceses:
· Open Evangelicalism sits loose to the traditional Anglican doctrinal formularies and liturgy. As I have found, the Book of Common Prayer, the 39 Articles of Religion and the Ordinal are the best and most reliable theological ally for an Evangelical minister coming into a church that has drifted spiritually.
· Open Evangelicalism will not embrace Reform in both senses of the word. It will not join the group called Reform but also fights shy of clearly Evangelical reform that is urgently needed to make a local church evangelistically effective.
· Open Evangelicalism treats 'people skills' as more important than doctrinal faithfulness. Handling people wisely and winsomely is important, but not as important as faithfully and lovingly proclaiming God’s Word and indicating a clear practical intention to act on it in the reform of the local church for the sake of the Gospel.
Therefore, if practised in small parish churches that desperately need deep spiritual culture change, Open Evangelicalism ill serves the existing members who need to be firmly grounded on the Gospel; ill serves the lost to whom those parish churches should be proclaiming Christ’s Gospel in the power of His Holy Spirit; and ill serves the net-giving orthodox churches in their dioceses which are subsidising their ministry of Word and Sacrament.
In all, Open Evangelicalism is hardly a soundtrack for a true spirituality of Gospel unity in and through the local church. In fact, it is downright dishonouring to Christ.
With all Christian good wishes,
Julian Mann
The Parish Church of the Ascension
Oughtibridge
www.oughtibridgechurch.org.uk
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
CELEBRATING MARRIAGE IN THE FRONTIER OF GOSPEL MINISTRY
Cranmer's Curate was honoured to receive a request from two American members of the youth group for a prayer of blessing for them on their wedding anniversary.
The Revd Timothy Fountain is a courageously orthodox rector in The Episcopal Church in the United States. He serves the Church of the Good Shepherd in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and looks after the robustly orthodox website, Northern Plains Anglican. He and his wife Melissa yesterday celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary.
Your curate had a telephone conversation with them and learned that they both originated from Los Angeles where they were married in the large, thriving Anglican church where they met. Ministry brought them to rural South Dakota, quite a contrast with cosmopolitan California. This suggests to cc that Americans would seem to be greater risk-takers than we are in the UK and more willing to move out of their comfort zones into the frontiers of Gospel ministry.
It is so important in these dark and evil days to pray for Christian marriages, particularly for those of us in front-line pastoral ministry. For a fellow Anglican minister and his wife, this prayer from the Solemnization of Matrimony according to the Book of Common Prayer seemed most appropriate to use:
O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, bless these thy servants (Timothy and Melissa), and sow the seed of eternal life in their hearts: that whatsoever in thy holy Word they shall profitably learn, they may in deed fulfil the same. Look, O Lord, mercifully upon them from heaven, and bless them. And as thou didst send thy blessing upon Abraham and Sarah, to their great comfort, so vouchsafe to send thy blessing upon these thy servants; that they obeying thy will, and alway being in safety under thy protection, may abide in thy love unto their lives' end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Revd Timothy Fountain is a courageously orthodox rector in The Episcopal Church in the United States. He serves the Church of the Good Shepherd in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and looks after the robustly orthodox website, Northern Plains Anglican. He and his wife Melissa yesterday celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary.
Your curate had a telephone conversation with them and learned that they both originated from Los Angeles where they were married in the large, thriving Anglican church where they met. Ministry brought them to rural South Dakota, quite a contrast with cosmopolitan California. This suggests to cc that Americans would seem to be greater risk-takers than we are in the UK and more willing to move out of their comfort zones into the frontiers of Gospel ministry.
It is so important in these dark and evil days to pray for Christian marriages, particularly for those of us in front-line pastoral ministry. For a fellow Anglican minister and his wife, this prayer from the Solemnization of Matrimony according to the Book of Common Prayer seemed most appropriate to use:
O God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, bless these thy servants (Timothy and Melissa), and sow the seed of eternal life in their hearts: that whatsoever in thy holy Word they shall profitably learn, they may in deed fulfil the same. Look, O Lord, mercifully upon them from heaven, and bless them. And as thou didst send thy blessing upon Abraham and Sarah, to their great comfort, so vouchsafe to send thy blessing upon these thy servants; that they obeying thy will, and alway being in safety under thy protection, may abide in thy love unto their lives' end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
ONLY GOD’S WORD CAN FIRE UP THE ABSTAINERS
The Church of Scotland has taken a serious overdose of permissive liberalism but its body of abstainers could yet pull it back from the brink of suicide.
There were more than 250 abstentions in Saturday night’s 326 to 267 vote at the Kirk’s General Assembly to uphold Aberdeen Presbytery’s appointment of a practising homosexual minister. According to Mike Wade's report in The Times, posted on the invaluable Anglican Mainstream news service, the number of abstentions forced the minister in question, a divorced father living with his male partner, to admit that he and what he represents have not yet won the day.
The whole dynamic of a theologically compromised leadership combined with a confused, untaught laity is so very reminiscent of the state of the people of God under King Ahab in the days of the prophet Elijah.
‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions?’ was Elijah’s challenge to the people on Mount Carmel before God sent the fire defeating the impotent Baal. ‘If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.'
And the writer of the Kings account adds the devastating indictment on the spiritual state of the laity - 'And the people did not answer him a word' (1 Kings 18v21 - ESV).
This dynamic of an idolatrous leadership permitted by a body of untaught abstainers is very sobering for those of us who are called to teach God’s Word in the national church south of the border.
The nature of synodical government in the Church of England means that so-called ‘middle-of-the-road’ churches – not particularly liberal but not particularly biblically-informed either – are as well represented in the decision-making councils as the large Bible-teaching churches in suburban areas, city-centres and university towns.
Unless good, clear, accessible Bible teaching fans out from the Evangelical strongholds, the Church of England could die by abstention and wonderful opportunities to proclaim the living Christ in a diversity of communities could be lost.
The threat of withholding cash from a liberal-infested denomination is no substitute for the fire of God’s Word applied to individual minds and hearts by His Holy Spirit leading to clarity and courage in the face of liberal idolatry.
It is laity in local churches fired up by the Word who will be equipped and emboldened to drive out the post-modern prophets of Baal and ultimately by God's grace save the Church of England from spiritual suicide.
There were more than 250 abstentions in Saturday night’s 326 to 267 vote at the Kirk’s General Assembly to uphold Aberdeen Presbytery’s appointment of a practising homosexual minister. According to Mike Wade's report in The Times, posted on the invaluable Anglican Mainstream news service, the number of abstentions forced the minister in question, a divorced father living with his male partner, to admit that he and what he represents have not yet won the day.
The whole dynamic of a theologically compromised leadership combined with a confused, untaught laity is so very reminiscent of the state of the people of God under King Ahab in the days of the prophet Elijah.
‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions?’ was Elijah’s challenge to the people on Mount Carmel before God sent the fire defeating the impotent Baal. ‘If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.'
And the writer of the Kings account adds the devastating indictment on the spiritual state of the laity - 'And the people did not answer him a word' (1 Kings 18v21 - ESV).
This dynamic of an idolatrous leadership permitted by a body of untaught abstainers is very sobering for those of us who are called to teach God’s Word in the national church south of the border.
The nature of synodical government in the Church of England means that so-called ‘middle-of-the-road’ churches – not particularly liberal but not particularly biblically-informed either – are as well represented in the decision-making councils as the large Bible-teaching churches in suburban areas, city-centres and university towns.
Unless good, clear, accessible Bible teaching fans out from the Evangelical strongholds, the Church of England could die by abstention and wonderful opportunities to proclaim the living Christ in a diversity of communities could be lost.
The threat of withholding cash from a liberal-infested denomination is no substitute for the fire of God’s Word applied to individual minds and hearts by His Holy Spirit leading to clarity and courage in the face of liberal idolatry.
It is laity in local churches fired up by the Word who will be equipped and emboldened to drive out the post-modern prophets of Baal and ultimately by God's grace save the Church of England from spiritual suicide.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
TOP NOSH AT THE NOT POSH THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE
If the role of a theological college principal is both to safeguard sound doctrine and stimulate the Church to fresh thinking and action in the light of God’s Word, then Oak Hill's Dr Michael Ovey magnificently fitted the bill yesterday.
Cranmer’s Curate attended the college’s Annual School of Theology, this year on the topic of Truth, Unity and Schism. The speakers were Oak Hill New Testament lecturer, the Revd Dr Matthew Sleeman; the Revd Professor James Packer; Dr Ovey; and the Revd John Richardson, aka the Ugley Vicar, who rounded off the day with a barnstorming talk on Private Judgement and Christian Divisions.
Dr Ovey’s address was on the lessons for the contemporary Church from the Donatist schism in 4th Century Carthage, the theology of which Augustine countered so effectively.
GAFCON supporters are often accused of being latter-day Donatists, so Dr Ovey’s talk was particularly relevant to issues facing the Anglican Communion.
He ably demonstrated that Donatist theology was a kissing cousin of Pelagianism, with its downplaying of the depth of human sinfulness and thus of our total reliance on God’s loving grace in Christ.
The Donatists therefore literally displayed a lack of grace in separating from the Catholic Church.
Dr Ovey showed that the closest contemporary equivalent of the Donatists is not GAFCON, but the TEC supporters of the consecration of Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. They are the ones who are downplaying the reality of God’s grace towards sinners by denying what the Bible clearly calls sin.
It is thus TEC who are the schismatics denying what Dr Ovey called ‘fraternal, charitable, forgiving love’.
As an aside, Dr Ovey suggested that middle-class Christianity also has Donatistic tendencies.
In the question time, cc asked him to amplify on this in relation to class-shaped Evangelicalism. Dr Ovey replied that he was talking about the tendency in suburban churches to downplay the reality of human sinfulness by focussing on the outward respectability of the ideal family, whereas a church ministering in a drug area, for example, cannot flee for refuge to bourgeois social respectability. Sin is in its face and so it is more inclined to cast itself on the grace of God.
This reminded cc that his discipleship and ministry must be firmly grounded on the grace of God towards sinners, including and especially cc.
Food for the soul indeed.
The day was enhanced for your curate by a fine apple crumble in the Oak Hill canteen, for which the chef ought to be congratulated.
So all round things are looking up for the Cinderella of theological colleges.
Cranmer’s Curate attended the college’s Annual School of Theology, this year on the topic of Truth, Unity and Schism. The speakers were Oak Hill New Testament lecturer, the Revd Dr Matthew Sleeman; the Revd Professor James Packer; Dr Ovey; and the Revd John Richardson, aka the Ugley Vicar, who rounded off the day with a barnstorming talk on Private Judgement and Christian Divisions.
Dr Ovey’s address was on the lessons for the contemporary Church from the Donatist schism in 4th Century Carthage, the theology of which Augustine countered so effectively.
GAFCON supporters are often accused of being latter-day Donatists, so Dr Ovey’s talk was particularly relevant to issues facing the Anglican Communion.
He ably demonstrated that Donatist theology was a kissing cousin of Pelagianism, with its downplaying of the depth of human sinfulness and thus of our total reliance on God’s loving grace in Christ.
The Donatists therefore literally displayed a lack of grace in separating from the Catholic Church.
Dr Ovey showed that the closest contemporary equivalent of the Donatists is not GAFCON, but the TEC supporters of the consecration of Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. They are the ones who are downplaying the reality of God’s grace towards sinners by denying what the Bible clearly calls sin.
It is thus TEC who are the schismatics denying what Dr Ovey called ‘fraternal, charitable, forgiving love’.
As an aside, Dr Ovey suggested that middle-class Christianity also has Donatistic tendencies.
In the question time, cc asked him to amplify on this in relation to class-shaped Evangelicalism. Dr Ovey replied that he was talking about the tendency in suburban churches to downplay the reality of human sinfulness by focussing on the outward respectability of the ideal family, whereas a church ministering in a drug area, for example, cannot flee for refuge to bourgeois social respectability. Sin is in its face and so it is more inclined to cast itself on the grace of God.
This reminded cc that his discipleship and ministry must be firmly grounded on the grace of God towards sinners, including and especially cc.
Food for the soul indeed.
The day was enhanced for your curate by a fine apple crumble in the Oak Hill canteen, for which the chef ought to be congratulated.
So all round things are looking up for the Cinderella of theological colleges.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
BRITAIN EASIER TO TRANSFORM INTO PC DICTATORSHIP THAN USA
Here for the youth group to view is Cranmer's Curate's letter to the US-based Anglican Communion journalist David Virtue following the interview by Ginny Dougary with Conservative leader David Cameron in the Times' magazine on Saturday.
Dear David, The indepth interview in the London Times on Saturday with the leader of the Conservative Party, Mr David Cameron, bodes ill for orthodox Christians here in the United Kingdom.
Mr Cameron is an honourable, compassionate and committed public servant, so this is not meant as a personal criticism of him, but simply a reflection on how orthodox Christians would be likely to fare under a Conservative government. We are due a General Election next year, and the likelihood is that the Conservatives will win by a landslide.
Mr Cameron has to a degree performed a Tony Blair on the Conservative Party. As Mr Blair transformed the Labour Party from an unelectable dinosaur in the 1990s, so it would appear Mr Cameron has done the same with the Conservatives.
But it has come at a price.
The Conservatives used to be in favour of a local government measure called Section 28 which was introduced under former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. This prevented local authorities from promoting homosexuality in schools. The repeal of that in the 1990s under New Labour has led to a toxic tsunami of evil being unleashed on young children in UK schools.
According to the Times’ interview with Mr Cameron, he used to be an enthusiastic early supporter of Section 28. Now he is defining Conservative commitment to marriage as follows: ‘And by the way, it means something whether you’re a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and another man. That’s why we were right to support civil partnerships and I’m proud of that.’
The Conservative Party proud of civil partnerships. Proud of the creation of an immoral institution that debases a once great Christian nation.
Your adopted country the United States is seeing so-called 'homophobic hate speech’ laws being introduced as is the United Kingdom. No Christian supports hatred against individuals, but we do support rightful freedom of speech for the public good.
Due to the zeal of the hugely politically influential gay rights group Stonewall, there can be little doubt that such laws will be used to prosecute orthodox Christians who wish to uphold Christ’s teaching on the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and the immorality of sexual relationships outside of that God-created institution.
What would a Conservative government do about such laws? That is the question. Its leader says he is proud of Conservative support for civil partnerships. Would a Conservative government have the moral and political will to introduce robust freedom of speech protection into laws that only a small minority of voters, namely orthodox Christians, are likely to fall foul of? If not, then we could see Christians going to jail in the UK for their convictions even within the next decade and even under a Conservative government.
Because of the more homogeneous nature of our governance coupled with the zeal for such hate speech legislation in the politically-correct establishment of the European Union, Britain is arguably much more easily and uniformly transformed into a PC dictatorship than the US.
Things will of course become much more difficult for orthodox Christian in the US, but the powers that State Legislatures have in your country and the separation of powers between President and Congress will surely make it much harder to impose a uniform PC dictatorship on a country as large and as diverse as yours.
Our small island is much more vulnerable to religious persecution, as the Pilgrim Fathers knew all too well.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if in the 21st century Evangelical Christians in the United Kingdom started fleeing religious persecution in the Old World for the constitutional religious toleration of the New?
It would take a lot to make me leave my country, David. So those of us who plan to stay in Britain and keep on God willing proclaiming the living Christ need the prayers of our Christian brothers and sisters in the land where freedom of speech is by God’s grace constitutional.
Warmly in Christ,
Julian
Dear David, The indepth interview in the London Times on Saturday with the leader of the Conservative Party, Mr David Cameron, bodes ill for orthodox Christians here in the United Kingdom.
Mr Cameron is an honourable, compassionate and committed public servant, so this is not meant as a personal criticism of him, but simply a reflection on how orthodox Christians would be likely to fare under a Conservative government. We are due a General Election next year, and the likelihood is that the Conservatives will win by a landslide.
Mr Cameron has to a degree performed a Tony Blair on the Conservative Party. As Mr Blair transformed the Labour Party from an unelectable dinosaur in the 1990s, so it would appear Mr Cameron has done the same with the Conservatives.
But it has come at a price.
The Conservatives used to be in favour of a local government measure called Section 28 which was introduced under former Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. This prevented local authorities from promoting homosexuality in schools. The repeal of that in the 1990s under New Labour has led to a toxic tsunami of evil being unleashed on young children in UK schools.
According to the Times’ interview with Mr Cameron, he used to be an enthusiastic early supporter of Section 28. Now he is defining Conservative commitment to marriage as follows: ‘And by the way, it means something whether you’re a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and another man. That’s why we were right to support civil partnerships and I’m proud of that.’
The Conservative Party proud of civil partnerships. Proud of the creation of an immoral institution that debases a once great Christian nation.
Your adopted country the United States is seeing so-called 'homophobic hate speech’ laws being introduced as is the United Kingdom. No Christian supports hatred against individuals, but we do support rightful freedom of speech for the public good.
Due to the zeal of the hugely politically influential gay rights group Stonewall, there can be little doubt that such laws will be used to prosecute orthodox Christians who wish to uphold Christ’s teaching on the sanctity of heterosexual marriage and the immorality of sexual relationships outside of that God-created institution.
What would a Conservative government do about such laws? That is the question. Its leader says he is proud of Conservative support for civil partnerships. Would a Conservative government have the moral and political will to introduce robust freedom of speech protection into laws that only a small minority of voters, namely orthodox Christians, are likely to fall foul of? If not, then we could see Christians going to jail in the UK for their convictions even within the next decade and even under a Conservative government.
Because of the more homogeneous nature of our governance coupled with the zeal for such hate speech legislation in the politically-correct establishment of the European Union, Britain is arguably much more easily and uniformly transformed into a PC dictatorship than the US.
Things will of course become much more difficult for orthodox Christian in the US, but the powers that State Legislatures have in your country and the separation of powers between President and Congress will surely make it much harder to impose a uniform PC dictatorship on a country as large and as diverse as yours.
Our small island is much more vulnerable to religious persecution, as the Pilgrim Fathers knew all too well.
Wouldn’t it be ironic if in the 21st century Evangelical Christians in the United Kingdom started fleeing religious persecution in the Old World for the constitutional religious toleration of the New?
It would take a lot to make me leave my country, David. So those of us who plan to stay in Britain and keep on God willing proclaiming the living Christ need the prayers of our Christian brothers and sisters in the land where freedom of speech is by God’s grace constitutional.
Warmly in Christ,
Julian
Sunday, 17 May 2009
PARISH CHURCH AIMS FOR GROWTH
These Aims for Growth were agreed unanimously by the Oughtibrige Parochial Church Council and then by our Annual Parochial Church Meeting. Cranmer's Curate requests the prayers of the youth group that these aims are increasingly realised in and through the parish church to Christ's glory.
As a parish church family, we aim in dependence upon God and upon his grace in our Lord Jesus Christ:
· To build the Sunday congregation that meets in the parish church building into viability
· To grow in our commitment to prayer individually and corporately
· To grow in our commitment to God’s Word individually and corporately
· To grow in our commitment to proclaiming the Gospel of eternal salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to our parish
· To grow in our commitment to love and good deeds towards our parish through community involvement
· To grow in our commitment to regular, planned, sacrificial Christian giving to the work of God’s kingdom in and through the parish church
As a parish church family, we aim in dependence upon God and upon his grace in our Lord Jesus Christ:
· To build the Sunday congregation that meets in the parish church building into viability
· To grow in our commitment to prayer individually and corporately
· To grow in our commitment to God’s Word individually and corporately
· To grow in our commitment to proclaiming the Gospel of eternal salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to our parish
· To grow in our commitment to love and good deeds towards our parish through community involvement
· To grow in our commitment to regular, planned, sacrificial Christian giving to the work of God’s kingdom in and through the parish church
Saturday, 16 May 2009
NEW BISHOP WITH A FEEL FOR THE COAL-FACE
The new bishop of Sheffield Dr Steven Croft has already set about boosting morale amongst front-line clergy and churchwardens in one of the lowest church-going areas in the country.
The legacy Dr Croft has inherited in South Yorkshire is apparent in the latest published parish statistics. A conservative estimate of the cost to the Diocesan Board of Finance of a front-line parish incumbent is £35,000 per annum. Out of 174 parishes in Sheffield Diocese, 113 recorded a recurring income in 2006 of less than £35,000.
Thus, well over half of the parishes are not only net-receiving but their income does not even match the cost of their ministry, leaving out the cost of maintaining their buildings, lighting and heating their churches and paying their insurance. These churches are dependent on a minority base of net-giving churches upon whom increasing demands are being made.
That spells financial meltdown.
So some serious, pro-active proclamation of the living Christ as the Bible reveals Him and deep spiritual culture change need to be happen otherwise many small parish churches serving local communities in South Yorkshire will close in the next 10 to 15 years. This parish plodder knows that all too well because he serves one that is in the red-zone.
According to the Consecration of Bishops in the Ordinal, every bishop has the canonical calling faithfully to exercise himself in the ‘holy Scriptures, and to call upon God by prayer, for the true understanding of the same; so as ye may be able by them to teach and exhort with wholesome doctrine, and to withstand and convince the gainsayers’.
Dr Croft undertook this calling with grace and purpose at his first service of Admission of Churchwardens at Sheffield Cathedral on May 12th. In his sermon on John chapter 15, he explained our Christian calling to fruitfulness in Christ, rejecting the worldly obsession with immediately measurable statistical 'success', but nonetheless making the point that fruitfulness includes growth in the number of disciples in our churches.
Though Cranmer's Curate would have a serious and principled disagreement with his diocesan over the ordination of women and this is early days in his episcopate, it would appear Sheffield has a bishop with a feel for the challenges of ministry at the parochial coal-face. He is going to need the prayers of orthodox Anglicans who uphold the 39 Articles once the honeymoon period is over and the scale of the evangelistic task sinks in.
This Collect at the end of the Consecration is particularly vital:
Most merciful Father, we beseech thee to send down upon this thy servant thy heavenly blessing; and so endue him with thy Holy Spirit, that he, preaching thy Word, may not only be earnest to reprove, beseech, and rebuke with all patience and doctrine; but also be to such as believe a wholesome example, in word, in conversation, in love, in faith, in chastity, and in purity; that, faithfully fulfilling his course, at the latter day he may receive the crown of righteousness laid up by the Lord the righteous Judge, who liveth and reigneth one God, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.
The legacy Dr Croft has inherited in South Yorkshire is apparent in the latest published parish statistics. A conservative estimate of the cost to the Diocesan Board of Finance of a front-line parish incumbent is £35,000 per annum. Out of 174 parishes in Sheffield Diocese, 113 recorded a recurring income in 2006 of less than £35,000.
Thus, well over half of the parishes are not only net-receiving but their income does not even match the cost of their ministry, leaving out the cost of maintaining their buildings, lighting and heating their churches and paying their insurance. These churches are dependent on a minority base of net-giving churches upon whom increasing demands are being made.
That spells financial meltdown.
So some serious, pro-active proclamation of the living Christ as the Bible reveals Him and deep spiritual culture change need to be happen otherwise many small parish churches serving local communities in South Yorkshire will close in the next 10 to 15 years. This parish plodder knows that all too well because he serves one that is in the red-zone.
According to the Consecration of Bishops in the Ordinal, every bishop has the canonical calling faithfully to exercise himself in the ‘holy Scriptures, and to call upon God by prayer, for the true understanding of the same; so as ye may be able by them to teach and exhort with wholesome doctrine, and to withstand and convince the gainsayers’.
Dr Croft undertook this calling with grace and purpose at his first service of Admission of Churchwardens at Sheffield Cathedral on May 12th. In his sermon on John chapter 15, he explained our Christian calling to fruitfulness in Christ, rejecting the worldly obsession with immediately measurable statistical 'success', but nonetheless making the point that fruitfulness includes growth in the number of disciples in our churches.
Though Cranmer's Curate would have a serious and principled disagreement with his diocesan over the ordination of women and this is early days in his episcopate, it would appear Sheffield has a bishop with a feel for the challenges of ministry at the parochial coal-face. He is going to need the prayers of orthodox Anglicans who uphold the 39 Articles once the honeymoon period is over and the scale of the evangelistic task sinks in.
This Collect at the end of the Consecration is particularly vital:
Most merciful Father, we beseech thee to send down upon this thy servant thy heavenly blessing; and so endue him with thy Holy Spirit, that he, preaching thy Word, may not only be earnest to reprove, beseech, and rebuke with all patience and doctrine; but also be to such as believe a wholesome example, in word, in conversation, in love, in faith, in chastity, and in purity; that, faithfully fulfilling his course, at the latter day he may receive the crown of righteousness laid up by the Lord the righteous Judge, who liveth and reigneth one God, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
PRACTICAL STEPS TOWARDS CLASS-FREE CHRISTIANITY
Cranmer's Curate has received an important practical question from an anonymous gentleman responding to the post Building Cross-Shaped Not Class-Shaped Churches: what can be done about class-shaped Christianity?
Here is his post:
Though your curate does not wish to encourage anonymous posting, he would try to answer as follows:
Is the alternative in your area really between a large city-centre church and a church with no creche? Are there any smaller churches with Evangelical ministry in Oxford with a creche where you and your family could have a significant impact for the Gospel? Could you not help to start a creche?
Could not a group from your large church join a smaller church without Evangelical ministry and by joining the church council help to ensure that it gets it at the next appointment? You could use your large church for prayer support and top-up ministry. The gain for the Gospel is that you together with other volunteers under God have won back a local church's ministry for Christ. Why not try to do that in your local parish church?
What will you do if you move house? Will you commute to a large gathered church in the region with a peer group of educated, professional people like yourself or will you deliberately seek out a smaller turnaround church and work with its Evangelical minister to help it to grow to Christ's glory?
Here is his post:
I feel the full force of your criticism, as a product of an English public school and Cambridge University (when you were there), who attends a central Oxford church. But what do you believe I should be doing instead? Is it my responsibility to walk into our local parish church asking for sermons which I believe would feed me and my family? Should I go to a local church which has no children's work until 3, meaning either my wife or myself should miss every other service looking after our two small children. I do not mean to have a go at you at all - I am just genuinely eager to know what we should do?
Though your curate does not wish to encourage anonymous posting, he would try to answer as follows:
Is the alternative in your area really between a large city-centre church and a church with no creche? Are there any smaller churches with Evangelical ministry in Oxford with a creche where you and your family could have a significant impact for the Gospel? Could you not help to start a creche?
Could not a group from your large church join a smaller church without Evangelical ministry and by joining the church council help to ensure that it gets it at the next appointment? You could use your large church for prayer support and top-up ministry. The gain for the Gospel is that you together with other volunteers under God have won back a local church's ministry for Christ. Why not try to do that in your local parish church?
What will you do if you move house? Will you commute to a large gathered church in the region with a peer group of educated, professional people like yourself or will you deliberately seek out a smaller turnaround church and work with its Evangelical minister to help it to grow to Christ's glory?
Saturday, 9 May 2009
BUILDING CROSS-SHAPED NOT CLASS-SHAPED CHURCHES
The class system may or may not be disintegrating in post-Thatcherite Britain, but it is unfortunately still alive and defensively kicking in English Evangelicalism.
The foundations of class-shaped Evangelicalism were recently excavated for your curate by another cut-price second-hand book cc purchased in the Barnardo's shop in Hillsborough. Mid-Victorian Britain 1851-75 by Professor Geoffrey Best, first published in 1971, contains two consecutive chapters on education and religion.
Professor Best charts the rise of the public schools in mid-Victorian Britain. The public schools, he argues, "exercised a magic that the socially aspiring middle classes found increasingly magnetic".
He continued: "The public school idea, which crystallised during the fifties and sixties, comprised these elements: a self-contained society of boys partly self-governing, partly ruled by a Christian autocrat of a headmaster; a valuable political education in 'leadership' and the arts of social ascendancy, at first through submission to status and authority and then through the exercise of them; the practice of open-air pursuits (not necessarily, till after our period, mere athleticism) in classic English countryside settings: and, as the end product, the self-reliant cultivated Christian gentleman , a 'natural ruler' if ever there was one, and hand-made to take a place as of right among the traditional socio-political elite of aristocracy and gentry."
His chapter on religion and the social order analyses the 1851 census of church-going in England and Wales, which showed clearly that "abstinence from religious worship was most common where the largest numbers of working-class people lived - in London and in many of the towns where the industrial revolution was wrought".
The elitist shape of English Evangelicalism is thus firmly built on these mid-Victorian foundations. Or to put it another way, comfy suburban and varsity Evangelical ghettoes and their yuppie church plants are the descendants after the flesh of Victorian church-goers who sent their sons to public schools.
Cranmer's Curate has noticed an almost defiant defensiveness in relation to any questioning of class-shaped Evangelical practice. In fact, these cultural defences have been reinforced by an influx of wealthy ex-patriot South Africans with UK passports into English Evangelicalism since the end of apartheid and the advent of majority rule in the 1990s, who are both users of private education and swellers of the numbers in homogeneous church plants, particularly in London.
It is significant in this regard that one of the most persuasive proponents of class-free Evangelicalism is the former South African anti-apartheid campaigner, the Revd Hugo Charteris, once an Anglican minister in inner-city Wirral and now leader of a fresh expression of Church in Newcastle.
The urgent call of Christ's Gospel in post-Christian Britain demands that we lay to rest the ghost of our Victorian Evangelical past and build genuinely cross-shaped not class-shaped churches.
The foundations of class-shaped Evangelicalism were recently excavated for your curate by another cut-price second-hand book cc purchased in the Barnardo's shop in Hillsborough. Mid-Victorian Britain 1851-75 by Professor Geoffrey Best, first published in 1971, contains two consecutive chapters on education and religion.
Professor Best charts the rise of the public schools in mid-Victorian Britain. The public schools, he argues, "exercised a magic that the socially aspiring middle classes found increasingly magnetic".
He continued: "The public school idea, which crystallised during the fifties and sixties, comprised these elements: a self-contained society of boys partly self-governing, partly ruled by a Christian autocrat of a headmaster; a valuable political education in 'leadership' and the arts of social ascendancy, at first through submission to status and authority and then through the exercise of them; the practice of open-air pursuits (not necessarily, till after our period, mere athleticism) in classic English countryside settings: and, as the end product, the self-reliant cultivated Christian gentleman , a 'natural ruler' if ever there was one, and hand-made to take a place as of right among the traditional socio-political elite of aristocracy and gentry."
His chapter on religion and the social order analyses the 1851 census of church-going in England and Wales, which showed clearly that "abstinence from religious worship was most common where the largest numbers of working-class people lived - in London and in many of the towns where the industrial revolution was wrought".
The elitist shape of English Evangelicalism is thus firmly built on these mid-Victorian foundations. Or to put it another way, comfy suburban and varsity Evangelical ghettoes and their yuppie church plants are the descendants after the flesh of Victorian church-goers who sent their sons to public schools.
Cranmer's Curate has noticed an almost defiant defensiveness in relation to any questioning of class-shaped Evangelical practice. In fact, these cultural defences have been reinforced by an influx of wealthy ex-patriot South Africans with UK passports into English Evangelicalism since the end of apartheid and the advent of majority rule in the 1990s, who are both users of private education and swellers of the numbers in homogeneous church plants, particularly in London.
It is significant in this regard that one of the most persuasive proponents of class-free Evangelicalism is the former South African anti-apartheid campaigner, the Revd Hugo Charteris, once an Anglican minister in inner-city Wirral and now leader of a fresh expression of Church in Newcastle.
The urgent call of Christ's Gospel in post-Christian Britain demands that we lay to rest the ghost of our Victorian Evangelical past and build genuinely cross-shaped not class-shaped churches.
Monday, 4 May 2009
SPIRITUAL SUICIDE BY A NATIONAL CHURCH SPAWNS ELITISM
Orthodox Christians in the Church of England should be praying for the prevention of an act of spiritual suicide by a fellow national Church of the Reformation in the United Kingdom - the Church of Scotland.
The Presbytery of Aberdeen has appointed a self-professed practising homosexual as minister of a church. This has prompted an appeal by orthodox members of the Aberdeen Presbytery to the Kirk's General Assembly to overturn this unbiblical decision.
It appears to be touch and go whether the Assembly at its meeting at the end of this month will uphold the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. Liberalism has infested the higher echelons of the Church of Scotland in a manner similar to the Church of England.
By God's grace, the Kirk has its own equivalent of Anglican Mainstream. There is a group of orthodox ministers and congregations in the Church of Scotland called the Fellowship of Confessing Churches, which has organised an on-line petition in support of the appeal. The petition has attracted more than 5000 signatures - even cc managed to sign it (with a bit of help) as a member of another UK Church. Overseas members of the youth group can sign the relevant section for them - just click on the above link.
The FCC's statement concerning the 2009 General Assembly eloquently explains the gravity of the situation: "If the Assembly votes to support the Presbytery of Aberdeen, it will publicly declare such behaviour as acceptable and honourable for a leader in Christ’s church. This would mark a historic departure for our church from the teaching of the catholic Christian faith, and a radical deviation from the clear Scriptural pattern that recognises the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman as the only proper place for sexual intimacy — a pattern which our church has hitherto always publicly affirmed.
"To now declare explicitly an active homosexual lifestyle as holy, something the Bible unambiguously calls sin, denies in the most public fashion the authority of the church’s only Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. Our church would thus position itself outwith the fellowship of orthodox, credal Christianity worldwide.
"Such a decision, if made by the General Assembly, would be immensely damaging for the cause of Christ in Scotland and disastrous for the national church. As an unprecedented departure from both the Kirk’s supreme standard, the Scriptures, and its subordinate standard, the Westminster Confession of Faith, by its highest court, this would inevitably force a crisis of communion. The majority of congregations of the Church of Scotland have no wish so to depart from orthodox Christian faith and practice, nor to be in fellowship with those who would so abandon the true Church of Jesus Christ."
So it's not a question of these orthodox Scots having a Private Fraser moment. The Kirk really is spiritually doomed if its General Assembly flunks this. It will potentially drive out the Gospel-preaching, Bible-teaching churches that are, by God's grace, numerically and financially viable.
The result of that, as would happen if the Church of England were to lose its orthodox net-givers, would be the concentration of pro-active Christianity in wealthier areas and the loss of pulpits in parts of Scotland the large gathered churches and their homogeneous church plants don't tend to reach.
Ecclesiastical elitism by post-code is the unfortunate outcome when a national Church commits spiritual suicide.
The Presbytery of Aberdeen has appointed a self-professed practising homosexual as minister of a church. This has prompted an appeal by orthodox members of the Aberdeen Presbytery to the Kirk's General Assembly to overturn this unbiblical decision.
It appears to be touch and go whether the Assembly at its meeting at the end of this month will uphold the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. Liberalism has infested the higher echelons of the Church of Scotland in a manner similar to the Church of England.
By God's grace, the Kirk has its own equivalent of Anglican Mainstream. There is a group of orthodox ministers and congregations in the Church of Scotland called the Fellowship of Confessing Churches, which has organised an on-line petition in support of the appeal. The petition has attracted more than 5000 signatures - even cc managed to sign it (with a bit of help) as a member of another UK Church. Overseas members of the youth group can sign the relevant section for them - just click on the above link.
The FCC's statement concerning the 2009 General Assembly eloquently explains the gravity of the situation: "If the Assembly votes to support the Presbytery of Aberdeen, it will publicly declare such behaviour as acceptable and honourable for a leader in Christ’s church. This would mark a historic departure for our church from the teaching of the catholic Christian faith, and a radical deviation from the clear Scriptural pattern that recognises the sanctity of marriage between one man and one woman as the only proper place for sexual intimacy — a pattern which our church has hitherto always publicly affirmed.
"To now declare explicitly an active homosexual lifestyle as holy, something the Bible unambiguously calls sin, denies in the most public fashion the authority of the church’s only Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. Our church would thus position itself outwith the fellowship of orthodox, credal Christianity worldwide.
"Such a decision, if made by the General Assembly, would be immensely damaging for the cause of Christ in Scotland and disastrous for the national church. As an unprecedented departure from both the Kirk’s supreme standard, the Scriptures, and its subordinate standard, the Westminster Confession of Faith, by its highest court, this would inevitably force a crisis of communion. The majority of congregations of the Church of Scotland have no wish so to depart from orthodox Christian faith and practice, nor to be in fellowship with those who would so abandon the true Church of Jesus Christ."
So it's not a question of these orthodox Scots having a Private Fraser moment. The Kirk really is spiritually doomed if its General Assembly flunks this. It will potentially drive out the Gospel-preaching, Bible-teaching churches that are, by God's grace, numerically and financially viable.
The result of that, as would happen if the Church of England were to lose its orthodox net-givers, would be the concentration of pro-active Christianity in wealthier areas and the loss of pulpits in parts of Scotland the large gathered churches and their homogeneous church plants don't tend to reach.
Ecclesiastical elitism by post-code is the unfortunate outcome when a national Church commits spiritual suicide.
Friday, 1 May 2009
WHEN TO PLANT A CHURCH
Cranmer's Curate warmly commends to the youth group this piece by one of the finest front-line UPA incumbents in the Church of England - the Revd Darren Moore of St Catherine's Tranmere in the Diocese of Chester. He is forthwith dubbed Cranmer's Churchplanter:
Cc has been brave enough to contradict some fashionable thinking about church planting, popular within his constituency. The problem is that plants are cool, parish churches aren’t and therefore the plants have a creaming-off effect whilst opportunities in parish churches are missed. Cc invited me to make some comments as both a parish vicar and a planter, of sorts. He suggested the name - Cranmer’s Churchplanter but, as you’ll see, that may be claiming a bit too much.
Fresh expressions etc
Let’s not confuse fresh expressions with church plants. As has been observed, this can just be a matter of liturgical Feng Shui. Put a few tables into ordinary evening prayer and hey presto – a Fresh Expression. Guilty as Charged! Or just performing Communion in an unlikely setting equally meets the criteria.
Why plant a church?
The answer is pretty clear. Look at the numbers of church goers, look at our population, and there’s your answer. We can’t effectively reach everyone with the churches we have. Also there are presentation issues. Some Evangelicals present the Gospel in a way that is not as clear as it could be for some people. A plant starts with a blank sheet and a clear aim: who are we reaching and how? Now here is where cc’s concerns can be justified. Many plants at this stage target the bright young things. But there again, even with them there are plenty to go round.
Why a parish church?
Simply we don’t want to lose ground and there are people in the pew ignorant of the Gospel. However, one needs the wisdom of Solomon to know when our efforts would be better served on starting from scratch.
Open door at St Paul’s
Here is how our plant started. I am the vicar of St Catherine's Tranmere. Despite revival in the 1950’s, decline had set in and by 2004 the Sunday morning congregation was 20-35, and the evening 3-6. So despite growth between 2004 and the present we are still a small church. Only 60-ish, all ages in the morning, 20 max in evening. They are a good bunch but change hasn’t always been easy. We’ve lost a few people due to change and, typical for a UPA, people with get up and go frequently do. Nonetheless, we can testify to God’s goodness in seeing people coming to know him.
Two parishes away is St Peter’s Rock Ferry. Very similar to St Cath’s in every sense, but a little bigger. Between us is an Anglo-Catholic church, St Paul’s Tranmere. The vicar there saw that numbers on Sunday were dropping and the average age shooting up. They really are, in his view, a decade from extinction. Amazingly, he asked the Bishop to get Evangelicals to plant in his building. He didn’t want them bussing people in, but to reach the community. The vicars either side of him were approached.
We gathered a small team - another from St Cath’s and I, the vicar and two from St Peter’s and about eight from St Andrew’s in Bebington. The vicars had no hand in choosing who came on board. We prayed, studied the Bible and planned what we would do. We decided that there were only three components needed to make a church: input from the Bible, prayer and friendship. So our church would be shaped by those three things - anything else was up for grabs. The area is a UPA and we are targeting non-church goers.
After discussion, we settled on a format. We meet at Mondays from 6pm to 8pm. We have some food for half an hour, then a short all-age teaching slot, children’s song, a Bible reading followed by a two-part sermon, with an activity or clip in the middle (total length of sermon around 15 minutes). We have a prayer box in which people put requests. After the sermon someone leads prayers and we usually end by singing a hymn. The children’s work isn’t really resolved - we give them activities during the sermon.
The core team have been very understanding that the two vicars have other churches to run so we merely steer and preach. The team organise everything else. They have gone door to door inviting and doing questionnaires. As a result we have a group from St Paul’s used to Sacramental worship and not used to expositions and a totally unchurched group made up of their friends and people we’ve met. We get around 40 people.
Nobody we’ve reached lives more than half a mile from the building and we are getting all ages. The idea that these sort of churches can’t get old people is clearly a myth.
So…when to plant a church?
NOW! We only started one because we were invited to. There are still those in our parishes who think it is too early. But when is the right time? Must we wait until we are several hundred and can send 100 off with a member of staff? Where is the risk and faith in that?
Let’s start targeting missed-out groups - UPA, rural, Muslims, pockets where we just aren’t getting people. But start by asking the right questions. Who are we reaching and what is the best way to reach them, given the criteria God has already given us?
Cc has been brave enough to contradict some fashionable thinking about church planting, popular within his constituency. The problem is that plants are cool, parish churches aren’t and therefore the plants have a creaming-off effect whilst opportunities in parish churches are missed. Cc invited me to make some comments as both a parish vicar and a planter, of sorts. He suggested the name - Cranmer’s Churchplanter but, as you’ll see, that may be claiming a bit too much.
Fresh expressions etc
Let’s not confuse fresh expressions with church plants. As has been observed, this can just be a matter of liturgical Feng Shui. Put a few tables into ordinary evening prayer and hey presto – a Fresh Expression. Guilty as Charged! Or just performing Communion in an unlikely setting equally meets the criteria.
Why plant a church?
The answer is pretty clear. Look at the numbers of church goers, look at our population, and there’s your answer. We can’t effectively reach everyone with the churches we have. Also there are presentation issues. Some Evangelicals present the Gospel in a way that is not as clear as it could be for some people. A plant starts with a blank sheet and a clear aim: who are we reaching and how? Now here is where cc’s concerns can be justified. Many plants at this stage target the bright young things. But there again, even with them there are plenty to go round.
Why a parish church?
Simply we don’t want to lose ground and there are people in the pew ignorant of the Gospel. However, one needs the wisdom of Solomon to know when our efforts would be better served on starting from scratch.
Open door at St Paul’s
Here is how our plant started. I am the vicar of St Catherine's Tranmere. Despite revival in the 1950’s, decline had set in and by 2004 the Sunday morning congregation was 20-35, and the evening 3-6. So despite growth between 2004 and the present we are still a small church. Only 60-ish, all ages in the morning, 20 max in evening. They are a good bunch but change hasn’t always been easy. We’ve lost a few people due to change and, typical for a UPA, people with get up and go frequently do. Nonetheless, we can testify to God’s goodness in seeing people coming to know him.
Two parishes away is St Peter’s Rock Ferry. Very similar to St Cath’s in every sense, but a little bigger. Between us is an Anglo-Catholic church, St Paul’s Tranmere. The vicar there saw that numbers on Sunday were dropping and the average age shooting up. They really are, in his view, a decade from extinction. Amazingly, he asked the Bishop to get Evangelicals to plant in his building. He didn’t want them bussing people in, but to reach the community. The vicars either side of him were approached.
We gathered a small team - another from St Cath’s and I, the vicar and two from St Peter’s and about eight from St Andrew’s in Bebington. The vicars had no hand in choosing who came on board. We prayed, studied the Bible and planned what we would do. We decided that there were only three components needed to make a church: input from the Bible, prayer and friendship. So our church would be shaped by those three things - anything else was up for grabs. The area is a UPA and we are targeting non-church goers.
After discussion, we settled on a format. We meet at Mondays from 6pm to 8pm. We have some food for half an hour, then a short all-age teaching slot, children’s song, a Bible reading followed by a two-part sermon, with an activity or clip in the middle (total length of sermon around 15 minutes). We have a prayer box in which people put requests. After the sermon someone leads prayers and we usually end by singing a hymn. The children’s work isn’t really resolved - we give them activities during the sermon.
The core team have been very understanding that the two vicars have other churches to run so we merely steer and preach. The team organise everything else. They have gone door to door inviting and doing questionnaires. As a result we have a group from St Paul’s used to Sacramental worship and not used to expositions and a totally unchurched group made up of their friends and people we’ve met. We get around 40 people.
Nobody we’ve reached lives more than half a mile from the building and we are getting all ages. The idea that these sort of churches can’t get old people is clearly a myth.
So…when to plant a church?
NOW! We only started one because we were invited to. There are still those in our parishes who think it is too early. But when is the right time? Must we wait until we are several hundred and can send 100 off with a member of staff? Where is the risk and faith in that?
Let’s start targeting missed-out groups - UPA, rural, Muslims, pockets where we just aren’t getting people. But start by asking the right questions. Who are we reaching and what is the best way to reach them, given the criteria God has already given us?
WILL CHRISTIAN AID TO BRITAIN INCLUDE REDEMPTION?
Christian Aid week in 2109 could be very significant for a Britain reduced to the economic status of Lesotho by the end of the 21st century.
In a land ravaged by poverty, political instability and governmental corruption, the generosity of wealthy Christians in China and the Indian sub-continent, out of their abundance, could be the difference between life and death for cc’s cc's (i.e. his descendants after the flesh).
But cc sincerely hopes for their sake that the theology underpinning this generosity will be very different from the message he got from a Christian Aid promotional video he and his wife saw in a local church on his Sunday off.
Canon Lucy Winkett, Precentor of St Paul’s Cathedral, was telegenically featured insisting that Christian Aid week shows that the Christian faith is not about about 'pie in the sky when you die’ but is about making a real difference in this world.
Your curate is all for making a difference in this world; he is not a Gnostic; he believes in the God-created value of the material creation and in the importance of relieving poverty. The Evangelical revival of the 18th century certainly made an enormous difference in creating the Britain in which a charitable initiative like Christian Aid week has some kind of cultural landing field.
The proclamation of the Gospel by the likes of Wesley and Whitfield was instrumental in creating a cultural climate of philanthropy and welfare combined with the economic enterprise and industriousness required to pay for it.
But ‘pie in the sky when you die’ – what an extraordinary way to talk about the new heaven and the new earth New Testament Christians are looking forward to, in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3v13).
New Testament Christians believe the next world is much more important than this one. This present order of creation is 'in bondage to decay' (Romans 8v21). It has been 'groaning' since the Fall, awaiting the redemption of the bodies of God's adopted sons and heirs, i.e. all believers in Jesus Christ, the bodily risen Son of God (Romans 8v23).
Let’s hope missionaries from China and India doing evangelism and social action for Christ in Britain are clear on that.
Otherwise, the bodies of cc’s cc's won’t get redeemed.
In a land ravaged by poverty, political instability and governmental corruption, the generosity of wealthy Christians in China and the Indian sub-continent, out of their abundance, could be the difference between life and death for cc’s cc's (i.e. his descendants after the flesh).
But cc sincerely hopes for their sake that the theology underpinning this generosity will be very different from the message he got from a Christian Aid promotional video he and his wife saw in a local church on his Sunday off.
Canon Lucy Winkett, Precentor of St Paul’s Cathedral, was telegenically featured insisting that Christian Aid week shows that the Christian faith is not about about 'pie in the sky when you die’ but is about making a real difference in this world.
Your curate is all for making a difference in this world; he is not a Gnostic; he believes in the God-created value of the material creation and in the importance of relieving poverty. The Evangelical revival of the 18th century certainly made an enormous difference in creating the Britain in which a charitable initiative like Christian Aid week has some kind of cultural landing field.
The proclamation of the Gospel by the likes of Wesley and Whitfield was instrumental in creating a cultural climate of philanthropy and welfare combined with the economic enterprise and industriousness required to pay for it.
But ‘pie in the sky when you die’ – what an extraordinary way to talk about the new heaven and the new earth New Testament Christians are looking forward to, in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3v13).
New Testament Christians believe the next world is much more important than this one. This present order of creation is 'in bondage to decay' (Romans 8v21). It has been 'groaning' since the Fall, awaiting the redemption of the bodies of God's adopted sons and heirs, i.e. all believers in Jesus Christ, the bodily risen Son of God (Romans 8v23).
Let’s hope missionaries from China and India doing evangelism and social action for Christ in Britain are clear on that.
Otherwise, the bodies of cc’s cc's won’t get redeemed.
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