Who will say that a man is thankful to his friend for a past kindness, if he nourishes an ill opinion of him for the future?…He is the most thankful man that treasures up the mercies of God in his memory, and can feed his faith with what God hath done for him so as to walk in the strength thereof in present straits
–as cited by Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) on Psalm 78 in his Treasury of David
Safeguarding Sunday, will be introduced to churches nationally, a new initiative aiming to raise the profile of safeguarding.
The Bishop of Huddersfield, Jonathan Gibbs, gave a Safeguarding update to Synod.
Dr Gibbs, the Church of England’s lead safeguarding bishop, told Synod the church is “entering a season of action” in which “there is far more to be done.”
“Our aim is to help people see safeguarding as an integral part of the mission of the church,” he said.
“Safeguarding is partly about stopping bad things happening and about how we respond when they do, but it is also about enabling our churches to become places where people are enabled to flourish and grow into the fullness of life that God intends for us all.”
Our free #publiclecture on Thursday is Bishop Jonathan Gibbs Inaugural Lecture, 'What on earth are we here for?': https://t.co/Dq93ecHYFT pic.twitter.com/htL77OGvoN
— University of Huddersfield (@HuddersfieldUni) May 16, 2017
The Rev. Edward Cardoza estimates that the volume of calls, messages and texts from members of his St. Mark’s Episcopal Church increased 20-fold over the past year. Most read something like this: “I’m sure you’re really busy and don’t have time, but if you do, would you have time for a conversation?”
People who had been sober for 10 or 15 years worried they might start drinking again. Some mentioned suicide. Couples who rarely argued were yelling at each other.
When the church resumed in-person services June 13, a new tension emerged: surprisingly angry reactions from some members to any pandemic-related safeguards that remained in place. Other clergy he talked to have seen similar levels of acrimony.
Interesting to see new approach’s being taken to deal with mental health. Churches and communities of faith seem to be stepping up! #MentalHealthMatters #FaithCommunities https://t.co/L66dtujR3p
— Dario Anselmo (@DarioAnselmoMN) July 22, 2021
The Wedding Dress; And Why I Tithe….
By Susan Clarkson Keller, St. Philip’s Church, Charleston
I began tithing sometime after college, when I began my first job. Despite being a young believer, I understood that tithing was a way to show God how much I trusted Him to provide for me.
Then a speaker came to St. Philip’s in the mid-1980s, whose message greatly impacted my thinking about giving. I was challenged not only to tithe, but to see everything I had as God’s and to realize what a blessing it would be to give more and more to the work of the Kingdom, in and out of the church. I decided then to start tithing my gross income… which was a big step for me. Since that time, I have experienced the faithfulness of God in providing for me in some truly remarkable ways….
The Latest Edition of the #Anglican Diocese of South Carolina Enewsletter https://t.co/nPK8Lq6dwY #parishministry #anglican #religion #southcarolina #communications pic.twitter.com/akya2tigla
— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) July 14, 2021
In this post, let me mention another way we can address this problem, and that is by fixing the one thing that is missing in most sermons today.
In my role as a seminary professor, I have heard a lot of sermons over the years. Some of these are from students preparing for ministry, but many are from seasoned pastors who’ve been in the pulpit for years.
And these sermons seem designed to do many positive things: inform, proclaim, teach, explain, illuminate, clarify, comfort, encourage, and motivate. And, sometimes, they do some less positive things: entertain, titillate, speculate, charm, beguile, and even amuse.
But there is one thing that very few sermons do, and that is persuade.
Now, a persuasive sermon may not be what you think. For most people, the word brings to mind formal “apologetics” where we make the case for Christianity over and against other worldviews.
And while some formal apologetics may be involved, I am using “persuade” here to refer to how a pastor might seek to show that any particular Christian doctrine, truth or behavior is genuinely wonderful, excellent, and worthy of our lives, and thereby better than any other alternative that is out there.
Here's the one critical thing missing from most sermons, according to Dr. @MichaelJKruger. https://t.co/lugwHzpZiR
— Reformed Seminary (@ReformTheoSem) July 8, 2021
Before training for ordination, Richard worked as Music Operations Manager with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he watched a play in 2011 that completely changed the course of his life.
Richard explained: “In my previous job at the RSC, we did a play called Written on the Heart.
“It was about the writing of the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. In one scene, two men – Lancelot Andrewes and William Tyndale – debated translations of The Beatitudes.
“As I sat, and watched, and listened, these words came alive for me.
“Gradually, I realised that I had been wrong all my life about God.”
As a direct result, Richard bought a copy of the Bible and began to attend a church in Kidderminster.
"Questions and debates are often more important than answers – and doubts don’t deny one’s faith."
Richard Sandland is being ordained in @CofEWorcester, after a play at @TheRSC inspired his faith.
Explore his story on our website. 👇🏾https://t.co/W1nag9PUPC
— The Church of England (@churchofengland) July 2, 2021
I appreciate your prayers. The parish website is there.
Oregon is counting down to reopening as the state’s vaccination numbers tick up. Governor Kate Brown has established a threshold to lift most restrictions: 70% of Oregonians need to have at least one shot. The state is expected to reach that number in the coming days.
But at Highland Christian Center in Portland, the mood is not one of excitement.
“It feels like a war,” says Senior Pastor Shon Neyland. “It feels like a war of attrition.”
Neyland speaks from experience. Before he retired, he was a chaplain in the Air Force and deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now he pastors this church of nearly 700 mostly Black congregants, big enough that it takes up a whole city block and has its own coffee shop and bookstore.
Today, Neyland is fighting an invisible enemy: the forces keeping his congregants from getting the vaccine. He estimates at least half the church isn’t vaccinated. Once the state reaches 70 percent, this could mean hundreds of unvaccinated, unmasked people attending his Sunday service. And that has Neyland worried.
In Oregon, Pastor Shon Neyland is fighting the forces keeping about half of his congregants from getting the vaccine. https://t.co/R0iZHH0Im9
— NPR (@NPR) June 28, 2021
So I took a risk, and said, gently, “Imagine eternity from God’s point of view. Imagine God having all that love pent up like you have right now. But the difference is, God’s got that love all pent up potentially forever. God’s like you. God’s thinking, ‘Where’s my love to go?’ So God creates the universe. But God’s got still more love to give. So God creates life, and makes humanity, and calls a special people. But that’s still not enough. God’s got yet more love to give. So God comes among us as a tiny baby. God’s question ‘Where is my love to go?’ is perhaps the most important one of all time. Half the answer is the creation of the universe. The other half is the incarnation. On Christmas Day we find out why the universe was created. It was created for us to be the place where God’s love could go.”
In case I hadn’t made myself clear, I added one more suggestion. “So when you ask yourself, ‘Where’s my love to go?’ you’re getting an insight into the very heart of God.”
The pandemic has been about many things, but one above all: powerlessness. It’s been an intensification of life’s fragilities and limitations. We’ve felt fearful, lonely, and disappointed. Where is our love to go? We’ve not been getting an easy answer to this question. We’re getting something else instead: the discovery of what it’s like to be God, who asked the same question and came among us to complete the answer. What the pandemic’s given us is an opportunity to dwell in the very heart of God.
(CC) Samuel Wells on 1 man's question in 1 group on one particular day https://t.co/58bsAiN9HU (CC BY-SA 3.0 Duke Chapel) '“Love,” I said. “It’s all abt love..Don’t talk to me about love…How’s that supposed 2 relate to me?“ Where’s my love to go now?..Tell me That"' #theology pic.twitter.com/eVrZmTiz9p
— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) June 16, 2021
A second word of caution concerns attitudes of wokeness. I find a troubling naivety within the movement with its apparent view that sexism only occurs with men, and racism only with white people. The sad reality is that all human beings have a tendency to be unjust to others. As the Bible says well, ‘All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23 NIV). This means that all human beings treat other human beings unfairly. All of us love others inadequately in our personal lives and in our political and communal structures. Studies show that all human beings hold some form of conscious or unconscious bias. It is part of the fallen and broken world which goes against God’s original design of perfect love for all. We need to acknowledge that division and bias runs through every human heart. As I have often said, ‘At the heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart.’
My third area of caution is the motives of wokeness. At the heart of the woke movement seems to be a bitter mindset that delights in finding breaches of its moral code. The fuel for wokeness often seems to be anger: something seen not just in violent demonstrations but in the hunting out and pursuit of offenders. Journalists, executives, celebrities and even preachers increasingly find themselves carefully checking what they write or say, lest those committed to a woke ideology slander them on social media and then at their door. People are tagged as either ‘woke’ or ‘unwoke’ and are not seen as whole, complex human beings with moral and immoral biases. This kind of generalisation about a person is the very posture ‘wokeness’ decries.
I offer a word of caution on the actions of wokeness. With some justification, wokeness has been criticised for mainly being words and not actions. Certainly, while there’s much to be said for evaluating the sins of the past with justice there’s much more to be said for seeking to remedy the sins of the present with grace. Although in theory I applaud the demands for reparations over past historic injustices, I find them problematic in practice. Let me give an example. I am a Greek Cypriot, and over history Cyprus has been looted, colonised and oppressed by Romans, Arabs, Turks and the British. So who do we Cypriots take to court? What is needed is for us to come together to work for a more just society today. We need to repent of the past and then work for a more just society. Followers of Jesus should be on the front line of speaking out against racism, disparity and oppression.
The message of wokeness calls on all people and the whole of society to treat every human being with love, dignity and justice (which, paradoxically, is something they are not doing). This reconciling message lies at the very heart of God, exemplified in the person of Jesus. In this sense we all should be awakened and we also need to acknowledge that there are significant aspects missing in the woke movement. Jesus’ final prayer was that his followers would all be one … one human race, one human family, one church. This requires speaking the truth in love and an abundance of patience and grace.
Ultimately, then, I feel that wokeness needs to be greeted by wariness. Although it has much that is good in it I cannot help but sense that at its heart lies an aching void. The concept of ‘being woke’ is an attempt to create moral boundaries but without God.
The Rev. Canon J. John Ali Lecture at Saint Philip’s, Charleston, SC, Yesterday https://t.co/G0zqYDzKrm #anglican #theology #adulteducation #parishministry #evangelism pic.twitter.com/pEdd41HC43
— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) January 22, 2020
Taylor said he had desired to keep his abuse private but felt compelled to make a public statement after some critics on social media suggested he had been involved in a cover-up.
“My heart goes out to all those abused by Smyth in this country and in Africa,” he said.
Churchwardens at St Helen’s Bishopsgate have published letter to the congregation detailing the action they have taken in response to the 31:8 review of Fletcher abuse – including an independent legal investigation into the knowledge of William Taylor https://t.co/7JDnqa9NTn
— John Stevens (@_JohnStevens) June 6, 2021
An Anglican pastor was among 50 people killed in separate attacks in the troubled eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Local officials and monitor groups said on June 1 that the attacks on May 31 night were the worst seen in at least four years in the troubled Tchabi and Boga regions in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, bordering Uganda.
The army blamed the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamist armed group, for raiding villages.
Albert Basegu, head of a civil rights group in Boga, told Reuters that he came to know about the attack there by the sound of cries at a neighboring house.
An Anglican pastor among 50 people killed in separate attacks in the troubled eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Read more… https://t.co/G47eHJU2C3 #Congo #UnitedStates— UCA News (@UCANews) June 2, 2021
In keeping with A Call to Human Dignity, the Council of the General Synod of The Anglican Church of Canada expressed a commitment to ensuring that those who hold positions of trust or power in the church do not take advantage of, or abuse, that trust or power. It is with this commitment in mind that I share with you the difficult decision made today by Archbishop Lynne McNaughton to inhibit Bishop Lincoln McKoen from his duties as diocesan bishop of the Territory of the People, effective immediately.
Read it all and there is a letter to the diocese about the matter here.
“When you have experienced the power of the sea and storms at night it makes you open to something beyond the secular world.
“It is not difficult to have faith-based conversations”.
Describing his own faith, Lee explains, “When I am outside on a ship or a boat at night, I look at the night sky and I don’t have any doubts at all. It confirms my faith. I can see God in the stars; I can see His power and His love.”
It is at those times, Lee says, that he remembered the verses from Psalm 107: ‘Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep.’
Lee is currently on placement at Oldhams Church in Bolton, completing his studies at St. Mellitus College and will be ordained as Deacon in July.
“When you have experienced the power of the sea and storms at night it makes you open to something beyond the secular world.”
After a 22-year career at sea, Captain Lee Higson is training as an Ordinand with @DioManchester.https://t.co/jiplwex6xk
— The Church of England (@churchofengland) June 1, 2021
A church is to create an educational area about a slave trader who became an abolitionist.
John Newton was curate of St Peter and Paul’s Church in Olney, Buckinghamshire, between 1764 and 1780.
During that time he wrote the hymn Amazing Grace.
Churchwarden David Phillipson said the church was “not trying to glorify the slave trade” but rather educate people about Mr Newton’s work to help abolish slavery.
Thousands of people visit the church every year, prompting the plans for an educational space.
Proposals for the project were approved by the Church of England’s Consistory Court.
Mr Phillipson said: “We are not trying to glorify the slave trade by having this area but educate people and explain what happened and what John Newton eventually did in terms of his work to abolish the slave trade and write Amazing Grace, which is known worldwide.”
A Buckinghamshire church is to create an educational area about a slave trader who became an abolitionist.https://t.co/8LULgP1mCO
— BBC Three Counties Radio (@BBC3CR) June 2, 2021
There is both an audio and a video option.
Filming a new @RidleyInstitute course with Ashley Null and Bishop Fitz Allison @standrewsmp @The_ACNA pic.twitter.com/oEsXJp0fcy
— Bishop Steve Wood (@revstevewood) May 7, 2019
Watch it all and note the role of faith all the way though; I especially love the policewoman’s reference to daily prayer; KSH.
The sermon starts about 46 minutes in.
Pressure on clergy to deliver additional online services against a backdrop of diminishing financial and human resources, has contributed to an unprecedented increase in clergy referrals for psychological care, a psychiatrist said this week.
St Luke’s Healthcare for the Clergy, which provides access to advice and clinical care for clergy and their families, provided 146 psychological appointments in the first ten weeks of 2021 — up from 43 in the first 12 weeks of 2020.
Dr Gary Bell, a psychiatrist who serves as both a trustee of St Luke’s and a consultant, expects consultations to double this year. “This is the highest level of demand for help from clergy that I have experienced over the ten years I have been associated with St Luke’s,” he said.
The increase had highlighted “the many and varied ways in which the pandemic has adversely affected the life of the Church. Clergy are now under immense pressure to deliver more than ever before, their traditional ministerial roles being added to by the demand for an ongoing online presence, with correspondingly diminishing financial and human resources. It is hardly surprising that rates of anxiety, depression, and burnout have skyrocketed.”
Pandemic pressure on clergy has tripled psychiatric referrals, says St Luke’s psychiatrist https://t.co/KUSeZCpUvQ
— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) May 14, 2021
The sermon starts about 30:10 in.
Listen carefully for an illustration from Donald Grey Barnhouse (1895-1960), pastor of the Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1927 to 1960.
Chuck DeGroat, professor of counseling and Christian spirituality at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, said pastors have long had to mediate disputes over theology or church practice, like the role of women in the church or the so-called “worship wars” of recent decades. They now face added stresses from the pandemic and polarization, with people willing to leave their churches over mask policies or discussions of race.
“I’m hearing from pastors that they just don’t know what to do,” he said.
A recent survey of Protestant pastors by the research firm Barna Group found that 29% said they had given “real, serious consideration to quitting being in full-time ministry within the last year.”
David Kinnaman, president of Barna, said the past year has been a “crucible” for pastors. Churches have become fragmented by political and social divides. They have also become frayed, as “people’s connectedness to local congregations is waning.
“The pandemic was a great revealer of the challenges churches face,” said Kinnaman.
The past year has been hard for many people — including some pastors who decided to leave the clergy after feeling fed up with debates around politics and the pandemic.https://t.co/7XEUTyylI5
— Paul O'Donnell (@PaulODonnellEIC) May 7, 2021
From there:
News from the Bishop Coadjutor Search Committee
April 29, 2021The committee selected to search for the next Bishop of The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina met in an overnight retreat at St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center Sunday evening, April 18 and Monday April 19.
We began and ended our overnight steeped in prayer and all had a truly blessed time watching in awe as the power of the Holy Spirit moved, molded and shaped our thoughts and directed our hearts. This committee remains convinced that our Lord has already chosen our next bishop and that we, on the committee, are merely affirming God’s choice.
You may remember that according to our timeline we offered a very long inquiry period in which the entire Anglican Diocese of South Carolina was invited to suggest a priest for consideration by the committee. We received a large number of suggested names during this first phase which concluded on April 1.
The majority of those suggestions ended in the suggested priest deciding themselves not to go any further in the process. For those remaining, we divided the names amongst us and are now checking references and setting up appointments for interviews via Zoom. All of the remaining nominees will be interviewed by the committee as a whole on Zoom and also every remaining nominee will be visited in their ministries by small teams of committee members. This phase of the search process is scheduled to end June 24 when the Search Committee meets as a whole to hear reports from the teams who visited the nominees.
Here’s a timeline of remaining tasks to be completed by the Bishop’s Search Committee:
April 23 –May 23 – Zoom meetings by entire search committee with every remaining suggested person.
May 24 – the Bishop’s Search Committee meets as a whole to consider a list of nominees who will move on in the process.
May 25 through June 23 – the final list of nominees will be visited in their ministry context.
June 25 – Search Committee meets to approve final list to be presented to the Standing Committee.
July 6 – The Standing Committee makes their choices as to whom will continue in the process, pending extensive background checks.
August 1 – an official list of Candidates for Bishop Coadjutor will be published with a suggested date or dates for a walkabout or for several walkabouts for diocesan delegates to meet the candidates.
Around September 11– Walkabout (or walkabouts) to be held for the diocesan delegates to meet the candidates. The Walkabout or walkabouts will be hosted by the Search Committee.
October 16 – Ballots to be cast for Bishop Coadjutor at a special Diocesan Electing Convention.
After October 16 – ACNA College of Bishops meets to approve Diocesan selection of new Bishop.
March 12, 2022 (God willing) – Consecration of new Bishop at Diocesan Convention
Thank you so very much for your faithful prayer for this search committee. We can honestly feel your participation and the undergirding that you provide through your prayers. Please continue!
Respectfully Submitted ,
John Burwell,
Communications member of the Bishop’s Search Committee
With significant sadness, the Vestry of the Cathedral Church of the Advent has accepted the resignation of Andrew Pearson as our Dean and Rector. Andrew has discerned that the ongoing tension he feels serving in the Episcopal Church makes him no longer able to serve as the spiritual leader of the Advent. Although saddened, we are grateful for the significant gifts which he has shared with us for nearly ten years, and remain confident that those gifts will continue to be exercised for our Lord’s kingdom, leading people to Christ. In that sense, we are excited for him and continue to love and support Andrew, Lauren, and their girls, wishing them Godspeed as they move to this next chapter in their lives.
Andrew’s last Sunday as our Dean and Rector will be May 16. He will preach at both services, and also teach the Dean’s Class. We look forward to a reception for Andrew and Lauren that afternoon, after the 11:15 service, in the Rector’s Garden.
Although the Advent has its own tension with the Episcopal Church, we are hopeful that the new leadership of Bishop Glenda Curry has provided an opportunity to build a foundation for a continued and generational peace between the Advent and the Diocese. Accordingly, the Vestry of the Advent appointed a team to talk with Bishop Curry to find a better, amicable path forward while protecting the essential attributes of the Advent. During these discussions, the Bishop has affirmed the Advent’s ability to express its theology and its ability to call, develop, and maintain clergy who are committed to the Advent’s theological expression.
The sermon starts about 26:20 in.
But such evangelicals, a fraction of the global majority, are not typical. Most evangelicals are more aligned with the faith modelled by John Stott, which had nothing to do with ethnic or political allegiance but simply a personal devotion to Jesus Christ as saviour and Lord, belief in the trustworthiness of the Bible, and a commitment to live out their faith in daily practice.
Decade after decade, Stott travelled around the globe, speaking and teaching at conferences, building friendships among church leaders in the majority world, and mentoring young men and women by his own example of humility, integrity, and servanthood. Together with Billy Graham, he launched the Lausanne Movement in 1974 which, in partnership with the World Evangelical Alliance, holds evangelicals to the historical legacy of Wesley, Wilberforce, and Shaftesbury – integrating their evangelistic message and mission with social action in combatting the evils of poverty, injustice, racism and slavery.
As an Anglican clergyman who stayed rooted in his own local parish for 50 years, he had a profound love for the Church of England and the rapidly growing Anglican churches in other continents, especially in Africa. He founded and inspired the Evangelical Fellowship in the Anglican Communion (EFAC), a global network to encourage faithfulness to the Bible’s teaching and moral standards. But his vision also embraced all denominations of the global church – he founded the Langham Partnership to resource churches worldwide with enhanced theological scholarship, quality literature in local languages and cultures, and training in biblical preaching.
Nice piece in @spectator for the centenary of John Stott’s birth.https://t.co/Y8fcpvZZQm
— Peter J. Williams (@DrPJWilliams) April 21, 2021
Moving In Power, Transitions in Ordained Ministry, part of the Living Ministry research project, explores transitions from ordination to curacy and first posts, between posts and in the period before retirement.
The qualitative panel draws on individual and group interviews with 72 clergy and examines their wellbeing based on five dimensions: spiritual and vocational, physical and mental, relationships, financial and material, and participation in the wider church.
The study makes suggestions for good practice for the person in transition, theological education institutions, diocesan officers and senior clergy, parishes and the national church, arguing that each of these has a role to play in supporting ordinands and clergy through periods of transition.
The report also explores underlying dynamics and relationships during transition periods. It includes a theological reflection by the Very Revd Dr Frances Ward, former Dean of St Edmundsbury.
We have published the latest findings from research into clergy wellbeing.
The study, conducted over 10 years, looks into the factors that enable clergy to flourish in ministry.https://t.co/OMr4ymcNuu
— The Church of England (@churchofengland) April 20, 2021