There is no typical day in the life of a vicar. Before the pandemic, an average day might consist of morning prayer, a midweek eucharist service, catching up with emails, visiting our community café, doing some admin, going on home visits and a meeting or two in the evening. Vicars are often described as being “paid not to work” – what that means is, although you might have a lot on, you’re available and around. You should never be too “busy” for people – I think that’s a damaging, corporate word.

Since the pandemic, the workload has been consistent, but different. At the moment, my time is split between three days in the parish and three days across two hospitals in Nottingham. I can’t physically be with my congregation right now, but all of the admin, preparation for worship, meetings and pastoral stuff goes on – it’s just moved online. I’ve had to become an expert in livestreaming and Zoom, which takes time, and mentally it takes up a lot more headspace. Celebrating the eucharist from behind the altar and looking out at loads of empty seats is still a very odd thing.

One of the things I’m finding most difficult is that I love people and I love being alongside them – to physically not be with them during this time is hard. I’m also careful to protect my own mental health: when you’re in the parish or the vicarage, you feel like you’re always “on”, but vicars are also human. In the past I’d disappear into town if I needed a break, settle into a coffeeshop and write my sermon; just being in a different place was mentally uplifting. Now, that’s not possible.

But it’s strange; even though we’re far apart, we’ve never felt so united as a congregation.

Read it all.

I’m a hospital chaplain working during the coronavirus crisis – it’s the funerals that are the hardest https://t.co/WAM2OyFNCb

— The Independent (@Independent) May 28, 2020

A vicar has been appointed as the next Archdeacon of Durham.

The Right Reverend Paul Butler, Bishop of Durham has said Revd Canon Libby Wilkinson will take on the role as well as becoming Director of Mission, Discipleship and Ministry for the Diocese.

She was ordained in Durham in 2005 after training for ordination at NEOC and served her curacy in Harlow Green and Lamsley in Gateshead before becoming Priest in Charge at St Barnabas, Burnmoor.

She then became Vicar of Bishopwearmouth St Gabriel’s, Sunderland in 2016 and was made a non-residentiary Canon of Durham Cathedral in 2019.

Read it all.

Diocese appoints vicar as the new Archdeacon https://t.co/yIz6zA9g1F

— Diocese of Durham (@DioceseofDurham) May 20, 2020

This [past] week, nearly all U.S. church leaders (96%) express confidence in their church’s survival rate despite current disruptions. A quarter (25%) is confident, with another seven in 10 (71%) stating they are “very” confident in this scenario. Three percent remain unsure, and a single percent doubts their church doors will reopen again.

What makes the majority of pastors so sure their church will reopen again? Three in five (60%) believe their people are excited and anxious to return to church. One-quarter attributes this confidence to their current financial standing, with 21 percent saying their finances have remained stable during the crisis and another 4 percent voicing optimism that their finances will recover. One in 10 (11%) believes that God will not allow their church to close.

Read it all.

On churches re-opening, “ I’m encouraging church leaders to do, especially smaller churches, is to find out what your peers are doing in other churches.” – Thom Rainer https://t.co/uwtwCH5v5I

— Barna Group (@BarnaGroup) May 18, 2020

The dangers to be avoided: (i) Secularization. A clergyman may become secular by giving too much time to the study and discussion of great social problems, and also by throwing himself too freely into superficial society life. (2) He is in danger from over-occupation. Often he would do more if he did less. (3) He is in danger from depression. This may arise from lack of bodily health, or from a mind wearied by long, uninterrupted tension, or from a lack of money; and,
whatever be its cause, it unfits a minister for his great duties, and sometimes ends in despondency, which, someone has said, “is self-confidence which has failed.”

Read it all. Please note that at the time A. W. Robinson was vicar of All Hallows-by-the-Tower.

Bishop Steve Wood was released from the hospital following 10 days on a ventilator amidst treatment for COVID-19. An otherwise healthy man in his 50s who had not before been hospitalized, Wood is far from the image of elderly or medically compromised patients we regularly read about in the news.

The rector of St. Andrew’s Church and bishop for the Anglican Diocese of the Carolinas shares with the Institute on Religion & Democracy’s Jeff Walton about what sustained him during a period of intensive care, ongoing recovery and God bringing “beauty from ashes.”

Take the time to watch it all (just under 18 minutes).

“I don’t believe that God promises to spare his people from these kinds of things,” @revstevewood says after 10 days on a ventilator. “Paul tells us in Romans that God’s ways are inscrutable … there are times when we have experiences of severe mercy” https://t.co/lluClj8ise

— Jeff Walton (@jeffreyhwalton) May 11, 2020

You can listen directly there and you may also suffer through the video version there (the sermon starts at about 32:40 in).

In his five years as a hospital chaplain, the Rev Steven Chewning has anointed the sick more times than he can remember.

The ritual of applying oil to the forehead of someone ill or dying is considered one of the most intimate of Christian sacraments. But when Covid-19 restricted Chewning’s access and left him working from home, a family’s request to anoint a young father who was intubated and critical forced him to get creative. While performing the rite over speakerphone with the help of a nurse (who is an atheist), Chewning found himself not only reimagining his own duties, but the very conception of holy space.

From his bedroom, the chaplain recited his litany, reading from James 5 and Mark 6, where Jesus first sends his disciples to anoint the sick. “O Holy One, giver of health and salvation, send your holy spirit to sanctify this oil,” he prayed, his words ringing over the drone of the ventilator. “As your holy apostles anointed many who were sick so may those who in faith receive this holy unction be made whole. Can you please rub a drop of oil on the patient’s forehead?”

“You want me to make it like a cross? I think that’d be meaningful.”

“Yeah, sure, if you don’t mind.”

Read it all.

“Like the ancient Israelites who carried God in a tent while they wandered through the wilderness, chaplains are having to find God in unexpected places.” @bryanmealer @guardian #COVID19 https://t.co/Xkr9EuO811

— Kristin Collier (@KristinCollie20) May 6, 2020

People who are used to being in control are among those most affected by the stress of the coronavirus lockdown: they can feel helpless in the face of a problem that they cannot deal with, a psychotherapist and studies have said.

One priest who works as a group analytic psychotherapist, the Revd Dr Anne Holmes, said that the “underlying angst is a very hard thing for people who are normally high-functioning. Adjusting puts a strain on them.” Describing the virus as the “unknown enemy”, she continued: “Because everyone is aware this is a unique situation and unknown to our usual living experiences, people with important positions have tended to downgrade themselves and might not be asking for help for themselves because it is not important in the great range of things.

“Those whose identity is tied up with being the one in charge are at risk of grandiosity and are likely to falter when faced with a situation over which they have no control.”

She compared the current crisis to her experiences as an army wife living in Belfast during the Troubles. “In Ireland, you got used to checking the car and having your handbag searched. You knew what you were dealing with. The difficulty with this is that it could be anywhere, on anything. People even worry about their shopping.”

Read it all.

Church leaders tell of the effects of the ‘unknown enemy’ for people with mental-health problems https://t.co/Gb3451t46e

— Ian Beckett (@ian_beckett) May 1, 2020

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.You may also suffer through the video version there (the sermon starts at about 23:15 in).

“And it happened that, while [Jesus] was with [the two disciples] at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.” (Lk 24:30-31)

Supper at Emmaus by Rembrandt. pic.twitter.com/6wCmbcu64r

— Christian Culture (@Christian8Pics) April 24, 2019

In consultation with Bishop Lawrence and the Wardens, we agreed to delay the announcement while so much was unknown. Although our current situation still has many question marks, the initial shock of COVID-19 has past, and it remains uncertain when we shall re-gather. Again, in consultation with wise counsel, I have decided to invite you into
the midst of this journey we are on as a family. We would appreciate your love and prayers as we walk into a new season with plenty of unknowns.

If you have limited experience with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) as I did, you should know that Parkinson’s is a neuron-condition which affects the brains dopamine-producing cells. Thislack of dopamine causes a myriad of fairly unpredictable symptoms in the bodies of those afflicted. PD is a “snowflake disease” with no set pattern of symptoms and no known cause or cure. Statistically, I am slightly young to have PD with the average age of onset being 55.Because of the advances in treatment, PD does not generally shorten one’s lifespan.

My prognosis in the near term (10 years+) is good. I have been on a medicine and exercise regimen since January that has produced some very good results….

Read it all.

The Rector of Saint Helena’s, Beaufort, writes the parish he serves about his medical situation https://t.co/GBYCr513hf #parishministry #family #marriage #children #health #southcarolina #anglican pic.twitter.com/sbyZyDT4Ka

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) April 23, 2020

In recent days I have found myself thinking a great deal about Richard Peirson.

In 1665, the year of the Great Plague, Peirson was the priest here at St Bride’s Church, Fleet Street, the post that I now hold. Faced with the unimaginable horror of the plague, many clergy fled London. Peirson was one of the few who chose to remain. He stayed at his post, faithfully serving his people as best he could, for the whole of that terrible year.

Our burial register for the year 1665 makes for startling reading. Our parish was a densely populated area and the impact of the plague was devastating. In the month of September alone, when the plague was at its height, Peirson buried 636 people — 43 of them on a single day. There are so many burials that he signs his name at the bottom of each page of the register, rather than against individual entries. He buries whole families; he buries his church officials; he buries unknown and unidentified strangers: some entries read simply: “A child from Kingshead Ally” or “A man from new street”. The symptoms of bubonic plague were horrific and the recovery rate was effectively nil.

I can’t help wondering how Peirson kept going during that year. I wonder what he prayed about and how it affected his faith; I wonder what kept him here, quietly and steadfastly ministering to his flock, day after dreadful day, when every human instinct within him must have craved escape. And Peirson was not alone….

Read it all (subscription).

Early on, the medical team told Jacqui that her husband might be on the ventilator three to five days. But so much about this new virus remained unknown. They consulted with doctors across the country and across the state.

As Wood approached his first week on the ventilator, his medical team wanted to try removing him from it. His X-rays looked better, his oxygen saturation improved.

But his body could not handle breathing on its own.

More time, more loneliness, more fear. Jacqui saw on the news that the average COVID-19 patient was staying on a ventilator closer to eight to 11 days. She figured that if he went more than 11 days, she’d panic more.

On day 10, a Monday, his doctor tried again to wean him.

This time, his lungs responded. He no longer needed the ventilator.

His overnight nurse got him out of bed and into a chair. The nurse took a picture around 4 a.m. and texted it to Jacqui.

The next day, his nurse called Jacqui on FaceTime so she could see her husband. Wood could barely get his hand to his mouth. His throat was too raw to speak. But he could answer yes and no.

He was in there. He would be OK. They would all be OK.

Read it all.

Bishop Steve Wood was on a ventilator, fighting COVID-19, for 10 days.

And lived to realize it.https://t.co/dPbeT3fUYy

— The Post and Courier (@postandcourier) April 19, 2020

A deacon who left medicine to join the church has gone back to the NHS front line to help fight coronavirus because there was “a need and an ask”.

The Reverend Dr Susan Salt spent more than 30 years as a physician before joining Blackburn Diocese in 2019.

She decided to rejoin Blackpool Victoria Hospital after the government called on retired medics to return.

She said she hoped her experience meant she could support patients “spiritually and mentally as well as physically”.

Dr Salt, who lives in Grimsargh and was working in the Preston and Garstang area, joined a diocese group responding to the pandemic in March, providing medical and bereavement advice and guidance.

Read it all.

A Lancashire Deacon who left medicine for the church is returning to the NHS front line.
Hear from Reverend Dr Susan Salt on Friday’s breakfast show with @GrahamLiver
https://t.co/SfccThUsTU

— BBC Lancashire (🏠 #StayHomeSaveLives) (@BBCLancashire) April 16, 2020

A PRIEST in Wrexham has become the first in Wales to be licensed for a new ministry through a virtual service.

The Rev Heather Shotton was due to have been licensed as assistant curate for the Offa Mission Area at a large church service in St Mary’s, Ruabon, last Sunday. That had to be called off due to Covid-19 restrictions and the closure of all church buildings. So she was licensed instead in a virtual service carried out via Zoom from her study with just her husband physically present.

Six vicars from different churches gathered online for the service to celebrate Heather’s new role.

It was led by the Archdeacon of Wrexham, John Lomas…. He said: “Priests can only operate under a license from a Bishop. There are clergy like Heather who had already been placed and were awaiting their license before the present crisis. This would normally take place within a service at their new appointment. So as not to create difficulties and gaps in mission the Bishop asked if we could conduct the licensing virtually.

“We used the form of service that had been prepared for Heather’s welcome and licensing. I brought clergy together from Heather’s former church, St Giles in Wrexham and her new Mission Area which includes Ruabon, Chirk and Penycae and we did the service and the licence by Zoom.

“Heather needed to sign the licence so it has been posted to her.”

Read it all.

He has also wrestled with his own fear. Walking the halls of temporary coronavirus wards amid the pumping hiss of mechanical ventilators and shellshocked hospital workers, he said: “I started to think about, maybe I could get this. Maybe it could kill me.” Yet Father Devaney still finds avenues of grace. “What gives me hope is that in the Catholic funeral liturgy, it says, life hasn’t ended, it has changed. So for me the hope is that there is a supernatural reality we can’t see, that there is eternal life, life in eternity. And that death doesn’t have the final word.”

Yet these sacrifices make up the core of the faith. The Gospel of John recounts that after arising from his tomb, Jesus Christ appeared to Mary Magdalene, who had come to tend to his body. He called to her by name, and recognizing her beloved teacher, she rushed to embrace him. “Do not touch me,” he said. How jarring that must have been to hear, and how painful to refrain — impossible, perhaps, save for the belief, held close in her heart, that the time would soon come to touch him again.

Read it all.

In the light of today’s Gospel, which she references at the end, read this compelling ⁦@ebruenig⁩ report of Dominican friars in Manhattan up-ending their existence in order to minister in the crisis. https://t.co/jdqPpR1yFv

— Austen Ivereigh (@austeni) April 14, 2020

Morning worship including a sermon from Bishop Lawrence for Palm Sunday which starts at about 35:15ish….

Palm Sunday Sermon 2020 from Bishop Mark Lawrence from The Anglican Diocese of SC on Vimeo.

In 1899 a relatively obscure priest working in a City Mission in the slums of South Boston was compiling a book on prayer from articles he had written for the Saint Andrew’s Cross, a magazine of the recently established lay order of the Protestant Episcopal Church known as the Brotherhood of St. Andrew. Seven years before, this celibate priest had left the Order of the Cowley Father’s whose House was just across the Charles River in Cambridge. Although he left the order over a dispute between his superior, Fr. A. C. A. Hall and the Order’s Father Superior in England, the young priest never left the inward embrace of the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience””even less did he leave behind the spiritual disciplines of the religious life he had learned so well under Fr. Hall’s steady hand. Somewhere between his pastoral and social work among the sordidness and squalor of the South End””replete with red light district, street waifs, immigrants and vagrants”” and his late night vigils of intercessory prayer or early mornings spent in meditation, not to mention the full round of parish duties, he found the time to write. In the final chapter of his little book, With God in the World, he wrote words that now appear as strangely prescient for his own life: “Men””we are not thinking of butterflies””cannot exist without difficulty. To be shorn of it means death, because inspiration is bound up with it, and inspiration is the breath of God, without the constant influx of which man ceases to be a living soul. Responsibility is the sacrament of inspiration. . . . The fault of most modern prophets is not that they present too high an ideal, but an ideal that is sketched with a faltering hand; the appeal to self-sacrifice is too timid and imprecise, the challenge to courage is too low-voiced, with the result that the tide of inspiration ebbs and flows.” He was to parse this belief taking root in his soul, with the phrase “the inspiration of responsibility”. Within two short years he would have the opportunity to test these words with his life.

His name was Charles Henry Brent, born the son of an Anglican clergyman from New Castle, Ontario in 1862. How Charles Brent, a Canadian by birth, came to be a priest in of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and under the episcopacy of the renowned Phillips Brooks, and later, the almost equally celebrated Bishop William Lawrence, is itself an interesting story we haven’t time to explore. Suffice to say that God seemed to be grooming through the seemingly quixotic twists and turns of providence a bishop not merely for the church or for one nation, but for the world””a man, of whom it could be said, he was Everybody’s Bishop.

You may find Part One there and Part Two here. Take the time to read it all.

In the past few weeks, the Christians of the world have been holding their first major conference in some 500 years for the specific purpose of seeing what can be done about unifying Christianity as the sum of its world-wide parts.

Preparation. Today the parts (denominations) number 200-odd, all of them organized as distinct entities. The practical necessity of relating so many parts, of discovering identity among so many entities, was established by the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910. The logical necessity was established later the same year, at a convention of the Episcopal Church in Cincinnati. The man who then proposed a world conference on Faith & Order lived to see such a conference actually held, after 17 years of preparation, and to preside over it as chairman, at Lausanne, Switzerland, the past three weeks.

Chairman Brent. This man was Bishop Charles Henry Brent of the Episcopal diocese of Western New York. Canadian-born and educated, naturalized in the U. S., an obscure worker in the awkward robes of the Cowley Fathers among the poor of Boston, later (under Bishop Phillips Brooks) an Episcopal rector who was made a missionary bishop and sent to the Philippines because of his earnest simplicity, rugged strength and adaptability among people of other races, it was Bishop Brent who confirmed General Pershing in the Philippines and subsequently became Chaplain-in-Chief of the A. E. F.

First in war, first in peace, Bishop Brent had had experience in handling international conferences, as president of opium parleys at Shanghai (1909) and The Hague (1911). He declined the bishoprics of Washington, D. C., and New Jersey, to preserve for his world ministry the freedom of action he enjoys at Buffalo, N. Y. When his world ministry reached its peak this month, he was not content merely to preside over the hundreds of churchmen he had brought together, but went with them into their councils; explained, directed, adjusted and dictated daily despatches on their progress to the New York Herald Tribune.

Read it all (requires subscription).

A new survey by Barna Research found over the course of just a week, most church leaders went from thinking they’d be back to meeting as usual in late or March or April (52%), to projecting the changes would extend to May or longer (68%).

“There is this realism that’s setting in,” said David Kinnaman, Barna Group president.

But while most pastors are realistic, they’re also optimistic, according to Kinnaman. “One of the cool things about pastors we’ve learned over the years is that they are by job description and by disposition more upbeat, positive, hope-filled people,” he said. “So they are often pretty capable of putting a good face in a tough situation, and they, like other leaders, are going to face a lot of tough decisions in the coming weeks as the crisis continues.”

Though most had already called off normal activities at church, pastors also implemented swift changes in policies around smaller group meetings over the past several days.

The percentage who still allow the church building to be used for “small meetings and gatherings” has dropped by about half (from 18% to 8%), according to Barna’s Church Pulse survey, hearing from 434 Protestant senior pastors and executive pastors in the US. A plurality say the church staff will be working remotely for the foreseeable future (up from 25% to 40%).

Read it all.

Pastors, yes, are worried about how the lack of Sunday services translates into a decrease in giving.

But the biggest concern is congregants: how to care for isolated members from afar and, in worst-case scenarios, how to minister to the sick and dying https://t.co/ww4GNzQlYW

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) March 31, 2020

So Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even unto the time appointed; and there died of the people from Dan even unto Beersheba seventy thousand men. And when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough; now stay thy hand.
—Samuel 24:15–16

We know now, perhaps, as we have never known before the meaning of the terms pestilence, plague, epidemic, since we have been passing through this terrible scourge of Spanish influenza, with its enormous death rate and its consequent wretchedness and misery. Every part of the land has felt its deadly touch—North, South, East and West—in the Army, in the Navy, among civilians, among all classes and conditions, rich and poor, high and low, white and black. Over the whole land it has thrown a gloom, and has stricken down such large numbers that it has been difficult to care for them properly, overcrowding all of our hospitals—and it has proven fatal in so many cases that it has been difficult at times to get coffins enough in which to place the dead, and men enough to dig graves fast enough in which to bury them. Our own beautiful city has suffered terribly from it, making it necessary, as a precautionary measure, to close the schools, theaters, churches, and to forbid all public gathering within doors as well as outdoors. At last, however, the scourge has been stayed, and we are permitted again to resume the public worship of God, and to open again the schools of our city.

Now that the worst is over, I have been thinking, as doubtless you have all been, of these calamitous weeks through which we have been passing—thinking of the large numbers that have been sick—the large numbers that have died, the many, many homes that have been made desolate—the many, many bleeding, sorrowing hearts that have been left behind, and I have been asking myself the question, What is the meaning of it all? What ought it to mean to us? Is it to come and go and we be no wiser, or better for it? Surely God had a purpose in it, and it is our duty to find out, as far as we may, what that purpose is, and try to profit by it.

Among the things which stand out in my own mind, as I have been thinking the whole matter over, are these…

Read it all.

#BHM2014 we remember Francis James Grimke, a slave during Civil War. Became pastor of the 15th St. Presby Church, DC pic.twitter.com/ggaEfVR9KJ

— Princeton Seminary (@ptseminary) February 20, 2014

Dear St. Philip’s Family,

This past week of social distancing has been a surreal and difficult experience for the majority of Americans. Many are beginning to think that if the coronavirus doesn’t get them, “Cabin Fever” will. Not since World War II or the polio epidemic of the 1940s and ’50s have the American people been so inconvenienced or threatened with long-term confinement and financial ruin. It reminds me of the following story shared by the Very Reverend Laurie Thompson, Dean of Trinity Seminary.

In a series of lectures on preaching, the late D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones recalled an incident from the bombings that took place in London during the fall of 1940. During that time the citizens of London were required to remain in underground bomb shelters for long periods of time while “the Blitz” was carried out by the German Luftwaffe. The experience of being confined in shelters was psychologically difficult, and many people struggled to cope with their sense of helplessness. He tells the story of one fireman who rushed out of a bomb shelter after the Luftwaffe had departed. Using two hammers, he began pounding on a steel pillar at the foundation of a public building. After the police arrived and stopped him, the fireman was asked why he was pounding on the pillar. He said, “I don’t know. I just felt I had to be doing something.”

Read it all.

You can listen directly there and download the mp3 there.

Sir James Thornhill, 1675-1734, English painter, Ananias and Sapphira, 1729-31, (Copy after Raphael) pic.twitter.com/s4091Am0FC

— Gjeraqina Ukshini (@gjeni_u) October 28, 2015

The resignation of the Precentor has left Lincoln Cathedral without a single permanent residential canon.

The Reverend Canon Sal McDougall has announced that she will leave the cathedral in May after three years in her current post.

Lincoln Cathedral credited her with playing a key role in developing and organising its special services.

“It is a tremendous privilege to be responsible for the worship and music in such an incredible place,” The Reverend Canon Sal McDougall said.

Read it all.

Another senior figure at Lincoln Cathedral will stand down https://t.co/dP4KS9eafw

— The Lincolnite (@thelincolnite) March 5, 2020

“We have lost a great champion for the gospel, for evangelism and for healthy churches engaged in ministry and mission,” said Archbishop Glenn Davies. “Our Diocese has lost a faithful bishop and teacher of God’s word. I have lost a good friend and loyal colleague. Virginia and her family have lost a loving husband, father and grandfather.”

Bishop Lee was the first Bishop of Chinese descent in Sydney Diocese and only the second in Australia. He served a record 17 years as Bishop of Western Sydney after his consecration in 2003. Even though his successor, Gary Koo, was appointed last year, he continued to serve as Bishop for Evangelism and Church Growth until he was forced to go into hospital in January.

Speaking to Southern Cross last year, Bishop Lee reflected on the fact that the cancer had been in remission after his initial operation and chemotherapy in 2015, until it reappeared in 2019.

“That’s a pretty good run,” he said at the time, adding that people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer “typically last months, not years… so it’s quite a blessing (to be given that time)”.

Read it all.

One such event took place just over 16 years ago, and it was also here, in Parramatta. I wonder if +David Mulready will be here tonight? No doubt we will see +Ivan Lee – today is the 17th anniversary of his consecration. The outgoing Bishop of Western Sydney. pic.twitter.com/5U2ULMir5Y

— AustralianAnglican (@AustAnglican) December 20, 2019

The Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu has today announced the appointment of The Revd Dr Amanda Bloor as the new Archdeacon of Cleveland.

Amanda is currently Priest in Charge of Holy Trinity Bembridge on the Isle of Wight and Assistant Diocesan Director of Ordinands in the Diocese of Portsmouth. Ordained in 2004, she has previously served as Chaplain and Diocesan Advisor in Women’s Ministry to the Bishop of Oxford, and as Area Director of Ordinands for Berkshire. She undertook Doctoral research in Clergy Wellbeing and has a keen interest in the flourishing of those engaged in ministry. She is also a Chaplain to the Army Cadet Force. Amanda is married to Mark and has two grown-up daughters.

Archbishop Sentamu said: “I very much look forward to welcoming Amanda to the Diocese of York and especially to her new ministry in the Archdeaconry of Cleveland. As well as her experience in a bishop’s team, her research on clergy wellbeing stands her in good stead to support everyone whose work and calling is to serve others in Jesus’ name.”

Read it all.

Great to see this news on Amanda Bloor – former Hon Chaplain @ChChCathedralOx and PhD student of mine. All very pleased and proud of her…
https://t.co/JjseJI6zyz

— Martyn Percy (@MartynPercy) March 3, 2020

Greg Laurie is among America’s most successful clergymen — senior pastor at a California megachurch, prolific author, host of a global radio program. Yet after a youthful colleague’s suicide, his view of his vocation is unsparing.

“Pastors are people, just like everyone else,” Laurie said by email. “We are broken people who live in a broken world. Sometimes, we need help too.”

Laurie’s 15,000-member Harvest Christian Fellowship, based in Riverside, California, was jolted in September by the death of 30-year-old associate pastor Jarrid Wilson. He and his wife had founded an outreach group to help people coping with depression and suicidal thoughts.

“People may think that as pastors or spiritual leaders we are somehow above the pain and struggles of everyday people,” Laurie wrote after Wilson’s death. “We are the ones who are supposed to have all the answers. But we do not.”

There is similar introspection among clergy of many faiths across the United States as the age-old challenges of their ministries are deepened by many newly evolving stresses.

Read it all.

‘We need help too’: an in-depth look by @AP at the mounting stresses facing many clergy and faith leaders in the US.#religion https://t.co/tkYe5DJiQy

— David Crary (@CraryAP) February 18, 2020