It became an instant hit with viewers for its female vicar, quirky cast of village characters and the gentle fun it poked at the Church of England.
Almost three decades after the first episode was aired, the Vicar of Dibley, starring Dawn French, is still a staple of Christmas specials and fundraising telethons. The Rev Geraldine Granger even made several broadcasts to the nation during lockdown.
But the archbishop of Canterbury has cast aspersions on Dibley’s vicar and other television clergy, saying they portrayed vicars as “rogues or idiots”, whereas in reality they are “hard-working, normal people, caring deeply about what they do”.
Henry Akingbemisilu was ordained as a Deacon earlier this year. He serves as a Self-Supporting Minister in Thamesmead, London, in the Diocese of Southwark – alongside working in Data Science.
Henry is shown in his clerical robes smiling
Henry was born in Nigeria, coming to the UK to study mathematics and computer network engineering. His journey to ordination started in 2008, but it was only in 2015 that he finally started the official discernment process with Southwark Diocese.
In the years that preceded this, he was involved in his church – in the choir, in prayer ministry groups and as Church Warden for eight years but felt a ‘calling’ to do more.
“You know, when God is calling, you just won’t be at peace with yourself until you give in,” he explained.
“It took me so many years.
“I asked myself is this God or is it me making things up?
The Church of England has confirmed that 400 stipendiary curacy posts – both full and part time –will be available for ordinands expecting to take up stipendiary title posts from 2022 after leaving theological training.
Of these, 290 posts are fully funded by the dioceses while the Strategic Ministry Fund (SMF), administered by the Strategic Ministry Board, will support an additional 110 posts.
The SMF was set up in 2019 to help ensure that dioceses are able to support additional curate numbers as part of the drive to increase the number of candidates for ordained ministry.
The Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich, Martin Seeley, who is Chair of the Ministry Council, said: “Stipendiary ministry remains core to the work of the Church of England and our Vision and Strategy for the future.
“The Church of England has confirmed that 400 stipendiary curacy posts – both full and part time – will be available for ordinands expecting to take up stipendiary title posts from 2022 after leaving theological training.”
Nearly Two in Five Pastors Have Considered Quitting Full-Time Ministry
With pastors’ well-being on the line, and many on the brink of burnout, 38 percent indicate they have considered quitting full-time ministry within the past year. This percentage is up 9 full points (from 29%) since Barna asked church leaders this same question at the beginning of 2021.
A deeper analysis of these data show that some groups are faring worse than others. One of the more alarming findings is that 46 percent of pastors under the age of 45 say they are considering quitting full-time ministry, compared to 34 percent of pastors 45 and older. Keeping the right younger leaders encouraged and in their ministry roles will be crucial to the next decade of congregational vitality in the U.S.
Another notable gap emerges based on denomination, with pastors from mainline denominations far more likely to consider quitting than those from non-mainline denominations (51% vs. 34%). Other significant differences arise among gender, with female pastors being far more likely than male pastors to have considered giving up full-time ministry, and ministry tenure. Specifically, roughly one-third of pastors who are considering resignation have been in ministry for about 20 years but have been at their current church for seven years.
We give thanks for the life of the Rt. Rev. Alex Dockery Dickson, Jr. who died on Sunday, November 14, 2021. A celebration of his life will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, November 18, 2021 at St. Michael's Church, Charleston. (Masks optional). https://t.co/fkPkMZosHmpic.twitter.com/1YPZtZ4hUW
Join us this Sunday, November 14, 2021, as we, in The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, pray for the work and ministry of Holy Cross, Sullivan's Island & Daniel Island and their clergy. View the full prayer calendar here: https://t.co/ivAZ8qcpfR#CycleOfPrayer#ADOSCpic.twitter.com/1fJhTgL3lC
Bishop Dickson was consecrated as the First Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of West Tennessee on April 9, 1983. Prior to his consecration as Bishop, he served 10 years as a parish priest in the Diocese of Mississippi; four years at Rolling Fork and Hollandale; six years in Jackson; and then he served as Rector and Headmaster of All Saints School in Vicksburg for 15 years.
In 1995, after he retired as Bishop of West Tennessee, he began Mission Work in Southeast Asia and Africa. At the time of his death, he was serving as Bishop in Residence at St. Michael’s Church in Charleston, SC. He was also Chairman of a mission to a leprosy colony in Liberia. His greatest passion was to bring people to a deep faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. He loved to work with people in small groups, teaching them to pray the Scriptures. He was working in this ministry until the day of his death.
During World War II, he served on a destroyer in the Pacific during the Battle of Okinawa.
He was born on September 9, 1926, on New Africa Plantation near Alligator, Mississippi. He married Charnelle Perkins of Glen Allan, MS on October 7, 1948. They have three sons: Alex III (now in heaven), Charles in Sylva, NC, and John in Memphis, TN; six grandchildren, and 13 great grandchildren. God is good! Charnelle died on October 16, 1995. He married Jane Graham Carver of Charleston, SC on January 2, 1999. Jane has three children and six grandchildren. God is good!
“I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”
Memorials may be given to G3 Ministry (led by his stepson), The Rev. Graham Schuyler, 76 Westfield Drive, Pawleys Island, SC 29585.
[Charles] Simeon himself is our example here. The feature of his preaching which most constantly impressed his hearers was the fact that he was, as they said, “in earnest”; and that reflected his own overwhelming sense of sin, and of the wonder of the grace that had saved him; and that in turn bore witness to the closeness of his daily fellowship and walk with his God. As he gave time to sermon preparation, so he gave time to seeking God’s face.
“The quality of his preaching,” writes the Bishop of Bradford, “was but a reflection of the quality of the man himself. And there can be little doubt that the man himself was largely made in the early morning hours which he devoted to private prayer and the devotional study of the Scriptures. It was his custom to rise at 4 a.m., light his own fire, and then devote the first four hours of the day to communion with God. Such costly self-discipline made the preacher. That was primary. The making of the sermon was secondary and derivative.”
He stood for many years alone, he was long opposed, ridiculed, shunned, his doctrines were misrepresented, his little peculiarities of voice and manner were satirized, disturbances were frequently raised in his church or he was a person not taken into account, nor considered in the light of a regular clergyman in the church.
-–as quoted in William Carus, Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. Charles Simeon (New York: Robert Carter, 1848), p.39
And, of course, we don’t need to look far. Jesus models for us a very different attitude to women. The way he treated women and responded to them was radically different to the prevailing culture of his day and deeply shocking to many who encountered him.
It is likely that many women travelled with him in the wider band of his disciples.
Martha and Mary were his friends and he was a welcome guest in their house.
When he was thirsty, he asked a Samaritan woman for a drink. We can’t realise how scandalous this was. Not only was he approaching a woman in a way that was unacceptable in his time, it was a Samaritan woman, whose religious beliefs were anathema to the Jews. In this way, Jesus crossed boundaries and broke, and challenged those cultural and religious traditions that not only excluded women, but also enabled them to be treated as property and dealt with in the same negligent and wilfully violent way.
Then, we have this beautiful story of Jesus honouring and receiving the kindness of the woman who anoints him, shaming the men who had welcomed him in by her profound care born. I suppose, of her thankfulness to him and her recognition of what she saw in him, nothing less than a different way of being human – a different way of being a man (see Mark 14. 3-9).
I’m @HexhamAbbey to preach & preside at a service marking White Ribbon Sunday. We remember all who have lost their lives due to Domestic Violence & come together to stand & be counted amongst those who refuse to excuse, condone or remain silent about domestic abuse pic.twitter.com/gh39KWVG0I
The Very Rev. Chip Edgar isn’t sure when he’ll officially assume the role of bishop of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina.
As the newly elected bishop coadjutor, his task for the next few months is to serve alongside the diocese’s current bishop, learning all of the ins and outs of what it takes to lead the growing religious group.
But Edgar, who serves as the planting pastor at Cathedral Church of the Apostles in Columbia, does have some early thoughts about how his experience in establishing new congregations will shape how he leads a diocese during a time when nationwide trends have indicated decline in church membership and religious affiliation.
“I think church planting is at the heart of who we are as Christians,” Edgar said. “Regardless of what sociological statistics are suggesting, the church is obligated to be always out there trying to plant, trying to grow.”
In a recent book (Making New Disciples, 2015) Mike Booker and I quoted a remarkable statistic that 40% of fresh expressions of church are led by lay people with no formal training or authorisation. However potential lay ministers need clergy with time to recognise their gifts, encourage their vocation and invest in their training and development. As an incumbent a major part of my time was spent discipling individuals and growing new leaders, but when I focused on that I never worked myself out of a job. Instead, the church grew and I was as busy as ever!
What’s more, freezing recruitment of parish clergy doesn’t make sense in spiritual terms.
We have been praying and working for a 50% increase in vocations. Just when God seems to be answering our prayers and the number of vocations is increasing, we should be prayerfully trusting God to provide the finance to enable us to deploy these priests. What other organisation would go to the trouble and expense of recruiting and training new staff, only to tell them at the end of their trainee post that there was no job for them?
Freezing recruitment also stifles the work of the Holy Spirit by hampering the growth of fresh expressions of church. Church plants sometimes grow to the size where they can no longer be sustained by volunteers. This is exactly the time when bold investment is needed to help the congregation transition to a paid priest. Such posts have potential to become self-supporting in time. However, if dioceses do not release funds at this point to pay a stipendiary priest the growth that the Spirit has given is I believe stifled and decline follows.
‘Far from saving money, cutting the numbers of stipendiary clergy usually leads to a reduction in income, as less mission and ministry takes place and fewer people become disciples of Jesus Christ.’ Archdeacon of Blackburn https://t.co/R18j0umtAE
I’m pleased to tell you that the Very Rev. Chip Edgar was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina today during a special Electing Convention held at Christ Church in Mt. Pleasant. Pending approval by the Anglican Church in North America’s College of Bishops, who will meet in January 2022, Reverend Edgar will be in line to succeed Bishop Mark Lawrence who has served as the Diocesan Bishop since January of 2008.
You can read the official announcement from the Diocese HERE.
While it stings a bit that I was not selected, I’m thrilled that I will continue with my beloved Holy Cross. It is a joy and honor to be your Rector and I’m very hopeful about what’s ahead for us. The best is surely yet to come.
Given that this has been a long and taxing process, I’m excited to say that Catherine and I will be taking a few days vacation to recoup and pray. When we return, we’ll continue making disciples who make disciples of others.
–The Rev. Chris Warner is rector, Holy Cross, Sullivan’s Island, SC
Today, during a special Electing Convention held at Christ Church in Mt. Pleasant, the Very Rev. Chip Edgar was elected Bishop Coadjutor of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina. Pending approval by the Anglican Church in North America’s College of Bishops, who will meet in January 2022, Edgar will be in line to succeed Bishop Mark Lawrence who has served as the Diocesan Bishop since January of 2008.
“You have bestowed a trust in me and I promise I will do everything I possibly can to live in to that trust,” said Edgar, following the election. “I am deeply, deeply humbled.” Quoting Second Samuel he said, “Who am I that you have brought me this far? And who is my family?” I trust this is the Lord’s will for the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina and this is the Lord’s will for me and for my family… I covet your prayers. From this point forward I covet your prayers. Thank you very much.”
Once consecrated as Bishop Coadjutor, in March of 2022, Edgar will, for a season, serve alongside Bishop Lawrence….
Dozens of people gathered at the Word of Life International Church in the South Bronx on a recent Saturday for its weekly food bank, but the pastor wanted to ask the crowd a question before the groceries were handed out: Did anyone know where to find the closest vaccination site?
“Yankee Stadium is always open!” shouted one woman, seated on one of the many folding chairs in the windowless, fluorescently-lit room. “Take the six bus, straight up.”
“174th street and 3rd avenue is 24 hours,” said another woman, standing up in the crowd. “You go there at 2 o’clock in the morning, it’ll still be open.”
The pastor, the Rev. John S. Udo-Okon, said he wanted everyone there — mostly Black residents, including seniors and mothers with small children — to know that the coronavirus vaccines were easy to find and, more important, that they would not harm them. More than 80 percent of adults in New York City have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, but there are significant racial disparities in the vaccination rate.
Only 55% of Black New Yorkers have received at least one Covid vaccine dose.
To address the gap, health officials and some Black churches are using the power of the pulpit to vouch for the safety of vaccines and push back against misinformation. https://t.co/fphjG280gQ
To help you get to know the candidates for Bishop Coadjutor of The Anglican Diocese of South Carolina before our upcoming walkabouts and election, we are providing individual videos which we hope will give you a more personal introduction to each candidate. Please view these in their entirety before the walkabouts. If you have not yet registered for a walkabout you may do so here.
You may read the candidates’ spiritual autobiographies and view their resumes here.
Dean-Elect Jo Kelly-Moore’s appointment follows the departure of the Very Revd Jeffrey John who was Dean from 2003 to 2020 and who is now an Anglican Chaplain in Paris. The appointment of the Dean is made by the Crown on the advice of the Bishop and other leading figures in the diocese following a rigorous selection process involving a church and civic panel. The panel was chaired by the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, emphasising the reach of the Cathedral across all the communities of the Diocese of St Albans.
Speaking about the appointment, the Bishop of St Albans, Dr Alan Smith, said:
“This is a timely moment to welcome a new Dean to the Cathedral and the Diocese after eighteen months of lockdown. Jo brings outstanding experience to our Cathedral from Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, Aotearoa, New Zealand and from a leading post in the Church of England as Archdeacon of Canterbury – a post also playing a key part in the ministry of Canterbury Cathedral with its international dimension.
“That makes Dean Jo well placed to build on the legacy of Dean Jeffrey in establishing public understanding of St Albans Cathedral as the home of Britain’s First Saint, St Alban.
“She will commend herself to the community in St Albans and more widely in the diocese and beyond through her warmth and the sense of quiet command that she conveys.
I am delighted to share the news that The Venerable Jo Kelly-Moore, Archdeacon of Canterbury has been named as the next Dean of St Albans. Welcome, Jo!https://t.co/36yj1r7Rih
The diocese of Southwark has “weaponised” safeguarding against the Vicar of Christ Church, New Malden, the Revd Stephen Kuhrt, the PCC alleges.
The diocese of Southwark has confirmed that Mr Kuhrt was suspended from all his ministerial duties on 22 June, “pending the investigation of a complaint under the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003”. Its statement says: “Suspension is a neutral act and does not imply that a view has been formed on the matter. He has been offered pastoral support during this time. It would be inappropriate to comment further.”
A statement from the PCC of Christ Church, issued to the congregation on 24 June, states: “His [Mr Kuhrt’s] offence has been to whistle-blow by expressing significant and evidenced concerns about safeguarding within Southwark Diocese. The Churchwardens believe these need to be addressed thoroughly, professionally and accountably, rather than weaponised against the person who has raised them.”
Echols comes with experience not only in teaching in theological settings but also with experience in recruiting teachers, building teams and developing educational programs. She taught Pastoral Theology for 3.5 years at Ridley Hall in Cambridge and ran the Perspectives course at Trinity School for Ministry in Pittsburgh. She taught public reading and worship at Union Biblical Seminary in India and also taught Cross Cultural Communication at Jeffery Seminary in Indonesia. While a full-time student at Trinity, Echols ran the Jan Term program and started the June Term program.
Earlier this month, Archbishop Beach announced that, at the request of the Diocese of the Upper Midwest, the Province would undertake oversight of the independent investigation into allegations of abuse within the diocese, ensure that pastoral care for survivors is offered, and conduct a review of diocesan structures and processes. Below are some recent developments in that unfolding situation:
Executive Committee expresses sorrow, calls for prayer, and approves formation of Provincial Response Team
Meeting on Monday, July 26, 2021 the Executive Committee of the Anglican Church in North America responded to the concerns raised by survivors of abuse in the Diocese of the Upper Midwest. The members of the Committee expressed “deep sorrow for all survivors who have suffered harm and pain as a result of abuse and/or misconduct and for their families and loved ones,” approved the formation of a Provincial Response Team, and called for “prayer for healing and justice for all affected by this tragic situation, for wisdom for those dealing with it, and for a spirit of grace, humility, and repentance throughout our Church.”
The Executive Committee is the Anglican Church in North America’s Board of Directors and is made up of clergy and laity elected from across the Province. Read more from the Executive Committee here.
Archbishop Beach appoints Bishops Miller and Atkinson to assist Diocese
