Regular attendance at Church of England churches has fallen again, latest figures show.

The number of regular worshippers attending a Church of England church once a month or more decreased by 1% in 2019 to 1.11 million.

On average, 854,000 people attended Church of England services and acts of worship each week in October 2019, a decline of 2.1% compared to the year before.

The additional number of people attending services for schools in Church of England churches rose by 3% to 182,000, but usual Sunday attendance fell by 2% to 690,000 in 2019.

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On average, 854,000 people attended Church of England services and acts of worship each week in October 2019, a decline of 2.1% compared to the year before. https://t.co/WpltS4wHph

— Christian Today (@ChristianToday) October 12, 2020

The Bishop of Birkenhead, Keith Sinclair, has announced that he is to retire on 08 March 2021, 14 years to the day after he was consecrated.

Announcing the news, Bishop Keith said that he was thankful to God for calling Bishop Mark to the role of Bishop of Chester and said that he is hoping that his retirement in March will help the process of the appointment of two new suffragan bishops of Stockport and Birkenhead.

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Keith Sinclair, Bishop of Birkenhead speaking on Revelation 3:20. pic.twitter.com/l985CVjQXH

— Father Richard SMMS (@mission_priest) November 20, 2018

A Taskforce set up to make bold changes to ensure greater racial equality in the Church of England has got under way, with the Archbishops of Canterbury and York joining its meeting today.

The Anti-Racism Taskforce will carry out preparatory work ahead of the launch of the Archbishops’ Commission to address racism in spring next year.

The nine members of the group will make recommendations for immediate action that can be taken by the Church of England to improve its record on racial justice and equality. They will also recommend the proposed remit and membership of the Commission.

Jointly chaired by Revd Sonia Barron, Director of Ordinands and Vocations for Lincoln Diocese, and Revd Arun Arora, a Vicar in the Diocese of Durham, the Taskforce is expected to complete its work by the end of January.

Revd Sonia Barron, Co-Chair of the Taskforce, and a former adviser to the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns, (CMEAC) said: “The Taskforce has been set up at a critical time in the history of the Church of England, with the Black Lives Matter movement pushing racial justice right up the agenda. The Church has an opportunity that it cannot afford to miss – we cannot just pay lip service to issues of racism as we have done for so long. It is vital that we listen to all the different voices out there and having listened, fulfil our mission as a Church, by taking appropriate action.”

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"The Church has an opportunity that it cannot afford to miss – we cannot just pay lip service to issues of racism as we have done for so long."
– Rev Sonia Barron

Our anti-racism taskforce has launched, with Archbishops @JustinWelby and @CottrellStephen.https://t.co/p4PxWDvTdB

— The Church of England (@churchofengland) October 14, 2020

O God, who in thy providence didst call Joseph Schereschewsky from his home in Eastern Europe to the ministry of this Church, and didst send him as a missionary to China, upholding him in his infirmity, that he might translate the holy Scriptures into languages of that land: Lead us, we pray thee, to commit our lives and talents to thee, in the confidence that when thou givest thy servants any work to do, thou dost also supply the strength to do it; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates Samuel Schereschewsky, Bishop, Scholar 1906

Born in the Russian Empire he went to Germany to study to be a rabbi but became a Christian. Ordained an Episcopal priest he was a missionary/Bible translator in China & later Bishop of Shanghai pic.twitter.com/k74pFpo3Wm

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) October 14, 2020

On October 15, 1906, Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, the Jewish-born, rabbinical school-trained, former Anglican bishop of Shanghai, died in Tokyo, after a lengthy illness, at age 75. Apart from the novelty interest of a converted Jew becoming a church official and serving in the exotic East, Schereschewsky is remembered for having produced a much-respected translation into Mandarin Chinese of the Hebrew Bible, among other sacred texts, which became the standard 20th-century translation.

Samuel Schereschewsky was born on May 6, 1831, in Tauroggen, a Jewish shtetl in the Russian empire, in what is today southwest Lithuania. Both of his parents ”“ the former Rosa Salvatha, of Sephardi-Jewish heritage, and Samuel Joseph Schereschewsky ”“ died when he was very young. Samuel was apparently raised by a much older half-brother, a timber merchant who was the product of his father’s first marriage.

At age 15, he left his brother’s home, and held jobs as a glazier and as a Hebrew tutor before entering the rabbinical seminary in Zhytomir, in Ukraine.

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My icon of Joseph Schereschewsky. They still remember him at St John's U. Taipei, as their founder. pic.twitter.com/orpYh4u2T2

— Pierre Whalon (@bppwhalon) October 14, 2014

O Lord, forgive what I have been, sanctify what I am, and order what I shall be.

–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)

A baby chimpanzee and his best friend the baby gorilla. pic.twitter.com/fnmi7SrHeb

— Nature Lovers (@natureslover_s) October 13, 2020

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,

“I called to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and thou didst hear my voice.
For thou didst cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood was round about me;
all thy waves and thy billows
passed over me.
Then I said, ‘I am cast out
from thy presence;
how shall I again look
upon thy holy temple?’
The waters closed in over me,
the deep was round about me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me for ever;
yet thou didst bring up my life from the Pit,
O Lord my God.
When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to thee,
into thy holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their true loyalty.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to thee;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”

–Jonah 2:1-9

“Fiction was invented the day Jonah arrived home and told his wife that he was three days late because he had been swallowed by a whale.” ― Gabriel García Márquez

Art cred. “Jonah and the Whale,” oil by Herbert Mandel pic.twitter.com/ZaaNqr10VM

— Bread and Beauty (@breadandbeauty) June 19, 2019