After that he started preaching through the New Testament one book at a time, beginning with the Gospel of John and then moving to Peter’s first and second epistles. MacArthur spent 30 hours a week preparing sermons and delegated almost all other pastoral responsibilities to the church’s elders and lay leaders. 

The church grew rapidly. Grace built a new building that could seat 1,000 in 1971 and expanded again in 1977, tripling in size. It became the largest Protestant church in Los Angeles by the end of the decade.

The demand for recordings of MacArthur’s sermons also exploded. Church members sent out 5,000 tapes every week, then 15,000, then 30,000. By the end of the ’70s, more than 100,000 Christians around the country were receiving MacArthur’s recorded sermons every week. The church also launched a separate ministry, Grace to You, to broadcast MacArthur’s messages on Christian radio.

“John’s ministry proves how timeless preaching can be when it is merely sound, clear biblical exposition,” Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You, said in 2011. “If the aim of preaching is the awakening of spiritually dead souls and the cleansing and transformation of lives spoiled by sin, then all that really counts is that the preacher be faithful in proclaiming the Word of God with clarity, accuracy, and candor.”

Read it all.

Expository preacher John MacArthur died Monday at the age of 86.

He said the most important mark of his ministry was that he explained the Bible with the Bible.https://t.co/qUiMDTIxLW

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) July 15, 2025

The theory of clergy work/life balance is on every diocesan website, and many others besides, discussed at length from all viewpoints. The general conclusion today seems to be that a 48-hour week is about right, plus a bit more if you are going to be very conscientious, with one 24-hour period a week not working, and maybe an extra day off a month — all this, wrapped in language that makes it plain that it is up to the individual to take responsibility for their own health and well-being.

So much for the theory; but what about the reality of life in a parish, where the daily torrent of emails, phone calls, diocesan directives, pastoral demands, and personal challenges threatens to overcome the hapless priest, submerging them beneath a tide of operational activities? Only a lone hand is left above the waves, holding aloft a small white piece of plastic, the symbol of their calling, hoping that they can get to the shore of annual leave before they drown.

This is exaggeration, perhaps, but probably a feeling that few have escaped at least some time in their lives — a state of “overwhelm” which I have certainly experienced and prefer to remain clear of, if at all possible. The pastoral calls made upon us, however, the late nights spent crafting sermons or creating props for family-friendly services, the early waking hours reflecting on church finances, or the stomach-sinking safeguarding issues — these are all part of the priest’s daily lot. A strategy that enables us not only to survive, but to thrive, must be worked out if we are to remain as parish clergy for any length of time.

Read it all.

In the parish: the theory and reality of clergy work/life balance https://t.co/A7fcAAiN26

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) July 11, 2025

A report published last October showed retired clergy to be the largest group among ordained ministers in the Church of England. They outnumber licensed clergy in every diocese — in some, by a factor of more than two.

Taken together, the number of clergy pensioners and their spouses, plus retired self-supporting ministers, approaches 25,000, suggests Canon Julian Hubbard, a former Director of Ministry at the Archbishops’ Council, and, since 2020, Retired Clergy Officer (RCO) for Guildford.

He is the author of the report The Role and Work of Retired Clergy Officers in the Dioceses of the Church of England. Forty-one out of the 42 dioceses responded to the survey of what that ministry comprised, which revealed a wide variation, depending on size, geography, and culture.

Read it all.

Retired clergy ‘keeping the show on the road’ https://t.co/oTdDJsWvtz

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 28, 2025

What I want you to notice first of all, is that it’s not just the earth, it’s also the heavens. That is to say the heavens and the earth. We’re back to Genesis 1.

Look at verse 1, it says, your name in all the earth. And then it says at the end of verse 1, your glory above the heavens. He’s looking at the heavens, he’s looking at the earth, he’s considering all of the cosmos.

In the beginning, there was nothing and then there was something because the spirit came over that which is formless and void and God created, and it says the heavens and the earth. And he’s looking at it all. And the thing that’s so great about a psalm like this for us, and I’ve said this to you before, and I’ll make sure to say it again this morning is, what’s so wonderful about this is, this is one of the rare psalms where we actually have an advantage over the psalmist himself, and this means more to us than it did to him because of modern astronomy and cosmology.”

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there.

“What is man that You are mindful of him?” pic.twitter.com/TEfRpxFhuA

— Rudy Cerda (@RudyCerda) July 14, 2022

The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andrew John, has announced his immediate retirement, four days after issuing an unqualified apology for his part in the failings at Bangor Cathedral.

In a statement issued on Friday evening, he said: “Dear friends, I am writing to you to announce my immediate retirement today as Archbishop of Wales. I also intend to retire as Bishop of Bangor on August 31st.

“It has been an enormous joy to serve in the Church in Wales for over 35 years. I cannot thank you enough for the privilege of working at your side for the sake of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

“I would very much like to thank the clergy and congregations of this wonderful diocese before I retire and I will be in touch again about the way in which this might happen.”

Read it all.

The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andrew John, has announced his immediate retirement, four days after issuing an unqualified apology for his part in the failings at Bangor Cathedral.https://t.co/KCcwPrGBK3

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) June 30, 2025

The

 old saying “A parish can be no better than its priest” is open to doubt. What is not open to doubt is that the Church of England is facing something of a crisis in clergy numbers.

In 2020, there were 591 ordinands, dropping to 370 in 2024; in the summer of that year, the General Synod was told that numbers had dropped by 38 per cent since 2020 (News, 12 July 2024). Parishes advertising a vacancy frequently get no replies, while the number of interregnums grows daily (Comment, 13 December 2024). Countless churches depend for regular ministry on non-stipendiary (NSM) or retired clergy. The ordination of women in 1994 was welcome for many reasons, but we must also not forget that it delivered the Church from an even greater clergy crisis.

Most serving priests will have been asked “What made you become a priest?” with the expectation there will have been a mysterious divine call delivered by private prayer and worship.

There is no reason, however, why such a call cannot also come through modern PR and planned human strategy.

Read it all (registration or subscription).

"A parish may receive only one applicant for a post, resulting in the choice of facing a further long interregnum or appointing this candidate. When the latter course is taken, disastrous results can follow."https://t.co/1Tbri6VHHL

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) June 23, 2025

I was in Egypt at this time last year for an international gathering of Anglican ministers. Our group was given an audience with the head of the Coptic church, Pope Tawadros II. He leads one of the oldest branches of Christianity, understood to go back Saint Mark himself.

During our time with him he spoke about the culture of Egypt, which he described as being built over thousands of years upon something like seven or eight layers. There was pre-Egypt (before 3000BC); Ancient Egypt with its several kingdoms (ca 3000-332 BC); the Persian Period (525-332 BC); the Greek Period (332-30BC); the Roman and Christian period (30BC-641 AD); Islamic Egypt (641-1517 AD); Ottoman Egypt (1517-1798 AD); the French and British Period (1798-1952); and now, Modern Egypt (1952-present).

I cannot think of another place with such an ancient, varied, and unbroken witness to human civilization. You can see it in the buildings. In Cairo, in just hours you can find yourself before pyramids over four thousand years old, churches nearly two thousand years old, mosques over a thousand years old, all while driving past hotels and fast-food restaurants just a few years old.

Being in a place like Egypt is a reminder that human beings do more than just exist. We build.

Read it all.

What a blessing to be at @TheFallsChurch Anglican with Sam Ferguson and his flock. pic.twitter.com/nryb3jv7eC

— Ligon Duncan (@LigonDuncan) June 26, 2022

Katie Freer to Serve As Director of Women’s Ministries at St. Philip’s Church, Charleston

Katie Freer has accepted a call to serve as the Director of Women’s Ministries, a newly created position, at St. Philip’s Church in Charleston. In a note to the congregation the Rector, the Rev. Jeff Miller, wrote, “It has long been my desire to provide the women of St. Philip’s with the same level of leadership, encouragement, and spiritual guidance that has helped our men’s ministries thrive. To that end, and with the enthusiastic approval of our Vestry, I am thrilled to announce the creation of a new staff position: Director of Women’s Ministries. Beginning this September, Katie Freer will join the staff in this important role. Katie is no stranger to St. Philip’s. Raised in our parish, she is a graduate of Ashley Hall and Davidson College. She brings with her a wealth of experience in Christian education and children’s ministry, and her life is marked by deep faith and a joyful commitment to serving the Lord. She is the wife of Daniel and the mother of four wonderful children, and she embodies the grace, wisdom, and energy we had hoped to find in this role. 

Read it all.

The Latest Edition of the #Anglican Diocese of #SouthCarolina Enewsletter https://t.co/FoBFqwiLhL #parishministry #lowcountrylife #religion #faith [Katie Freer, Saint Philip's new director of women's ministries] pic.twitter.com/DWxiiriQpt

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) June 25, 2025

“What does a wise life look like? What does a wise life look like? I want to be sure that we’re all on the same page as I begin.

That word wise is carefully chosen. In the Old Testament, the word for wisdom is coming from a very agrarian and earthy context. In Hebrew, you always start with the physical and the earthy and work your way forward to the more metaphorical or spiritual or less earthy.

So this word wisdom is used in the Old Testament for stonemasons and wood carvers. If you wanted to translate it in English, literally you would say skill. So the whole idea initially of this word is, you would look at something that a stonemason had made or someone who works with wood.”

“For those of you who know Granger McCoy in South Carolina, he comes to mind and you look at what they’ve done with the wood and you say, wow, that took a lot of effort, that took a lot of skill. How did you make that fantastic piece of art out of that piece of wood? It takes skill, that’s wisdom, in terms of its imprint on physical stuff.

And then it becomes metaphorical. And what it means is what you do not with wood or with metal or with stones, but what you do with life. You’ve been given the gift of life.

You actually didn’t have to be here. Do you know this about yourself? We didn’t need you.

God didn’t need you. He didn’t need the world. He didn’t have to make us.

He didn’t have to make this day. It’s all grace. It’s all gift.

But you’ve been given the gift of life. God gave it to each one of us. And the question is this, if you look at someone’s, not their stones or their painting or their woodwork, but if you look at their life, their whole life, all that they are, all that they do, can you then say, “wow-that is beautiful!?”

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there.

Psalm 1:3 "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." pic.twitter.com/8rnCE69uRQ

— Christian Law (@clalaw) June 4, 2025

“My office is not in a chapel. My office is where the soldiers are,” said Major William H. Allen, a US Army chaplain based in Arlington, Virginia. 

Allen works alongside service members and catches up with them during meetings and at meals. The day-to-day conversations turn into impromptu counseling sessions about marriage difficulties, financial uncertainty, and suicide. 

When the military faces attacks and escalation, Allen keeps an eye out for anxiety among the troops. Sometimes he’ll approach the commander of the unit to suggest clearer communication about their mission. 

“The beauty—the gift, frankly—of my job as a chaplain is that I’m dealing with people sometimes for whom the uncertainty actually draws them to God,” Allen said. 

Read it all.

The morning after President Trump announced attacks on Iran, churches on military bases offered prayers for those involved.

“For those that remain on standby on duty and in the region … protect them and watch over them.”

CT story from @HarvestPrude: https://t.co/2DYymYpJ7M

— kate shellnutt (@kateshellnutt) June 24, 2025

“Verse 6, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? It’s a really amazing question. Calvin says, there are as many mistakes in that question as there are words.

It’s terrible. They just don’t get it. They don’t understand.

They don’t understand. They don’t understand. Why are they in the story?

Because they’re us. Because apart from the Spirit of God, we just don’t get it. Whatever else is going on, this is a people that don’t have understanding unless God gives it to them.

Do you see yourself in them? Only just getting started. That’s not the only thing that they lack.

They lack understanding. They also lack power. We know that because Jesus told them to wait.”

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there.

This radiant miniature from the famous “Grandes Heures de Rohan” (1430/35) offers a highly original vision of Pentecost – one that breaks with standard iconography. The Virgin Mary is absent, and the apostles gather outdoors, gazing upward in expectation, hands raised in prayer.… pic.twitter.com/YaviyTBw3m

— Vir Desideriorum (@VirDesideriorum) June 8, 2025

In this tomb, also, you may see, A pledge to us…Yes, verily, it is a pledge,

Of Christ’s power to raise us to a spiritual life -The resurrection of Christ is set forth in the Scriptures as a pattern of that which is to be accomplished in all his followers; and by the very same power too, that effected that. In the Epistle to the Ephesians, St. Paul draws the parallel with a minuteness and accuracy that are truly astonishing. He prays for them, that they may know what is the exceeding greatness of God’s power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.” And then he says, concerning them, “God, who is rich in mercy, of his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, and hath raised us usi together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus^” Here, I say, you see Christ dead, quickened, raised, and seated in glory; and his believing people quickened from their death in sins, and raised with him, and seated too with him in the highest heavens. The same thing is stated also, and the same parallel is drawn in the Epistle to the Romans ; where it is said, “We are buried with Christ by baptism into death; that, like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” But can this be effected in us ? I answer, Behold the tomb ! Who raised the Lord Jesus? He himself said, ” I have power to lay down my life, and power to take it up again….”

–Horae homileticae, Sermon 1414

He is Risen! Michelangelo's magisterial vision of the Resurrected Christ bursting from the tomb into the dazzling light, c.1532. Happy Easter! https://t.co/94kCw2wJgy pic.twitter.com/wK8qPIqCXP

— Rosie Razzall (@RazzallRosie) April 21, 2019

“What do we hope for as Christians? What is the content of the Christian hope? Paul says in Romans 15, this wonderful verse, verse 13, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.

So, Christians are supposed to be people who abound in hope. And my question is, what is the content of that hope? We are talking, brothers and sisters, about heaven.

And since we’re going to be spending eternity there, it might be interesting if we give it a few moments of our time….”

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there.

Design for Christ Enthroned in the Heavenly Jerusalem, in the American Church in Rome. Attributed to Thomas Matthews Rooke (British, 1842–1942). Medium: pencil, watercolor and bodycolor heightened with gold on paper. Credit: Artnet. pic.twitter.com/nUafq2XaHu

— Archaeology & Art (@archaeologyart) January 17, 2025

You may listen directly here:>

Or you may download it there.

The ruins of Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire pic.twitter.com/TeBUyxN1ca

— Grizzlegutweed the Bear (@Grizzlegutweed1) May 13, 2025

You may download it there or listen to it directly there from Saint Philip’s, Charleston, South Carolina.

The Resurrection of Christ (1499–1502), by Raphael. The work is one of the earliest known paintings by the artist, the São Paulo Museum of Art. pic.twitter.com/zelBqnjr9A

— 🌿_ (@rebeca6169) April 3, 2021

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there.

Palm Sunday stained glass window in Chester Cathedral. pic.twitter.com/4p4MkZ2jiU

— A Beautiful Culture (@ABeautifulCult1) March 24, 2024

During the WATCH conference, the Area Bishop of Croydon, Dr Rosemarie Mallett, a member of the steering committee that drafted the 2014 legislation (News, 26 July 2013), said: “I think in honesty we also thought that as society changed and as views became more open-minded among growing numbers of younger men and women, the culture of the Church would change like the culture of the wider society.”

Responding to this point, Mr Middleton suggested that, “Given that we are only just over a decade on from the settlement being put in place, and mutual flourishing is in its infancy, such attitudes do not bode well for any settlement emerging for evangelicals from their opposition to the Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF).

“What are they, and others, to make of the promises made to Anglo-Catholics, which some appear so keen to renege on so soon after those commitments were made?”

He also asked about the “well-being” of young clergy in the Society (which is supported and financed by Forward in Faith) who put themselves forward for ordination under the settlement, should this be revoked “after such a short elapse of time”.

Read it all.

Promises to traditionalists should be kept, Forward in Faith sayshttps://t.co/gRz5Njpgzp

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) April 8, 2025

The Buckinghamshire-born 64-year-old was was ordained in Blackburn Cathedral 40 years ago, and says he is a parish priest at heart.

He has served in parishes in Blackburn, Lancaster and Accrington, before he moved to Lichfield Diocese as Diocesan Missioner and then a vicar in Telford.

He is co-author of a number of books on mission, spirituality and evangelism including, most recently, a booklet on the opportunities and risks of living in a digital world: ‘Surveillance Capitalism and the Loving Gaze of God’ as well as being an active member of General Synod, and previously servinged as an elected member of Archbishops’ Council.

Archdeacon Mark said, when his retirement was announced, : “It has been a tremendous privilege to serve God in Blackburn Diocese over the past 40 years and to have worked with five Diocesan bishops during that time.

Read it all.

Church leaders say farewell to Archdeacon of Blackburn https://t.co/fOCwTlmAsj

— Lancashire Telegraph (@lancstelegraph) April 5, 2025

In a statement to the Church Times on Wednesday, the Dean of Newcastle, the Very Revd Lee Batson, said that he was “deeply proud of the Cathedral’s ongoing ministry to those who have suffered abuse in their lives.

“It was this that informed the unanimous decision made solely by the Dean and Chapter to inform the Archbishop that we will not be hosting him as part of his Lord’s Prayer tour.

“This decision was made independently by the Cathedral’s governing body and applies specifically to this event. The well-being of survivors remains our highest priority, and Newcastle Cathedral will always strive to put them first.”

Read it all.

Newcastle Cathedral has withdrawn its planned participation in the Archbishop of York’s Lord’s Prayer Tour https://t.co/2jimmZfksw

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) April 2, 2025

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there.

The Ten Commandments, 1516 #cranach #lucascranach pic.twitter.com/WCVDG4prk0

— Lucas Cranach the Elder (@ArtistCranach) March 1, 2021

In the 17 parishes in the first minster community (MC) in the diocese of Leicester, PCCs are considering proposals to meet the cost of its ministry, as required by the diocesan framework. The number of stipendiary ministers is to be one, a revised form of “oversight minister”, who, it is proposed, will prioritise work with church schools in the four parishes that have them.

The MC framework is just one of the models being rolled out across the Church as dioceses work to reduce structural deficits — forecast to reach £62 million in 2024 — and encourage both an increase in giving and a broader culture change, typically entailing greater collaboration across parishes and increased lay leadership.

Addressing his diocesan synod last year, the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, suggested that MCs supporting the costs of their own ministry was “the only way we can address our financial deficit while also continuing with a bold and audacious plan to work with God in growing the Church”. It was “an important means of incentivising generosity and empowering local people”.

Read it all.

Had a look at the pilot of the Minster Communities in Leicester, which include the principle that communities cover the cost of their stipendiary ministry. ‘We just want to open up on a Sunday and have a priest who leads us’ must be familiar to others https://t.co/0X4lsGTzxh

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) March 28, 2025

O God of eternal glory, whom no one living can see and yet whom to see is to live; grant that with thy servant John Donne, we may see thy glory in the face of thy Son, Jesus Christ, and then, with all our skill and wit, offer thee our crown of prayer and praise, until by his grace we stand in that last and everlasting day, when death itself will die, and all will live in thee, who with the Holy Ghost and the same Lord Jesus Christ art one God in everlasting light and glory. Amen.

The metaphysical poet John Donne died on March 31, 1631, in London, likely from stomach cancer. His death was preceded by a period of declining health, during which he prepared for his passing both spiritually and artistically. https://t.co/lqOJd2lV9S pic.twitter.com/t4Q0bFvq0s

— Trivia Encyclopedia (@edpearce080759) March 31, 2025

Waiving this question, therefore, I proceed to others, which appear to me, I own, at the present moment especially, of the very gravest practical import.

What are the symptoms, by which one may judge most fairly, whether or no a nation, as such, is becoming alienated from God and Christ?

And what are the particular duties of sincere Christians, whose lot is cast by Divine Providence in a time of such dire calamity?

The conduct of the Jews, in asking for a king, may furnish an ample illustration of the first point : the behaviour of Samuel, then and afterwards, supplies as perfect a pattern of the second, as can well be expected from human nature.

I. The case is at least possible, of a nation, having for centuries acknowledged, as an essential part of its theory of government, that, as a Christian nation, she is also a part of Christ’s Church, and bound, in all her legislation and policy, by the fundamental rules of that Church””the case is, I say, conceivable, of a government and people, so constituted, deliberately throwing off the restraint, which in many respects such a principle would impose on them, nay, disavowing the principle itself ; and that, on the plea, that other states, as flourishing or more so in regard of wealth and dominion, do well enough without it. Is not this desiring, like the Jews, to have an earthly king over them, when the Lord their God is their King? Is it not saying in other words, ‘We will be as the heathen, the families of the countries,’ the aliens to the Church of our Redeemer?

Read it all.

John Keble gave his famous Assize Sermon on 'National Apostasy' #OnThisDay in 1833, providing the first impulse to the Tractarian (or Oxford) movement

Image: Window in St Katharine's, Southbourne, Dorset pic.twitter.com/EX36KIOuAJ

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) July 14, 2024

Nearly every Sunday, as confirmands are presented, I ask the rector, “Have they been adequately
prepared?” Now, I’ve been a parish priest. I’ve worked with people. I know just how fraught with
opportunities to fall short the goal of things like confirmation classes can be. “Adequately
prepared” is something of a moving target. But the Prayer Book presses on. “Dearly beloved,” I’m
required to say, “it’s essential that those who wish to be confirmed or received in this church
publicly confess Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior, become his disciples, know and affirm the
Nicene Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments, and have received instruction in
the Holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in the catechism of the church.”
I always imagine the clergy saying, “Well, I mean, yeah, they finished our eight-week new
members class.” But my deep concern is that we live in an increasingly complicated world where
living out the Christian faith has become a challenge and is often also challenged by those around
us.

My question is, are we preparing people to bear witness to the faith when it, the faith, and its
moral vision are constantly challenged? Can we say that the people in our churches are being
given the tools necessary to give an answer for the hope that they have?

From the youngest age to our oldest members, we must be in the business of teaching the Creed,
the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Holy scriptures, and the Catechism of the Church.
That we might be prepared to resist our great adversary who is always on the prowl seeking whom
he may devour. I’ll add briefly here that our ACNA catechism, To Be a Christian, is an excellent
resource. If you haven’t already, I urge you to look into it, and especially into the cottage industry
that’s grown up around it, about how to use it for instruction for all ages.

There is a wealth of material available to teach our great Catholicism. My first passion, which
births vision, is a serious commitment to Christian education.

Read it all.

#SouthCarolina #Anglican Bishop Chip Edgar's Diocesan Convention address https://t.co/UHSdYyTXnn #parishministry #lowcountrylife #faith #charlestonsc #religion #anglicannews pic.twitter.com/zwZ6dhFztU

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) March 19, 2025

“All right, so let me say a word about the setting because it’s absolutely crucial for our purposes. At the beginning of chapter 20, it reads this way, And God spoke all these words, saying, I am the Lord, you God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You cannot understand any of the ten commandments unless you understand this as the preface and the premise of the entire passage. Whose we are and therefore who God is, and who we are, and who we were, and what God did. God first, God at the start, God as the fundamental reality, the only non-contingent being from whom all contingent reality and being and matter comes to exist. The only reason we’re here is because God allows us to be here. The only reason that there’s something rather than nothing is because God allowed it to be.”

“The only reason there is a nation of Israel is because God came down and heard their cry, and constituted them, and brought them out. So they are God’s people. They are redeemed out of a house of slavery, and they’re going into the Promised Land, and all these things, whatever else they are, are in the context of this covenant relationship, and that saving act, and the reality that He is our God, and we are His people. Now, as if that all isn’t enough, and that’s a ton, one more thing. And that is the specific setting of this passage in the book of Exodus itself. And I just want to remind you, because when we read in chapter 20, and God spake these words, my question is simply this. In what context, in the flow of the book, are these words actually said? It’s a crucial question.”

You may listen directly here:

Or you may download it there.

The Ten Commandments, 1516 #cranach #lucascranach pic.twitter.com/WCVDG4prk0

— Lucas Cranach the Elder (@ArtistCranach) March 1, 2021

A debate

 about the mechanics of increasing the clergy pension — currently set at an “indefensible, ungodly, and unchristian” level — must not delay agreement on the moral course of action, a Southwark priest who has helped to organise concerned clergy said on Wednesday.

“This is a justice issue,” the Vicar of the Ascension, Balham Hill, the Revd Marcus Gibbs, said. “We take the decision to do the right thing — and that requires leadership — and then we work out how to do it. . . We need to start with the moral imperative.”

Mr Gibbs, who is the Area Dean of Tooting, has gathered more than 700 signatories to a letter to the Church Times this week calling for “urgent and decisive action on clergy pensions”. In the past three weeks, more than 1800 people have joined a Clergy Pension Action group on Facebook.

Read it all.

More than 700 clergy demand action on pensions https://t.co/5p3CRTGSmQ

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 14, 2025

The Church Commissioners’ control over dioceses has been criticised by the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Jonathan Gibbs, who has warned of “significant and unsustainable annual deficits”.

The announcement this weekend that his own diocese had been awarded £11 million from the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment (SMMI) Board did not deter Dr Gibbs from arguing that the increasing emphasis on grants “exacerbates the sense of control by the centre”.

“Everyone accepts that the Commissioners are brilliant at investing money and generating excellent returns,” he told his diocesan synod on Saturday. “But the reality is that the resources they now hold represent a significant net transfer not only of assets but also of financial control from the dioceses to the national Church, something which has become more and more evident over the last ten or so years.”

His comments echo those of other bishops in recent months. In the General Synod last month, the Bishop of Bath & Wells, Dr Michael Beasley, expressed frustration after time ran out for a debate on a motion from Hereford diocese calling on the Commissioners to transfer £2.6 billion of assets to diocesan stipend funds to support parish ministry (News, 31 January). Gloucester, Coventry, Bath & Wells, Blackburn, Chichester, and Lincoln diocesan synods had all passed motions in identical terms to Hereford’s.

Read it all.

Strong words from +Rochester this weekend, who says the renewed emphasis on grants from the central Church "with resources going only to special projects approved by the Board, further exacerbates the sense of control by the centre" https://t.co/6Q9o3320Qn pic.twitter.com/MM1et3BQyM

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) March 17, 2025

A Christian street preacher prosecuted after criticising Islam is celebrating a win for free speech after his case was thrown out by a judge this week. 

At a hearing at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Mr Recorder G Kelly dismissed the case against Karandeep Mamman, 33, on the grounds that the Crown Prosecution Service had failed to provide any evidence for the charges brought against him.

Mr Mamman was charged under section 28 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 for causing religiously aggravated harassment, alarm and distress after preaching in Walsall town centre on 14 January 2023.

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Mr Mamman said he was surrounded by a group of Muslims who threatened to take him away, beat him up and "cut his throat".https://t.co/t3B6oclWPI

— Christian Concern (@CConcern) March 11, 2025

The new Interim Dean of Winchester, Canon Roland Riem, has promised transparency and “radical candour” in response to a review, published last week, which identified leadership failings at Winchester Cathedral (News, 3 March).

In a statement read out to the cathedral’s congregation on Sunday, Canon Riem said that the Chapter would publish updates on its response to the review at three-monthly intervals.

Canon Riem, who was previously Vice-Dean of the cathedral, was confirmed as Interim Dean after the Very Revd Catherine Ogle brought forward her planned retirement.

In a statement last week, she apologised on behalf of the Chapter, saying that, although it had to accept “collective responsibility”, as its leader, she had decided to step back immediately (News, 7 March), ahead of her planned retirement.

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The new Interim Dean of Winchester, Canon Roland Riem, has promised transparency and “radical candour” in response to a review, published last week, which identified leadership failings at Winchester Cathedralhttps://t.co/GbElq3J8JX

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 12, 2025