Living Water

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THE READER

The Central Readers’ Council of the Church of England Chair: The Bishop of Sodor and Man, the Rt Revd Robert Paterson Vice-chair: Mrs Chrysogon Bamber Secretary: Dr Alan Wakely Associate Secretary: Mrs Jenny Macpherson The Reader production team Editor: Heather Fenton Reviews Editor: Mark Hurley Advertising Manager: Designer: Wild Associates Ltd Editorial Committee Chair: Marion Gray The Reader is available from the Central Readers’ Council, Church House, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3AZ General enquiries: [email protected] Tel: 01353 775132 Circulation enquiries: [email protected] Tel: 020 7898 1401 or 020 7898 1417 Editor: [email protected] Please send information for Gazette and In Memoriam to the General Enquiries address.

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Summer 2013 2 The Bible in pictures Vol 110 No2 Liz Pacey 4 Ineffably Sublime Tony Phelps-Jones 6 Speaking out for God Richard Woodward

8 Creative ways of looking at the Bible Matt Page

9 An Open Learning programme that Opens the Scriptures Dr David Ball 10 Bible reading in church Bishop Robert Paterson 12 Mission-shaped ministry Karen Carter

14 Quotable quotes

15 The Jewishness of Jesus? David Spriggs

16 Need to know more?

18 Work-life balance Michael Glenn 20 Keep on doing what you know God is calling you to do Avril Chisnall 22 World mission is changing Nigel Wildish 24 Seeking Gold – A pilgrimage way Lavender Buckland 26 Licensed Lay Ministry – a broad perspective Bishop Robert Paterson

28 Water – a poem Heather Fenton

29 Still missing the triumph of style over substance? Adam Pope

30 A story for telling and a song for singing



31 ‘What made me think’



32 Prayers for praying



33 The Reader magazine – A survey



33 Gazette



34 Book reviews



37 In Memoriam



37 Last word

Margaret Harvey David Fewster Carol Jerman

Welcome

CONTENTS

‘Living Water’ is the title of this issue. I saw plenty of this when on holiday in Norway last year and the cover picture is one of the many waterfalls we saw. Coach loads of people were attracted to these places, and again and again I saw how people responded to the presence of such powerful and life-giving water. The bible is a powerful source of living water for the life of the world, and as Christians we need both to drink of this water ourselves and to draw others to what we have found. ‘Living Water’ has a wide spectrum of resources, and in fact they are so numerous that I have included ‘Need to Know More’ in the main part of the magazine because of the treasures mentioned there. Amongst the articles is a contribution by Bishop Robert on reading in church, and another by Richard Woodward, a professional voice coach, who helps us to think about ‘Speaking out for God’. Tony Phelps-Jones works for a Christian organisation which focuses on people with learning difficulties and his curiously named article ‘Ineffably Sublime’ challenges us to use vocabulary which actually communicates to everyone! These are only a small cross section of the content this time and there is plenty more to use to enable your own or someone else’s ministry. I like to add new things to the mix which appears in The Reader, and I hope that we can have a small new item entitled ‘What made me think’. This idea came from the fact that David Fewster, a Reader, sent me a very short piece under this title. It is actually a book review but I would like to broaden ‘What made me think’ out to include anything which made you think. So if you fancy writing about 300 words, please do email it to me for possible inclusion. Other Readers have made contributions and these give us insights into the way their ministry works out in the diverse contexts in which they find themselves. I would like more articles that tell of how ministry works out in all sorts of different ways so that we can enable and encourage one another in our call to serve the church and the world. Six articles in this issue have been written by Readers or those considering Reader ministry. If you think you could follow their example another time please get in touch with me, preferably by email. (See inside front cover.) Forthcoming themes are: ‘Evangelism’ and then ‘The Arts’. For spring 2014 the theme will be ‘Dying and Living’ and I hope, amongst other things, to include material to help us prepare to reflect on the events surrounding the First World War. Last but not least, many thanks to all those who took the trouble to respond to the survey about The Reader in the spring issue. Marion Gray, the chair of our editorial committee, has written a short piece about this.

Marion Gray

Heather Fenton Editor

www.readers.cofe.anglican.org 1

Feature

The Bible in Pictures

Liz Pacey is a Reader and a professional writer

I breathed a sigh of relief. My studies in English literature were over. Now, for a change, I could read what I liked… Funnily enough, my flatmates seemed to think that was exactly what I had just spent the last four years doing. Perhaps there are people in our congregations who think we do not need to read much at all... after all our knowledge is so great!! Or that we are indeed spending all our time reading what we like. The Bible. Well, yes, true up to a point. But if our Bible reading only goes as far as the next sermon, and we see it as another text book alongside the commentaries, we are in big trouble. Not to mention missing out on so much that God has to offer. We need to take the time to explore the Bible for ourselves, to deepen our relationship with its author. Of course we know that, but when yet another busy day has fled by... Perhaps we just might need a new way to connect to God’s word so that our whole being is receptive, and we do not become stale. I am rather fond of an advertisement for a certain chocolate Eastertide goody (O.K... it’s the actual goody I am fond of!) – ‘how do you eat yours?’ This article is rather: ‘how do you read yours?’ However, the things I am going to describe are absolutely not methods of reading the Bible. Rather they are comparisons that just might open our eyes to seeing things, especially God’s word, in a new way.

A Magic Eye Picture1

Isaiah 43:18-19 Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.  I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness   and rivers in the desert.2

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Do you remember when some years ago these pictures were all the rage and appeared everywhere? All you had to do was stick your nose right up to the page of apparently meaningless colourful splodges, and focus as though you were looking through the picture into the distance. Then, as you very slowly moved the page away from you the hidden image would magically appear. The longer you looked, the clearer the illusion became. I can still remember, after many failed attempts, and practically standing on my head in the process, the thrill of actually seeing the image I was meant to see. A real eureka moment! It wasn’t something anyone else could do for me. They could tell me how to do it, but the actual experience had to be mine. I had to not only believe that there was something amazing in these splodges, but more than that I had to be prepared for them to become even more indistinct and confused before light would be able to dawn. Recently I had another go and because I was out of practice I had to brush up on the technique again. When I was successful the thrill was still there. I must admit I don’t understand how it works, but I am delighted, with a childlike sense of wonder, that it does. There are of course principles here that we can apply to our Bible reading. It is all very well having our nose stuck in the book, apparently with great concentration, but we have to be able to see beyond that. The

longer we focus, the clearer things will become. We need to see the big picture. We need to feel the excitement when something new is revealed to us.

An Artist’s Date

Mark 6: 31-32 He said to them, ‘Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.  And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. I am in the process (egged on by a dear and very adventurous friend) of compiling a list of 60 things I should really like to achieve in the year following my upcoming significant birthday. One of them is to recultivate the habit of the artist’s date. In her book The Artist’s Way3 Julia Cameron suggests that to renew creative energy everyone should take themselves off once a week on an artist’s date. You have to be on your own, and it has to be something just for you. It does not have to be anything at all to do with formal art, but I have decided my first one will be to our local art gallery. I will make the effort to get there; will spend time just choosing a picture, and more time sitting quietly getting to know it. There is nothing quite like the anticipation as you actually put on your coat and make

the journey to see and spend time with a beautiful big picture. The visit will not only be about the picture though. It will be about place, feelings, and atmosphere. Then there might be the coffee, and, dare I suggest, cake afterwards. The drinking in of the different atmosphere of the busy gallery cafe. People-watching and just quietly listening to the buzz of conversation. Perhaps recalling other visits, other experiences or visiting the shop and taking a postcard of the picture viewed or other memento of the visit back. Reading the Bible is not just about the written word on the page but the whole experience of our lives that we bring to it. As we reach out towards it it draws us in.

A Painting in

Whether we read a whole chunk of the Bible at once, or perhaps only dwell on a sentence, God will speak to us through it if we allow him time. We might see something in a new way. Tiny, almost hidden details can suddenly become clear. And we can share what we experience with others, and learn from their experiences.

An Empty Canvas

Isaiah 55:11 t goes out So shall my word be tha not return ll sha it ; from my mouth accomplish ll sha it t to me empty, bu d succeed that which I purpose, an t it. sen I ich wh in the thing for

a

Gallery Matthew 11: 28 -29 ‘Come to me, al l you that are weary and are ca rrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.  Take my yo ke upon you, and learn from me; for I am ge ntle and humble in heart, and you will find rest fo r your souls.’

To some extent my mood will determine the picture I choose today. Perhaps a tranquil scene. Perhaps a lot of action. Perhaps a portrait. A picture has so much to say to us. It is good to look at it first without trying to think about it too much, to see it as a whole. Then allowing ourselves to focus, to be gradually drawn in. The stiller we become, the more sensitive we will be to the movement in the picture. Or to the movement between us and the picture. We might find ourselves drawn to one of the characters. We might feel we become one of the people in the picture. One of the main ones perhaps, or someone with a less obvious role. We can allow ourselves to ponder. After reflecting in this way we might feel we need the interpretation of another. We might want to find out more about the artist. What he was actually trying to say. We can see so much ourselves in the painting but we know that is not the end of the meaning. We can still learn from others.

On an extremely cold day at the beginning of February this year several members of our knitting group went to York to see and take part in the yarn bombing of their art gallery. The gallery was being closed for restoration and this was to be a fond farewell to the way things were. The building had been stripped bare and everyone was encouraged to write a message on the empty walls. Can you imagine the thrill of writing ‘St Columba (Hull) Knitwits were here’ for all to see? Coffee was drunk, pompoms were made. Some people decorated a bicycle and an umbrella with knitting. Our contribution was more modest and we left a teddy and ribbons in a sheltered spot, hoping that Ted, who had been very brave leaving his brothers and sisters who were bound for warmer climes, would be rewarded for his faith and find his own new special home. As we leave our signature on the world around us we are writing God’s word to us and to others.

A Tapestry

Philippians 4:8-9 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. Above my mantelpiece hangs a charming cross stitch picture. It shows the bedroom of a wealthy young woman of days gone by preparing to go on a journey. Beautiful dresses are laid out next to a waiting trunk. Open French doors invite you into the world she is about to discover. For me though this is only part of the story. Some years ago my friend, a keen needlewoman, saw this embroidery in a charity shop at a ridiculously low price. She didn’t fall in love with the picture immediately as I was later to do. But she appreciated the hours of work and love that had gone into its creation. And she just could not leave it there. She took it home with her to await its new owner. That turned out to be me. I spend many happy moments imagining the story of the girl in the picture. There is such a sense of her even though she is not there physically. But perhaps even more I think about the person who made this beautiful picture with so much love. The Bible is made up of so many small threads and colours, going far beyond what we can see with our eyes. It truly is a tapestry of God’s love for us.

A prayer

Lord God, we thank you for all the wonderful and often unique things around us that point us to you. May we never become blasé about your word but to always be looking for new ways to access it and share that experience with others. Amen

1 Magic Eye http://www.magiceye.com/faq_ example.htm accessed 19 February 2013 2 All Bible references taken from NRSV 3 Julia Cameron The Artist’s Way Pan Books 1995

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Feature

Tony Phelps-Jones works for Prospects for People with Learning Disabilities

Ineffably Sublime ‘Let us stand to sing.’ We rise obediently as the organ strikes up, our voices lift to the stirring tune and poetic lyrics. By verse four we hardly notice that we haven’t a clue what we’re singing about. ‘Crown him the Lord of years, the Potentate of time, creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.’ Few people, and I’ve asked hundreds, can explain what the words mean, but they know it’s a good hymn!

I hope you’re smiling at least a little by now. There is something here that’s universal. If we read, or hear, or sing words that are very familiar we may pass over them without grasping the significance, without taking in and responding to the truth that has been expressed. But think about this: what if hardly anything you heard or sang made sense to you, the words and ideas becoming a meaningless jumble? Would you find that frustrating? I certainly would. Prepare for a shock. There are thousands of people in church every Sunday for whom that is their regular experience; they simply don’t understand what’s being said. How then will they know about Jesus, find salvation, receive the Holy Spirit and grow in grace? They are known collectively as people with learning disabilities and number 1.5 million in the UK. But they are all different from each other in temperament, ability and character. They are all uniquely made in the image of God, each one valued and loved by him. Because of limited vocabulary, intellect or memory, many people with learning disabilities find the language used in church a barrier to understanding, an obstacle too great to overcome. For people with learning disabilities, the big issue is access to truth.

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‘What is truth?’ Pilate famously asked. The gospel message is essentially a simple one. God wants us to be part of his family. Our sin keeps us away from God. Jesus died so our sins can be forgiven. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to live in a way that pleases God. It’s all there in the scriptures. What people with learning disabilities need is that someone takes the time to explain the truth in ways they can understand, and supports them as they take it in and respond.

here it is in the ETRV ‘Through Christ, God made peace between himself and us. And God gave us the work of bringing people into peace with him’.

The concept of finding peace with God is much easier to grasp than reconciliation. The format of the ETRV here offers something else. In its repetition of the word peace it provides in its first sentence an alternative statement of the Gospel, and in its second, of the great commission. And so to the Bible. There are numerous In 1976 a pioneering couple, David and translations; which is your favourite? In Madeleine Potter, started a Christian Charity selecting a Bible suitable for people with whose aim was to provide long-term homes learning disabilities there are several criteria for adults with learning disabilities, the sons to bear in mind. Long words and complex and daughters of Christian parents. These sentences are difficult for lots of people. homes would not only provide quality Romans 5:17 (NIV) says, ‘For if, by the trespass support, but uphold the Christian values of the one man, death reigned through that and way of life they’d been used to. At one man, how much more will those who that time there was nothing comparable receive God’s abundant provision of grace outside the big institutions. Madeleine and of the gift of righteousness reign in life started leading Bible studies with some through the one man, Jesus Christ!’ Perhaps of the people supported in Reading. like me you’ll be joining the queue in heaven Finding no suitable teaching material she to ask Paul about some of his letters. wrote her own, learning what worked by trial and error. Metaphor and simile can also be confusing. Why would we deliberately call something The Bible, of course, is full of symbolism something else, as Jesus does in John 15:1,2? and metaphor. In John 8:12, Jesus said ‘I ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the am the light of the world.’ As part of the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that teaching, Madeleine placed a candle on the bears no fruit, while every branch that does coffee table and lit it. Afterwards a young bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even man asked ‘Is Jesus a candle?’ People with more fruitful.’ learning disabilities often take things literally, and if a word has more than one meaning, What this points to is that most Bible versions they may select the meaning they are most target an audience with a sophisticated grasp familiar with. It’s easy to see why words like of the language. One translation that presents hail, rain/reign or even bottom might be truth in more easily understandable English is misunderstood. the Easy-to-Read Version in which vocabulary is limited and sentences kept shorter. One Love is a central focus in the life and example of this is in 1 Corinthians 5:18. Read ministry of Jesus; it’s at the heart of the it first in the NIV ‘All this is from God, who Gospel. Scripture reminds us (1 John 4:10) reconciled us to himself through Christ and This is love: not that we loved God, but that gave us the ministry of reconciliation.’ And he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning

sacrifice for our sins. Preachers will tell us that God loves us not as we will be or should be, but as we are now; and not because we deserve it but because he is the God of love.

touch that can be explained by its colour, size or weight. Of course, even God is abstract. We say he’s a person but you can’t shake his hand, hear him speak or admire his jumper.

I wrote a song that starts off, ‘God loves you just the way you are, and he knows everything about you.’ We sang it on the first evening of a holiday weekend for people with learning disabilities organised by Prospects. Mary didn’t join in. She couldn’t believe the words were true for her. She knew what had been going on in her life, and concluded that God could not possibly love her just the way she was. The following day one team member, then another, spent time with her and explained that God had made her, and that he did indeed love her just as she was. Whatever her view was of herself, God’s view was that she was wonderfully made and was dearly loved. By the afternoon she was persuaded, and committed her life to God. That evening she asked to share something, and led us singing the second verse of the song: ‘God loves me just the way I am, and he knows everything about me.’ On her face was a smile from ear to ear; on mine, a tear to wipe away.

Forgiveness requires significant understanding and a leap of faith. You need to recognise that something you did or said upset another person, and follow that up by saying sorry to that person. They forgive you; you are forgiven. End of story? Sorry, no; there’s more. What you did or said also made God sad. You need to say sorry to God too. Why? Because making God sad like that is called sin and it forms a barrier between us and God. If we say sorry to God he will forgive us. Well, that’s very nice of him, but why and how is that possible? And so to the cross...

Mary understood that she’d been forgiven. Forgiveness is something that many people struggle with. Unforgiveness can blight people’s lives when bitterness over past wrongs is allowed to linger and grow like a cancer. It poisons and ruins relationships and can lead to serious ill-health. Christians have a wonderful pattern and motivation for forgiveness. Jesus died so that we can be forgiven, and Jesus calls us to forgive those who sin against us, as in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:12) and the parable of the unmerciful servant (Matt 18:35).

The reason I’m labouring this point a little is to illustrate that some of the basics of Christianity are quite involved. We may be so familiar with this process of forgiveness, for example, that we take for granted that people will understand it. The fact that it was God’s plan that his son Jesus would die on the cross will be shocking for people hearing about it for the first time, and they may become upset or angry about it. Because forgiveness involves several stages, it’s wise to take it slowly, one step at a time, and check people’s understanding on the way with questions.

Metaphor and simile can also be confusing. Why would we deliberately call something something else

But forgiveness is a difficult subject; it is In common with many Christians, the abstract and people with learning disabilities often struggle with abstract concepts. It’s much final stage is often the hardest to achieve – easier to understand something you can see or receiving the forgiveness. The understanding

may all be there, the facts quite clear. The only thing left is to accept the forgiveness. The message needs to travel the eighteen inches from brain to heart. The issue is one of faith: believing that God really has forgiven, and will never mention or think of that thing again. And we can forgive ourselves too; no remaining guilt or shame. It’s a journey people need to take at their own speed. Mary’s story shows the importance of walking that journey alongside people with patience and grace. Death and dying; it is no longer the taboo subject it once was. Yet in my experience, it still remains a topic many fear to raise with people with learning disabilities. Some people may fear they will not be able to explain adequately and the person won’t understand. People may not be taken to a parent’s or grandparent’s funeral as ‘they might get upset’. Grieving begins with facing reality, and tears are part of the healing, restoring process. Agreed, it may be difficult for people with learning disabilities to understand that someone they knew, perhaps lived with, is not coming back. Where are they? Was it my fault they’ve gone? But we do people a disservice if we will not even try to tackle these issues and support them through difficult times. The charity Prospects exists so people with learning disabilities can enjoy life to the full. They have developed a range of resource materials that help to achieve that. Among them is a bereavement pack, a series of accessible daily Bible reading notes based on the Easy-to-Read Bible, and several albums of worship songs specially written to make them easy to join in with. Tony Phelps-Jones is Director of Ministry of Prospects for People with Learning Disabilities. For more information see www.prospects.org.uk

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Feature

Speaking out for God – is

Time to bring in communication training to our churches? Richard Woodward is a voice coach Recently Frank Skinner and the former Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend Lord Richard Harries, commented on the poor quality of reading and speaking in churches. They both felt that the delivery of the Word is not as captivating as it should be. Is this true and if so, why? Well, a worrying fact is that public speaking is not a compulsory part of theological training and very few courses include the subject. Readers are undoubtedly called to serve but that does not mean they necessarily have the technical expertise ‘to speak out’. Presumably the current training schemes set their sights on higher, more spiritual matters leaving the students to preach without learning the foundations for effective communication. Surely the potential consequence of this is that congregations are left uninspired and, even worse, God’s Word is being short-changed? In fairness the problem is not only one relating to Readers; experienced professionals are known to mumble. But the ability to ‘deliver the word’ well applies to us all whether we front services, preach or lead prayers as paid employees, Readers or members of the congregation. Of course worship is important, but far too often there is disappointment at the quality of communication. What is more frustrating is that probably it would not take much time and effort to sort out the problem or at least make the situation better. Richard Harries, speaking at the Hay Literature Festival last May, quoted Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran Pastor and theologian, as saying ‘the Bible is a love letter from God’. He added ‘if only more people read it so’.

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So why is so much reading, leading and speaking during church services just not hitting the mark? In consequence of this the word of God is not being sent out onto the streets. Congregations are left disappointed and the further consequence of this is that new people are not being encouraged to go to a service at a time when so many churches are trying to increase their attendances. Perhaps members picked from the congregation to read have some excuse; they are probably neither trained nor professional speakers but feel perhaps they should do something. A more likely scenario is that they have been persuaded by the rota leader to ‘have a go’. The sad thing is that so much of the lacklustre or just plain incompetent speaking could be so much better with a little help.

the failure to make the reading come alive in a meaningful and memorable way. Why do these things happen? Well, lack of any training may be the answer. There are those who resist advice feeling that they do not need assistance or if all else fails God will help them. Sorry, but God may have called them but He does expect the reader to put in some effort. As the saying goes ‘God helps those who help themselves’.

Secondly there are those and yes, even among the professionals, there are those who believe that it is irreverent to speak above a quiet tone and no drama should be put into the storytelling in case this smacks of ‘actorish insincerity’. In the case of Readers perhaps they have taken too much heed of the words ‘plainly’ and ‘reverently’ quoted in the Readers’ Canons about the nomination and admission of Readers which So what are the main faults? Five spring to states that ‘No person shall be admitted mind immediately. These are inaudibility, the …except it be found…that he is able to read inability to be understood, lack of eye contact, the services of the church plainly, distinctly, the voice fading at the end of sentences and audibly and reverently’.

his Word getting through? And then there is probably the biggest sin of all – complacency! But naturally no-one will admit to that but it does creep in. It is natural once someone thinks they have sufficient experience to go merrily on their way with less thought and practice put into it than there ought to be.

thought is retained will assist the breath and voice on their travels to the outer reaches of the congregation.

Lack of clarity may be caused by nerves which force the speaker to gabble, but too frequently it can be a sign of the rush of the modern age where everyone speaks in a kind of shorthand So what can be done to improve that cuts off syllables in words. The answer communication? With regard to complacency, is to take the speech slower and to open perhaps everyone needs to pause a moment the mouth wider. It is helpful to imagine an and consider their own abilities. However opening large enough to insert two of your experienced, do we regularly monitor our fingers sideways. performance and is it a case that we are so experienced that others would not dare Eye contact can be very difficult for some to correct us? If we speak regularly and people as they either worry they will lose particularly if it is the same church, we their place or actually witness the boredom probably don’t give a second thought to on the faces of the congregation and then ‘how we are doing it’. The ‘what’ we are saying go to pieces. The ability to use eye contact is a different matter; the preacher will have can lift a reading immeasurably as each and agonised for hours about content and even every member of that congregation will feel spent sleepless nights waiting for inspiration included in the communication. At the very and hoping to find the right words and tone. least it is possible to make eye contact at the However when it comes to the delivery the start and at the end. same person sub-consciously will be saying ‘I have spoken from this pulpit dozens of times ‘Surely these were delivered in so at least I don’t have to bother about my a breath-taking, inspiring and projection’. Yes, a person who has preached many times and has the vocal equipment to charismatic way’ be heard and yes, really does know how to use it can develop bad habits. For example, things such as allowing the voice to die away at the And then there is the problem that Frank end of sentences can creep in. Concentration Skinner has spoken about and that is the and energy must be maintained to the end lack of dynamism coming across from the of every sentence. pulpit. Some people may feel that too much ‘liveliness’ can be irreverent or sound insincere Inaudibility is a no-no. There are no two ways but they should go back to the Bible and about it you must be heard otherwise the read the wonderful stories that Jesus told. whole point is lost and much time has been Surely these were delivered in a breath-taking, wasted. A thought to remember is that it is inspiring and charismatic way. Well, most not just the ten minutes the preacher has people may lack charisma but if they really wasted. Multiply that ten minutes by the feel and believe what they are saying and number in the congregation and work out the they really want to pass on this message then wasted time. That doesn’t take into account their brain will help to bring the speech or the preparation, rehearsal and fretting time! reading alive. By practising their storytelling If someone is inaudible they must be told that and letting their enthusiasm and love shine they need to take in extra breath, open their through – they may just be surprised! mouth wider and think where their voice must reach. Never think the microphone A lot of church communication could be will do the work for you. improved with some little guidance. Regular training and independent feedback can There is a well-known saying ‘The brain is a ensure a church maintains its reputation as marvellous instrument it starts working the a lively communicative church, not one where moment you are born and stops the moment half the congregation (usually sat at the back if Church of England) are regularly saying you stand up to speak in public’. The brain is ‘What did they say?’ a marvellous instrument because if a speaker pauses a moment and scans the congregation Seeking the help of a voice coach can pay to see exactly how far the voice has to reach dividends to all involved and it need not be the brain will take this in and provided that

costly. A good teacher will be constructive, give encouragement where needed and ensure that everyone will feel more confident about their ability to such an extent that they may even enjoy standing up in front of a congregation! If the speaker is clear and confident then the congregation will feel confident, both speaker and listener will enjoy the experience and the words will have the desired effect whether they are designed to inspire, comfort, instruct or provoke thought. Secondly, a voice coach will leave the speakers with enough information to maintain good communication and to eradicate any problems. Courses can be as short as half a day or a series of weekly sessions can be arranged tailored to the experience of the students. Whilst the money spent is a lasting investment it has been known that careful church treasurers have recouped the money spent by offering places at a small charge to neighbouring parishes. Churches up and down the country want people to come to services and want them to be inspired in the hope that they may carry out from the experience the Word of God. But if those leading the services and preaching have not been fired up, how can anyone expect them to pass on the message? Even worse, new people may not bother going coming back if good live communication is not taking place. Of course an inspiring experience cannot happen every time at every service by every speaker but everyone involved has a duty to make their words reach out. Communication is two way; the speaker must deliver the goods in such a way that the hearer takes in what is being said. So, let’s hear it for the work of voice coaches so that everyone in turn can hear the word of God – loud and clear. And I think everyone, including Frank Skinner and the Rt. Revd. Richard Harries can say Amen to that. Richard Woodward is a voice coach who specialises in delivering courses for places of worship and theological colleges. He can be contacted at [email protected] website: www.voicecoach.me.uk (see menu ‘Delivering the Word’)

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Feature

Creative ways of looking at the Bible The author of Hebrews described the word of God as ‘living, powerful, and sharper than a double-edged sword’. Yet often the only danger we face from wielding a Bible is a paper cut. So here are a handful of creative ways to look at the Bible that might offer you a new perspective on it.

Kiss Goodbye to the Bible Voice

Most of the Bible was written to be read out loud. I’m not sure why people tend to adopt a dull monotone when reading the Bible but even something as simple as reading the Bible in the same way as you would say anything else can make a difference. So experiment with reading it out loud, emphasising the bits you would stress if you were saying those words for real, pausing occasionally, and expressing the emotions in the passage – be it love or hate, joy or anger.

Imagining Being There

A simple, but effective way to explore the Bible more is to imagine being at the place when the events unfolded. Picture being there and then ‘look around’ to see what you see. So if looking at the raising of Lazarus, picture being in Bethany. What was the atmosphere like? What did you feel when Lazarus died? What were the sights, smells and sounds? What was the temperature like? How did the atmosphere change when Jesus arrived? Did you expect him to cry? Did it smell when they rolled away the stone? How did people respond? How did your feelings change? It’s worth thinking your way around the five senses and the different stages of the story. Sometimes it’s also helpful to pretend to be one of the characters and discuss it afterwards if in a group.

Imagining the Speaker

For the parts of the Bible that aren’t stories try imaging what the author would have been like. Paul is passionate, excitable, very black and white, and loves to debate. He probably dictated his letters marching around the room. Jesus also had a very exaggerated form of speech. ‘If it causes you to sin, cut it off!’ He wasn’t a nice middle-class accounts manager from Basingstoke, he was a Jewish peasant unafraid of authority and frequently in the middle of an argument.

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The Bible and Film

Whilst no film about the Bible gives you a ‘how it really was’ by coming from different angles, they can open our eyes to things we might otherwise miss. The best films actually challenge some of the (often un-biblical) notions we have about Jesus, as well as fleshing out the look and feel of what it was like to be there. It’s always worth comparing the films back to the original text and sometimes you have to get past bad hair or clunky dialogue. But watching a handful of clips or films gives you a range of new perspectives.

Study

Academic study is not always quick to produce results, but it has been significant in making the Bible more accessible. The last 200 years have seen things move on a great deal. We have found out how Revelation, whilst very bizarre for us, fitted a very conventional style of its day. We’ve also realised just how diverse Judaism was in Jesus’ time with several major strands and opposing viewpoints. This kind of information helps us flesh out what was happening in the Bible, as it was written. Commentaries, Bible handbooks and dictionaries, and study Bibles are all useful here.

Matt Page who usually reviews films for us

Mediation on a passage or verse

Either think through a passage seeing what jumps out what God is saying etc., or concentrate more on a particular verse or phrase.

Memorisation There are loads of methods for memorising passages such as repeating them over and over or writing them down and crossing out a word at a time, thinking of acronyms etc. As scripture becomes part of you and ingrained in your memory, so it comes to mind at the relevant time.

Contemplation Repeat the same passage over and over again. Gradually the emphasis should shift from the words to the God behind them. Repetitive dance beats might help you do this as well.

Speaking out in worship Many parts of the Bible such as psalms were written to be spoken out in corporate worship. How does it feel to be using the Bible in this way rather than learning propositional truths?

Retelling the story

Work out ways to retell a particular passage. You could be an eyewitness or a journalist, or writing a letter to a friend. This makes you re-work the story looking at it from a different angle.

Acting it Out

Most people, inside church as well as outside it, are used to a huge range of dramatic forms such as films, serials, news broadcasts, soap operas, miniseries, musicals and sit-coms So next time you’re in a group that’s going to be reading a passage why not take a role each? You could even print it off beforehand in script format so everyone has the same translation and can see when it’s their turn. Alternatively write some form of drama based on the passage you are studying.

Sensory Exploration Read a passage and then get hold of things that make the five senses feel the same way as they would have done then. Read Jesus’ describing himself as living water when you’re hot, sweaty and thirsty. Have a glass of wine whilst reading the wedding at Cana.

Pictures and Maps To help you get your head around what is going on where, it can be helpful to get hold of a map of the relevant area or building (if there isn’t one to hand, try drawing your own). Or you could try and make time lines or family trees when it all gets a bit complicated. Or just find pictures of how it might have looked when you read a passage.

Dr David Ball is Director of Open Learning to God speaking through the other members of their local groups. We are in the process of developing courses that will broadly cover the Old and New Testament while allowing people to interact first hand with the text of the Bible. There are already seven courses available to study: Discover God’s Ancient Story: A Study of Genesis

Trinity College, Foundations –

An Open Learning programme that Opens the Scriptures The story of Mary Jones, the 15 year old Welsh girl, walking 28 miles barefoot with 6 years’ savings in order to own a Bible in her own language, challenges us all in an age when we can access the Christian scriptures so readily in many different languages. What was it that made Mary so desperate to acquire a Bible that she could understand? I believe that Mary, among so many in previous generations, recognised that the Bible was foundational not only to our Christian faith but to our whole lives. In it God had provided everything that was needed for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:13). In a previous generation, the Scriptures were equated with that divine power that Peter tells us is granted to us by God. The Scriptures had the power to transform us as individuals, churches and as a society into what God wanted us to be. This was the conviction of William Wilberforce, of William Carey, of Amy Carmichael and countless others. Of course, we know that the scriptures are a diverse set of books written by a wide range of authors from many different centuries, and yet these scriptures have been the means by which our society, families and churches have been nurtured and equipped by God for his mission in our land and in the world for centuries. How is it then that many of us have lost the confidence we once had in the scriptures? Perhaps it is because we have seen the Bible undermined by people outside the Christian faith and we feel that we do not have any answers. Perhaps it is because, like the time before the Reformation, we have fallen into the belief that they can only be interpreted by an expert. And so, the interpretation of the Bible has again been removed from the

Foundations of God’s Covenant Community: A Study of Exodus to Deuteronomy Encountering Jesus and the Kingdom (1): A Study of Mark and Matthew Discover Life: A Study of the Gospel of John

people of God and placed with the expert, whether this person is ordained or is an academic theologian. I believe it is time for us to challenge such attitudes and to encourage ordinary Christians that they can, with a little bit of training, learn how to interpret the bible (2 Tim 2:15) and that they can have the confidence that these Scriptures are ‘useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness’ (2 Tim 3:16).

Foundations of Love and Hope: A Study of the Epistles of John and Revelation

At Trinity College we have set up an Open Learning programme called Foundations. Building on expertise gained by other Christian institutions in the UK and around the world, we provide interactive workbooks for people to study the Bible as part of a local group. We believe that if our churches are to grow, they must be learning communities and that at the heart of that learning must be the ability to grapple with the Scriptures in a mature way that takes notice of their original setting and seeks to apply them in appropriate ways to our own discipleship as well as to the ministry and mission of the local church.

Pastor Dia Moodley, of Spirit of Life Church, Bristol, has taken the decision to use our courses for the mid-week Bible study at his church. The members of his church are now on their fourth course. Dia says: ‘The courses… are of huge value in building up our church by helping members of the congregation to get to know the Bible, a vital tool for ministry.’

How is it, then, that many of us have lost the confidence we once had in the scriptures? We presently have groups in around 20 places in the country meeting regularly with local tutors to engage with the Bible and to learn from God and each other. It has been a great privilege to see people from diverse backgrounds, ages and cultures encounter God in the Scriptures. It has also been wonderful to see people grow in their respect for others and in their ability to listen

Discover Christian Living (1): A Study of Galatians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and 1 and 2 Corinthians Discover Christian Living (2): A Study of Romans, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, Ephesians, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus.

Gay Carpenter, who has been tutoring similar courses in Hertfordshire for 20 years, states: ‘I love seeing people… get excited by the Bible, learn how to interpret and apply it, and find the particular ministry God is calling them to.’ Gay has seen members of her groups grow into their calling in secular employment, in prisons and youth work, as well as follow a calling into recognised ministry in the church as Readers or clergy. Gay presently tutors several people who have been recommended to study as part of the discernment process towards possible ordination. David Wenham, Tutor in New Testament at Trinity College, has been a keen supporter of the courses over several years. He states ‘What a fine course! I wish all theological students had the chance to do something as thorough, interactive and valuable.’ Dr David Ball is Director of Open Learning at Trinity College Bristol

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Feature

Bible reading in church

Bishop Robert Paterson is chair of the Central Readers Council

Why is it important to read the Bible well in Church?

The Anglican Communion is ‘the greatest Bible-reading Church in the world. In no other Church anywhere is the Bible read in public worship so regularly, with such order, and at such length, as in the Anglican fellowship of Churches. … Anglicanism is a form of the Christian faith that demands and expects a great deal from ordinary people.’ Bishop Stephen Neill: Anglicanism, (1958-1977)

and ourselves. It is an act that requires the greatest care from those who do it. It is never to be undertaken casually yet, of all liturgical acts, it is probably performed least well. We can do something about it.

Preparation

b  ecause the Bible is the basis and test of all Christian teaching;

Anyone who reads the Bible in church should be reading the Bible regularly at home. Good Bible-readers (sometimes called ‘lectors’ to avoid confusion with licensed ‘Readers’) are those who are familiar with the Book, as every Christian should be. If you hear the Bible only in church on Sundays, you are bound to have difficulties with reading it in church.

b  ecause it is the reliable expression of the Word made flesh and therefore our supreme guide in matters of faith and practice;

Know what you are to read well in advance of the service. You cannot prepare for what you are expected to do unless you know what it is.

The reading of the Bible in Church is extremely important

b  ecause it helps to form the Christian character of worship and worshipping communities; and b  ecause it is the foundation upon which the Sacraments are built. Reading the Bible in church is an act of spiritual importance: through it we hear the word of the Lord for the world, the Church

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Find out which translation you are expected to read from or, if there is some freedom of choice, select the most appropriate version to communicate well. Do not restrict yourself to your favourite!

3

Read the text at home several times starting several days in advance, so you are familiar with it. Reading what comes before and what follows helps us

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to understand the reading. Sometimes, readings include names which may be difficult to pronounce. A few translations (the RSV in particular) include stress marks to help you: the pointing mark follows where the stress is laid, eg. Elim’elech. Biblical versions on the www often provide spoken text, but check whether it’s British English! If in doubt, ask a reader or a cleric in advance. Occasionally, the reading will include a complex sentence. For instance: ‘… the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God’ (Romans 8:21 NRSV). It is all but impossible to make sense of these if you don’t prepare.

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Biblical translations are mostly written in the kind of phrasing that we might expect in reasonably formal conversation. Much of the language of the Scriptures is, in fact, a great deal less dignified than our English translations make them. (It is a fallacy to suppose that the older translations are less ‘earthy’ than modern ones – we often treat them to a kind of ‘polite’ reading that was never intended!) If you follow the pattern of the phrasing you should find the Bible

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fairly easy to read. Where it becomes complicated is when there are parentheses, which have to be read as though you were saying them in conversation, reflecting this in the tone of your voice and the speed of delivery. St Paul’s Letters are full of this kind of thing when he makes a statement and then qualifies it, often with a comment from his own experience, for example in 2 Corinthians 11:23) Be careful with the words on which you lay stress: it’s very easy to lay undue stress on prepositions (‘to’, ‘from’, etc.) and thus to make it difficult for the hearer to understand. TV news presenters and reporters can be the worst offenders – while preparing this I heard a presenter refer to something that happened ‘to the doctors’ instead of ‘to the doctors’! In the liturgy, too often we hear, “Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,” rather than ‘Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.’ The meaning of a sentence can completely change by shifting the stress on a word. A classic mistake is made in the Prologue to St John’s Gospel (KJV). Most people read, ‘the Word was God,’ rather than ‘the Word was God.’

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At the service

Before the service, check if there is a microphone and, if need be, adjust it to your height. Find your seat in a place where you can get out easily to read, then pray for your reading. Before the service begins join the minister leading the service for the pre-service prayers. (Readers and clergy, please insist on this.) If you are not quite sure what precedes your reading, ask.

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Before the reading, get out of your place and to the lectern or pulpit in time. At the Eucharist, go during the Gloria and stand to one side during the Collect – if there is no Gloria or when the Prayer Book is in use, just move quickly into place. For the Gospel at the Eucharist, go during whatever precedes it to the place where it is normally read (and this will vary according to local custom). Whatever you do, please do not make a big show of going to the lectern.

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What do you read from? A Bible – always! – either the one on the lectern or your own. If you really can’t possibly do that, then use a printed extract placed inside a Bible, but never stand up in front of a congregation to read from a piece of paper because it sends the clear message, ‘This is no more important than

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the weekly notices.’ Wherever you can, use the lectern or pulpit to strengthen the symbol. Wait until everyone is ready – sitting comfortably (or facing you for the Gospel) before launching into the reading.

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12 If there are pew Bibles, give the page number of the Old or New Testament first, before the biblical reference, because that’s the logical order. Introduce the reading using the simplest possible form: ‘A reading from …’ Do not say the reading is ‘taken from’ because you are not ‘taking’ it anywhere!

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Give the context very concisely: one simple sentence, written down. Consider the difference between a ‘context’ and a ‘summary’.

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A context tells you the plot so far, it’s a very brief explanation of where the story or the argument has led to before the passage you are reading. Never introduce a reading with a summary because the hearer’s mind says, ‘Now I know that I don’t need to pay attention’. Give the biblical reference as Book, Chapter and starting verse (unless it is the first verse of the chapter, in which case it’s customary not to mention the verse). Remember to check the title of the Book from the Bible: this is especially difficult in the multiple New Testament Letters (eg. The Third Letter of John, which has only one chapter, is not St John’s Gospel Chapter 3). Do not announce where the reading will end and certainly do not say ‘to the end’.

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Pause again. Then read carefully and in a way appropriate to the text: proclamation, praise, conversation, narrative, etc. Never read in a way that suggests you are bored!

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If it is a Gospel at the Eucharist, you may care to lift the book as you proclaim, ‘This is the Gospel of the Lord!’ For all other readings, observe a long break in order to give time to think about the reading before ‘This is the word of the Lord.’ Never run these concluding statements straight onto the reading! The reason for a decent pause is that the word of the Lord is not simply what you have read but also how it has impacted on those who heard the reading. The word is spoken, heard and received.

20 Then do not move. If you dash off it

will look like you’re anxious to get away! Wait until the next item starts, then move. After the Gospel, it is becoming common for organists to play a few bars of music before the sermon, and it’s almost always the case that something will be happening. Return to your place discreetly and thank God for calling you to such an important ministry.

What about children? 21 Children should be encouraged to

read in church but beware the danger of using this as a means of patronising children; when it is done carefully and with preparation, it can be a powerful reminder that the word of the Lord comes ‘out of the mouths of babes and infants’ (Psalm 8:2). So don’t patronise them but help them to do their very best. They will need a great deal of support,

22 careful use of microphones, etc.,

and something like ‘The Dramatised Bible’ may also be a helpful tool. If you use a dramatised reading with adults and/or children (as is common for the Passion reading on Palm Sunday) make sure that it is carefully rehearsed.

Because you know the text reasonably well, look up every so often and make eye contact with the people - you may need to keep your finger on the place! This is especially important when the reading calls the hearers to some kind of response.

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At the end of the reading, make sure people know you’ve ‘arrived’ and look up.

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Then pause – always. + Robert Sodor as Mannin

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Feature

Mission-shaped ministry with Fresh Expressions Karen Carter works with Fresh Expressions Thinking and praying about starting or sustaining a fresh expression of church? Training options from Fresh Expressions include what is often seen as a first step into mission-shaped thinking, mission shaped intro (msi). Many then choose to further explore the opportunities available through the one-year, part-time course, mission shaped ministry (msm). Around 75,000 people in the UK and around the world have taken part in msi. Its six sessions are freely downloadable from www.freshexpressions.org.uk/missionshaped intro (registration required) but those preferring to buy printed materials – including course notes, DVD and participant workbooks – can do so from the same site. Since msm’s launch in 2007, more than 2,850 participants have flocked to 88 courses in the UK making the course a major contributor to lay and ordained ministry training. There has been widespread denominational recognition for the course and its ongoing impact in communities across the country and much further afield. The 24-unit course is usually presented over three Saturdays; a residential weekend; and six or seven weekday evenings. For those developing fresh expressions of church, mentoring is offered in between meetings. Individuals are very welcome to sign up for the course but organisers have found that learning is enhanced when people come as part of small groups. Among other topics, the course looks at:  e mission of God Th Vision and values Gospel and culture Evangelism and discipleship What is Church? Leadership and team roles Missional spirituality Worship and the sacraments How to keep going when things get tough Andrew Roberts, Director of Training for Fresh Expressions and a co-author of Fresh! – An Introduction to Fresh Expressions of Church

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and Pioneer Ministry (SCM, 2012), says, ‘It is wonderful to see so many people take the course on board. I think part of msm’s appeal and staying power is down to the fact that we constantly listen to what people are telling us about their msm experiences and look to respond as best we can to feedback and critique. We think it’s really important to offer fresh and updated materials in our training; the bedrock may remain the same but content needs to be open to revision.’ Internationally, eleven msms have so far taken place in Canada (2), Australia (3), United States (3), Barbados (1), New Zealand and Germany (1). In the UK, new centres for learning are on board. Plans in the pipeline for autumn starts include courses in Poole, Lincolnshire, Cumbria and North Lancashire, South Wales, Edinburgh and USA. But has msm really made a difference in the lives and ministry of participants? An initial report, for courses running from 2007 to 2010, revealed that msm had marked profound change for more than 90% of those taking part. Those responding said the course produced at least one of the following six outcomes, with msm helping:

The course inspired Melanie Prince, a team vicar in the Vale of Glamorgan, to start a monthly Messy Church called SPLAT. ‘I did msm South Wales in 2009-2010. It was timely for us to do it at Llantwit Major Benefice where there are nine churches, three clergy 26% start a fresh expression of church and three Readers. It gave us the kick start to 32% develop a fresh expression of church do things, providing a reason to stop delaying 58% apply its principles to their present church and get on with it. 20% clarify a call to pioneer ministry 66% grow in their own Christian ‘We started a Messy Church fairly early on discipleship/ ministry in the course. This happened because the 38% grow in their oversight or support of churchwardens came and said, “We used to a fresh expression of church have a thriving church with families. How do we get families back in again?” Their approach Over half of fresh expressions of church (54%) coincided with us having started msm and it started by msm participants in the three year meant we had some ideas to pull on. In a new period were specifically reaching children or atmosphere of optimism, I started the Messy children and their parents. The figure includes Church at St James, Wick, which I ran for its Messy Churches. first 18 months before handing it over. Monthly all-age worship in church now attracts a good Those fresh expressions already in existence number of people as well. The fresh expression but developed by those attending msm has been successful in itself but it has also include those for children and parents/guardians had an impact on the main church.’ (13%); children (8%); youth (13%); Messy Church (26%), adults (23%), all ages (17%) – For further details about msm and the 2013 the report outcomes are not mutually exclusive courses, visit www.freshexpressions.org.uk/ and therefore the combined outcomes totalled missionshapedministry or email more than 100%. [email protected]

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r fo s te o u q The Reader Quotable I was just a wreck and so I couldn’t believe it when they didn’t reject me. TV presenter Davina McCall, talking about her experience with a Narcotics Anonymous group (The Independent, 12th January 2013)

Suggestion for use: You could use the quote to talk about the complete acceptance which God offers us when we’re at our worst – and the acceptance which the church community ought to show to others. Davina’s reaction, that she simply couldn’t believe the Narcotics Anonymous group could still accept her having seen the worst of her, echoes the response of a sinner to God’s grace. How can we encourage vulnerable honesty in our communities, and accept people regardless of what they reveal? How does it change us when we experience God’s unconditional acceptance? The internet is not an ethical vacuum; it is an ethical battlefield. Journalist Timothy Garten Ash (The Guardian, 5th December 2012)

Suggestion for use: You could use the quote to talk about the moral choices we make whilst online. The internet can often feel like an anonymous, consequence-free place, where we can do and say what we like without it impacting our ‘real’ lives. But this is not the case. Every area of life has a moral and spiritual dimension, and what we do online affects us and others. How can we use the internet, and perhaps especially social media, in a way that glorifies God?

I know I’d never be me / Without the security / Of your loving arms Adele in James Bond theme song Skyfall (Eon Productions, 5th October 2012)

Suggestion for use: You could use the song lyric to talk about finding our security and identity in God. The world encourages us to think we need freedom from God to be truly ourselves, but in fact the opposite is true. Once we know that we are loved completely and unconditionally by God, we can stop striving to be acceptable, and simply be ourselves.

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Believing in everything is the same as not believing in anything.

Mr Patel in Life of Pi (Twentieth Century Fox, 20th December 2012)

Suggestion for use: You could use the quote to talk about the concept of truth, and how it is viewed in our culture. Many people might assume that there is nothing wrong with simply choosing our own preferred version of truth. But as Mr Patel points out, this approach has some serious problems. Believing that ‘all truths are equal’, when some of these ‘truths’ actually contradict each other, arguably makes the very concept of truth meaningless. Is there such a thing as real truth? How can we find it if there is? I do think that as a human family we have lost our way desperately.

Dr Kumi Naidoo, executive director of environmental group Greenpeace (Third Way magazine, December 2012)

Suggestion for use: You could use the quote to talk about what is really wrong with the human race. Clearly we live in a world where our structures and systems allow the poor and vulnerable to be oppressed, and the planet to be exploited. But is it really possible to change these systems without addressing a deeper, more personal problem? The Bible claims that the external problems in human society are symptoms of the fallen human heart. Because we have turned away from God, we have ‘lost our way desperately’, and external solutions will never quite get to the root of what’s wrong.

The damage was worse tha n we thought and it’s taking lon ger than we hoped. David Cameron, talking abo ut Britain’s economic recovery (The Guardian, 10th October 2012)

Suggestion for use: You could use the quote to talk about the process of sanctification – being made increasingly more Christ-like after accepting Jesus. We may expect to immediately become better people when we become Christians, and certainly in some cases the change will be noticeable. But as sinners by nature, we’re ‘deeply damaged’, and the process of putting on our new selves may often feel fruitless and frustrating. We need to bear in mind what Jesus has already done for us, and look forward to the time when we’ll perfectly reflect God’s image. The heart ends up making its home in some very peculiar places if you ask me. Jenny (Jessica Raine) in Call the Midwife series 2, episode 1 (BBC One (20th January 2013)

Suggestion for use: You could use the quote to talk about how we are emotional beings, as well as rational ones. The Bible talks about the heart being the wellspring of life, and we all experience how it plays a central role in making the decisions which determine the course of our lives. It is essential that we are aware of our feelings and careful of what we set our hearts on, as we can easily end up investing them in ‘some very peculiar places’. However, we can also remember that if we do make mistakes in letting our heart wander, we can come back to God and ask for forgiveness and he will give us a clean heart and a new beginning.

Hundreds more illustrations, including new stories, statistics and downloadable clips from films currently in cinemas, can be found on the Tools for Talks website run by Damaris. You can get a 20% discount on a year’s subscription to the site at www.toolsfortalks.com/reader

David Spriggs works for Bible Society

At the heart of the Christian faith is a relationship with Jesus Christ. So in John’s Gospel Jesus speaks of our abiding and remaining in Him, while Paul often refers to believers as being in Christ. This relationship is mediated by the Holy Spirit but the role of our minds, emotions and imaginations contribute a significant component to the way we envisage this relationship. Again a whole multitude of factors contribute to the way we understand or image Jesus. This may be the liturgies we frequent or it might be pictures from the children’s story books that we absorbed as children. It may be our study of the Greek text of the Gospels but equally The Jesus Film or any number of other feature films about him. Medieval art may have shaped our understanding but so might nineteenth century ‘realistic’ presentations. So we can go on, the tapestry at Coventry Cathedral, songs and hymns we sing; the list is endless. None of these factors should be denigrated, any more than the features which shape the construction we have of individuals, whether remote to us like the Prime

How the sessions work

(Assuming you have an hour) Opening Activity Experience (15 minutes)

This allows us to engage with some aspect of the topic and to bring ourselves into the topic which will be explored in the Bible later. While these ‘opening activities’ will both initiate conversations and help relationships and a deeper understanding to develop between the members – so function as ‘icebreakers’ – they are an integral part of the whole learning experience. They are not simply arbitrary ‘opening activities’. They have been carefully crafted to affirm the importance of peoples’ own experiences and reflections on the life issues to which the biblical material relates. They will increase the sense of significance of the topic to be explored for the whole group. These Activities also enable those with less biblical literacy to make a vital contribution to

Minister or close to us like a family member, need to be ‘rejected’. Yet our constructs need to be open to be changed and enriched by engaging with the reality of the person. How much more is this the case with Jesus Christ, who as well as being the eternal Son of God, for us as Christians is embodied in one historical individual. We do not relate to a mythical figure but a person who has a human history – ‘the Word became flesh’. So exploring the reality of Jesus is important for the full enrichment of our faith. This is some of the background thinking for seeking to make accessible to ordinary Christians some of the insights of contemporary Jesus scholarship. So, Bible Society teamed up with Professor James Crossley of the Biblical Studies Department of Sheffield University who has researched important aspects of Jesus in his own context. Of course this was a Jewish context not a Greek Gentile one or a Reformation one or a German Enlightenment one or a twenty first century one. the Group’s experience. If handled well, these Group Activities will create a real alertness and eagerness for the biblical encounter. Bible Encounter (30 minutes) Through this we will look at one or more passages from the Gospels. Sometimes there will be additional notes or resources for further study indicated. It is important that the Bible passages are centre stage in the Bible Encounter section. Often there is one passage which is a key focus for this time. There are many ways suggested to help the group listen attentively to the passage, so that it is the focus of the discussions in this section. Using a variety of approaches over the six sessions can add interest. Group discussion questions (15 minutes) This section provides questions for the group to help them engage together with the Bible Encounter. There is no need to deal with all the questions, nor all at the same depth.

By working in partnership we can help scholarly research stimulate ordinary Christians, to enrich our minds and hearts. This booklet offers 6 study sessions on a few of the many aspects we could have selected. These sessions are prepared with church home groups and similar contexts particularly in mind. The sessions cover 1 Jesus in his world Some of the groups which surrounded him. 2 Jesus and the Law Divorce 3 Jesus and the Law Money/wealth 4  Jesus through others’ eyes Who do people say that I am? – some available categories for people to use as they try to understand who Jesus was 5 Jesus through his own eyes Who do you say that I am? – looking at a range of understandings of ‘messiah’ which would have coloured the disciples’ and Jesus’ understandings 6 Jesus and Prayer Especially ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ We link these to contemporary life. Suggestions for reflection These are intended for those who wish to continue to engage with the issues raised on their own outside the group. For those groups who want to meet more frequently they can form the basis of a more open or less structured conversation. There is usually one idea for some kind of action and another for prayer. With some sessions additional study resources are indicated. Throughout there are brief notes on more technical issues either for those who lead the group or for those who are interested to take them a little further. PRICE £3.99 ISBN 9780564048762 More details can be found at

www.biblesociety.org.uk/ products/9780564048762/ 15

feature

The Jewishness of Jesus?

Need to know more? Bible reading apps

While surveys show that daily Bible reading is an uphill struggle for many Christians, with time pressure, relevance and simply knowing where to start being key reasons, there appears to be no shortage of interest in trying new ways to solve the problem. BRF launched their first daily Bible reading notes app, based on their New Daylight series, in 2010. Two more apps have followed, based on their Guidelines notes (offering a wider breadth of theological viewpoints) and Day by Day with God, daily reading notes written by women for women. Today downloads of their three apps have passed 100,000, with readers spread worldwide. To find out more about BRF Bible daily reading note apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch visit: www.biblereadingnotes.org.uk/iphone-apps/

Pray-as-you-go – Daily prayer for your MP3 player

Pray-as-you-go is a daily prayer session, designed for use on portable MP3 players, to help you pray whilst travelling to and from work, study, etc. A new prayer session is produced every day. It is not a ‘Thought for the Day’, a sermon or a bible-study, but rather a framework for your own prayer. Lasting between ten and thirteen minutes, it combines music, scripture and some questions for reflection. It is produced by Jesuit Media Initiatives, with material written by a number of British Jesuits and other experts in the spirituality of St Ignatius of Loyola. http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/

Dead Sea Scrolls website:

Website about the the Dead Sea Scrolls: Google and Israel have put the ancient religious texts online for anyone to view. http://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/

Resources for bible study for people with learning difficulties

can be found at: • http://www.prospects.org.uk/index.php/whatwedo/2/7 • http://www.easyenglish.info/aee/matstor/index.htm • http://www.scriptureunion.org.uk/News/PressReleases/ Accessallareas/2256.id • http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/guide/examples/ learning-disabilities

Kingdom Theology Conference

‘Life Transformed: Christian Discipleship in the Power of the Spirit’ Trinity College, Bristol has announced the first annual ‘Kingdom Theology Conference’ – a one day conference on Saturday 29th June 2013 at Trinity Church, Cheltenham. It is intended that this should bring together the ‘best in deep theology with Kingdom values’. The conference is hosted by Westminster Theological Centre (WTC) in partnership with Trinity College Bristol. WTC says they are ‘passionate about connecting the local church with the world of academic theology; it is therefore fitting that the conference will occur in a thriving local church, which is also a base for one of WTC’s training Hubs.’ http://www.wtctheology.org.uk/kingdom-theology-conference

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Jubilee Lifestyle: walking out the Bible’s social vision

Are you looking for new ideas for your small group that focus on responding to challenges from our culture?  Take a journey over seven weeks through a series of issues and challenges facing Christians today. From consumer culture and sexual pressures to managing our time and our money, Jubilee Lifestyle is a Bible study course for anyone who wants to be a counter-cultural follower of Jesus. Published by the Jubilee Centre, the course is based on the book, ‘Free to Live: living for Christ in an age of debt’ by Guy Brandon. Their special offer is 6 copies of the 35-page User Guide plus one copy of the Leader’s Notes for just £3.99, with free delivery in the UK – that’s down from the usual price of £10.50. We’re practically giving them away! Email [email protected] and ask for the Jubilee Lifestyle special offer.

New publications from the C of E

Two new monthly publications are available from today from the Church of England. In Review and In Focus are designed for parishes. In Review is a 4 page, A3 colour newspaper. It’s full of stories about the work of the national Church across the country. It is designed for parishes to print off and pin up on a noticeboard. In Focus is an A5 parish magazine insert. Designed on a single sheet of A4 it offers four pages of national Church news which can form the centre spread of your parish’s monthly magazine. Both publications can be downloaded free. They will be available in time for the 1st of every month from now on. http://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news-extras/ yearreview.aspx

Doodle the bible!

You often hear people say ‘I can’t draw’ or ‘I’m not very creative’ –   but sat in a boring meeting or stuck in a waiting room with a pen or pencil and some paper, many of us will inadvertently turn to doodling (and occasionally produce a mini work of art in biro). It is said that doodling actually increases our attention span and may enable us to remember better. If so, maybe we should be encouraging people to doodle whilst reading the Bible in order to help them remember a poignant verse or lesson learnt! But more than that, the Scriptures are full of rich visual imagery and thought-provoking ideas – often expressing concepts that take a bit of mulling over. For some examples, see www.biblesociety.org.uk/news/do-you-do-bible-doodles

Thinking about contemporary issues

The aim of Cambridge Papers is to make clear the relevance of biblical teaching to a range of contemporary issues and to equip Christians to respond to the ideas which are shaping our society. Cambridge Papers seeks to make a strategic Christian contribution to public debate at a time of rapid social and cultural change. The choice of subjects is influenced by intellectual currents and important developments taking place nationally and internationally, both inside and outside the church. The titles of past papers show that difficult topics have not been avoided. Written from a Christian perspective, each paper presents a

carefully argued case relating to an important topic, providing material to stimulate further thought and discussion. http://www.jubilee-centre.org/engage/cambridge_papers

Faith Tourism Action Plan

Churches Tourism Network Wales has been asked by the Wales Government to write a Faith Tourism Action Plan. CTNW is unaware of any other country which has formally acknowledged the place of Faith Tourism within its strategic thinking.   http://www.ctnw.co.uk

Reflections on Church Tourism 

is the title of a new CD-ROM resource, produced as a joint project of The Diocese of York and the Churches Tourism Association. The content of the CD Rom is a series of helpful chapters on how to tackle tourism issues from several standpoints using a wide variety of real solutions in large and small churches across England, Scotland and Wales and providing a directory of resources. More information at http://bit.ly/YZBsJK

York Courses Advent course

Expecting Christ is the 2013 Advent course from York Courses. Written by Bishop David Wilbourne, this 4-session course looks at several moments in our faith and lives where a door opens and lets Christ in, catching the sense of expectancy which not only comes at the season of Advent, but throughout the year. In particular, participants can think about how Christ can meet us in four distinct contexts: in family, in ourselves, in prayer and in the end. Bishop David Wilbourne and Canon Simon Stanley explore the themes raised by the course booklet, with input from churchgoers. The course materials, available from the autumn but which can be ordered in advance, comprise a course booklet, a CD, and a transcript booklet. www.yorkcourses.co.uk

Using the Bible to explore our cultural heritage

The new draft Primary Curriculum includes ‘an expectation that pupils master formal English through poetry recitation, debate and presentation’. Our formal English has its roots in a literary masterpiece sent to every school in the land last year – the King James Bible. The 400-year anniversary of the King James Bible may have passed, but you can still give a flavour of this cultural treasure with the following recently updated RE and assembly resources available on the website. Bible Society has provided

some resources including Opening up the King James Bible which is an extensive free resource for older primary pupils, with a range of teaching units utilising Drama, History, Art and RE. There is also The People’s Bible and The Bible4Schools website which is an excellent website produced for the 400th anniversary. www.bible4schools.org

Techniques and tools for exploring the Bible with children and families

Knowing Bible stories yourself may not be enough to make you feel confident in sharing them with children and families as a storyteller. Martyn Payne’s new book Creative Ways to tell a Bible Story provides the tools and techniques that will equip leaders with a methodology to share Bible stories in an engaging and exploratory way. Creative Ways to tell a Bible Story is published by Barnabas for Children, www.brfonline.org.uk

And for unchurched kids

Detonate! From Bible Society – a whole years’ worth of teaching materials for 5-12s by Mark Griffiths, contains 52 Bible stories and lessons, with a step-by-step curriculum guide and over 100 games. It is especially great for unchurched kids. www.biblesociety.org.uk/products/9781854246790

Executive Toolbox – to help you make a difference where you are

This new initiative that has grown out of work the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity has undertaken with men and women in the UK workplace over a number of years. Designed as three separate 24-hour training seminars across 6 months for Christians in mid to senior level positions of influence, Executive Toolbox is uniquely structured to help participants have a significant impact on the way they work. It is designed as an intense but highly enjoyable period of six months meeting three times with a cohort of 36 people and an experienced training team. http://www.licc.org.uk

Rural Conference

This is a Fresh Expressions conference for those thinking about being involved in Fresh Expressions projects in rural areas. It takes place in 4-5 June. It will be facilitated by Sally Gaze, author of Mission-shaped and Rural and Tas Valley Cell Church leader, and hosted by Pete and Kath Atkins, leaders of Threshold in rural Lincolnshire and members of the Fresh Expressions team. www.freshexpressions.org.uk, telephone 0300 365 0563

go deeper ...build on your previous study by topping up to Foundation Degree (Diploma), BA or MA

...deepen your understanding through our Theology Week 15th-19th July 2013

...take occasional modules in theology, ministry and apologetics

[email protected] 0115 968 3203 quote The Reader www.stjohns-nottm.ac.uk

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Feature

Work-life balance Michael Glenn is a retired NHS Consultant in Occupational Medicine. He is a Reader in the Diocese of Llandaff

Many people seek to live lives of integrity. They want to show this integrity towards their employer, their life partner and their children, other members of their family, friends and acquaintances. Juggling all these demands can produce an enormous amount of stress. Many find the most acute challenge is balancing the demands of work and family. For a Christian seeking to live a life of integrity there is an additional dimension. As Christians we believe that there is no part of the world and no part of our lives which is not under the rule of God and so will try to honour God in every sphere of life. We want to devote time to activities with fellow Christians on Sundays and often through the week. We do indeed have spiritual resources to help us in life’s difficulties but are not immune from stress as we try to balance work and non-work activities. In extreme cases, the result can be burnout. This article seeks to examine some of the problems in achieving a good work-life balance and some solutions for those who feel their work-life balance is all wrong and for those who feel burnt out. It also seeks a Christian perspective on the issues.

How have we got so stressed? Work-life balance issues challenge all people in work; they are not just the preserve of those with

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partners and dependants. It is important to remember that work and family are not the only sources of stress. A wider assessment of stress is more likely to lead to an effective plan to deal with the situation although it may be that there are some sources of stress that cannot be changed. There have been a number of demographic changes in our country and in working practices over the last few decades which have contributed to increased stress for working age people.

return to work for financial reasons when they believe that they would find greater fulfilment in child rearing and nowadays approximately one in four households with children has only one parent. M  any couples start their families later in life. This can mean that they have responsibilities for younger children and dependent parents at the same time. D  emographic changes in the working age population have led the government to abolish the default retirement age and to forecast that both men and women will have to work longer to receive the old age pension. Concurrently, many public and private sector employers are seeking efficiency savings year on year. They are seeking more output from fewer people and the stress on those whose stamina is reduced because of age is increasing.

The United Kingdom has a culture of working long hours and many feel that they have to go along with this. It is, of course, possible to work long hours for good reason, for example a young fit single person may be willing to work long hours in the early years to establish their career. However, some feel driven to work long hours for negative reasons when they would really wish to devote their time Christians of working age will want to honour their employer and to demonstrate to something else. Fear of an employer’s attitude would be an example of this. integrity to all those with whom they come in contact. The need for a good More women now work and a greater witness to friends and colleagues is a regular proportion than before return to work part of Christian teaching. At the same after childbirth. Again, this can be a time Christians are regularly exhorted to positive or a negative thing. Work provides participate in acts of Christian witness or income and, for many, is an enjoyable fellowship. They will also want to see their challenge. Some, however, feel driven to children participate fully in the fellowship

and witness of the church and it is easy for parents and children to spend time in good church activities to the detriment of family life. It is often at this point that the enemy of our souls – the devil – can do great damage. He can induce guilt and get us to focus on good things instead of the best things. C. S. Lewis put this aptly in the Screwtape Letters ‘allow him to keep busy – it will mean he has less time to commune with God.’ Another of the devil’s tactics is to bring to the Christian’s mind stories of missionaries and others who lived heroic and sacrificial lives at a phenomenal pace and to say ‘Go and do the same. Only this sort of life pleases God.’

What are the effects of stress?

The cost of stress to individuals, their families, their employers and to society as a whole is staggering. No part of the human body is immune from the effects of stress. It is common for stressed people to experience symptoms in many body systems, for example having headaches and stomach pains simultaneously. This can lead to extensive investigations for physical disease if the true source is not spotted straightaway. The mental effects can be exquisitely painful. Feelings of anxiety and distress predominate but more serious feelings such as hopelessness are not uncommon. Insomnia is common and makes all other symptoms much worse. Outbursts of bad temper can seriously affect relationships with a spouse or children and sick leave can reduce the family income. The cost of stress at work was a matter of such concern to the government that in the year 2000 that the Health and Safety Executive introduced Management Standards for stress for all employers. Each year stress costs UK businesses an estimated £3.7 billion and the loss of around 80 million working days. The benefit to employers and employees of suitable work-life balance policies is obvious. The cost of stress to society includes the breakdown of family relationships. There is also the cost of paying welfare benefits and the rehabilitation of those who become unemployed as a result of long-term stress related illnesses. Within the church family the effects of stress can be felt in the same way as in nuclear families and the work place. Relationships can break down and those who are left to carry on normal activities experience greater stress. Stress which is unrecognized or untreated can in extreme cases lead to a condition called

burnout. This condition is now being more widely recognized in Christian workers, both ordained and lay. Some of the symptoms are

our limits, we have no space and enter overload. Working at 100% capacity all the time leaves no room for the unexpected.

feelings of exhaustion, lack of satisfaction in work or leisure activities difficulties in making decisions, feelings of guilt A sense of emptiness where the individual has nothing more to give.

6. From time to time review your situation – perhaps with a mentor. An individual’s work-life balance plans will change over the course of a working lifetime. At times family commitments will predominate and towards the end of a career health issues may have greater impact.

Urgent action is needed to deal with these problems.

How can Christians be distinctive and honour God in this area?

How can a better work-life balance be achieved?

There are many sources of advice for all who need help. These include books, the internet and GP services. Many employers provide counselling services and Employee Assistance Programmes for their employees. Christians can benefit just as much as others from these resources but, in addition, they have unique resources. Here are some common themes drawn from lists of ways to improve work-life balance published in secular media. 1. Create your own definition of success. This must be realistic. It may not be feasible to reach the top of the promotion ladder and the top of your chosen leisure time activity while getting three children to the top of the academic ladder and to the premier league of their chosen sport in addition to leading a Bible study group and being the church treasurer. For married persons and families the definition of success needs discussion and agreement. 2. Learn to say ‘No’. To do this effectively you must set boundaries at work, at home and in church. Again, this is most likely to succeed if negotiations take place before unreasonable demands are made. 3. Establish a schedule which includes adequate time with family and friends. Take time to develop relationships by eating together and enjoying leisure activities. 4. Take steps to look after your health. Take regular exercise and eat and drink healthily. Allow adequate time for sleep and seek help with insomnia. 5. Take steps to avoid burnout. Life coaches working in this area talk about margin. Margin is space – the space between our load and our limit. When our load exceeds

1. We need a right attitude to success. In the film Chariots of Fire there is a scene when a fellow athlete handed Eric Liddell a scrap of paper with the words of 1 Samuel 2:30 written on it. ‘Those who honour me I will honour’. We must commit ourselves to do God’s will and leave issues like success to God 2. When God had finished creation he rested and he blessed the seventh day on which he rested. Sadly many appear to curse rest and feel the need to be doing something all the time. 3. Part of the Law which God gave to his people concerned the Sabbath. Periods with no regular work were to be part of the lifestyle of God’s people. These included a sabbath every seven days, special feasts throughout the year, a sabbath year and a Year of Jubilee. God refers to these times of rest as worship and self denial and commends them. 4. It is important to have a realistic self image. Jesus taught his disciples the parable of the talents. He commended equally those who used their talents. Some had been given more talents than others and there was no criticism of those with fewer talents. We may be tempted to take on prestigious activities at work or at church which are beyond our talents. These good and necessary activities may suit someone else’s talents better and can take us away from the best activities which may appear less attractive. Within the workplace we sometimes meet Christian men and women of outstanding integrity who honour God, their employer and everyone else. Their integrity is something to which we aspire but it doesn’t arrive fully formed. It is achieved through prayerful thought and hard work and is not beyond our grasp.

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Feature

Keep on doing what you know God is calling you to do

Avril Chisnall is a Reader in Liverpool Diocese

an interview with Avril Chisnall

Avril and Chris

Avril Chisnall has been involved in her home church at St Mark’s, Haydock, all her life. She was licensed as a Reader there in 1992 and continues to serve in the lay leadership of TANGO, a St Mark’s community project which includes a fresh expression of church as part of its ministry. She tells how Reader training, and a supportive vicar, helped her to ‘take risks’ for God… As far back as I can remember, St Mark’s has reached out into the community in all sorts of ways. I became a Christian there at the age of 12 and, three years later, I was ‘recruited’ to help at Sunday school. I also went on to attend the Young Women’s Bible Class run by a Mrs Woodall who was pretty severe (she didn’t like us wearing make-up or going out to dances!) but I also knew that she was a pray-er and I always felt that I’d like to be able to pray like her. She made such a big impression on me. Time went by and I got married and had children. I became a Captain in the Girls’ Brigade at church and also got involved with a Young Women’s Fellowship that

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Mrs Woodall set up; I can really see how that propelled my faith forward. I think it’s important to sometimes look at these milestones along the way and see how they have been used by God as preparation for other things – maybe years down the line. It came to a point where I was no longer involved with the young women’s group and I found that hard but discovered that I had to learn about really loving people. I thought I already loved people but I didn’t love them warts and all.

God knew better and he wanted the catering to be used for him through St Mark’s.

I always felt there was something else out there for me to do and, over the next four or five years, the call to Reader training kept coming to me though I also kept on asking God, ‘Tell me again Lord, tell me again.’ The same passages of scripture repeatedly came up in different contexts but I still kept quiet about it until Phil Potter came to us as vicar in 1988. As a parish, before Phil’s appointment, we had agreed a shared leadership here so that we could be even more effective in reaching out to the community in very real and practical ways without relying on one person to do so.

I was also fortunate as my vicar was looking beyond Readers being trained simply to lead services, preach and occasionally do baptism preparation. He trained us right from the start to conduct funerals which led to us building up a real rapport with the community and local families – and he also encouraged the Readers to take on responsibility for the areas where God was calling us and to develop them. The important thing, I discovered, was just to keep on doing what you know God is telling you to do. Phil, now Director of Pioneer Ministry for the Diocese of Liverpool, has been such a releasing person; we could never have done what we have done if he hadn’t been prepared to trust his pioneer leaders.

Another strand that came together in this new way of working was that of hospitality; I had done a City and Guilds in hospitality and catering because I had always enjoyed working with food. There had been some thoughts of starting a catering business but

The church was reordered in 1994 and we set up ‘King’s Table Café’ there the same year. By that time I had been licensed for six years. I was fortunate in that Reader training style had changed by the time I came to get involved; it had moved away from the essay type approach into a form which allowed us to present files of work focusing on certain issues, such as worship.

He understood the importance of lay leadership and valued the development of TANGO as a fresh expression. I hope and pray that many other Readers will be prepared

to take risks for God in lay leadership and pioneering and I also pray for inspiring clergy to recognise that potential and encourage it to grow. It’s important too to keep on listening to God because things change over time and you have to listen to him, and to those you’re serving, to make the next step. King’s Table Café became successful and it attracted many from the community but some people wouldn’t come in because they thought it was quite posh and a little bit expensive. Through research, we realised that a majority of people were in a poverty trap and it wasn’t necessarily financial; it was poverty of values – of family and self worth – and we realised that we could probably address some of those issues. As a result we felt God challenge us to serve our community in very practical ways and to make a difference to the place in which we all lived. When we started to get things off the ground, we worried that we weren’t getting enough volunteers from church and it was a while before we realised that people wanted to volunteer from the community itself. Now, 12 years on at what became known as TANGO (Together As Neighbours Giving Out), we are involved in lots of things and have a second-hand furniture store, a shop, a café – all of which are based near St Mark’s but not in St Mark’s. A fresh expression of church is also developing at TANGO as more and more people are discovering the love of God and discussing what it means to them in their lives. When we first started TANGO it was quite difficult to know how we were going to bring God into it – especially when those volunteers joined us from the community. We didn’t want to impose something which involved us standing there quietly to pray so instead we always treated it as an invitation to come and reflect on why we were there as part of the project. And then we always finished with a prayer. Then people began to trust us more and started to join in different ways. At TANGO, we now have a cell- type group. That’s important for people who have genuinely met with God now and want to go forward and learn more. It’s the right environment for them but we’ve got lots of people in our teams who are sort of ‘iffy’ about God. We know he’s in their lives but they’ve not acknowledged it themselves so how do we get them to move on? At TANGO we’ve introduced what is known as the ‘Three Ps’, and project co-ordinator

Christine Kay – and others – regularly meet with different teams to look at:  urpose: why you’re there P Problems: because we all have problems in our teams Presence of God

is because we are very ordinary men and women and that is why lay people are so important to this type of fresh expression.

This allows people to value why they’re there; the purpose of TANGO and then bring in the issues that affect them as they’re working in these teams with different people.

It is often not measurable in an ‘official’ way but I’m looking at what happens here in Kingdom terms. As such, it doesn’t matter that I’m a lay person; I will keep on doing this stuff because God has asked me to do it and pass it on to other people to do as well. We also know that’s what we need to do and investment in other people with God’s values is vital.

A major step forward personally was when I felt God was asking me to stop looking at the church as ‘my’ church; instead he made me look outwards to see that my role as a Reader is ‘out there’. I love leading people in worship within the church but my ministry as a pioneer, who also happens to be a Reader, is a new way of worship and a new type of service and that’s what I feel I have been entrusted with.

I’d encourage people to really listen to what God’s saying to you, find his heartbeat for the community in which you live, get out of your church and go and do it! TANGO has now been adapted by three other parishes but it’s not the same TANGO that we’ve got. They’re doing the same sort of things but they are different people in different communities and they are responding to their own contexts and needs.

I always felt there was something else out there for me to do After being a lifelong member of the Anglican church and loving church I get very frustrated that the church can sometimes appear to be stuck in the way it sees how ‘church’ should be done. Many churches are seeing their numbers dwindle and yet are still not prepared to change their ways of doing things but, having said that, God asked me to do something different with a team of people. It was not church ‘as I’m used to’ and the result is that it forced me out of that way – even though I love it – into seeing people in a different way and trying to communicate his way with them. I understand the responsibility of church to be accountable, and I appreciate that it’s scary for church people and leaders to support a fresh expression because it’s risky, but Kingdom values are the important ones. All those years ago, God asked me to do something different with a team of people and the result is that it is ‘not the same church as I’m used to’. It’s forced me out of a way of viewing church into seeing people differently and trying to communicate His way with them.

The wonderful thing now in this area is that people genuinely realise that church isn’t doing it to them but church is here as part of the community. Church as they see it is not some stuffy old place – a building where they have to go – people actually make the church. And that’s us and them together… Avril was interviewed by Karen Carter from Fresh Expressions Fresh Expressions: www.freshexpressions.org.uk

Helping in the café

If TANGO lasts another 12 years, and beyond, that’ll be down to God and the investment we’ve put into the people’s lives for them to want to carry on doing Kingdom business in an ordinary way. It

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Feature

World mission We must speak about mutuality, not dependency.

Calcutta in the mid-seventies provided me with an experience of the world that affected my faith in a defining way. On my first visit to India, I went to an orphanage run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity and I worshipped at Calcutta Cathedral. At the cathedral, I was given a simple small cross made from the old roof. This cross has served to remind me of my connection with the world and Christians around the world. I love to bring this cross out during a sermon, when I can use it to remind myself and the congregation of our oneness. Now that I am a trustee of Us (formerly USPG), I am personally committed to working to make that connection real and lively. I see the connection as something which individuals and churches need to appreciate so they can realise their unity under God’s love.

The old way of mission was to make direct interventions, often making grants or implementing projects that we (over here) deemed most suitable. Not surprisingly, we now know that projects imposed by outsiders often go wrong because they do not fully take account of the local context, and do not stick because there is little local ownership.

The work of Us today

Today, Us works with local people, in local churches, bringing communities together to talk about their needs, identify their skills and resources, and implement action plans that they deem necessary. In this modern way of working, local churches are catalysts for change – they bring communities together, inspire conversations, identify problems, and put plans into action.

An example of this principle in action comes from Malawi, where Us is running Us (formerly USPG) was founded in 1701, and a community health programme. In Kapiri, we have seen our fair share of change. Readers the community and local health providers will be familiar with images of the traditional came together and decided to make tackling malnutrition their number missionary – think of David Livingstone, et one priority. al – but how many of us are up to date with what mission looks like today? Health co-ordinator Lusungu Nkhoma wrote: ‘Malnutrition is a major concern I love to speak about this because I become around Kapiri, so nutrition programmes excited about what God is doing today. At have been started. Community homecare Us, our approach to mission is faith-inspired volunteers have been visiting homes to and supremely practical. For Us, the days show people how to prepare nutritious of the traditional missionary deliberately meals using local food, and all the or inadvertently exporting western culture, communities have started making monthly rather than gospel values, have long gone. Instead, we operate within a new paradigm contributions to support each other.’ of mutuality. Of course, the Anglican Communion is the ideal medium for this In people-centred development, the way of working, consisting of inter-connected communities themselves identify their yet autonomous churches. These churches strengths and find solutions to local are our global partners, and they are ideally challenges. This is development as selfplaced for implementing locally-sensitive empowerment rather than introducing development programmes because they are dependency on aid. Here is how one embedded in the communities they serve. member of the Kapiri community Furthermore, whereas some aid agencies described the process: ‘Health is becoming come and go, our church partners are in the responsibility of everyone, rather it for the long haul because they are than relying on health workers or a part of the communities they serve. institutions. We are doing it together.’

How mission has changed

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Tea picking

in Sri Lanka

A

nother example comes from Sri Lanka, where the Anglican Church is reaching out to the mostly Hindu communities that live and work on the country’s tea plantation estates. They are mostly stand-alone communities that have been largely overlooked or neglected in terms of developments that have taken place in Sri Lanka. Compared with other citizens, the Tamil tea-picking communities have little access to education, resources and government benefits. The work of teapicking is back-breaking. The women carry out this work in all weather, moving around slippery hillside plantations with leeches and snakes in the undergrowth. They are paid little, yet the demands for yields increase. Us/USPG partner Fr Andrew Devadason is the Anglican priest ministering to this community. He has introduced education for pre-school children, is helping pensioners to obtain legal papers so they can claim benefits, and he is inspiring students to seek higher education so they can pursue careers of their own choice. In short, Fr Andrew is living out Jesus’ command that we love one another. Looking around the green undulating hills of the tea plantations, Fr Andrew told Us: ‘This area is very beautiful and we praise the Lord for the wonder of Creation. But the story does not stop there. Underneath this beauty we see a community that is suffering and living in exploitation and in pain. They go

is changing unnoticed at all times. ‘These are the people who benefit from our work. The children of simple plantation workers have made it to university thanks to the support of Us. It’s a great achievement.’ I hope these stories are as inspiring for you as they are for me! When I hear about this level of positivity and motivation, it makes me want to praise God and ask what I can do in my own community to see people reach for a full life. To help churches in the UK connect with the world church, we can reach into our bank of personal experiences. Here’s another story about my own connectedness with the world church.

Peace and

reconciliation in Kenya

I

went to visit a workshop on peace and reconciliation in Kenya. All those present had or were suffering from violence within their communities. The facilitator was leading a Bible-based course on forgiveness and reconciliation. He suddenly caught me off-guard by turning to me and asking for a comment from a UK-perspective. In the presence of people whose experiences had been so challenging – even life-threatening – I felt very inadequate. The memory of that moment – lost for words, filled with compassion, acutely aware of my own blessings – has stayed with me. It is when we step outside of our own limited mindset and try to relate to others that such experiences can occur. We start to appreciate the vastness of human experience, our lack of

understanding, and the grace of God as he patiently invites us to open our lives to him. In that wordless moment in Nairobi, any concept of me-as-benefactor, them-asrecipients fell away. We were simply God’s children, sitting together with the mysteries of life and God’s love. We struggled to put understanding into words, but we could ‘feel’ God’s concern and a sense of unity. This connection – which is beyond theory and theology – is what I believe mission is all about.

Not seeing our neighbours as ‘other’

Community is lived out in communion, and communion is what our churches are committed to, whether in a service of the Eucharist or in our church relations. It is only when we stop seeing our global neighbours as ‘other’, and start seeing us all as one family with the same needs and hopes, that we can truly begin to connect. We need to see each other as we are – not as objects – before we can have meaningful dialogue. And this means listening, sharing, learning. This message is clear right through the New Testament, and is one which we are offered almost every time we preach on a Bible passage. The Anglican Communion Office has expressed this sentiment in its own way. A press release issued in August 2012 described: ‘The Church of England’s recent decision to move its model of mission from one of dependency to mutuality… that means a move away from a model where Anglicans in the North are simply giving resources to those in the global South, to one where members of the Communion are genuinely giving and receiving to one another.’ In a nutshell, this is what Us is all about. We want to connect people, churches and communities – whatever their faith, ethnicity, gender or sexuality – so that we can encourage each other to ‘take hold of the life that is truly life’ (1 Timothy 6:19). I think the Us tagline summarises this beautifully as the vision is: ‘Every person, every community, a full life.’ This is why we have changed our name from USPG to Us. We want everyone

Nigel Wildish is a Reader in the Diocese of London and a trustee for the Anglican mission charity Us (formerly USPG)

to understand our main principle – the principle of connectedness – that is implicit in the word ‘us’. We also wanted a name that communicated in the modern era. Put simply, the name USPG – United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel – was coined in the eighteenth century and our research revealed that it no longer resonated with people in the twenty-first century. It was time for a change! And yet, charities also need money. Donations made to Us are helping the world church in a variety of ways. While we know that Anglican churches around the world are ideally placed to undertake development, it is also true that they are under-resourced in terms of training for their own leaders to carry out this work. I think of donations to Us as like the oil in an engine – the engine is revving away, but it needs a little lubricant to work more efficiently. Our programme managers at Us are in constant dialogue with our church partners, sharing solidarity and friendship as we journey together, finding and fine-tuning new ways of doing mission and development together that do not lead to dependency.

Remember the world church

My aim in this article has been primarily to open up Readers to the importance of remembering the world church when they preach. How we, in this country, relate to our brothers and sisters around the world brings into sharp focus the very nature of our faith: what does it mean to connect, to love and to share with our neighbours around the world? Us is available to the Church of England and the Church in Wales as a means of connection: it publishes material about the world church, it provides prayer guides, it collects money for church work, and it provides material to enable us to carry out fundraising. Nigel Wildish is a Reader in the Edmonton Area in the Diocese of London and a trustee for the Anglican mission charity Us (formerly USPG). He believes that congregations need to be engaged with the world church More at www.weareUs.org.uk

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Feature

Lavender Buckland is a Reader in Salisbury Diocese

Seeking Gold A pilgrimage way Something that we tend to overlook happened while God created the heavens and stretched them out.. spread out the earth.. and gave breath to the people upon it – the Word, the spirit of creation, went out into that world, calling to everything that lived. One word – blessing, invitation and endearment: ‘Beloved’.

‘home’ – the location not of kindness but of vulnerability – and choosing pilgrimage they enter into an exile which yet seems a safe place.

Our life’s goal is to become what God would have us be: perhaps blindly seeking, yet falling by accident into an understanding with T.S.Eliot, ‘We shall not cease from exploration, It is a word that we know before we are born; and the end of all our exploring will be to and spend our lives searching for the halfarrive where we started and know the place heard voice that speaks into the stillness. And for the first time.’ Or is the journey defined that search is a pilgrimage which draws us all, by desire for fulfilment? John Bunyan, in A faithful and without faith, and wherever we live. Pilgrim’s Progress caught the changing focus so well: the urgency dissipated, the uncertain It is that voice, calling, that brought Moses twists and turns, the misplaced belief in and the errant Israelites through their desert unreliable advice, the distractions and wanderings to the Promised Land. It is the delights that delay and de-rail. voice that sang through the star for the Magi’s travelling. The voice which, so long ignored, How shall we approach lifted the Prodigal’s eyes and drew him towards a pilgrimage? home, allowing him to re-discover love, Finding a way, whether it is through the generosity, and grace. internal journeying of the spirit, or the physical journey to a particular place, That divine imagery – ‘while we were yet far becomes both reason and springboard off you met us in your Son and brought us for pilgrimage. home…’ – has its own destination; yet we are still living in this foreign land, the land of The spiritual dimension has as long a history ‘now – and not yet’, which is the Kingdom as the physical – from Constantine’s mother hinted at in this world. seeking the True Cross in Jerusalem (building churches at each place associated with We who choose to follow that loving voice Christ, creating the Way of the Cross for have a sense of the closeness of Christ – Christians to travel) to the exclusively internal always just ahead of us – calling us home. journeying of medieval anchorites. Yet there are those who set out to escape

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At a time when entering a nunnery could be the solitary alternative to an unwelcome marriage, those with a strong calling might choose to become an anchorite. Formally delivered into a form of death as their Bishop read the funeral service before walling them up in a room attached to their church, their days were spent praying, and adoring the Sacrament through a ‘squint’ the tiny window opening onto the altar. For those who could not read, their prayers might be the Lord’s Prayer; while for those educated in Latin or French there were books of instruction, sometimes written specifically for them by priestly friends. Often these Anchorite cells were strategically placed along a pilgrim way; and, through a slit opening onto the road, in return for food they would give spiritual guidance and hear confessions. The pilgrims who passed by, like those in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, were wildly diverse: the holy, the sociable, the mischievous, those in urgent search of healing. There were times of year when pilgrimage was popular, great festivals celebrating the Saint whose shrine they sought. For us, the choices are different: travelling is not dependent on the slow amble of a horse, or our own sore feet; though plenty make the stony pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostela, or cross to Lindisfarne on sands revealed by an outgoing tide. We could, if we chose, even make a virtual pilgrimage: visiting sites via the internet, reading the history of displayed relics, even buying mementos… Yet for those intent on the inward journey, the possibilities are also limitless. Those who seek out a Spiritual Director; those who travel physically, an internal offering honouring a memory; those who retire into a quieter way of being, discarding all inessentials, living a life of prayer. For us all, prayer is the ‘permanent way’ supporting this journey. How we pray, we must discover for ourselves. Formal familiar words or silent contemplative prayer, all is intensely personal, a discipline to be learned and lived out. This might be the gentle rhythm of the Jesus Prayer inhaling and exhaling ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,

have mercy on me, a sinner’ which is the ancient unceasing prayer of the heart, commended by St Paul (1 Thessalonians 5:17). For some it may become the understanding defined by Rowan Williams, ‘God is first and foremost that depth around all things and beyond all things into which, when I pray, I try to sink. But God is also the activity that comes to me out of that depth, tells me I’m loved, that opens up a future for me, that offers transformations I can’t imagine. Very much a mystery, but also very much a presence. Very much a person’.

‘Seeking Gold’

In search of this mystery, this presence, I committed myself as a Tertiary member of the Order of the Holy Paraclete, at Whitby: finding a pattern of prayer to underpin my life. Dispersed, yet a constant community, prayer links each of us morning, midday, evening and night, wherever we are. In time, this commitment led me to study Christian Spirituality, focusing on pilgrimage, and writing my dissertation on Columba and Iona, Cuthbert and Lindisfarne. The idea, following my M.A., of offering a pilgrimage within our diocese was warmly received, and I devised a trail to celebrate the 2012 Olympics. To illustrate this, I designed a brochure with ten eclectic, ecumenical Churches spanning southern Dorset: Saxon shrine; purest Norman; burial place of Lawrence of Arabia; Methodist memorial to the Tolpuddle Martyrs (and TUC Museum); life-sized Apostle roof-beams; stone Abbots; bullet-holed pulpit; Catholic Martyrs’ chapel… For those inspired to dream up a pilgrimage trail in their own Diocese, here are the practical details I came up with – others will see different ways: let us encourage one another. Seeking Gold focussed on these ideas. First, for the 60,000 Olympic visitors a day it was anticipated would be in Weymouth, on wet or windless days, ‘days off’, and for those who stayed on for a holiday, something different would be welcome. Secondly, for many people, going into a Church only happens at weddings or funerals but here was something unfamiliar to explore – and perhaps glimpse God there. Finally there would be pilgrimage badges in each church and for people who collected all ten, the reward of a Super-Gold-Pilgrim badge! Oxford Diocese, who had launched a Diocesan trail, gave me a copy of their folding pocketmap, church-leaflet, and then their advice. With great generosity Sarah Meyrick, the Bishop’s Secretary, gave me valuable help that saved so much trouble.

I could offer Pilgrimage Trail maps, both large posters and small folding pocket-maps, brochures for publicity and church leaflets which included images and prayer. I went by appointment to each of the ten clergy to talk through what the pilgrimage trail would involve, its reason and purpose, and what was asked of their church. My checklist included access for the disabled; the whereabouts of lavatories; each Church’s availability of volunteer ‘Welcomers’ (not guides) asking them to provide a tray with biscuits and coffee; and a prominent display for the special leaflets and Pilgrimage badges. I asked each cleric for 400 words, to be interspersed with brief prayers, for their leaflet. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, with such huge numbers of Olympic visitors, for Churches to offer a welcome, and hospitality – and the warmth with which all the clerics responded was enormously heartening.

a cousin with clever software made the ‘Seeking Gold’ posters, and inserted my images into circles, ready to cut and become badges (no badge-making machine could be borrowed, so I finally bought one myself). The diocesan office agreed to print all the church leaflets. My heroic husband made 950 badges – cutting the discs, assembling them with the manual press. By agreement, each church paid me on delivery for their badges, to sell at 50p each. I drove over 1,000 miles in visiting clergy, delivering the Pilgrimage Packs (each containing 400 publicity brochures, 200 folding-pocket-maps, 50 leaflets, 50 badges, 10 ‘Seeking Gold’ posters, 2 A3 map posters, a laminated notice to display by the badges) and a second run to see each church’s display.

Publicity

We could, if we chose, even make a virtual pilgrimage: visiting sites via the internet, reading the history of displayed relics, even buying mementos…

Communication is so often the Church’s worst problem! With a Bishop’s introduction to all Dorset magazines and the Diocesan monthly paper, I wrote articles ‘to length’; but they weren’t printed, or even acknowledged. However, the communications officer and I used local Church newsletters, Twitter and Facebook to circulate publicity. Our key resource was the army of kind volunteers from pilgrimage churches who delivered publicity Brochures to campsites, caravan parks, garden centres, B&Bs, information centres, and local attractions.

I wrote to our Diocesan Bishop, Nick Holtam, who composed a pilgrimage prayer in an immediate, heartening response. His Suffragan Bishop of Sherborne arranged to launch the Pilgrimage Trail at the western end, with a special service at the Saxon St Wite’s shrine, concluding later that day at St Aldhelm’s chapel – each a destination for pilgrimage through the ages.

On 1st July, a churchful of people celebrated the launch, then drove along the trail, picnicking on the way. Our Beijing Olympics Triathlon Gold Medallist, ‘flying Vicar’ James Stephenson, ordained the previous day, swam, then cycled the 92-miles stopping to pray and greet at each Church, running the final Priests’ Way. As I presented him with a gold ribbon, its ten badges complete with a Super-GoldPilgrim badge, he was not even out of breath!

The major problem was finance. But the Holy Spirit finds ways beyond our imagining, and with a gentle push, doors opened. Churches Together in Dorset and the Sherborne Office each funded half the cost of printing 5,000 glossy ‘coated’paper brochures – important, professional, publicity. But…maps? Badges? Printing of 500+ Church leaflets? I made numerous written requests – but obtained no other grants. With the Oxford leaflets as inspiration, the artwork was created on my Apple computer. Altering colours, background and text, and with each cleric’s text and local photos, a consistent design linked our ten Churches. An incredibly kind professional friend designed the maps;

And for us all, in that sunlit evening, was blessing, invitation and endearment: ‘Beloved’. Since writing this article the exciting news is that the ‘Seeking Gold’ Pilgrimage Trail has now been officially designated the Olympic Legacy of Salisbury Diocese… and is set to run and run!! Lavender says of this ‘It seems something close to a miracle that one little germ of an idea, springing from my MA Dissertation, should grow its own wings and turn into an Olympic Legacy.’ Read more about ‘Seeking Gold’ at: http://www.salisbury.anglican.org/news/ historic-church-trail-for-olympic-visitors links to download leaflets, Brochure, map, at the bottom of the page.

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Feature

Licensed Lay Ministry – a broad perspective Bishop Robert Paterson is Chair of the Central Readers’ Council What’s the Church for?

When I took up a post as a national church officer, my family and I found ourselves in a non-parsonage house for the first time in nearly three decades. Our neighbours were a young family with two children. One day, when I was in the front garden, the wife and mother from next door started chatting and said she’d heard I was a kind of ‘vicar’. I explained as best I could. Then she asked me a question no one had ever asked me before: “What’s the Church for?” The Church is not an end in itself. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to know that many of its members think it is. It’s there for me and my soul’s comfort. It’s there because I have put money and effort into it. It’s there because I need it to be there until I’m in the churchyard. It’s there simply to grow bigger. It’s there to raise money for the building. It’s there to be serious or fun or relevant or musical or whatever I myself want it to be. It becomes seriously worrying when the Church becomes the principal place where ministers minister. Charity law in the United Kingdom is changing in order to ensure that donors and recipients are protected, and the Charity Commission is engaged in a consultation process on how to update the law. The consultation process has rightly raised a number of issues for us, as Frank Cranmer has commented: ‘The importance of all this for faith-groups cannot be underestimated. Whether their trusts are registered with the Commission or not, charity trustees are obliged to demonstrate that their charities provide public benefit.’

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This ‘demonstration of public benefit’ is found in the Gospels. In John 15, when Jesus comments about bearing fruit, he’s forcing you to ask: ‘What on earth is the Church for?’ The simple answer lies in the two unconditional priorities for all three Abrahamic faiths: God and people – ‘Love God, love your neighbour’. Unquestionably, the Church’s priorities beyond worship lie outside her walls. An introverted church is a sham, not a church at all, because it doesn’t attempt to live up to God’s own priorities. A church that’s bothered about itself – about the needs of its congregation, about its buildings, about its size, about its petty squabbles, even about its own salvation – is preaching a badly distorted un-gospel. So, what is the Church for? One answer is because God created it. The Petrine confession that Jesus is ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’ is the rock on which the Church is built; the source of her life is the in-breathed and outpoured Holy Spirit; it is the body and bride of Christ; her agenda is the apostolic commission1. Christians vary in the degree to which they value the apostolic traditions of ministry and of doctrine but all agree that apostolicity and mission are inextricably linked.

Church is what happens when the impact of Jesus draws people together3

I believe there is a basic misunderstanding of one of the key illustrations of the Church in the New Testament: the body of Christ. Back in the 1970’s and 80’s (Series 3, ASB) it became the liturgical fashion to link the eucharistic Peace with a reference to the body of Christ, as in: ‘We are the body of Christ. In the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body …’ (And it remains an option in Common Worship.) This was followed by encouraging congregations to share the peace – all good stuff. Yet I have a sneaking feeling that it did some damage to the Anglican psyche because its subliminal message became, ‘We here are the body of Christ; it is while we celebrate the Christian family meal together that we express what it means to be his body. We are the eucharistic community and the Church exists to meet our spiritual needs.’

However, that’s not really to answer, essentially it is that the Church is for God and for the world. For God because he is and we worship him, expressing this in faith, prayer, word, sacraments and service and the world because that’s where God’s heart is – what ‘God so loved’2. All this is focused on Jesus Christ and the Father’s gift of the Spirit who brings the risen Christ to us and breathes into us Christ’s love and mercy.

That un-expressed, sub-conscious thinking can be highly deceptive. I am sure that Saint Paul in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4 (three variations of a basic analogy) intended a much broader reference than the local eucharistic gathering. I’m convinced he was not simply thinking of the weekly meeting for worship but also of the great diversity of life and witness of the Christian community during all 168 hours of the week. So, on Monday morning, John is in the factory, Jane is in the hospital, -everyone is living their everyday life – that’s what the body of Christ looks like for almost all the week. The church is, for most of her life, turned outwards, the body of Christ is explosively diverse in its mission, witness and discipleship; in the words of Bishop John V Taylor, we are ‘making Christ visible’.

If that is what the Church is for, then that is what its ministry is for.

The day when people asked the Philippian gaoler’s question ‘What must I do to be

saved?’ is past for most people. Today’s big question is asked when you’re out of earshot, ‘Why is s/he like that?’ and at some juncture may be addressed to you personally. What is that look on your face? Christians today are ‘question-mark’ people, and discipleship with integrity is the key to effective witness.

A range of ministries

The report to the General Synod entitled ‘Reader Upbeat’ (2008) recommended that all lay ministers who have been duly trained, admitted and authorised by a bishop should be identified as belonging to one national body of licensed lay ministers. I wholeheartedly agree, though I wish the report had given us more of the workings before the conclusion because it has led some places to change titles without changing the underlying practice first. It has been assumed in some quarters that, because the title ‘Reader’ is readily misunderstood, the report was recommending a change of title to ‘Licensed Lay Minister (Reader)’. There is a real danger of confusing titles with descriptions: ‘Licensed Lay Ministers’ is a useful generic description, but it is not a title. Supported by the Central Readers’ Council Executive, I have been pressing for the setting-up of a national working group on licensed lay ministry. It is my hope that this will work on developing a pattern to enable all lay ministers to be recognised nationally as partners in the public ministry of the Church with those who are ordained. Its constituent public ministries might be: Chaplains: particularly in health care and the criminal justice system; Evangelists: a public voice for the Church in the proclamation of the gospel; Pastors: caring for people in need and at critical points in life; Readers: interpreting the word in contemporary living; Social workers: bringing justice to individuals and society; Spiritual Directors: assisting people in guidance and direction; Youth workers: working to inspire and nurture faith in children and young people; and Others… It is my hope that all licensed lay ministries should be subject to agreed principles of selection and an agreed discipline of training, mutually-agreed accreditation and interchangeability at national level. It would remain to be seen whether there should be a common training ‘core’ but the general view is that it would be sufficient for the essential components of the training of all lay ministries to be identified and agreed nationally.

An illustration of how different components of training might relate (each square represents a component of training):

Chaplains Evangelists Pastors Readers Social Workers Spiritual directors Youth Workers … and others

Some barriers (imaginary or real) between areas of lay ministry need to be broken down and the vulnerability felt by some Readers in particular needs to be addressed in order to achieve flexible and collaborative working. Collaboration between people exercising various lay ministries and between lay and ordained ministers must always be beneficial. Collaboration would strengthen what is being achieved through the Central Readers’ Council since the appointment of officers whose work is to assist vocation and selection, moderation of training (quality assurance and enhancement) and continuing ministerial development. National co-ordination of licensed lay ministry would commit all licensed lay ministries to collaborative working, particularly at national and diocesan levels in order to enable full collaboration between all licensed lay ministers and between lay and ordained ministers. If lay ministers wish to be taken seriously as integral members of the public ministry of the church, naturally they must expect to serve by similar standards in terms of ministerial development and discipline. Further thought needs to be given to this at national level. The Church is slowly growing out of the idea that the laity are ‘helping the priest’ (an easy argument to demolish) or that priests

are ‘delegating to the laity’. ‘Delegation’ is a concept which is still widely commended, though surely it’s not the priest who allows people to help him/her by passing on tasks to them, but the community of faith, universal and local, which orders one of its number to preside. The principle of ministry growing up from the roots rather than being delegated like fruit dropping from a tree arises from the fundamental reality of the Church as a royal priesthood: ‘To him who loves us and has set us free from our sins with his blood, who has made of us a royal house to serve as the priests of his God and Father - to him be the glory and dominion for ever! Amen.’ (Revelation 1:5b,6). Therefore, whether we see ministry as functional or ontological (having a purpose or a nature) – hopefully both - the servants of God are those who belong to his Church by baptism, repentance/re-orientation, faith and participation in its life. Those servants, the royal priests, have chosen from among their number, and the call of God has confirmed it, men and women to exercise certain of the duties and privileges of the whole Church on their behalf. So the right to minister does not belong to the ministers but to God and to the Church (which affirms the call of some of its number to minister publicly in its name, some in ordained public ministry, others in lay public ministry).

Questions you could use for further discussion could be

In what ways is your ministry important in fulfilling the purpose of the church? In what ways does your ministry relate to other ministries licensed or authorized by the bishop? In what ways does your public ministry take you outside ‘church’?

Robert Paterson studied Theology and English at Durham University and trained at Cranmer Hall. He served most of his ministry in Wales as a parish priest and with involvement in provincial and international concerns. In 2008 he was appointed Bishop of Sodor and Man and he is Chair of the Central Readers’ Council. 1 Matthew 16.1320; John 20.21,22; Acts 2.1-4; Romans 12.4,5; 1 Corinthians 12.12-31; Ephesians 3.20,21; 4.15,16; 5.23-32; Revelation 19.7; 21.2,9; Matthew 28.16-20. 2 John 3.16. 3 Archbishop Rowan Williams, 10.4.2001.

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Feature

Water a poem

I wrote this for the children at the harvest festival when our theme was going to be water. It is amazing how many places it can be found! You could perhaps find ways of using it with a small group of adults or children.

Water from the supermarket, water from the spa, Water from a shiny truck carried from afar. Water in an old tin can, water in a hose, Water in a dirty hole where wild cattle goes. Water in a reservoir, water in the sea Water in the food we eat and in our cup of tea! Water, sparkling, fast and free; water in a sewer, Water in a boggy place in somewhere quite obscure! Water in a little stream; water in the river. Water that has come from God, the greatest ever giver! Water in our story too; water in the font, Water, living and eternal, all we’ll ever want! Water in the universe; water in our story. Water, water everywhere, says ‘now give God the glory!’ ©Heather Fenton 2006

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of style over substance? Why are there so few twenty to forty year olds in our churches? The Church has made a huge effort to reach out to this particular group over the last two decades but apart from isolated cases has seen little result. While the church has focused predominantly on the form of its message – the how – it has given less attention to the substance of the message it is delivering – the what. Has it tried too hard to be relevant at the expense of being real? There are four areas which need to be addressed if the church is to engage with twentysomethings. Let’s look at each one in turn.

INTEGRITY

A famous advert for wood protection states ‘it does exactly what it says on the tin’. Having grown up in a culture of cynicism and fear, the missing generation find it hard to build , especially towards those in positions of authority. This has intensified over recent years with the scandals that have engulfed the police, the media and the political system. Any sign of hypocrisy or double standards will cause them to shut down and turn off. There is a suspicion and distrust of the motives behind the Church’s ‘targeting’ of them and their peers. Many view the changes that have taken place in the Church over recent years as a desperate attempt to appear relevant in order to boost attendance figures. Social

Adam Pope is considering Reader ministry

companies and institutions compete for their loyalty. The Church is viewed as just one more organisation seeking to attract them to its product for its own benefit.

CONVICTION

We live in a highly individualised society that claims no absolutes. The lack of clear boundaries has created an insecure generation being blown about on the waves of competing moral, social and ethical standards. Meanwhile there has been a lack of clarity and confidence in the Church’s message; a dearth of conviction to stand by the truth we proclaim.

The Church should be engaging the minds and hearts of the missing generation not just their eyes and ears.

A Church passionately declaring the gospel will receive the respect if not agreement of younger generations. The Church needs to be an anchor in this restless world that has lost its bearings, providing clear direction with confidence and conviction.

Meetings and services aimed at this age group will often be large, loud and lively. This can ostracise those who feel more comfortable with one-on-one communication or more meditative worship. However charismatic and ‘Pentecostal’ churches have had more success with younger age groups in some cases.

SUBSTANCE

We so often underestimate the missing generation’s desire for a deeper spirituality, offering theology in light, catchy sound bites and emotional highs while failing to wrestle with the big questions they are asking. Are we seeking to connect or convict, to cheer or to challenge, to entertain or expose, to pacify or provoke? Statistics show that while church attendance has fallen, interest in spirituality is growing. Many are seeking answers to

The church has neglected the strength of its message; neglected certainty in a time of uncertainty; conviction in a time of confusion and substance in a time of style. projects are viewed as bait used to hook the desperate and unsuspecting so that they can be converted. A media savvy generation has been brought up in a consumer culture targeted by

feature

Still missing the triumph

life’s difficult questions of suffering, death, meaning and purpose.The Alpha course is helping to meet this demand through clear teaching while giving space for people to challenge, question and wrestle with issues of faith and belief.

INTROVERSION

The use of silence, meditation, symbolism and liturgy are great treasures of the Church that are often viewed as inappropriate to the missing generation, but actually these have proved a magnet for many young people drawn to the Catholic Church and communities such as Taize and Iona. This rich vein of spirituality is highly attractive to many and must not be overlooked.

CONCLUSION

The church has needed to move with the times to maintain dialogue with those in the first half of life. However, in doing so it has neglected the strength of its message; neglected certainty in a time of uncertainty; conviction in a time of confusion and substance in a time of style. It has also failed to find balance in its approach and to meet the needs of introverted young believers. We need to look at the issues of integrity, conviction, substance and introversion if we are to be accessible to the missing generation. The Church needs to reclaim its place as the moral and spiritual leader in an increasingly turbulent and unpredictable age.

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Feature

A story for telling and a song for singing Sarah’s story

At last the child was born. Ishmael, ‘God sees’. Named because Hagar had discovered that God saw her and spoke to her when she cried to him for help. Why did he not notice me?

I rejoiced to be married to Abraham, all those years ago in the land of my people. He was a man of vision. An adventurer. I delighted to join in his adventure. I was not like my friends who had settled into boring lives in Ur. I was a partner in my husband’s quest and we both enjoyed the travelling and the uncertainty. I was relieved not to have become pregnant immediately. A child would have complicated things so.

‘This is my son Ishmael. May he live in your sight’ Abraham told God. ‘Yes’ said God, ‘But he is not the one’. But God said nothing to me.

My name is Sarah. Wife to Abraham. Mother to Isaac. People look up to me. They give me gifts and treat me with respect. But at such cost…such cost…

But the years went by and we travelled on and there was still no child. Then God started to talk to Abraham. And Abraham told me what God said … how we would be the parents of a great nation, more numerous than the grains of sand by the far off sea. But still there was no child. We travelled on. We were still partners in an adventure. But I would catch him looking at me with bewilderment. He would go into the emptiness of the desert and this God of his would tell him all over again that he would have a child. But God never spoke to me about it. Every month I hoped and every month I knew myself to have failed. So I decided one day that I had to take charge of my life before it fell apart altogether. God insisted that Abraham was going to have descendants, but didn’t do anything about it. I had better organise something. So I suggested a surrogacy. I had a young slave who was of child bearing years. Let her provide Abraham and me with a child. The baby would be ours as the slave was ours. I told Abraham that God would want us to use our initiative so that his plan could work out and he was easily persuaded. Hagar, that was her name, conceived immediately. And my world changed. As I watched her young body swell with the child that should have been mine I was consumed with resentment. I hated her. I am not proud of how I was at that time. I know I made life unbearable for her so that at one point she actually ran away. She and the child she was carrying.

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Then one day we had visitors. We often did. I busied myself with preparing the meal that hospitality demanded while Abraham entertained them in the shade of a nearby tree. They moved to stand close to the tent where I worked. ‘I will return to you in the spring,’ one said. ‘I will come to see the son that Sarah will have by then.’ I laughed. I laughed so that I would not cry at the cruelty of it. My periods had become irregular. I was old. To talk in such a way was insensitive and unworthy of a guest at our tent. The man who had spoken heard my laughter. ‘Why does Sarah laugh?’ he asked. I was embarrassed and beginning to be afraid at the strangeness of this visitor. ‘I didn’t laugh,’ I said hastily, ‘You are mistaken.’ ‘Yes, you did laugh’ he said. His voice was gentle and understanding and full of humour. I carried on with the cooking feeling bewildered. Later I remembered his voice. For I did have a child. Isaac, my child of laughter. It was an uncomfortable pregnancy and a hard birth. I was old to bear a first child. But I was full of joy. We agreed that the visitor had been God’s messenger. I remembered how he had placed himself where I would hear and be heard. Now I knew God spoke to me as well as Abraham. But long years of inadequacy don’t vanish overnight, or even over nine months, I discovered. I could not bear to have Ishmael near Isaac. Isaac loved to play with him. But I remembered that Ishmael was the first born. I remembered Hagar’s glowing pregnancy and watched her delight in playing with the children. And I made Abraham send them away. We are a family now. But there is no longer the easiness of partnership we used to have. I look at him and wonder if he thinks of his first born. And of Hagar. And what he thinks of me. And what God thinks.

Margaret Harvey wrote this originally to tell the story of Sarah to a group of listeners at a conference

A song for singing

(Tune: Christe sanctorum) Lord God of Abraham calling us to journey, Your pilgrim people, going where you lead us, Sharing your vision, wide as the sky ’s vastness, Help us to follow.

Lord God of Sarah, calling us to trust you, To remain faithful through the times of silence, Give us the courage to believe your promise, Share in your action. Lord God of Hagar, God of the afflicted, Calling the poor and those despised to serve you; To the oppressed you come in saving justice With love and freedom.

On the reliability of the Old Testament

K.A. Kitchen is Personal and Brunner Professor Emeritus of Egyptology and Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Archaeology, Classics and Oriental Studies, University of Liverpool. He has written many books including Ancient Orient and Old Testament and The Bible in Its World: the Bible and Archaeology Today. K.A. Kitchen is a meticulous scholar with a good sense of humour. He challenges those who are ‘factually disadvantaged’ or who ‘do not do their Near Eastern homework’ and, without putting too fine a point on it, leaves in ruins the arguments of those who regard the Old Testament as unreliable and full of errors and contradictions.

feature

‘What made me think’

David Fewster from St Asaph Diocese answers this question

This is a massive scholarly work with 100 pages of detailed notes on the various chapters, 40 plates containing maps, diagrams, inscriptions and 37 tables. His two-fold approach leads him to look at the OT writings and also at the data from the world in which the writings came. His knowledge of that world is encyclopedic.

What did I learn from this book? A lot of it, I confess, was over my head. However, it was patently obvious that a lot of the criticism of the Old Testament by various scholars is without foundation. Kitchen comes across as an expert who knows his stuff inside out and shows beyond any doubt that the Old Testament is thoroughly reliable.

As an archaeologist works from the most recent layers/times to the oldest, Kitchen works back from the period of the Exile and Return, through the United Monarchy, the Settlement in Canaan, the Egyptian Sojourn and Exodus, The Patriarchs and finally to Primeval Proto-History. In his conclusion, Kitchen answers in detail minimalists such as T.L. Thompson, N.P. Lemche, W.G.Dever and Wellhausen.

On the Reliability of the Old Testament by K.A.Kitchen was published by Eerdmans in 2003 Do you have something that made you think? It need not be a book. Let me know about it and we may be able to include a short comment under this heading. The number of words would be around 400 maximum. Editorial contact information is on the inside front cover.

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THE READER 31

Feature

Prayers for praying

Carol Jerman is a Reader in St Asaph Diocese

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Draw us to the place, O God, The place from which the living waters flow; The sanctuary of the Holy One And that profound meeting place Where He was pierced, Where the Rock was smitten. They flowed from your Son, And they are flowing still, Streams of living water Enough for all. Draw us to that meeting place, O God, The place of his piercing. Our God and our Father, Help us to abide in the place of the cross, And in your grace to know the crucified Christ From whom alone the living waters flow.

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2

Father, Help us always to rem ember that the One from whom the living waters flow Said, ‘I thirst’. Create in us a deeper thirst for righteousness. Fill your Church with longing for justice in th e earth And for the honour of your name So that the waters ma y flow.

There is a tree that makes bitter waters swee t; O apply it to my heart, most holy Lord. I’m longing now for all that flows from me to be like sweet, pure water, And I mourn because of the brackish stuff, Discoloured and bitter to those around me That still issues from me. Help me, Father, so to abide in the love of Chris t That this love springs consistently from my life.

Help all those who trust in you, O Christ, To live in the good of all you have bought for us, your Church. There are so many things that can make the waters bitter; Pride and judgemental attitudes, lack of com passion and lack of faith, Self-importance and false humility, insecurity and self-centredness, Cowardice and ambition. O lead us in the ways of the Lamb who gave himself for our redemption. Forgive us, Lord, for all the times when we have drunk of your clear, flowing wate r, And then turned and, trampling in it, muddied it, making it unfit for others to drink, So that they have gone away, still thirsty. Forgive us, Lord, and teach us how to worship you in Spirit and in truth.

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4

Lord, It is as if the desert is encroaching. Your Church grows thin, The land, a wilderness. Oh, where is the garden of the Lord From which the rivers flow Into a thirsty land? There is a bitter taste in our mouths: We have drunk from other streams, Forgive us, Lord. Rock Only faith perceives the water from the And only love can drink. Jesus. Cleanse our hearts of other things, Lord k, drin may we so , Draw us again to yourself us in up g sprin And so the living water may And flow out.

Published in Quiet Spaces ‘Living Water’ edited by Heather Fenton © brf 2012

So many faults remain in me And in your Church, So much sorrow and injustice in the world. Neither my prayers or actions seem to touch it And I am weary, And thirsty, thirsty for the overflowing springs of the love of God And his everlasting grace. This is a desert place to be. O Lord, have mercy on us; Christ have mercy. Yet if everything should fail And all of heaven and earth pass away Still you endure, Lord Jesus, And that is enough; Enough for me, enough for me. O Father, keep us in your love; Christ, keep us in your grace. And in this quiet place where only your love remains, Your Spirit wells up Like a small, bubbling spring, Like the laughter of those who delight in one another. O Lord, have mercy on us; Christ have mercy. We give you thanks, O Lord, That your loving kindness endures for ever; And we will rejoice in God who is our Saviour, In God, who alone is our Saviour.

6

Lord Jesus, in your grace Give us thirst And the understanding to come to you and drink. Give us grace to follow the Lamb wherever he goes Assured that you will lead us to the river of God, Pure water of life as a gift . Give us faith to trust That you give your Spirit to those who drink of you , An inner spring of eterna l life, Fellowship with God in eve ry circumstance of life, Gift beyond measure.

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There came a sudden beauty of waters: Shining rain fell, drenching me and the ground, And a sudden burst of sunlight bathed everything in warmth and brilliance. I stood with upturned face, knowing that I was in the middle of a rainbow That I could not see, but that could be seen by others. And so I pray, Lord, may your covenant promises be seen in us. May the work of your grace be visible, when we don’t see it, In all the ups and downs of life. Help us to remain in the place of the rainbow, Washed and given light by your grace, Because of all your Son has done for us.

Gazette

G azette

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of newly admitted and licensed Readers BIRMINGHAM

Admitted and Licensed.19 January 2013 David Ash...................................................................................................Kings Norton Team Glynis Gayton.......................................................................Baddesley Ensor, St Nicholas Michelle Grannell............................................................................Birchfield, Holy Trinity Victoria Hubble.........................................................Harborne, St Faith & St Laurence Paul Martin..................................................................................... Smethwick, Old Church Geoff Miller...................................................................................... Aston & Nechells Team Dawn Parker..........................................................................................West Heath, St Anne Nicholas Partridge................................................................................Elmdon, St Nicholas Peter Prasadam.......................................................................................... Hamstead, St Paul Peter Salt...............................................................................................Yardley, Christ Church Joanne Taylor........................................................................Birmingham, Bishop Latimer Janet Thomas........................................................................ Summerfield, Christ Church Shirley Turner.......................................................................Chelmsley Wood, St Andrew Christopher Walton............................................................... Hall Green, The Ascension Keith Whitehead ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Haborne, St Peter Licensed James Lethbridge.......................................................................................Dorridge, St Philip Carol Mayes................................................................................................Barston, St Swithin

The Reader magazine

survey

A huge “thank you” to everyone who has responded to our survey. I had been warned that surveys typically receive a 2 per cent response rate, so I was looking forward to receiving about 200 replies. In the event, at the time of writing, I have received double that, and there may well be more to come. The closing date was set at 31st March to give overseas Readers time to reply, so the process of analysing all the data won’t begin in time to report back in this issue. It’ll be a job for the summer when I’ll have a bit more time to go through all the forms in detail. A first reading of the forms received so far shows that – as you would expect – our readers are a mixed bunch with mixed views as to what the magazine should offer them. It will be difficult, if not impossible, to keep everybody happy, but we will aim to please more of you more of the time. And if you missed the form for whatever reason, you are always very welcome to express your views to me at [email protected] Marion Gray, Chair, CRC Editorial Committee

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REVIEWS

Reviews for THE READER Passion

Tony Anthony with Angela Little Authentic Media Limited £7.99, Pbk 9781860248047

We are commanded as followers of Jesus to share the gospel, but it is hard work to share something you are not passionate about. This book challenges us as Christians to rediscover the passion that led us to faith so that we may be empowered to share the Good News enthusiastically and wholeheartedly. The author has a direct, uncompromising style which he peppers with helpful personal anecdotes. Each chapter ends with a reflection page, with questions to help the reader think about their response to what they have read. The book, which can be a little repetitive in places, has a challenging message but is not a challenging read and so, could form the basis for some small group studies. The book ends, helpfully, with a number of examples of ways of presenting the Gospel and is also accompanied by an eleven minute Gospel presentation on DVD. JANET BEER

Connecting like Jesus Tony Campolo & Mary Albert Darling SPCK, £14.99, pbk

9780281069156

‘We hope to demonstrate that every follower of Jesus can connect in ways that change our relationships, our lives and the world’ is the stated aim and this the authors most certainly do with a rich blend of biblical theology and clear practical suggestions drawn from their own experiences. From the outset, by focusing on how Jesus communicated and connected, both with his disciples and the crowds who gathered around him, they assert that to follow in his footsteps, there needs to be an amalgam of spiritual practice and communication practices. The authors urge their readers to meditate particularly on the so-called ‘one another’ verses in the Bible and then relate them to everyday life. Having defined ‘soul healing’, Mary Darling then explains how to put this into practice with a strong emphasis on prayer and listening both to God and to all those with whom we come into contact. Tony Campolo then takes these ideas and relates them directly to a preaching and teaching ministry that aims to ‘connect like Jesus’. A very valuable book from which I have gained a great deal of encouragement and challenge and so commend to all involved in any form of Christian ministry but perhaps particularly to those called to preach. JOHN KNOWLES

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Hope and a Future

Wes Richards Monarch Books, £8.99, pbk 9780857212917

Wes Richards is the Senior Pastor of the King’s Church International, a nondenominational church based in Windsor. When his beloved wife Carol died of cancer at the age of 51 he and his three teenage children were devastated by her loss, but then, through faith in the Lord and supported by the prayers of their community, they were able to embrace new opportunities and move forward into a surprising and hope-filled future. For some, myself included, this story of ‘love, loss and living again’ may bring back sad memories, perhaps even open old wounds, but it is nevertheless a beautifully written and moving account of how the author’s struggle with bereavement gave him a new understanding of the Bible and was ultimately able to inform and deepen his preaching as a pastor. As such it will be of help to those Readers engaged in spiritual counselling or bereavement ministry. For all of us it is a reminder that our main concerns should not be so much about systems or structures as about compassion for broken people. MARGARET IVES

New Testament Prayer for Everyone Tom Wright SPCK, £9.99, pbk 9780281069064

In this very useful book, Tom Wright opens up the riches contained within the major prayers and teaching on prayer recorded in the gospels and letters of the new testament. The book is a selection of the author’s short reflections on New Testament prayer which have appeared in his popular ‘For Everyone’ series. The author’s own translations of the biblical text accompany each reflection. In the book’s first section, a series of commentaries show how ten short extracts from Matthew, Luke, Hebrews, James and four of Paul’s letters reveal the teaching of Jesus and the apostles on prayer. A second section of reflections considers Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, his prayers in Gethsemane, some of Paul’s prayers and a selection of early Christian prayers, including Mary’s Song of Praise in Luke. The book’s format, which follows the well-established structure of the ‘For Everyone’ series, makes it ideal for devotional use and there are also questions for discussion and reflection. Tom Wright’s thoughts, deeply earthed in personal experience, provide us with helpful explanations of the clues Jesus and the

apostles intended us to pick up, ponder, share and appropriate in our own path of prayer. The book quickens the desire to pray. ROBIN DIXON

The Edge of Paradise

Martin de Lange Monarch Books, £7.99, pbk 9780857212306



Tales of heroic missionary endeavour, cross cultural struggle and dramatic answers to prayer are possibly almost forgotten today? This is such a story of a South African family who helped bring the gospel to cities in Eastern Turkey in the last 20 years. It is refreshingly fast moving and clear about the costs such work involves, and a challenge to my own superficiality about God, and deep-seated materialism. It concludes with the murders of three Christians, and not all questions are answered neatly. But as an inspiration for those considering sacrificially following Jesus today and wanting to be evangelistically direct, it would take some beating. JOHN HOLDEN

The New Testament A Literary History

Gerd Theissen Fortress Press, £32.99, hbk 9280800697853

Many years ago, I was introduced to Gerd Theissen’s work through his book The Shadow of the Galilean. The engaging and thought-provoking style I discovered there is evident in this book, as the author develops his thesis that early Christian literature emerges through a series of phases, crossing boundaries as it goes. Moving from the time of Jesus through to the earliest recognised New Testament canon, Professor Theissen guides the reader through the familiar territory of the 27 books we now recognise as New Testament texts, as well as through new and perhaps hitherto unknown writings which are vital resources for our understanding of the early years of Christianity. The author demonstrates the level of scholarly engagement the reader would expect from a university professor, and has made available an excellent book that will greatly assist Readers in deepening their understanding and appreciation of the New Testament scriptures in context. CHRIS BRACEGIRDLE

Church for Every Context

Michael Moynagh with Philip Harrold SC M Press, £30, pbk 9780334043690

This book reads as though it was written in response to For the Parish (reviewed in The Reader, Spring 2011) which was itself a response to the fresh expressions movement. Michael Moynagh’s comprehensive and thought-provoking book argues very much for the fresh expressions initiative in the form of contextual churches and it provides a sound biblical basis for them. For a book which is sub-titled An Introduction to Theology and Practice, it is much to its credit that it is willing to recognise the valid contributions of social science. The four main sections are headed ‘Past and Present’, ‘Towards a Theological Rationale’, ‘Bringing Contextual Churches to Birth’ and ‘Growing to Maturity’. I found the book a little heavy-going at times, but this was ameliorated by the use of key-point boxes. Each chapter ends with a short list of further reading and a welcome set of questions for discussion. The bibliography is very comprehensive and both the author index and subject index are useful in this substantial book. As someone who has never been entirely sold on the fresh expressions movement, I did find myself beginning to change my mind as I read this book. It would be a timely read for any Reader exercising ministry in this changing era of the Church. MICHAEL FOSTER

Worship that Cares Mark Earey SCM Press, £20, pbk 9780334044116

If I had to choose one book for trainee Readers, worship leaders, or stuck clergy, I would choose this one! Mark Earey is a compelling teacher, an unstuffy liturgist and he has worked as an ordained minister in an ecumenical setting before he turned to theological education. The book is not an in depth study of new insights into obscure aspects of pastoral liturgy, it is a lively summary of the pastoral possibilities in Sunday worship and pastoral services. The first three chapters set out an overview. Sunday worship is helpful because, in telling God’s story in readings and intercessions, it provides a map for the journey of life; we learn that we are known and loved, we see in the stories people whose lives have been turned upside down and they survive, and we meet symbolism powerful enough to embrace the most intractable event. Sometimes, of course, people with profoundly different needs meet in Sunday worship and the vigilant pastor has to look for ways of helping them separately. The next chapter includes the

list of life events some of which the Church has a liturgy for – and some it doesn’t, a rite for divorce or one for same sex marriage? Finally Earey offers a toolkit, some basic principles and resources. Traditional theories of Liminality and Faith Development are here alongside the power of words, as poetry, symbol, or timeless phrases. The later chapters look in detail at birth, marriage, healing and funerals, and little is omitted! All the chapters have case studies or theories or ‘to think about’ boxes, plus summaries and full bibliographies. CHRISTINE MCMULLEN This review first appeared in Praxis, news of worship

Basic Types of Pastoral Care and Counselling Howard Clinebell Abingdon Press, pbk 978 0687663804

As the title gives away, this book is a useful resource for Readers and ministry teams, who work within a care field, be that chaplaincy or ecumenical community work. For me, the 19 chapters of the book need to be reordered a little so that the 3rd chapter, The History, Mission, and Theological; Biblical Foundations of Pastoral Care giving comes after the introduction but before chapter 1, Pastoral Care and Counselling: Challenges and Opportunities, but this might be just me being fussy. Each chapter begins with a biblical quote or inspirational verse, which, although nice enough, I’m not entirely sure whether they are relevant for each chapter. The language of the book is clear and easy to understand, but being written by an American author means that the spellings and references mentioned in the text are of limited use for a Reader within the UK. This would be a useful resource for a ministry team or someone training a team for pastoral ministry, but it would not be relevant for everyone’s bookshelf. EMMA-DAWN FARR

Every Place is Holy Ground

Sally Welch Canterbury Press, £9.99, pbk 9781848250758

Pilgrimage as a means of spiritual search and exploration has been popular throughout Christian history. The great Pilgrimage routes bear the marks of countless pilgrims. Less popular but gaining ground is pilgrimage in the familiar setting of home and local community. This new awareness of pilgrimage comes from the sense of God in the whole of life. Every Place is Holy Ground provides a creative resource for pilgrimage in the places we know well – home, church and community. Each chapter gives suggestions for pilgrimage devotions and excellent biblical reflection together with

practical activities. The aim of the pilgrimage is ‘a refreshed mind and an enhanced way of seeing.’ This book is ideally suited for parish pilgrimage and could be used in Advent or Lent or as a preparation for a pilgrimage to one of the holy sites. JANICE PRICE

Ministry Rediscovered

Mike Starkey The Bible Reading Fellowship, £7.99, pbk 9781841016160

This book begins with a personal and interesting description of how vicar, Mike Starkey and his family arrive at their first parish and the ensuing difficulties they face, with a crumbling church building, a tiny and uncaring congregation and a vicarage that hasn’t been built yet! Despite these difficulties the author goes on to reveal his journey of discovery as he strives to turn the parish around, describing his training as ‘hilariously irrelevant’. His greatest discovery is his need to be creative in his ministry and to think outside the box and in doing so he creates a unique ministry in direct response to the community he is called to serve. The author goes on to demonstrate his reasons why a church leader’s primary role is not to be a guardian of existing church traditions, but to be an explorer and that just adding creative outreach projects onto a largely unchanged church achieves nothing. This is an enjoyable read and certainly provides food for thought as it’s definitely a challenge to a lot of current thinking about ministry. Personally I love the idea of creativity in worship and being individual and if you do also then this book is a delight and well worth a read. LOUISE FORSHAW

No Oil in the Lamp Andy Mellen & Neil Hollow DLT, £12.99, pbk 9780232529449

Do you remember the foolish virgins who failed to fuel their lamps and ruined their future (Mt 25:12)? Jesus’ parable is now creeping up on us as fact, not parable. Our way of life is uncomfortably dependent on fossil oil – which is finite in quantity. The Government knows this, and is working on replacements, renewable energy, fracking, nuclear, carbon-recapture technology, but we are loathe to give up our cars, our holiday flights, our warm houses. We are vaguely aware of all this, but dampen our consciences – and ignore the problems in store for our children. The authors of this book are both committed Christians, and spell out the options and difficulties facing us in obtaining and responsibly using energy. They give examples of the problems and possibilities

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REVIEWS of these in home and church, setting out the challenges to ourselves and the possibilities of witness to others, both at home and overseas. It is a messy book. There are many loose ends, perhaps inevitably, but it is an important read for all of us, both as Christians and as citizens. SAM BERRY

For Everyone Bible Study Guides: Revelation Tom Wright SPCK, £4.99, pbk 9780281068654

In this book there are twentytwo chapters of Bible studies on Revelation, a chapter of guidelines for group leaders and an introductory chapter of suggestions. For group study, every individual should have a copy of this book and the leader should also have the author’s companion volume from the For Everyone series. Each study chapter starts with an ‘Open Question’ before detailed questions based on the Bible passage. Group participants are supposed to prepare in advance and also come without pre-conceived ideas to this ‘Open Question’ before reading the set Bible passage. This book gives the impression of having been written for the sake of completeness (it is the final volume in the series) rather than by considering why a group would study

Revelation and thinking about their situation and needs. SALLIE BASSHAM

Living the Gospel Stories Today John Pritchard SPCK, £8.99, pbk

Twelve Months of Sundays, Years A, B and C; Biblical meditations on the Christian year Tom Wright SPCK, £16.99, pbk 9780281065813

9780281068524

Following a helpful introduction about the power of story, 18 gospel stories are re-imagined in a contemporary setting, with lessons drawn out for the reader and hearer. Each of the short chapters ends with a few questions for personal or group reflection, further group activities, and suggestions for prayer. This book is a feast of stories, for within each chapter are other stories, many of which were new to me. At first I felt disappointed; these are not stories such as Trevor Dennis writes, but by the end I had been both moved and challenged. This book would be useful for personal reflection or for use by an experienced leader with an established group. It would be a helpful preparation for preaching, or a chapter could even be read at evensong in the sermon slot. This may well have been their original purpose, for the stories assume familiarity with the biblical story and need to be heard in the context of the original text. MARGARET BAXTER

This is a type of book which I much enjoy. It collects together a series of meditations by the former Bishop of Durham on the three annual cycles of biblical readings for the revised Common Lectionary which were earlier published week by week in the Church Times. The preacher can find stimulus, the serious student outline Bible studies and there is ever a temptation to delve further into it. One can readily get lost in our lectionary with its Saints’ Days and movable feasts, and the Church House lectionary is to be recommended as a clear diary. Professor Wright includes the readings for the various Saints’ Days that occasionally fall on a Sunday and every possible regular Sunday including Propers provided after Epiphany when Easter is late and after Trinity when Easter is early. There is an index to seasons but a fuller index would particularly help the more occasional reader. JOHN BOTTERILL

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In Memoria m

In Memoriam The deaths of the following Readers have been notified to us St Albans Winchester Alan Bugden Michael Honeysett Audrey Cronbach Heather Levinge Susan Gibbs Coventry Christine (Betty) Worcester Birmingham William Grimes Milligan Graham Darby Zelda Hilleard Ron Morris Derby York Mr E Young Mr J Foxon St Eds & Ips Jenny Lane Ian Duncan Cynthia Mackay Blackburn Gloucester John Halsall John Millard Salisbury Jane Gilbert Llandaff Pat Spurin George Martin Pauline Wood Manchester Anne Winton Bill Cavanagh Sheffield Alan Greaves Barbara Handley Chelmsford Monmouth Joy Hawthorne Kenneth Moffatt Joan Clutterbuck Robin Holmes Roy Savill Sodor & Man William (Bill) Wilford Oxford George Cannon Mrs A Ainsworth Chester Norman Harrison Portsmouth Len Reeve May they rest in peace Chichester Roderick Trickey

Last Word

Because the Church of England is the established church in England, there is a special relationship with the state, and prayers are offered regularly for the Sovereign. Where I worship we pray week by week for the Queen that she ‘knowing whose minister she is’ may govern us fairly and that we ‘knowing whose authority she hath’ may be prepared to obey.

Of course it has its problems. Are people who live in republics somehow less under divine providence? If the divine right applies to all kings, what is the position when kings go to war against one another?

Raising these problems highlights the way in which monarchy has changed with the passage of time. A constitutional crisis would ensue nowadays if our This is the outworking of the idea sovereign were to refuse to sign of the divine right of kings, which legislation that the government (irrespective of what we may think presented. Queen Anne was about our present queen or the the last person to do so, roughly concept of monarchy generally) three hundred years ago. So we has been a common concept in no longer think of kings in the Western Christianity for centuries, way that they were regarded in and a cornerstone of stability in Jesus’ time. In his day, kings had our society for much of that time. personal power of life and death

over their subjects, and it is a kingship with power of this kind that the biblical writers knew their readers would picture when they thought of the ascended Christ as a king. That is perhaps a little discomfiting because in the 21st century we are so used to being able to ‘argue the toss’ about almost anything, making the idea of absolute standards – even divine ones – less easy to accept than it was to our forebears. When we look to scripture to define these absolute standards we find questions of interpretation can still arise. If we may not kill, why was Peter told to kill and eat? If we may not work on the

L a st word

Bath & Wells Michael Charnick Dr K R Todd

Sabbath are we wrong to use electricity that day when others are working to provide it? I’ve raised questions in this Last Word without attempting to provide solutions. I certainly believe that we as Readers are apologists for our faith, and consequently we need to work through all these and many other issues in order to be able fully to serve our ascended King.

Alan Wakely

Secretary, Central Readers’ Council

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Servants of the Word

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