Madeleine Davies reports on the amalgamation of parishes over the decades. The Revd Marcus Walker, Rector of Great St Bartholomew’s, Smithfield, and chair of Save the Parish, highlighted research which links clergy numbers to growth. The data “made sense”, he said: “You are actually able to invest time and energy in people, to know them, to inspire them. . . There’s a virtuous cycle of activity and growth.”
“Like the Trust, the CofE seems to specialise in making things soul-destroyingly difficult for volunteers. Churchwardens and PCC members, like my mother, are expected to bear much of the local…
Should the Archbishop of York focus on the emptying pews, falling subscriptions and general disquiet in those areas being converted into mega parishes? Read original article here
Martin Gaskell points out that Welby is apparently going to receive a knighthood. Yet he has overseen the managed decline of the Church of England and has focused on politics,…
Alison Millbank points out that resource churches can work well within parishes but wishes that leaving so many smaller parishes to languish is misguided. Read original article here
Sir James Burnell-Nugent writes in The Times this week of his hopes that the Crown Nomination for the next Archbishop of Canterbury will be pro-parish.
Simon Smale suggests that the rump of the last SDF funding might be spent supporting parish ministry in Church’s ‘inherited’ format.