Irons in the Fire

/ Stratocastermagic / Leave a comment

After a recent Thursday morning communion service at St Matthew’s, we had a conversation over coffee about the BBC TV programme, The Repair Shop. It’s an unlikely hit: a programme about people mending things. Watching someone painstakingly remove a layer of rust from a lawnmower doesn’t exactly sound riveting. But what makes the programme is the characters and the stories behind the objects that turn up in the repair shop’s barn. The show is presented by furniture restorer Jay Blades – Blades had a tough upbringing and was hindered in his education by undiagnosed dyslexia. He attributes his success as a TV presenter to the fact that, until the age of 51, he couldn’t read. This meant that, rather than learning facts about the people he was going to meet on camera from the written notes he was given, he had to talk to them, to ask questions. His interest in people draws us in to their stories. Jay is supported by a regular group of highly skilled craftspeople and occasional guest experts who seem to love their work. Their enthusiasm for their craft is infectious and the things they are able to do become fascinating.

Our chat over a cuppa was about the recent special episode featuring the former Prince of Wales (now King Charles III, of course). The Repair Shop had been given two pieces selected by the Prince: an 18th Century clock (which we learned was created by rescuing parts from other clocks) and a Scottish ceramic piece made to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. This had been damaged when someone opened a window and knocked it over. We didn’t find out who had opened the window. The Prince wasn’t saying.

In the episode we also met Jeremy the blacksmith. Jeremy had trained as part of a building craft programme run by the Prince’s Foundation at Dumfries House in Cumnock, Ayrshire. Jeremy said he had been blacksmithing for six or seven years. He spoke about the two key things required for smithing: “the first is to get it hot. The second is to hit it.” We saw him doing both. He had tried blacksmithing on a one-day course that someone gave him as a gift. He told us that he hadn’t done particularly well at school, hadn’t got good grades, but, when he discovered blacksmithing, he found what he loved and came into his own.

“Working by a fire – there’s no place I’d rather be in the world.”
“In blacksmithing I have absolutely found my calling.”

As someone has said, in a Christian context, our calling is where our gifts and passions meet human need. In a sense, our primary calling is to be ourselves. There is wisdom in the quote:

Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.

I’ve written before about the idea of vocation. People often think about the clergy as having a vocation – a calling. But the truth is that each of us has a calling. The Church of England talks about understanding Christian vocation in three areas:

  1. Social (our place within the community, where we contribute to the common good);
  2. Relational (our calling in relationship to God and to others, like family, friends, and neighbours); and
  3. Ministerial (our calling to serve and build up the church community and equip it for mission).

As I said when I wrote about this previously, I would put them in a different order: I would start with my ‘relational’ vocation. Who am I called to be? (Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.)

As you perhaps know, by the time you read this (or shortly after, at least) I will be on a three-month Sabbatical, away from parish duties. To prepare for this, one of the things I did was to meet with my spiritual director. (Clergy are expected to have a spiritual director, or adviser, and to meet with them on a regular basis.) One of the things that my spiritual director asked me to think about was my calling. You might think that, at my age, it’s a bit late to be asking questions about my calling, but that’s the point. We may have a sense of calling but our understanding of it will inevitably change as we, our circumstances, and the world around us change. I am called to be me – and to be me in the context of my marriage and family life. I am called to be a priest in the Church of England. And I am called to be the vicar of St Matthew’s and St Cross. All of those are things that I am fairly sure about. But what do they mean now (compared with, say, 35+ years ago when I was ordained) and what might they mean in the years ahead?

I don’t know that even a three-month Sabbatical will allow me to come up with definitive answers to those questions, but I hope for some growth in my understanding of each that will empower me better to live out my calling on my return.

The month of November begins with the Church celebrating the Feast of All Saints. We might think of a saint as someone especially gifted or committed, probably a martyr. But I would rather say that a saint is simply someone who has discovered who they are and what their calling is, and who is trying – however imperfectly – to put that understanding into practice. Like Jeremy the blacksmith or Paul the Apostle or me or you. Find what you love, and come into your own.

The jazz saxophonist, John Coltrane, struggled with addiction but wrote in the liner notes to his iconic 1965 album, A Love Supreme:

During the year 1957, I experienced by the grace of God a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time in gratitude I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music.

Tragically, Coltrane died from liver cancer in 1967. The previous year, while touring in Japan, he was asked what he wanted to be in ten years. His answer?

I would like to be a saint.

Every blessing as you continue to discover your calling.

Alan Jewell

The Death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

/ Stratocastermagic / Leave a comment

It was a Thursday lunchtime. I saw on Twitter that “something” was happening. Various people were speculating on what it might be and were talking about “London Bridge”. I switched on the TV news to see that Buckingham Palace had issued a statement saying that the Queen’s doctors were “concerned for Her Majesty’s health” and had recommended that she remain under medical supervision. The mood in the studio was sombre, with Huw Edwards and Nicholas Witchell in dark suits and ties. It was unusual, we were told, for the palace to issue a statement about the Queen’s health, as this was normally regarded as a private matter. You had to feel for the presenters who remained on air for hours with very little to add after the initial statement. We were told that members of the Royal Family were travelling to Balmoral and that this was clearly a significant development.

And then at 6.30PM the formal announcement was made. A notice was posted on the gates of Buckingham Palace, and we were told that the Queen had died. Many of us will remember for years to come where we were when we heard the news. (As people remember where they were when they heard that George VI had died.)

Of course, at the moment of her death, the royal succession meant that we had a King – Charles III. You do have to feel for him: he begins the role that he has been preparing for all his life while grieving the loss of his mother, and having to do all of that in the public eye. The following days must have been intensely gruelling for him and the other members of the Queen’s family, with vigils, services, and processions, and the preparation for a State funeral, the like of which we might never see again.

On Monday 19 September, along with millions – possibly billions – of others, we sat down to watch the Queen’s funeral on TV. We had a moment of drama: our television set had no signal from the aerial! We had to tune into the BBC broadcast on an iPad. Even on that fairly little screen, we got a sense of the scale of the event. (And a better picture than the broadcast of the Coronation in 1953, which people watched on their 14″ black and white television sets!) You can’t fail to have been impressed by spectacle of it all and the extraordinary attention to detail – the beat of the drum which kept the whole procession in step, the dignity of the mourners, and the precision of the military and other personnel who took part.

Our hearts went out particularly to the eight pallbearers, soldiers from 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards. Two of them were just 19 years old, carrying on their shoulders the Queen’s coffin and an unimaginable responsibility. They did their job faultlessly and I think we all breathed a sigh of relief with them when their duties were over. There are calls for them to be honoured. I hope that someone – perhaps the King? – put some money over the bar for them to have a drink when the day was over. I also like to think that they will be able to walk into any pub in the country and never have to buy a pint again! It’s easy to forget, seeing them in ceremonial mode, that these were real soldiers. They were flown in from operational service in Iraq and will go straight back to active duty.

Among the most memorable moments for me was the Archbishop of Canterbury’s sermon. I timed it at 5 minutes and 31 seconds, so I assume he was told he could have five minutes! I later learned that his script was just 502 words long. In such a limited space and a short time, I thought he got it right – he hit the right note, was respectful to the occasion, and managed to say some important things. He spoke of Christian hope and his message focussed on Jesus, who as servant leader was Her Majesty’s role model and inspiration.

His tribute to Her Majesty noted:

“People of loving service are rare in any walk of life. Leaders of loving service are still rarer. But in all cases, those who serve will be loved and remembered when those who cling to power and privileges are long forgotten.”

I wonder if any of the great and the good assembled in Westminster Abbey shuffled uncomfortably in their pews as they heard those words.

The sermon, which might well be the most heard sermon ever preached, was in a sense a gift, because we know that Her Late Majesty was a sincere Christian who was not ashamed to talk about her faith in Jesus Christ, and to acknowledge her own dependence on the God she was called to serve.

The Archbishop’s final paragraph referred to some words that the Queen herself had used in addressing the nation during the COVID-19 lockdown:

“We will all face the merciful judgement of God: we can all share the Queen’s hope which in life and death inspired her servant leadership.

“Service in life, hope in death. All who follow the Queen’s example, and inspiration of trust and faith in God, can with her say: ‘We will meet again.’

If nothing else, I learned from the Archbishop that it is possible to preach a worthwhile sermon in 500 words and just over five minutes. I have made a note and will endeavour to emulate him! (I note that this article is approaching 1000 words, so I should draw to a close.)

My final story is something that one of our church families told me. They have been bringing their child to church regularly. On the day of the funeral they sat down together and watched the service from Westminster Abbey. As the service closed, the child asked, “are they going to have tea and biscuits now?”

Alan Jewell

Two prayers issued by the Church of England, following the death of Her Majesty the Queen

God of love,

We thank you for the life of The Queen,

for her service to our nation,

and for her faith in you.

Be close to all of us who mourn,

that we may we find comfort and hope in your love,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Everlasting God, we pray for our new King.

Bless his reign and the life of our nation.

Help us to work together

so that truth and justice, harmony and fairness

flourish among us;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Back to Church?

/ Stratocastermagic / Leave a comment

It’s that time of the year when I look through my calendar to see what is coming up and realise that September is almost upon us. After the disruption of recent years, hopefully this time, it will be all systems go! For me, that means that Monday mornings will start with school assembly at 9AM. (It’s called ‘collective worship’ these days. After periods of contributing via a camera on my desk in the study, it will be a pleasure to go return to seeing the school hall filled with three-dimensional children.) Then we start back with the routine meetings and appointments that have taken a back seat during August: clergy Chapter, PCC and Standing Committee meetings (for both churches), as well as school governors and other bodies. It also means that we start a new year of Praise & Play, and can look forward to meeting new P&P families as well as welcoming back some familiar faces.

In a normal year, my work tends to follow the school calendar, so September feels like the start of everything. And in a normal year, I think of September to Easter as being my ‘busy time’ (although we do usually manage to take a break in school holidays). This year, however, things are different in that I will be taking a Sabbatical at the busiest time of all – including Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. I’ve written about this elsewhere, but the closer it gets the more daunting it is beginning to feel! I need to make sure that I have done all that I can to leave both churches in a reasonable state so that things can at least continue to tick over until my return. (Who am I kidding? They’ll probably both thrive without me getting in the way!)

In September, some churches organise special ‘back to church’ events. There’s even an organisation that promotes ‘Back to Church Sunday’. The idea is not just for those who have been able to take a holiday over the summer, but for those who used to attend but have got out of the habit. Getting out of the habit of going to church is easy enough to do at any time, but the pandemic has meant that many who were regular church goers have stopped attending, and for very good reasons. I’m not all sure what COVID is going to do over the next year, but I’m hopeful that church services will continue uninterrupted. If that is the case, then what are the barriers that get in the way of people returning to regular worship?

Obviously, some are rightly worried about their own health or that of loved ones. We are continuing to do what we can to make sure that our services are conducted in such a way as to minimise risk, but it’s not possible to make any public event completely risk free.

Some may have decided, that, having missed church for so long, they didn’t really miss church… If that’s you, then here is something for you to think about: maybe the church misses you! Or maybe, to put it bluntly, and to paraphrase, maybe it’s time to “ask not what your church can do for you but to ask what you can do for your church”.

I have sometimes in a sermon used an illustration which goes like this: I tell the congregation that I have put together a list of all the jobs that need doing for a church service to take place. It’s a long list because there’s a lot that needs to happen. The building needs to be clean, safe, and comfortable. Also, ideally, it will look attractive – flowers have been purchased and arranged; the altar cloths with be clean and the frontals will have been changed to suit the season. The bills must have been paid so that we have heat and light. Someone had to unlock the doors and switch on the lights. There will be someone at the door to welcome you, and, after the service, someone will be there to ask if you want tea or coffee. (I say often that the welcome people get coming through the door, and the chat over a cuppa after the service, are far more important than anything that happens during the service!) Of course, between the warm welcome and cheery goodbye there’s the simple matter of worship having been planned and prepared. There are readings and prayers, and music. You might hear a sermon and be offered holy communion.

Having made a list of all the jobs that need to be done, I tell them that I have written each job on a sticky note and placed it under one of the seats in church. (This is not strictly true: I’ve never actually done that – but it’s not a lie, it’s a rhetorical device…) I then say that, in a moment, I want each person in church to look under their seat and discover what their job will be for the coming year. If you get a job that you really can’t do, you have to swap your sticky note with someone who can. Everybody ends up with a job that they can do. In that way we know that everything is covered. As I say, I’ve never actually done this, but it’s an idea!

I did read about a church where they did something like this. They had a set of badges made: one said ‘Welcomer’, another said ‘Bible Reader’ and so on. At the start of the service, the pile of badges was on a table at the back of church. As each person arrived, they had to choose a badge and that would be their job for the day. I have to say, I’m quite tempted. Except that I think it’s better if the person doing the bible reading has had chance to have a look at it beforehand in case there are any of those pesky names that are difficult to pronounce.

So, rather than sticky notes or badges, we have always used rotas. They’re a pain to produce, and we often have Sundays where there are more people standing in for someone else than there are people doing what they’re on the rota for. But that is all right. It mostly works. And what it avoids is having a very small number of people doing all the jobs every week. Which is where we have ended up after the disruptions of COVID19. I am very grateful to those who have kept the ship afloat over the past few years. But I am hopeful that the time is coming for us to return to those pesky rotas. In order for that to work, we need volunteers – from among our regular worshippers, and from those who plan to return to church, and it would be good to have some new names and faces.

Here’s what I would like you to do: pick a Sunday in September and plan to come to church. Let me know that you are coming and that you would be happy to do a reading, or welcome people at the door. I will then put your name on the rota and – voila! – it’s sorted!

If there are other barriers to you attending a service, please let me know and I’ll see what we can do to help you.

I look forward to welcoming you back to church.

Alan Jewell

On the Anniversary of My Ordination

/ Stratocastermagic / Leave a comment

I’m writing this on 29 June – the 36th anniversary of my ordination as a deacon. Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of my ordination as a priest. It is, I suppose, a good time to reflect, so here goes.

I began my ordained life as an evangelical, charismatic, Anglican Christian. More recently I have taken to describing myself as a “post-evangelical, recovering charismatic” Anglican Christian. Perhaps I should unpack some of those words…

An evangelical Christian is one who tends to hold the Christian faith with a particular set of emphases (BEBBINGTON, 1989):

  • Conversionism – the belief that lives need to be changed in response to the gospel. In some circles, you hear the expression “born again”, as if there were two types of Christian – those who are “born again” and those who aren’t. That’s something I struggle with because it implies that there is a hierarchy, that some Christians (the “born again” ones) are better than others. I do still believe that human beings need to change and that the gospel is an invitation to do so, but I fear that identifying oneself as a “born again Christian” is largely a way in which some try to make themselves feel superior to others.
  • Activism – particularly the desire to see others come to faith through evangelism. Evangelical Christians are keen to share their faith through personal witness and public proclamation. Again, I’m all in favour of this, but there is always the danger that for every person converted through a conversation with an evangelical Christian, there are others who would run a mile rather than be subjected to that experience. A recent book criticizes evangelicals for ‘always banging on about Jesus’ (BROWN & WOODHEAD, 2016).
  • Biblicism – a particular devotion to the Bible and holding it in high esteem. Again, I continue to have a high view of, and love for, the Bible, and hope that anyone who has heard me preach will appreciate this. The Church of England’s Articles of Religion, which you will find in your Book of Common Prayer, talk about the ‘sufficiency’ of scripture:

    HOLY Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.

This was written against the view that Christians ought to believe everything the Church taught, whether or not it was “agreeable to God’s word”. Sadly – it seems to me – those who call themselves Evangelicals (particularly in the US context, but also in this country) often have a view of scripture that is fundamentalist. That is, it requires assent to the doctrine of biblical inerrancy or infallibility – the idea that the Bible (as originally given) is without error or fault, as if it were dictated from on high by God and merely written down by human beings – and I believe that that does not do justice to the Bible as a work that comes to us from particular times and places, and equally reflects views and values that belong to those times and places. It is my view that, in order to do justice to what the Bible says, and the God to which it bears witness, it is necessary to ‘translate’ it – not just the language, but the ideas, values, and principles – into our culture.

  • Crucicentrism – (‘cross-centredness‘) a focus on the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Again, Christians of different traditions (particularly those of a more catholic persuasion) will emphasise the Cross of Christ as being at the heart of our faith, but evangelical preaching will more often stress the death of Christ on the cross – the Atonement – rather than other aspects of Christian faith. For evangelicals, a key biblical text is 1 Corinthians 2.2, where St Paul says:

    For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

It interests me that the stained-glass windows at St Matthew’s do not contain a single image of Christ crucified – something that you would find in many other churches. There are Christ’s parables and healing miracles, but no crucifixion. We are presented with Jesus as a teacher and healer, not as the Saviour, dying for our sins. The main east window (made by Trena Cox in 1939) depicts the Ascension, and we can see in that the wounds of the crucifixion, but the Cross itself is not portrayed.

So, are you still with me? I have said a little bit about evangelicalism, which is part of my heritage, and about what I value from that tradition, and what troubles me. It’s time to move on to the ‘charismatic’ part of my label.

Most traditional churchgoers have heard of places that you might call “happy clappy”. Instead of an organist and robed choir, there’s a band with guitars and a group of singers. Perhaps even a drum kit. The clergy may not be wearing clerical robes. They might not even have a dog collar on! The worship is ‘lively’ and informal and there may be prayer for healings and miracles. People may raise their hands in worship or start ‘speaking in tongues’, and there may be prophetic words offered.

It would be wrong to reduce the charismatic movement to that caricature, but it’s a starting point! And it was my starting point: the church where I came to faith as an undergraduate in 1979 – St Aldates in Oxford – was an Anglican Church with an evangelical tradition which was experiencing charismatic renewal under the leadership of Revd Canon Michael Green. What was happening in Oxford was paralleled by the experience of St Michael-le-Belfry in York, led by David Watson (who I think was better known than Michael). These days, Holy Trinity, Brompton (HTB) – home of the Alpha Course – is the charismatic movement’s flagship within the Church of England. The present Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, was a member of the congregation at HTB and was sponsored for ordination by the then vicar, Sandy Millar. (As a side note, Nicky Gumbel who is – humanly speaking – the power behind Alpha, trained with me at Wycliffe Hall in Oxford. If he is currently writing a piece reflecting on his journey from ordination, I bet I won’t even get a mention!)

In 2003, as part of an MA in Ecumenical Theology, I submitted a dissertation (JEWELL, 2003) looking at how charismatic renewal has affected evangelicalism within the Church of England, particularly in the ways in which ‘renewed’ evangelicals related to charismatics within other traditions, including the Roman Catholic Church, which also experienced charismatic renewal. As you can tell, it’s a riveting read and I highly recommend it to you!

I won’t cover all that ground in this article (already a long way past my usual word count) but I will attempt a summary. You may have come across churches that describe themselves as ‘Pentecostal’. For example, King’s Church, Warrington, which meets in the Pyramid Arts Centre, is part of Elim Pentecostal Church. The distinctive feature of Pentecostalism is an emphasis on the Holy Spirit, active today in the life of the Church: just as the disciples were filled with the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1.5, 2.4), so believers today must be filled with the Spirit. Just as the New Testament Church used spiritual gifts – like speaking in tongues, prophecy, and healing – so must the Church today. Classical Pentecostalism teaches that baptism in the Holy Spirit is a required subsequent experience for the born-again believer – a second stage of initiation after coming to faith and being baptised in water. Those who have been baptised in the Spirit will evidence this by speaking in tongues or prophesying. As well as being rooted in the experience which we find in the book of Acts, Pentecostalism traces its history back to revival movements in the United States at the start of the twentieth century when speaking in tongues, prophecy and other spiritual gifts, were re-discovered. Pentecostal groups today may describe themselves as ‘Apostolic’ or ‘Full Gospel’. (Some Pentecostal Christians might look at members of traditional denominations like the disciples that Paul came across in Ephesus. Paul asked them “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?” They replied, “No. We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. Acts 19.1-3)

To cut a long story short, the Charismatic Movement is what happens when Pentecostal beliefs and practices end up in mainstream denominations – like the Roman Catholic or Anglican Churches. This began to happen in the UK in the 1960s. One important example is provided by the church of All Souls, Langham Place, in London. All Souls has long been an evangelical powerhouse in the Church of England. It is close to the BBC’s Broadcasting House and has often featured in BBC programming. In the 1960s, when Michael Harper was Curate at All Souls, he experienced ‘baptism in the Spirit’. His more conservative Rector, John Stott, wasn’t convinced, however, and when Harper left All Souls he set up the Fountain Trust, an ecumenical agency aimed at supporting those within traditional denominations who wanted to explore these new avenues. Harper’s own spiritual journey later took another surprising turn when he left the Church of England in 1995 and became a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church. (One of his issues was the ordination of women which the Church of England began to do in 1994. When I was working on my dissertation, I wrote to Michael Harper and he kindly replied. I was able to use a quote from that correspondence in my dissertation.) The Fountain Trust received some criticism from conservative Evangelicals for its ecumenical outlook. They saw it as putting subjective experience ahead of concrete biblical truths. Harper’s defection to the Orthodox tradition will have confirmed them in their views.

Some within traditional denominations who had experienced charismatic phenomena did eventually leave their historic churches and form new groups (including what were called ‘House Churches’), but some stayed. My own ministry as a Curate was influenced by Anglican Renewal Ministries (ARM, founded in 1982) which sought to encourage charismatic practice within the Church of England. I remember attending an ARM conference at which George Carey, then Bishop of Bath and Wells, was a key speaker. In 1991, Carey became Archbishop of Canterbury, which seemed to suggest that the Charismatic wing of the Church had taken hold. (Of course, he was followed by Rowan Williams, a man from a very different tradition. Then Welby succeeded Williams, and the charismatics were back!)

Time doesn’t allow me to do anything other than mention some other key influences on the charismatic renewal that I experienced, but they include John Wimber and the Vineyard movement, the so-called Toronto Blessing, and Spring Harvest.

Charismatic Christians are different from Pentecostals in that they don’t usually hold such a clear belief in ‘baptism in the Spirit’ as a second step of Christian initiation. They are more likely to see being ‘filled with the Spirit’ as something that can be experienced on any number of occasions as part of their walk with God. Charismatics may pray in tongues, but they don’t see speaking in tongues as essential evidence of having been baptised in the Spirit.

I earlier described myself as a “post-evangelical, recovering charismatic”, so let’s look at that now. In 1995, a vicar called Dave Tomlinson published a book called The Post-Evangelical (TOMLINSON, 1995). It describes a journey, that I suspect many of us have been on, of someone who has come to faith in an evangelical context – after all, it is the evangelicals in the Church who are most committed actively to challenge people to accept the Christian faith – but who come to find that they cannot support all the trappings of evangelical culture, particularly a fundamentalist approach to scripture, and conservative views on social and ethical issues. This is not a matter of abandoning a biblical worldview: it is about coming to a realisation that we all interpret scripture through a cultural lens, but some evangelicals don’t seem to know that. You may have discussed some deep issue with an Evangelical Christian, and they say, “Well the Bible says….” They give you chapter and verse and imagine that that ends the conversation. In my view, being able to quote the Bible intelligently is never the end of the conversation. It is always the start. We need to ask how to take values and principles from a very different culture and apply them in our own. In the book, Tomlinson denies that he is an ex-evangelical. That suggests a rejection of all that evangelicalism encompasses. He doesn’t want to do that. He wants to take with him aspects of that heritage, and not throw the baby out with the bathwater. The word ‘evangelical’ simply means ‘to do with the Good News (or gospel)’. Surely, all Christians should be evangelical in this sense!

Using the word ‘post’ also suggests a connection with postmodernism (a subject too vast for even this long piece!). As a handy approximation, you might say that the Modern World begins in 1492 when Christopher Columbus ‘sailed the ocean blue’ and discovered America. He had left behind the old world and discovered the new. Mediaeval Europe, in which the Pope told you what to believe and the King made you behave, was replaced by a world in which discovery trumped tradition, individuals were free from obedience to hierarchy, and we began to believe in science and technology rather than superstition… The Modern World ‘ended’ in 1992, the 500th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in America. There were celebrations of the event, of course, but there were also protests and anti-celebrations. It turned out there was more than one way of telling the story of Columbus. Rather than the dawn of a new age for (white) Europeans, it was a time of oppressive and violent abuse of indigenous people. Columbus hadn’t discovered America at all: the Native Americans were there already, and it was their land he took. This sense that there is more than one way to tell a story – the idea of competing narratives – is at the heart of postmodernism, which is suspicious of any single, big story (the metanarrative) which tries to explain everything from one point of view (usually that of the powerful).

Evangelicalism is rooted in a ‘modern’ world view. But many of us have grown up in and are deeply steeped in post-modernism and the assumptions of Evangelicalism no longer stand unchallenged.

And that is my position. I am a thoroughly post-modern Millie and whilst I value my evangelical heritage, I also recognise that evangelicalism is a culture like anything else.

So what do I mean when I describe myself as a ‘recovering charismatic’? This is a tongue-in-cheek play on the idea of a ‘recovering alcoholic’. Someone who has given up drinking alcohol may not see themselves as ‘no longer an alcoholic’. They are still an alcoholic, but they no longer drink alcohol. I have described above what the Charismatic Movement looks like and said that I came to faith in a charismatic context. I had an evangelical conversion, and this was followed, some weeks later, by being prayed with to receive the filling of the Spirit. It seems to me that, at its best, charismatic renewal breathes life into churches. Some have compared it with what the 1960s did to Western culture, when:

“The traditional, the institutional, the bureaucratic were rejected for the sake of individual self-expression and idealised community. (BEBBINGTON, p. 232)”

Whether you think that is a good thing or a bad thing is up to you. Today, much of the 1960s counterculture has become mainstream. (As, for example, Paul McCartney headlining Glastonbury, with Glastonbury coverage all over the BBC.) Much of what the Charismatic Renewal sought to do within traditional denominations is now taken for granted. I personally value informal and creative contemporary worship, which you will find in many churches. I don’t get as much out of more traditional formal services, but I understand that, for others, that would be their spiritual home.

What I struggled with – and why I describe myself as ‘recovering’ – was my experience of stuff that was, to be frank, stark raving bonkers. I won’t give examples here for reasons of confidentiality and privacy. But some of the stuff that I witnessed and was subjected to I would today describe as ‘spiritual abuse’. The problem is that if God speaks to you – as God seems to do to some Charismatic and Pentecostal Christians – you can put yourself above contradiction. (I remember hearing Cliff Richard talking about women who would approach him saying, “The Lord has told me that I am going to marry you”. He used to reply, “Well, he hasn’t said anything to me about it!”). It can be tough being the vicar in a church where people are used to telling you what God is saying today. To disagree with them is to disagree with God. How can you argue with God? In some circles, the more bizarre the idea that pops into someone’s head, the more likely it is to have come from God. ‘If it made sense, it would just be my own idea. But because it makes no sense, that proves that it has come from God.’

You may have heard the case of American Charismatic preacher Jesse Duplantis. In 2018, Duplantis (who has a personal net worth of $20 – 30 million) says that the Lord told him he needed a new jet plane for his ministry. He already had three jets, but the Lord told him he needed another, at a cost (to his followers) of $54 million. I’ve not come across anyone in that league, but it illustrates the danger when someone can claim to have heard directly from God and is in a position of power.

When I was writing my dissertation in 2003, I went back to Oxford to interview Michael Green who had been my mentor as a young Christian and was important in my being accepted to train for ordination. I asked him his mature view on the Charismatic Movement in which he had played such a pivotal role. He said that it was 95% dross, and 5% that was pure gold. I understand the point. I’m not sure if my experience backs up the ratio.

So, here I am, a Post-Evangelical recovering Charismatic. I haven’t said much about the ‘Anglican’ or ‘Christian’ parts of my label, and given how long I have already spent on this article, I won’t say much about them now. I am a Christian. That is to say, I confess with my lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that God raised him from the dead. That means I’m saved, according to Romans 10.9, 10. And, for all my frustration with the Church of England, I do believe that the Anglican position is sound, so I’m not planning to go anywhere else.

And there we have it. A 30+ year journey put into words. Quite a lot of words, admittedly, but they still do no more than scratch the surface. What about the next 30 years? Where will the Church of England be in 30 years’ time? I think it might be appropriate just to say, “Don’t get me started!”

Alan Jewell

Bibliography

BEBBINGTON, D. (1989). Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: a History from the 1730s to the 1980s. London: Routledge.

BROWN, A., & WOODHEAD, L. (2016). That Was The Church That Was: How the Church of England Lost the English People. London: Bloomsbury.

HARPER, M. (1974). None Can Guess. London: Hodder & Stoughton.

JEWELL, A. D. (2003). How Has Charismatic Renewal Changed the Ecumenical Landscape for Evangelical Anglicans? Liverpool: University of Liverpool.

TOMLINSON, D. (1995). The Post-Evangelical. LONDON: Triangle (SPCK).

Work, Rest, and Play…

/ Stratocastermagic / 2 Comments

One of the strange things about my job is what happens when I have to fill in an official form that asks about my work status. I am not employed, and I don’t have a contract. I don’t get paid to work: I receive a stipend. (I am ‘given a living’.) Technically, I am an ‘office holder’. I hold the office of vicar, but I am not employed by the Church or anyone else.

Since 2011, all new appointments of clergy have been under something called ‘Common Tenure’. This is an attempt by the Church of England to ensure that office holders have rights and responsibilities like those who are employed and who do have a contract. It came about partly because the Government has the power to give the rights of employees to those in work who are not employees and to impose employment legislation on the Church. Common Tenure is the Church’s attempt to ensure that it follows best practice, comparable to other professions.

For example, under Common Tenure, I have the right to a day off each week – 24 hours of uninterrupted rest. (I have that right – the reality is often different!) I also have the right to 36 days leave each year. (During the pandemic that, too, has been difficult.) Because of the nature of my office, I am not allowed to take Sunday as my day off, in the normal run of things, nor any of the Church’s principal feasts; or Ash Wednesday or Good Friday. In addition to annual leave, the diocesan bishop is allowed to grant periods of ‘special leave’. (I’m not expecting to need paternity leave any time soon.)

Again, under Common Tenure, I have the responsibility to cooperate with the diocese’s scheme of Ministerial Development Review (MDR), Education and Training. This is like continuing professional development that you would find in other professions. In July 2021, as part of my MDR, I met with the Archdeacon of Chester, Mike Gilbertson, to review my ministry, to identify how my ministry might best develop and what training or other needs I had. One of the outcomes of this meeting was that we identified that it might be time for me to take a Sabbatical.

Legally, a Sabbatical comes under the bishop’s power to grant special leave to clergy. It is a period of 90 days paid leave, during which time the person taking the Sabbatical still receives their stipend but is on leave from the duties of their office. I can already hear voices saying, “It’s alright for some!” and I understand that.

There are professions where taking a sabbatical is par for the course – academics, for example, often have the opportunity to take sabbatical leave. They might use this time to do research or writing, uninterrupted by the routine meetings and other administrative demands of their job. In some parts of the world, long service leave is available to all. In Australia, for example, anyone who has been in a job for a certain number of years is entitled to a period of leave in addition to their annual leave.

To qualify for a Sabbatical in Chester Diocese, you have to have been in post for not less than seven years, and not have had a sabbatical for at least seven years. I was ordained in 1986, which means that I have been in ministry for over 35 years, and in that time I have only had one previous Sabbatical – I used that in my previous parish to complete a Master’s Degree in Ecumenical Theology. It also meant that I was able to take Christmas Day as a holiday and spend it with my parents. And that meant they were able to see their grandchildren on Christmas Day – a rare occurrence. (In my previous diocese, the bishop insisted that sabbatical leave had to include being on holiday for either Christmas or Easter – because it is the only opportunity you will have until retirement to be off on either of those holidays.)

The word ‘sabbatical’ comes from the biblical idea of Sabbath, where, as part of God’s good creation there is a rhythm of work and rest (Genesis 2.3; Exodus 20.8-11). You work for six days and then the seventh is the Sabbath when you do no work. The bible also gives the land a sabbath: you work the land for six years and then, in the seventh, you allow the land to rest; you leave it fallow (Exodus 23:10–11). The idea is to give the land chance to recover so that it will be more productive when you return to it.

This is also the idea behind clergy taking a period of sabbatical leave: it gives an opportunity to rest from the demands of work and to reflect and, hopefully, return to their duties renewed and refreshed.

Following my MDR meeting, I applied to the Bishop to ask for Sabbatical leave. The bishops considered my request and agreed to it. My Sabbatical will begin in November this year and end in January 2023. So, I will be off work for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. We plan to spend part of that time in Australia, visiting family, and spending time with grandchildren at Christmas – something we would not otherwise be able to do.

You may know that I have just come back from Australia, as I took my post-Easter break to travel to Melbourne. While there, as well as playing on the beach with grandchildren, I made contact with the Dean of Melbourne, the Very Revd Dr Andreas Loewe, and spoke to him about my plans. While we are in Australia, I will make the Cathedral my home church and hope to learn about how the Anglican Church in the Southern Hemisphere marks Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. In England, we do those things during the winter – Christmas falls around the time of the winter solstice when days are short and dark, and cold. So much of our seasonal liturgy is about the light shining in the darkness. But in Australia, of course, Christmas Day is in the summer. People go to the beach and ‘chuck another shrimp on the barbie’. (Imagine singing, “Snow had fallen, snow on snow… in the bleak midwinter” when outside the sun is cracking the flags!) As it happens, the Dean of Melbourne was born in Germany and has also had to give thought to how the church can translate its liturgy from the northern to the southern hemisphere. I look forward to continuing that conversation with him.

I am aware that this opportunity for me comes at cost to others. With the wardens of both churches I will make sure that services are covered in my absence. (I am also planning to take one of the church musicians with me, so that will mean that we will need to make other arrangements for church services.)

My job between now and November will be to get in contact with other clergy in the Deanery and Diocese, including those who are retired but have permission to officiate, to ask for them to take services at St Cross and St Matthew’s during my period of leave. I hope that most services will proceed as normal, but we might need to look at some united services if resources are stretched. I will, of course, prioritise the main services for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany.

I am very grateful to the Wardens and PCCs of both churches who have expressed their support for my sabbatical. I plan to return to work revived and refreshed and better placed to face the challenges of the years ahead.

Alan Jewell

The Cruellest Month?

/ Stratocastermagic / Leave a comment

A recent TV quiz show (yes, it was probably Pointless) included this question:

According to the poet, T.S. Eliot, what is “the cruellest month”?

The answer, as I’m sure you know, is April. But why is April the cruellest month? Eliot’s The Waste Land, from which this is the opening line, is a poem written in the aftermath of a global pandemic: not COVID19, but the Spanish Flu, which Eliot and his wife contracted in December 1918. The Spanish Flu may have killed up to 100 million people globally (more than those who had died in the First World War), whereas COVID19 (with the benefit of antibiotics and vaccines) has killed just over 6 million. The Waste Land, which is the setting for Eliot’s poem, is a barren, devastated land in which nothing grows. In this dark place, April is the cruellest month because, in our world, in normal times, April is all about growth and new life (at least in the Northern Hemisphere). It is Spring and the flowers which have lain dormant throughout the Winter start to show their colours. In the Waste Land, this does not happen, which is why, in the poem, April is the cruellest month. The hope that we normally associate with April and with Spring is to be dashed.

During our own global pandemic, the last two Aprils have also been cruel: in March 2020, the Coronavirus Act 2020 received Royal Assent and lockdown measures came into force in the UK. As far as I remember, we thought this would be a short-term period of deprivation. How wrong we were! In England, COVID restrictions with legal force stayed in place until February 2022. Even now, we are being reminded that the pandemic is not over, and that we need to continue to exercise caution and modify our behaviour.

So, how does April 2022 look? On the first of April, Ofgem raised the cap that limits the charges that energy suppliers are allowed to make, meaning that energy prices to consumers shot up alarmingly. Money saving expert Martin Lewis, and others, advised everyone to submit their meter readings to the energy companies on the 31 March, to ensure that the higher prices applied only to fuel used from 1 April. Inevitably, the energy companies’ websites went into meltdown, making this very difficult to do. Sadly, none of this turned out to be an April Fool’s joke and many will struggle to pay their bills. The future doesn’t hold much encouragement either, with the prospect of further eye-watering increases in October.

From a personal perspective, the disruption to travel is causing anxiety, with airlines cancelling flights because of staff shortages due to Covid, and scenes of chaos at airports as people become increasingly frustrated by queues and long delays at security and check-in.

April has also seen the continuing horrors of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with stories of atrocities being committed by Russian soldiers. We have been faced with shocking images of civilian deaths, and there are calls for President Putin to face trial for war crimes. The cruelty of war is difficult to imagine for those of us fortunate enough never to have faced it.

Is there any antidote to the cruelty we see around us? Is there hope to be found, anywhere? At the time of writing, in the church calendar it is Lent. I’ve never really been a fan of ‘giving something up for Lent’. Especially when our motives may be mixed, at best. As someone has said, fasting without prayer is just a diet. Our Lenten disciplines can be just as self-centred as our festivities.

The English word ‘Lent’ comes from an Old English word ‘lencten‘ which simply means ‘Spring’, as that is when Lent happens in the Northern Hemisphere. (I gather that, in Dutch, the word for Spring is ‘lente‘.) ‘Lencten‘ may be related to the word ‘lengthen’, which is what the days do at this time of year. Lent happens in Spring, when we see the earth coming back to life. And it prepares us for Easter when Christians consider the story of Jesus who faces the wasteland of Good Friday and Holy Saturday. We know that the darkness will be broken open by the light of resurrection on Easter Day, but I wonder how it all seemed to Jesus’s disciples who did not have that perspective. Cruel, no doubt.

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews in our New Testament encourages us to “look to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith”:

who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12.2)

I’m afraid I have no words of wisdom when it comes to energy bills. Nor to the many other horrors and cruelties of the world in which we live. But Lent reminds us that the death of Winter gives way to the warmth and light of Spring, and that the wasteland of Good Friday will be replaced by the joy of Easter Day. As an old preacher once said:

“It’s Friday. But Sunday’s coming!”

Alan Jewell

COVID-19 Update – from 27 January 2022

/ Stratocastermagic / Leave a comment

As you know, the Government’s ‘Plan B’ restrictions for England have been lifted (as of 27 January). This means that face coverings will no longer be mandatory in churches. There are no legal limits to the numbers of people who can attend church services, and rules over social distancing are no longer in place.

It is my view, with support from the Churchwardens and Church Councils, that, although these measures are no longer legal requirements, we should continue to recommend that people follow the practices that we have developed since returning to public worship. That is to say, we recommend face coverings for those attending church services, and we ask people to maintain a safe distance from others, and to use hand sanitizer on entering the building.

Both churches will continue to administer communion in the way that we have been doing and the pattern of services will continue. On Sundays, there will usually be a service of Holy Communion at St Cross at 9.30AM and at St Matthew’s at 10.45AM. The service from St Matthew’s will be livestreamed via Zoom and the church’s Facebook page.

We are aware of the needs of those who are vulnerable and anxious, and will continue to do all we can to make our church services safe, comfortable, and welcoming to all. We will continue to monitor the situation and make adjustments when we feel it is right to do so.

Thank you for your support and to all who have worked so hard to keep the churches’ mission and ministry going during these challenging times.

Alan Jewell

Harvest

/ Stratocastermagic / Leave a comment

In October, both churches will be holding harvest festivals (Sunday 3 October at St Cross and 10 October at St Matthew’s). At the time of writing, details are to be confirmed, but it seems likely that both churches will welcome donations of (non-perishable) items that can be forwarded to the foodbank.

In the past, when more people were employed on the land, a harvest celebration was a time of joy – and relief – after a successful harvest. As I have often said in harvest festival sermons and talks, most of us today live our lives somewhat detached from the realities of food production. Events in recent years, however, have reminded us that we are still heavily reliant on what can be a precarious system. Early in the COVID pandemic, we were faced with empty spaces on supermarket shelves and restrictions on the items we could buy. We have seen the disruption of Brexit, a shortage of lorry drivers, and, at the time of writing, a hike in the price of carbon dioxide – essential to food production – which has resulted in the government paying £50m to keep a CO2 plant operating.

The modern shopper may face the absolute horror of not being able to get hold of avocadoes for love nor money! But most of those reading this won’t go hungry and are fortunate to be in a position to donate to the foodbank rather than being in need of its help. Perhaps for us, harvest is a time to think about how fortunate we are and to consider our responsibility for God’s world and its people.

In November, the city of Glasgow is hosting the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. This is the 26th ‘Conference of the Parties’ (COP) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, so is also known as COP26. In 2015, an international treaty on climate change was agreed by those attending COP21 in Paris. The Paris Agreement committed governments to act to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. (In 2017, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from this. On his first day in Office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order returning the US to the agreement.)

Religious leaders are among those who have called for action on climate change. On 1 September 2021, the Archbishop of Canterbury united with Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in signing ‘A Joint Message for the Protection of Creation’. They noted the ‘devastating effects of a global pandemic’ and the realisation that “in facing this worldwide calamity, no one is safe until everyone is safe, that our actions really do affect one another, and that what we do today affects what happens tomorrow”. The declaration calls on “everyone… to endeavour to listen to the cry of the earth and of people who are poor” and to pledge ‘meaningful sacrifices’ for the sake of the earth which God has given us.

The three Church leaders reflect on the bible which speaks of our stewardship of what God has given: Jesus tells stories of a rich man who hoards wealth and doesn’t consider his life’s true value (Luke 12.13-21); a ‘prodigal’ son who squanders his father’s wealth (Luke 15.11-32); and the wise and foolish builders who make very different choices (Matthew 7.24-27). The creation narrative of the book of Genesis sees God creating humanity and putting the first person in a garden “to till it and keep it” (Genesis 2.15). We are here to act as stewards rather than to despoil God’s good earth.

Church leaders have also supported a multi-faith declaration which pointed out that all the major faith communities are “united in caring for human life and the natural world.”

The scientific evidence is clear that human activity is causing our planet to warm at an alarming rate. The consequences of this are felt disproportionately by the those who live in poorer countries and communities. We have seen flooding in the UK, but the impact of that on us, while devastating to those who have lost homes and businesses, does not compare with the problems faced by the world’s poor.

You will have seen in the news that protestors have been disrupting traffic by blocking the M25. Their campaign is intended to put pressure on the government to insulate social housing in Britain in order to reduce CO2 emissions. You might wonder if there was a better way to protest than stepping out onto a busy motorway, but it has made the headlines, so presumably they would see that as a success. Some churches are planning a rather less disruptive (but hopefully newsworthy) protest to draw attention to COP26: they are calling for groups of people, dressed in yellow, to come together in public places (not on motorways!) to act as ‘canaries’ – just as canaries were used in mines to warn of carbon monoxide poisoning, these ‘canaries’ will warn of the damage being done to the earth by human activity.

Whether you can see yourself dressing as a canary or not (and I would actively warn you against disrupting traffic), the harvest season is time to think about the impact we have on God’s good earth. Our lives are linked with that of the planet and with all who share it with us. We can pray for those who will be meeting in Glasgow. We can make ‘meaningful sacrifices, and lower our own carbon footprint. We can urge those in power to promote renewable energy, greener homes, and cleaner transport.

In the creation story in Genesis chapter one, God looks at the creation and says that it is good. How should we live our lives in the light of that?

Alan Jewell

Vocation, Vocation, Vocation

/ Stratocastermagic / Leave a comment

On 29 June 1986, I was ordained Deacon in the Church of England in Dorchester Abbey. (That’s Dorchester-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, by the way, not the one in Dorset). That means I have now marked the 35th anniversary of my ordination as a deacon.

While I was writing this piece, I decided to check up on the bishop who ordained me a deacon. His name was Conrad Meyer, and as Bishop of Dorchester, he was an area bishop in the Diocese of Oxford. He wasn’t someone I got to know, as my curacy was in Aylesbury, where we came under the Bishop of Buckingham. (Oxford Diocese also has a bishop of Reading. The three area bishops support the Bishop of Oxford.)

In the years between ordaining me (which I was sure was a highlight of his episcopal ministry!) and now, what became of Bishop Conrad? I wasn’t too surprised to discover that he had died in 2011, aged 89. He had retired from Dorchester in 1987. (Nothing to do with having ordained me the previous year, I’m sure.) He became an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Truro (Cornwall) in 1990. And then, in 1994, I learned to my surprise, he became a Roman Catholic. He was formally received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church, and, in June 1995, he was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI gave him the title Monsignor.

From the date (1994), you might have guessed that the issue which led to bishop Conrad leaving the Church of England was the ordination of women as priests. So, what to make of this? The man who ordained me as a deacon in the Church of England gave up his own Anglican ministry in order to become a Roman Catholic priest. Does that make my ordination less valid? Just to be on the safe side, I looked up the Bishop of Buckingham, Simon Burrows, who ordained me as a priest in Christ Church, Oxford, in 1987. (There was no Bishop of Oxford at the time – there was a vacancy before Richard Harries was appointed.) As far as I can tell, Bishop Simon remained an Anglican priest until his death in 2015. So, presumably my ordination is valid!

Of course, in reality, the validity of my calling to ministry doesn’t rest in the hands of either of those two men, or anyone else, for that matter. I believed then, and believe now, that it is God who has called me to ordained ministry; and that God has called me to be vicar in these two parishes.

People speak about ordination as a vocation or ‘calling’ – which it is. But there is a danger lurking there, if we miss the fact that all Christians have a vocation, not just the ones who get ordained or licensed by bishops. Each of us who has been baptised as a Christian has a calling, a vocation. Each of us needs to ask, What is God calling me to? As we hear in the gospels, the call of Jesus to those first disciples was ‘Follow me’ (e.g., Mark 1.17). Our calling is first to follow Jesus, in all that we are and all that we do. That calling is to all of us, but each of us also has a unique calling or vocation. The Church of England website has a page called ‘Your calling‘. Here it says that we “have come to understand Christian vocation in three areas”:

Social vocations – our place within the workplace and the community and how we contribute to the common good;

Relational vocations – our calling in relationship to God and other people such as family, friends and neighbours;

Ministerial vocations – our calling to serve and build up the church community and equip it for mission.

My vocation – and yours – is made up of a unique mixture of those callings. I would have put them in a different order: I would have put ‘relational’ first. So, that’s what I will do here!

My ‘relational vocation‘ is to do with who I am in everyday life, in my relationship with God and with family, friends, and neighbours. In particular, speaking personally, I have been called to be a Christian disciple, a husband, father, and now grandpa! So, how do I live out my faith in my relationship with family and friends? This is my ‘everyday faith‘ and has little to do with going to church or (in my case) being a vicar. I think this is my most important vocation. Jesus says that he has come so that we might have “life, and have it abundantly” (John 10.10). The church side of things is simply a part of what we do. Life is the real business of faith, and, for most of us, that means life as it is lived in relationship with others. I think for many of us, that’s the real challenge. Not, Who am I in church? But, Who am I at home? And is there any tension between the person that I am in church and the person that my nearest and dearest know so well? (The one who gets grumpy and argumentative. The one who sulks when they don’t get their own way… Are we relieved that our church community doesn’t know that person?)

Our ‘social vocation‘ is to do with serving God in our communities and workplaces. As Christians, how do we contribute to the common good? This is ‘faith in action’. We live in a world in which a major question in people’s lives is how to be happy. I suspect that the pursuit of happiness is a wild goose chase. What if my happiness is not something to be pursued but rather the byproduct of doing good, of having purpose? Jesus talks about the wise and foolish builders. The wise builder builds a house on a strong foundation. The foolish builder builds on sand. Jesus says that wisdom – the strong foundation for our lives – is not about hearing his words but acting on them (Matthew 7.24-27), putting faith into practice.

Then there is our ‘ministerial vocation‘. This is about who we are as part of the church community. Each of us is called to serve as a member of the church. There are no spectators in church: each of us is called to be an active participant. For some, that will mean ordained or licensed ministry – what we call ‘public ministry‘, ministry that is recognised across the Church. It was while I was at university that I got a sense that God might want me to get ordained. But that inner sense had to be met by the Church’s affirmation. It’s not just that I ‘felt called’. The Church, through its selection process, had to recognise that calling in me.

But not all public ministry is ordained. The Church of England also recognises lay ministry particularly in the form of Readers (often called ‘Lay Readers’, although some dioceses use the term ‘Licensed Lay Ministers’.). A Reader in this sense isn’t just someone who reads from the bible in church, although they may well do that. Historically, the Church had Readers, or Lectors, who did exactly that. If you were going to become a Deacon or Priest, you might start as a Reader. It was one of what the Church called the ‘minor orders’, as opposed to the ‘major orders’ of deacons, priests, and bishops. (This distinction between ‘minor’ and ‘major’ orders seems to me to suggest that some orders are more important than others, which is exactly the opposite of the point I’m trying to make! What is important is to know and follow your unique vocation.)

The Church of England hasn’t held on to these ‘minor orders’ as steps on the way to ordination but in 1866, it revived the title of ‘Reader’. Readers are licensed to conduct services (other than holy communion, baptisms, and weddings, for which you need an ordained minister) and to assist the priest at communion. Readers may lead public prayer and preach, similar to a ‘Lay Preacher’ in other denominations. Many Readers also have other roles, including conducting funeral services. What Readers actually do varies with the particular Reader’s gifts and experience. Our own Reader, Linda, has developed a ministry which includes sharing weekly Reflections online. She also ministers to the Scouting movement and in other ways in the community. She has been called upon to officiate at funeral services where the person had a particular connection with her. The important thing about Readers is that they are lay people – part of the community in a way that is different from that of a priest. (There is something about ordination that ‘sets you apart’ from others. I wish there wasn’t, but it does seem to be the case!) Readers usually come from the congregation, as opposed to vicars who usually come from somewhere else. (Although it is possible for congregations to grow their own priests.) Readers are almost always volunteers, and they bring their experience of life outside church with them, as well as living out their Christian faith in the community beyond the church.

This diocese also has Pastoral Workers who support the church’s pastoral ministry. Pastoral Workers are trained and licensed and, again, are volunteers. We have Sheila working across both parishes in this role. Pastoral Workers may support those who look to us for christenings, weddings, and funerals. They may also visit the sick at home or in hospital.

As well as ministerial roles that are recognised by the wider church, each local church relies on every member fulfilling their ministerial vocation. So much of what we were doing before COVID19 arrived has been put to one side. But we have also developed new ways of ministering: the team that has been built up to lead worship via Zoom and Facebook continues in a way that we had not envisaged before the coronavirus. I’m very proud of them!

As we recover from the pandemic, there are many roles that church members can pick up – including reading the bible or leading prayers in church, welcoming people to services and providing hospitality afterwards. There are also roles in our work with children and young people, as well as the practical jobs that need to be done in and around our church buildings.

I did hear of a church where the vicar got fed up with preparing the Sunday service rotas. Instead of a quarterly rota they had some badges made with job titles on: ‘sidesperson’, ‘bible reader’, ‘coffee maker’, and so on. As people arrived in church, they had to pick a badge and that was their job for the service. I wonder whether we might try something like this. I have occasionally threatened to put ‘post-it’ notes under the seats in church. Wherever you sit, you look at the note and that’s your job for the year! (Although some jobs, like ‘musician’ or ‘bellringer’ are probably best left to those who know what they are doing!)

Imagine you have three badges. One describes your ‘relational vocation’. One describes your ‘social vocation’. And one describes your ‘ministerial vocation’. What does each of those badges say on it?

‘Friend’. ‘Charity Shop Volunteer’. ‘Church Coffee Maker’.

‘Grandma’. ‘School Governor’. ‘Bible Reader’.

What are your vocations? Let me know if you need any help discerning, following, or developing them.

Alan Jewell

The Rise of the ‘Nones’

/ Stratocastermagic / 2 Comments

One of the great advantages of the pandemic (not that there have been many!) has been the ability to attend training sessions and other events from the comfort of your own home by video conferencing. (Admittedly, you have to make your own coffee, but at least you don’t need to find a parking space.) The Church of England has hosted a number of these ‘webinars’, including one entitled Connecting with Young Adults – exploring the world of the ‘Nones’. The ‘nones’ (not to be confused with ‘nuns’ – yes, they did make that joke) are a contemporary phenomenon. They were identified by Professor Linda Woodhead in a lecture given in 2016. From about 2013 in the UK, when you ask people what their religion is, just over half of them say ‘none’. We now live in a culture in which ‘no religion’ is in the majority. Amongst younger people the situation is even more stark. 70% of young adults now say they have no religion. Those who do say they have a religion are divided approximately equally between Catholics, Protestants and Muslims. (Of these, I think it is true to say that Muslims are most likely to express their faith actively, through attending worship and so on.)

Dr Ruth Perrin, who presented the webinar said that the rise of the ‘nones’ can partly be explained by their honesty. Older generations, filling in forms, when asked to indicate their religion would be more likely to tick ‘C of E’ regardless of how actively they practised their faith. That expectation is now gone, so younger people are far more likely to say that they have no religion, rather than tick the ‘C of E’ box. The rise of secularism has been going on for centuries, but young adults have grown up in a world where a secular viewpoint has become the norm. Whereas older generations might have had a sense that there was ‘more to life than this’, today’s young adults are more likely to believe that nothing is real unless it can be known by experience or proved by science.

Young adults are also much more sceptical of authority in all its forms – whether it’s government, journalism, financial institutions, or the Church. And the Church has had too many scandals to be readily trusted.

As the webinar presenters said, it’s really hard to have a religious identity in this environment.

How then does the Church reach the ‘nones’? To begin with, we need to understand something of how culture has changed from one generation to the next. Dr Perrin told the story of how, as a young woman, if she wanted to call a boyfriend without her parents listening in, she had to go out to a phone box in the street. To young adults and young people, that is unimaginable: they have their phones with them constantly and are connected to whole networks of people via devices that they have in their pockets and bedrooms. One of the findings of research into the world of young adults suggests that they are ‘connected but alone’. In other words, they can communicate with any number of people anywhere in the world, but they still report feeling lonely.

We inherit values from our parents and grandparents, but what happens in our teenage years affects how we understand the world for the rest of our lives. So, just think what it was like being a teenager when you were one, and how that has changed for each subsequent generation. You may be familiar with this classification: if you were born before about 1939, you belong to the ‘Silent Generation’. Next come the ‘Baby Boomers’ (born 1940 to 1959), followed by ‘Generation X’ (born 1960 to 1979).

Today’s young adults are ‘Generation Y’, also known as ‘Millennials’. Born between 1980 and 1994, they came of age in the current millennium. Then comes ‘Generation Z’, born 1995 to 2010. (Greta Thunberg belongs to Gen Z). (If you are wondering what comes after Z, those born since 2010, the answer is ‘Generation Alpha’.)

You might think that everyone younger than you belongs to the same world, but there are differences between the age groups: Millennials will tell you that they don’t understand today’s teenagers! So, what chance do the church’s Boomers have?!

One criticism that is often made of the church is that we are keen to answer questions that people aren’t asking. There is a disconnect between what we do, and the lives of younger adults. Much of what we do is not meaningful. Imagine walking into a communion service in one of our churches when you have never learned the significance of what is happening to those who take part. It’s just mystifying. (Dr Perrin told the story of a young adult who was invited to attend a church service. She said she would be interested to go, but didn’t think she could because she didn’t have a ‘ticket’. She had assumed it would be like the gym where you need to be a member to use the facilities.)

It’s not that young adults are all hostile to the church (that was more prevalent among Boomers and Gen X), they just have no exposure to or understanding of what we do. Linda Woodhead describes them as ‘maybes, don’t knows, and not sures’, rather than ‘Dawkins-esque atheists’. And it’s not that they don’t care about anything. They do care about many things: the environment, justice, poverty, mental health, issues of race, gender and identity. These are areas where the Church is not considered to have anything very much to say.

We believe that the Gospel has a lot to offer in response to those questions. But Dr Perrin’s point was that we need to begin by listening. During the pandemic, 29% of young adults reported symptoms of depression. How can the Church contribute to the support that young adults need? One local example of good practice is the church’s presence at the Creamfields festival: we have heard from Linda (Buckley, our Reader) about the contact made with young adults attending the festival. Many of them assume that the church wants nothing to do with them, or that it has nothing to offer, other than judgment. But Linda and other church volunteers host a safe space, offering water and Jammie Dodgers, and a listening ear. They have had many valuable conversations with young adults who are prepared to open up to a supportive older adult who is prepared to listen without judging.

Dave Male, the Church of England’s Director of Evangelism & Discipleship, who hosted the webinar asked Dr Perrin if she was encouraged by the optimistic reports of young adults’ interest in spirituality (broadly defined), or in despair because of their lack of interest in the Christian Church. Dr Perrin was torn: she despaired at the lack of connection but believed that:

“God is equidistant from every generation.”

How then do we connect with young adults? It’s not about being ‘trendy’: young adults are very aware of fakery, and are looking for authenticity and sincerity. It is about building relationships which means a consistent, caring presence over time. The Church doesn’t need programmes aimed at young adults, it needs to offer hospitality and relationship.

On the other hand, young adults are digital natives – they have never known a world without the internet and other information technologies. For them, social media is the front door. If you don’t have a social media presence, you don’t exist. We are very proud of the work we have done during the pandemic with taking our worship and other events online. But while many of us (Boomers and Gen X-ers) are at home on Facebook, Millennials and Gen Y-ers have abandoned Facebook (because it’s not cool) and live instead on Instagram and Snapchat. (By the time you read this, they’ll have abandoned those and moved on elsewhere.) We’ll never be able to keep up with them, but that’s not really the point. They’re good at detecting fakery and any attempts to appear ‘relevant’ will be rejected as insincere. What young adults are after – what all of us are after, really – is authenticity and relationship.

You may know that the Church of England is looking at its vision for the 2020s. The Archbishops have expressed this in terms of the Church’s need to be simpler, humbler, and bolder. They have identified as a strategic priority, “A church that is younger and more diverse”. For your prayerful consideration: how can our churches become simpler, humbler, and bolder, and how will we work towards becoming younger and more diverse?