The “and then” Gospel
What happens when we fail as Church? When it seems that doors are closing, congregations aging and ministries are failing? Isn’t God still working behind the scenes? My passion is for experiencing and sharing the stories that begin when ministry grinds to a halt. When we think we may have failed but in truth God has called us to go in a different direction. Sometimes the Church as we know it needs to die in order for something new to grow in its place. In this blog I want to explore what happens when faithfulness meets flexibility because I believe that this is where the future Church needs to be!
The story of P***ed-off Pat: channelling the anger of parishioners into missional transformation
In a moment of reactionary anger, I made the mistake of saying: “How can you talk to a priest in this way?” The moment the words left my mouth I knew the mistake I had made. Pissed-off Pat wasn’t going to let me hide behind my title or the respect that I assumed I should have, because the truth of the situation was that I had done nothing to earn this respect in his eyes. Continue reading
Setting a new precedent: sometimes a church needs to die in order to rise again.
Simply put, churches don’t come back from the dead. Decline is the norm. Resources are almost always dwindling. At the end of the day another set of doors will likely be closed for mission and ministry… for ever. But does this always have to be the case? Continue reading
41 church deconsecrations and counting—but I believe in the “and then” Gospel!
I’m a 34 year old Anglican priest. I grew up in the days of large confirmation classes and cozy traditional worship services, but within my lifetime all of that has changed. My sorry claim to fame as a young minister is that I have witnessed the deconsecration of 41 Anglican churches and counting. Continue reading
