Mission

The great canon doctor Martyn Percy implicates Justin Welby in "secular sorcery"

"Everything you need to know about the Bible can be summed up by the great canon doctor Martyn Percy: 'The Bible did not arrive by fax from heaven.'," writes Dan Brown in his crypto-conspiratorial Da Vinci Code, making the…

Forget the Holy Spirit: the key to Church revival is Pokemon Go

August 2, 2016
230 Comments

According to the Daily Mail (please don't stop reading at that), something called Pokemon Go (or Pokémon GO for the accentually pedantic and orthographically precise) is set to bring…

Why are Church Commissioners throwing more cash at insolvent Diocese of Rochester?

July 13, 2016
88 Comments

The Diocese of Rochester is insolvent. That's to say, its cash-flow in falls beneath its cash-flow out. The Diocese isn't bankrupt, but it has manifestly been living beyond its…

Mark Rylands mocked by fellow clergy for coming out as a Brexit Bishop

July 5, 2016
532 Comments

"It was beginning to seem like there would never be a Brexit bishop," began the blog post on 1st April this year, a date which was lost on the…

Salt & Light: the gospel, the EU, and the misappropriation of God's word

June 7, 2016
136 Comments

Steve Thomas is the International Team Leader of Salt & Light - "an international family of churches together on mission". Their core commitments are impeccably orthodox and undeniably evangelical,…

A million flock to Facebook to hear Justin Welby search the scriptures

May 29, 2016
37 Comments

The Archbishop of Canterbury led a live-streamed Bible study on Facebook a few weeks ago. People logged in from all over the world, including the UK, USA, South Sudan,…

Welby: witness gently for Jesus, and wait until you're asked (most of the time)

May 22, 2016
116 Comments

There's always a danger when you pick up a comment piece from a newspaper that you glance at a headline and form an opinion from a crass summary of…

The Queen's 90th: Happy Birthday, Ma'am

April 21, 2016
161 Comments

God has saved her and she has lived long. The first two invocations of the National Anthem have been and are still being fulfilled. Her Majesty The Queen's 90th…

TGI Monday: The 'missing years' in the life of Jesus

April 4, 2016
278 Comments

What about the 'missing years' of Jesus' life which the Bible doesn't tell us about? Where was he? What was he doing? Did he journey to India and train…

Justin Welby inaugurates a new set of Lambeth Awards

March 22, 2016
258 Comments

On the third anniversary of his installation to the See of Canterbury (and on the 460th anniversary of the martyrdom of Thomas Cranmer; and on the 10th anniversary of…

TGI Monday: How do you deal with negativity and criticism?

March 21, 2016
80 Comments

Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer (1Jn 3:15). Negativity and criticism are unpleasant to receive, and undoubtedly corrosive of the soul which dispenses them vindictively.…

Palm Sunday: the Kingdom of God and a new social order

March 20, 2016
20 Comments

The Kingdom of God was heralded by the Messiah riding a donkey. By reason and provocation, He urged anyone who would fully accept that Kingdom to enter into its…

TGI Monday: Near-death experiences and the mystery of the mind

March 14, 2016
209 Comments

Are near-death experiences just the mind "losing the plot" and "going a bit weird"? What is consciousness? How do we explain the thousands of out-of-body testimonials throughout all ages…

Meaningful Chocolate and the meaningless M&S Dinosaur Easter Egg

March 10, 2016
490 Comments

Chicks and bunnies are a bit passé, so now we have the M&S Dinosaur Easter Egg. A decorated hollow milk chocolate T. rex with mini eggs in a speckled…

The Kingdom of God is within you, but it is also a future promise

March 8, 2016
171 Comments

Where is the Kingdom of God? Does it matter? How can it be both within you and yet still to come? Or has it already come? And if it…

Introducing TGI Monday – What does it mean to be a "real Christian"?

March 7, 2016
306 Comments

Move over Gogglebox. Forget Question Time. Ignore Everyday Ethics, The Big Questions and Loose Women. TGI Monday is here! It has been many months in development, through creative tensions,…

Pentecost evangelism? What is the gospel in an age of religious relativism?

February 29, 2016
534 Comments

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have written to every clergyman and woman in England (all 11,300 of them, which is a lot of stamps), urging them to pray…

The Servant Queen, and the Foreword which declares the glory of God

February 25, 2016
535 Comments

Her Majesty the Queen has written the Foreword to a book being published to celebrate her 90th birthday on 21st April this year. The Servant Queen - and the…

Anglican Primates pronounce, but the Holy Spirit prevails

January 16, 2016
739 Comments

The media bulletins are full of 'Episcopal Church suspended from the Anglican Communion', with a list of prohibitions and fulminations about 'second class Anglicans', with Giles Fraser reminding us…

Church of England continues its decline – but is revival stirring?

January 12, 2016
155 Comments

The Church of England has published its attendance stats ('Statistics for Mission') for 2014. Don't yawn. Yes, the interesting Anglican stuff is leavening this week in a Canterbury crypt,…