Leadership

Anglican Primates pronounce, but the Holy Spirit prevails

January 16, 2016
Archbishop Cranmer
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 (again) of how ashamed he is of his church. There's…

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,…

Primates' Meeting 2016: separating the Eloi from the Morlocks

January 9, 2016
697 Comments

Primates’ Meeting, Canterbury: stardate 2016. These are the continuing prophetic voyages of Justin Welby. His continuing mission: to explore strange new reconciliations; to seek out new wine and new…

Chartres' Lambeth Lecture: the Church must be "vision-led and not problem-led"

October 5, 2015
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While the Archbishop of Canterbury pored over the Blogosphere on his iPad (to which he is apparently rather attached), the Bishop of London psyched himself up for the latest…

Bishop of Chelmsford repudiates episcopal "talent pool"

October 1, 2015
0 Comments

It was a glorious sermon, with an audacious, if not subversive (which some may call prophetic) intervention on the Church of England's emerging "talent pool" approach to recognising bishops.…

A National Register of Faith Leaders? Government plans to vet all ministers of religion

September 16, 2015
229 Comments

There was an odd article in the Telegraph last week. Odd because the headline, photograph and content didn't quite cohere. Andrew Gilligan has apparently got hold of a leaked…

Archbishops clash over crushing ISIS and right-to-die compassion

September 6, 2015
150 Comments

The Church of England is all over the place today. Indeed, one headline seems almost purposely designed to degrade the other. In the red corner we have Archbishop Justin…

Peter Mandelson plots to subvert democracy: the arrogance of the political elite

August 17, 2015
64 Comments

When the Italian social scientist Vilfredo Pareto observed the political revolutions and machinations by which presidents are overthrown and regimes fall and rise, he coined a phrase which has…

Canon Rosie Harper on the "good girl guides" who have been consecrated bishop

July 23, 2015
292 Comments

"We haven't had anyone from left field," said the left-field Canon Rosie Harper to the left-field BBC, as two wonderful, gifted women were consecrated bishop by the Archbishop of Canterbury…

Justin Welby's "spiritual magpie" plan to save the Church of England (DV)

July 17, 2015
121 Comments

There’s a fantastic article this weeks' Spectator entitled 'God’s management consultants: the Church of England turns to bankers for salvation'. It’s the sort of piece that is bound to…

Evangelical Alliance spins its own research to attack Government over poverty

June 2, 2015
101 Comments

The recent report from the Evangelical Alliance on attitudes to poverty has caused something of a storm in a teacup. The press release accompanying the launch stated: Evangelicals have…

The undue political interference of 'undue spiritual influence'

May 15, 2015
73 Comments

Giles Fraser (pictured centre) has written a perfectly-pitched (yes, indeed) piece, 'Is it one rule for the Hindus and another for the Muslims?', which relates to the judgment in…

Voting is a moral obligation, but praying for those in authority is a divine command

May 7, 2015
91 Comments

On Saturday in The Times, Graham Tomlin, the widely respected principal of St Mellitus Theological College, wrote a profound article on the relationship between the authority of our political…

"How can a Christian vote Tory?"

May 3, 2015
347 Comments

It has been the most frequent question posed over the past month or so – sometimes emailed or DM'd; most often tweeted, and frequently interrogated in the chat threads.…

If imams may not influence voters, why should priests or bishops?

February 5, 2015
410 Comments

According to Dominic Kennedy, Investigations Editor of The Times, there is an 18th-century law which prohibits the 'spiritual influence' of the electorate in the process of democracy. He writes…

Bishop Philip North – catholic continuity and ecclesial unity

February 2, 2015
257 Comments

On 7th November 2014, it was announced by The Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street: "The Queen has approved the nomination of the Reverend Philip John North to the…

In 10 years time women bishops will be no more

December 19, 2014
652 Comments

"Who is Libby Lane?" was the corporate cry that went up on Wednesday as she was introduced to the world as the Church of England's very first woman bishop.…

Rev'd Libby Lane to become Church of England's first woman bishop

December 17, 2014
430 Comments

The Bishop of Chester, Peter Forster, cast his eyes over the male applicants for the vacant See of Stockport in Greater Manchester, and despaired. He'd rather wait for a change…

Church of England to spend £2m on "new approach" to leadership

December 15, 2014
124 Comments

Politicians are out of touch. We know that, because we constantly hear about the 'Westminster bubble' or the 'Westminster Village', and Nadine Dorries once told us that neither David…

Christian power lists: fame, popularity, judgement and false humility

December 8, 2014
132 Comments

Nominations have now closed in the quest to discover the 'Top 100 UK Christians' for 2014. Hundreds have been nominated - some with sarcastic citations (Sir Cliff Richard -…