Tag: Ministerial Development
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Exeter City Centre
For several reasons, I ended up driving down to Devon for my retreat. This meant that I had the freedom to stop off on the way back and spend some time doing church visits. This didn’t go entirely to plan thanks to a massive tailback on the M5, so I shelved my original intention of…
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Givendale and Thixendale
Givendale In September, I was made a Canon of York Minster. Having been appointed to the Canonry and Prebendary of Givendale, it made sense to go and find Givendale and see what is there. The only information I was given was that the prebendary is of “Little Givendale in the East Riding”. These details, although…
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Liverpool
Three buildings visited – or scroll right to the bottom for my reflections. St Luke’s – the Bombed-Out Church I was particularly interested to see this church building because of the parallels with our St Martin’s. St Luke’s was also bombed during the second world war, but has been treated differently. Rather than being partially…
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Heritage and History – part 2
We use the term heritage almost without thinking about it, but it is worth knowing a bit about how the heritage movement has developed and what it is actually about. This post is based on notes I have taken from the book “The Heritage Obsession” by Ben Cowell. Heritage began with a concern for physical…
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The theology of place
One of the main books that underpins my project is John Inge’s A Christian Theology of Place. This quote sums up the main purpose of the whole project. But just as God can be encountered in the person of Jesus Christ, the scandal of particularity, so he chooses to make humself known to humanity in…
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Heritage and History – part 1
This is a bit of a mish-mash of a post. I’ve been trying to sort out in my mind what the influences have been on my relationship with heritage, in all its forms. Family and heritage My family are deeply committed to heritage, especially to heritage railways and the preservation of the age of steam.…
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Field Trip
Over the last couple of weeks, I have started my series of church building visits. Before I write them up, I thought I would write a little bit about what I am looking for. My main aim is to see what the building says about Christianity in its presentation. These are the questions I am…
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Visiting churches
Most people who have heard me talk about church buildings will know that I’m not a big fan of them, at least, not in the way people expect a vicar to be. I do not generally enjoy visiting church buildings. Over the years, many congregation members have assumed that I (and presumably every other member…
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Apologetic Buildings – Introduction
Think about the last time you walked into a church building: not your own church building, but one that was new to you. What did you notice? What information was there for you to read or listen to? What did you learn? My guess is that you learned something about the significance and history of…
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Study Leave 2023
As I write this, I am two weeks into a three-month period of study leave. I’ll be sharing this blog with my parishes, so some people may be wondering quite what this is all about. Here’s what the diocesan guidance says about it: The purpose of Extended Study Leave (ESL) is to offer clergy office…