Church Growth Research website launched; Clergy struggling to cope with bigger workloads; Conference to help churches address conflict
Church Growth Research website launched
A new website has been built to support the work of the Church Growth Research Programme – the national 18-month academic research project exploring the factors related to spiritual and in particular numerical church growth of the Church of England. The research is being funded through funding set aside by the Church Commissioners and Archbishops’ Council for research and development. This project is being undertaken in partnership with the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex; Cranmer Hall, St John’s College, Durham and the Oxford Centre for Ecclesiology and Practical Theology, Ripon College, Cuddesdon.
The Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres, explains the reasons behind the project in a video on the website; the Bishop says: “There are many communities and parishes that are growing and we want to identify the levers and drives of this growth. We want to do that not just out of a spirit of pure research, but to help those involved in leadership in parishes and communities to see how resources can be used most effectively.”
By visiting www.churchgrowthresearch.org.uk, users can engage with the Programme in a number of ways. A section of the site summarises existing literature on church growth and invites readers to suggest additions to this growing collection of research. There is a page that details case studies of growing churches in a number of different contexts across the Church of England, which will continue to be expanded during the course of the project.
Visitors to the website are invited to get involved with the debate on church growth by signing up to the discussions forum. Through the forum, contributions can be made to the project by sharing views and experiences of church growth. Discussions include: What is church growth and how do you measure it?; Fresh Expressions & church planting; Theology of church growth and personal experiences of church growth or decline.
www.churchgrowthresearch.org.uk
Clergy struggling to cope with bigger workloads
Parish clergy may be able to enjoy the odd bit of tea and cake, but the reality of the job is so much more demanding and many clergy are finding themselves saddled with an ever-growing workload, says the Rev Canon Dr Stephen Cherry.
He has written a new book on the problem, drawing on his own experiences from over 20 years in ministry.
The last two decades have seen him working in parish ministry, as a college chaplain, and most recently as director of ministry with an extensive portfolio at Durham Cathedral.
He says he found himself in danger of being overwhelmed but also saw that many other clergy were facing the same problem.
“The clergy today have much bigger jobs than their predecessors, often in the form of having to take care of multiple parishes or simply ever larger ones,” Dr Cherry explains
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/3/clergy.struggling.to.cope.with.bigger.workloads/30738.htm
Conference to help churches address conflict
A conference is being organised to help churches improve the way they handle conflict.
Christians from churches across England will gather from 26 to 28 at Coventry Cathedral for the Faith in Conflict conference.
The conference will explore effective ways of resolving conflicts, from local tensions and power struggles to national issues.
Conference Coordinator David Williams said: “The conference is designed to be highly interactive and to help the church deal with conflict in a better way.”
Speakers include Rev Canon Dr Sam Wells, current incumbent at St Martin-in-the-Fields, whose work focuses on bringing people together in the context of fear and faith, and the Rev Dr Jo Bailey Wells, who has worked in conflict resolution among Anglicans in the US following the consecration of the openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson.
The conference is being sponsored by the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Justin Welby, and the Bishop of Coventry, the Rt Rev Christopher Cocksworth.
Bishop Welby said the conference was designed to help the Church “take the task of mediation seriously”.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/3/conference.to.help.churches.address.conflict/30746.htm