Parish Pump – July 2010

 

Church Commissioners’ 2009 results confirm long-term growth

The Church Commissioners achieved a 15.6 per cent return on their investments during 2009.  Results recently announced show that the fund has now outperformed its comparator group over the last year as well as over the past five, 10 and 20 years.

The results mean that the Commissioners' current level of support to the Church - including increased pensions costs - can be maintained, in cash terms, for a further three-year period, from 2011 to 2013.

The Commissioners' asset value has grown to £4.8 billion (from £4.4 billion at 31 December 2008), and the fund has been able to distribute £31 million more each year to the Church than if the investments had performed only at the industry average over the last ten years. The 15.6 per cent return was achieved against a comparator performance of 15.1 per cent for 2009.

The Report shows that annual spending on the Church of England's mission and ministry is just over £1.2 billion. Around three quarters of this sum comes from dioceses and parishes, mostly through the giving of Church members.

Dioceses have welcomed the mission development funding for giving them flexibility outside their normal budgetary commitments. It has given them headroom for risk-taking and creativity to enable churches to experiment with different forms of engagement with their communities. Examples include the appointment of a sports ambassador in Southwell and Nottingham diocese, and of a pioneer minister attached to Gloucester cathedral, who has helped build a new church community of 60 starting from none.

Visit:   www.cofe.anglican.org/about/churchcommissioners/annualreport/2009report.pdf

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Church calls for BBC to go back to the future in its public service mission

The BBC's proposed return to its core public service mission is a welcome 'homecoming' that should herald output appealing to the broadest possible range of audiences, according to the Church of England.

The Director-General's proposals for the future strategy of the corporation have met with Church approval.  Noting that the term "public service" had increasingly been replaced in the BBC's corporate language by the "rather more nebulous and management-speak version 'public value," the Church's response welcomes the fact that the current proposals "keep that traditional (but nevertheless evolving) concept of public service mission firmly in mind".

The response is issued by the Rt Revd Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester and the Church of England's lead spokesman on communications.  It echoes the tone of 'critical friendship' towards mainstream broadcasters set by the General Synod's debate on the subject of religious broadcasting in February this year.

The Synod expressed “deep concern about the overall reduction in religious broadcasting across British television in recent years”, and called upon mainstream broadcasters to “nurture and develop the expertise to create and commission high quality religious content across the full range of their output, particularly material that imaginatively marks major festivals and portrays acts of worship".

The Church's full submission to the BBC Trust strategic review can be found on the Church of England website at: http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/papers/bbctruststrategicrev.rtf

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A new website for your Christian books

The Christian publishing house, IVP,   has recently launched a brand new website – EQUIP.  It offers a wide range of Christian books and resources from a selection of publishers - putting thousands of gospel-centred resources at your fingertips.

Incorporating a unique category browsing system, EQUIP is the new place to buy your books, Bibles, church resources and much more to resource your Christian journey.
Visit:  http://equip.ivpbooks.com/

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The Methodist app now available on app store

The Methodist Church has launched their first app for the iPhone and iPod touch. The Methodist App enables people to view daily Bible studies, prayers and news from the Church.

Toby Scott, director of communications and campaigns, said, "In today's society our lives are busier, fuller and more distracted than ever before. We hope this app will offer Christians from all backgrounds a little spiritual oasis in the midst of their busy lives. This is only the start for how we'll use these technologies, but already this is something that people will find useful and inspiring."

 The Methodist App is available now for free from the App Store or at http://www.itunes.com/appstore

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Photo competition

Methodists for World Mission (MWM) is holding a photo competition. They are looking for illustrated stories - as a magazine page or slide presentation - connecting a Methodist church in Britain with an overseas project linked to a partner church. The best will be published to encourage others, through MWM and the Connexional Team's World Church Relationships Office.

Entries will be judged on partnership, storytelling and photography. Winners will receive a grant of up to £500 from MWM, shared between the overseas partner and the local church.

The closing date is 2 September 2010.  For more details, go to http://homepage.ntlworld.com/phil.lesueur/phil/MWM/photocomp.htm



Richard Fisher of the Bible Reading Fellowship considers how we grow in our faith

Growing in discipleship

We may hear people talking of ‘growing in faith’ or ‘growing as Christians’ and wonder what on earth they mean. Do they mean becoming super-confident preachers or pray-ers or study group leaders? Even becoming church ministers? And how does this growth happen?

There is actually no mystery about growth, if we think about what goes on in the garden. Given the right combination of light, warmth and moisture, a garden shrub will flourish. And while light, warmth and moisture are essential for plant growth, different species will need them in different combinations and degrees in order to develop as they should. In the same way, we can grow as Christians, providing the conditions are right – and that depends on who we are as individuals.

Once we have been ‘planted’ in the soil of faith, we can start to grow spiritually. The basic requirements for such growth are prayer, gathering for worship and fellowship with other believers, and getting to know the Bible.

Some will find all of these a delight, while others will find that they struggle with each one of them. For most of us, one will come more naturally than the others, and that can be our starting-point for growth, the essential ‘fertiliser’ of our personal faith that builds us up. As we gain strength, we will in time develop good roots, holding us secure in what we believe and why, and also strong and supple shoots that not only reach up towards God but out towards others.

At the same time, we should remember that, just as there is a rhythm to the seasons of the natural year, so there are seasons of growth but also seasons of dormancy in our lives as Christians. Realising that we are going through such a ‘quiet season’ ourselves should not be a cause of alarm but for patient waiting on God. Dormancy is essential as a time of gathering strength and building reserves in order then to develop even further, higher and stronger.

As we wait for new growth, we can prayerfully hold on to the hope that one day, through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, we will produce ‘the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God’ (Philippians 1: 11).

By Richard Fisher of the Bible Reading Fellowship.  For more information about discipleship resources from BRF visit www.brfonline.org.uk and www.foundations21.org.uk

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Did you know that you were over the hill?

If you are 58 or more,  it seems that others may think that you are.  A new survey has found that most of us consider ‘youth’ to be over by 35, and ‘old age’ to have begun at 58.  

This may come as a surprise to many people who are more than 58, but who do not feel quite in the twilight of life just yet!  After all, older people are living more active lives than ever before.    The survey was done by the Economic and Social Research Council in London. 

However old you are, here is an encouraging promise, found in Isaiah 46:3,4 :  “I have upheld you since you were conceived, and carried you since your birth.  Even to your old age and grey hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”  So no matter when you ‘go over the hill’,  God knows all about it, and is there to help you, if you call on him.

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Why some people don’t do DIY

Are you hopeless at DIY?  Does the sight of flat-pack furniture fill you with dread? 

Don’t let your loved ones mock you – it is not your fault.  You simply don’t carry the DIY gene, that’s all.   In fact, it seems that two in three Britons lack the necessary spatial awareness needed to complete DIY tasks, according to recent research. 

While overall men scored higher in the experiment,  one psychologist explained:  “Some people simply do not have the mental equipment necessary to manipulate shapes, and will always struggle to complete DIY tasks successfully.”

The research, by Halifax Home Insurance, came up with one scary statistic:  damage costing £400million was caused last year by people who lack any genetically pre-determined DIY ability,  but who thought they’d have a go, anyway...  

The Bible tells us that DIY aptitudes are God-given.  “...I have filled him with...skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts – to make artistic designs... to cut and set stones, to work in wood, and to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship...”  (Exodus  31: 3-5)  So, thank God, if you can do it!  And pray for help, if you can’t.

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What is in your attic?

Britain is a nation of hoarders – we’ve got £31billion of goods we never use, just cluttering up our homes.  That works out to about £581 per person.

A recent study has found that two thirds of us hold on to everyday household items that we never use.  We carefully stash away our spare DVDs, CDs, toasters, music equipment, clothes and computer games.  The research, by the website Gumtree.com, indicates that 12 per cent of us feel unsure of how actually to best get rid of our unwanted possessions, or how much they are worth.

Ecclesiastes observes:  “there is a time to keep and a time to throw away” (3:6b).....happy is the person who can discern when the time has come for a clear-out!

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St James the Least of All 

The Rev Dr Gary Bowness continues his tongue-in-cheek letters from ‘Uncle Eustace’…

Beware the spell-checker on your special service sheets!

The Rectory
St. James the Least

My dear Nephew Darren

As you discovered at your Sunday School Anniversary Service last week, special service sheets can be a mixed blessing. It was unfortunate that the front page welcomed your diocesan “Nishop” (although perhaps a good thing you hadn’t been welcoming a neighbouring “Vicar”) and it was a shame that one of the hymns contained one verse fewer on the sheets than the book the organist was playing to, obliging your congregation to sing the last verse twice – although since in your tradition you seem to repeat choruses endlessly, probably no one noticed anyway. But the regrettable misprint which meant that ranks of primary school children sweetly lisped an obscenity really was too much.

Having said that, computer spell-checkers can cause their own problems. We once let our own system check a Christmas carol sheet and on the night found ourselves obliged to sing “away in a manager”, mangers apparently being unknown to our machine.

If you use special sheets regularly, it seems a law of nature – as with metal coat hangers - that they all intermingle while no one is watching. Thus on Easter Day, half the congregation will have been issued with sheets for Harvest, which will only become obvious once the service begins. The first hymn will be entirely lost while sidesmen scuttle about looking for replacements only to find that there won’t be enough of them anyway and then the second hymn will be lost while others helpfully wander about church donating their sheets to those looking helpless and then trying to find someone to share with.

Never, ever, print on them “Do not take home” as this will only ensure everyone does so. I have sometimes wondered if the instruction “Take this sheet home for reference” would ensure that they stayed neatly arranged in the pews after the service. And if it is a service where babies are likely to be present, be assured that many of the copies will be returned half chewed and coated with bits of whatever the infant had for breakfast. There must be a market for paper treated with a child-repellent flavour for such occasions.

Anyone who thinks we are an unimaginative nation should visit a church after a special service to see how many places members of congregations can invent to hide the booklets: under kneelers, neatly folded and hidden inside hymn books, among flower arrangements and behind heating pipes so that no one can quite reach them. They then lurk there reproachfully for the next ten years until mice resolve the problem.

No, stick to large, hard bound books. They are resistant to teeth and are too substantial to be hidden in pockets. Their only drawback is that they tend to fall victim to the pull of gravity at the quietest moments.

Your loving uncle,

Eustace

 

 

 

 

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