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Be Joyful - Keep the Faith - Do the Little Things

SHERIDAN ANGHARAD JAMES

Words matter. We know this as people formed by liturgy and
scripture. We know this as poetry lovers and copywriters. We know
this as sermon crafters and mission statement creators. We need
words to inspire our work and shape our lives.
Every diocese in the Church of England seems to have chosen
three words to live by as part of their mission statements. They
appear on diocesan communications, on websites and job
adverts. Some of these words are more effective than others and
I do not doubt at all that prayer went into the creation of these
straplines. However, there seems to me to be a very uncomfortable
cognitive dissonance between the marketing of the CofE and the
reality of the church at parish level. We talk of growth (measured
numerically) when many congregations are shrinking, we talk of
hope (measured in shiny new projects) when many churches are
struggling alongside their parishioners with debt, broken buildings
and careworn lives.
There is a fundamental lack of truth-telling. And this lack
of truth-telling leaves many church leaders emmeshed in the
exhaustion of double think.
Up until a year ago, I was the Vicar of a busy, SE London parish
church. I loved my parish and my church in all its multi-cultural
diversity and rootedness in the locality. I’d served there for almost
12 years. We were small(ish) but alive and we cared about the
things that matter: following Jesus and walking in his ways of
justice and peace. Alongside the worshipping community we ran
a large community centre, creating caring, inclusive spaces for the
whole parish of 16,000 people.

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