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September 2006
Communications Update – 25 September 2006
Monthly news bulletin from the Communications Office, Church House, London.
Feel free to forward this to others, or to use in diocesan or parish newsletters or magazines.
Archbishop speaks out on childhood
The Archbishop has spoken out of the difficulties children face in the 21st Century, as patron of the Children's Society who have launched The Good Childhood Inquiry. Dr Rowan Williams spoke about the pressure children face at at school with excessive testing, as well as the commercial pressures they face by being targeted as consumers before they are ready. "I think we have a shared unwillingness in our culture to let children be children for long enough".
Read the full transcript of the Archbishop's interview on the Today Programme
Watch the Archbishop on BBC Breakfast television
Archbishop and Chief Rabbis sign an historic agreement
On the 5th September the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Chief Rabbis of Israel, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger, signed a joint Declaration which sets out a framework for continuing dialogue between them. Dr Williams described the agreement as historic: “This is a most significant step in developing better mutual understanding and trust between the Anglican Communion and the Chief Rabbinate and worldwide Judaism.”
Bishop challenges supermarkets to lighten up Halloween
The Bishop of Bolton, the Rt Revd David Gillett, has sent a letter to Britain’s supermarket bosses urging them to rethink the way that their stores promote Halloween and challenging them to ‘cross-merchandise’ traditional Halloween toys and costumes with goods more suitable for those worried about the darker side of the festival. The bishop also commends Better than Halloween, a new book published by the Church of England written specifically to help churches and schools arrange events for children and young people that focus on the positive messages of All Saints Day, the day following ‘All Hallows’ Eve’.
Better than Halloween is written by Nick Harding, Children’s Officer for the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham, and contains an overview of the traditions of Halloween, and the reasons why many Christians chose not to celebrate it. The colourful resource is packed with a wealth of ideas and inspiration for running parties for children aged 5-11 that replace the witches, monsters and ghosts with games and activities that children will find even more fun, themed around light, laughter, and the triumph of good over evil.
Read more about the bishop’s challenge to the retailers
Find out more about, or order your copy of, Better than Halloween
Synod information updated on the web
In line with the continuing project to provide more information about General Synod on the Church of England website, a new section giving details of Private Member's Motions has been launched. The section joins the increasingly comprehensive General Synod area on the website, that currently gives Synod agendas, papers, reports and sound files of recent Synod debates.
A warm welcome on Back to Church Sunday
September 24th was marked across the country as Back to Church Sunday, when hundreds of people invited friends and family to join them in church. Returnees received a a goody bag with brochures featuring different aspects of church life – and a free bar of Traidcraft fair trade chocolate.
Hundreds of churches across the Dioceses of Derby, Ripon and Leeds, Manchester, Wakefield, Oxford, Guildford, Hereford, Blackburn, Sheffield and individual churches around the country all benefited from using the material inside their ‘Back to Church Box’. Resources in the box included invitations, posters and banners bearing the love-heart logo and the message ‘wish you were here’.
Find out more about Back to Church Sunday
Find out more about how you can get involved next year
Church questions proposals for gambling advertisements
The Church of England has called for all advertisements promoting gambling to carry health warnings about the danger of gambling addiction. In a submission to the Committee of Advertising Practice, the Church states that the potential benefits of enforcing such warnings this “should outweigh the disadvantage of extra financial costs for advertisers.” The Church also calls on the Gambling Commission to make compliance with advertising rules a condition of gambling operators’ licences.
In the submission, the Church restates its long-held concern for the potential damage to individuals and families if more people become problem gamblers.
Archbishop's prayers for the 'ordinary people of God' as covenant plans progress
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has spoken of his prayers for ordinary churchgoers who are ‘puzzled, wearied, or disoriented’ by the present controversies within the Anglican Communion. In a Pastoral Letter to the Anglican Communion’s Primates and Presiding Bishops, Dr Williams said that the 'ordinary people of God' do not want to see division as the consequence of the Anglican Communion’s difficulties.
Read the full text of the Pastoral Letter
Archbishop’s prayer for Darfur
The Archbishop of Canterbury joined other faith leaders in expressing renewed concern for Darfur and published a prayer for Sunday 17th September, designated as an international Day of Prayer for the region. Dr Rowan Williams reflected on his visit to Sudan earlier this year saying: “In my visit to Sudan in March I saw people who had endured so much hatred and harm, and yet with the end of war in the south sought to return home, to rebuild quickly and work again for the future of their families and communities. It was their faith that sustained them, and the concerted efforts of faith communities, aid agencies and governments together that enabled truce first and then peace to be agreed.”
Read the full text of the prayer
Statistics show increased giving and ordinations
Statistics released last month show that direct giving to parish churches averaged exactly £5.00 per electoral roll member per week and tax-efficient giving increased to an average of £8.00 per subscriber per week. Official Church Statistics, published on the Church of England website last month, also show increases in the number of clergy being trained and ordained. The Church ordained 505 new clergy in 2005 (267 men and 238 women), the highest number since 2002.
Attendance figures for 2004 show a mixed picture for trends in church attendance: regular Sunday church attendance fell by one per cent – largely offsetting a similar increase the previous year, but weekly and monthly churchgoing held steady and the number of children and young people at services rose by two per cent.
The new statistics confirm that more than 1.7 million people attend Church of England church and cathedral worship each month while around 1.2 million attend each week – on Sunday or during the week - and just over one million each Sunday.
Discover more of the latest statistics
Bishops’ office and working costs published
The 2005 office and working costs of bishops in the Church of England were published last month. The Church Commissioners funded the ministry of Church of England bishops by some £15.2 million, the figures from the House of Bishops show.
Copies of Bishops’ office and working costs are available from Bishoprics and Cathedrals Dept, The Church Commissioners, 1 Millbank, London SW1P 3JZ, tel 020 7898 1058, or online.
Back-a-Book to help Lambeth Palace Library turn over some very old pages
Lambeth Palace Library, the historic library of the Archbishops of Canterbury and the principal reference point for the history of the Church of England, has launched a project to help safeguard the future of thousands of priceless books – while offering a unique gift idea at the same time.
The Back-a-Book initiative invites members of the public to mark a special event or anniversary by donating money to help repair one of the Library’s volumes and, in return, dedicate an acid-free bookplate as a lasting memorial inside the cover of the book that they help to save. As the bookplates are created with a choice of words agreed with the sponsor, the scheme could even help in the search for an ideal gift for a friend or family member.
Library staff will select the exact volume to be restored, based on those most in need within the subject range specified by the sponsor.
Find out more about Back-a-Book
Archbishop features on Thought for the Day on September 11th
On September 11th the Archbishop of Canterbury featured on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day, saying: “Desperate tragedy, trauma and shock bring us close to strangers. That doesn’t make what happens good or explainable, it doesn’t take away the responsibility of those who did the damage or heal the grief of the bereaved. But for the rest of us, the connection is made, with our own humanity and the humanity of others.”
World Mission Conference 2006
The World Mission Conference will take place between October 30-November 2 at Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, and will explore how our understanding of hospitality helps us understand God's Mission better. There will be a significant number of overseas participants at the conference, invited by English dioceses from their link dioceses.
Limited places are still available – please contact Stephen Lyon at Partnership for World Mission at stephen.lyon@c-of-e.org.uk or find more details.
Dioceses, Youth, Children’s and Schools workers challenged to ‘listen to the voice’
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, and Lord Puttnam will feature amongst speakers at a pioneering youth and children’s work convention next summer. The Church of England and Church in Wales will be hosting the first national event of its kind for diocesan staff working with children and young people, whether in schools, churches or the wider community.
Listen to the Voice, taking place between 11-13 June 2007 at Center Parcs’ Sherwood Forest site, will bring together more than 200 professionals to consider the Church’s mission among children and young people. Convention organisers promise opportunities for delegates to hear the voices of young people, church leaders, Government and non-governmental organisations at the event, which has the twin themes of ‘Encounter with God’ and ‘Encounter with young people and children’.
People working within dioceses interested in finding out more or booking a place should contact Pat Barton at the Education Division of the Archbishops’ Council, Telephone 020 7898 1501 or email pat.barton@c-of-e.org.uk.
Building Faith in Our Future – latest newsletter
The latest newsletter from the ‘Building Faith in Our Future’ campaign has been published, including news of the latest research and funding opportunities for church buildings, as well as an update on liaison with government departments and other partners.
‘Building Faith in Our Future’ is the campaign that aims to secure better funding for church buildings and to strengthen the Church’s capacity to develop the use of its buildings for worship and mission to the wider community.
Give your magazine a makeover!
Do you want to make sure your magazine or newsletter grabs your readers' attention? The Communications Office at Church House, London has arranged a one day training course for magazine and newsletter editors, helping you to incorporate the elements of dynamic design into your publication. This interactive course will be held at Diocesan Church House, Manchester and Rachel Farmer, the editor of the Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham's award winning 'C' Magazine, will be the tutor for the day.
For more information contact Suzanne Gray on 020 7898 1465 or visit the Communications Training website.
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