A great little piece from Lucy Winkett reflecting on the new Archbishop of Canterbury.

Messy Church returns for our first event of the new school year – join us on Saturday 20th September at 10am in St Mary’s Church Beaminster.

After a long drive what a joy to visit Istanbul Shawarma #Bradford - great moto, amazing food, outstanding value

Grateful to my @salisbury.anglican.org colleagues for all the hard work that enables meetings like Diocesan Synod happen! Thank you!

Hearing from director of education Katie Fitzsimmons @sdbe-updates.bsky.social, reminding diocesan synod church schools were established in the beginning for those who couldn’t afford education. Schools and their staff are today still dedicated to supporting the most vulnerable.

@salisbury.anglican.org Diocesan Synod now turns its attention to the annual report from the Diocesan Board of Education

@andrewrumsey.bsky.social introducing a substantive item on Church Buildings at @salisbury.anglican.org Diocesan Synod.

The @salisbury.anglican.org Head of Safeguarding giving the annual Safeguarding Report reflecting on the current landscape & thanking all local safeguarding officers for their dedication & commitment to enabling a safer church for all.

@sdbe-updates.bsky.social Diocesan Synod is underway with one of our young members leading our opening worship.

Is God calling you to come & serve in @dioceseofsalisbury & help us to #makeJesusknown if so heck Out these brilliant roles: www.salisbury.anglican.org/vacancies/cl...

"When you have a spiritual, moral & relational crisis, the job is to shift the culture.... Culture changes when a creative minority find a beautiful way to live. Culture changes when a small group of people find a better way to live and the rest of us copy." David Brooks speaking beautifully at #ARC

Praying for all who will be attending @churchofengland.org #GeneralSynod this week. Praying for deep listening, wisdom & sensitivity in debate & a spirit of unity & humility.

Can you help with this, @salisbury.anglican.org? Please repost. @jonathantriffitt.bsky.social

Excited for RISE @bradford_2025 tonight & tomorrow, am sure it’s going to be an amazing start to Bradford #CityOfCulture. Sorry to be so far south that I can’t be there!

@salisbury.anglican.org

Our LGBT+ Futures Faith Fund closes in just over a week, so if you haven't applied yet, make sure to get your application in ASAP! The fund will close to applications on Thursday 16th January 2025 at 12pm. You can find out more here: consortium.lgbt/faithfund

I live this quote / challenge from Andy Haldane CEO of the RSA: “Are we immersing ourselves in the warm bath of like-minded, perhaps even elitist, views rather than the cold shower of the lived experience of those furthest from power?”

A few New Year thoughts about the CofE...

“In peace I will lie down & sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” Psalm 4.8

Praying for my home city & for all the amazing opportunity that will come from being the 2025 City of Culture. #Bradford2025 m.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_1d...

As the light fades on 2024 & we await a #NewYear it seems an appropriate time to share this song from #RendCollective. Wishing you all a very happy & hope-filled New Year! youtu.be/fkK01FsfK74

As the City of Culture #Bradford2025 has such an amazing opportunity to transform the richly diverse communities that makes #Bradford such a wonderfully creative, complex, grounded & youthful city. Proud to be a #Bradfordian

Good to be back home #Bradford #CityOfCulture

Immensely grateful to @revrachelmann.bsky.social for writing #DoNotBeAfraid such a wonderful, insightful, creatively prophetic & grounded book, that has been my companion during #Advent. Thank you! #HappyChristmas

May the light, love, joy & peace of the Christ-Child be with you this Christmas.

“The story of God, in which we are invited to participate, is a reminder that fear, death, anxiety - real though they are - are not the final words… because God is remaking the world in Jesus Christ.” @revrachelmann.bsky.social #DoNotBeAfraid

“I’m so glad that Jesus was born in a stable. Because my soul is so much like a stable. It is poor & in unsatisfactory condition… Yet I believe that if Jesus can be born in a stable, maybe he can also be born in me.” @revrachelmann.bsky.social #DoNotBeAfraid

A joy to be at St Cuthberts, Oborne @salisbury.anglican.org to join the community for their carols by candlelight service this evening.

"See, I am coming soon... I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." - Revelation 22:12-13 We approach the final days of waiting for the birth of Jesus Christ, that bright morning star, who is Alpha and Omega.

Good to be at St Mary’s Longfleet for their #CarolService this evening.

On this grey December morning…

“To be in the company of God is to embrace mystery.” @revrachelmann.bsky.social #DoNotBeAfraid

“At vanity’s most extreme expression, we encounter individuals who are so prideful that they simple cannot bear to be challenged, & will actually destroy those who threaten them. All too often, such people seem to exercise great executive power.” @revrachelmann.bsky.social #DoNotBeAfraid

"I look forward to getting to know and love the communities of the Church of England Birmingham in the months to come." Rev Canon Esther Prior to be the new Suffragan Bishop of Aston, succeeding Bishop Anne Hollinghurst. Read more at cofe.io/NewBishopAston.

Excited/slightly terrified that my upcoming book Unmaking Mary: Shattering the Myth of Perfect Motherhood will be released into the world with an event at St Paul's Cathedral on 11 February. Please come 🙏🏾 Tickets are free, and you can book here 👇🏾 www.stpauls.co.uk/whats-on/unm...

Building more prisons will not solve the prisons crisis says the justice secretary. She’s right. But the only real, long-term way out of this crisis is to actively support initiatives around working with children & young people (as well as their parents) to offer them better life-choices!

“God waits for us to abandon our middle-class ideas about who is worthy of love and respect. He wants to lead us down to Bethlehem, with nothing more than our faith and an open, hopeful heart, to meet Christ in wonder and joy once again.”@revrachelmann.bsky.social #DoNotBeAfraid #Advent

My Theology of planting a Church in a new development in a brand new CofE school. Pray, turn up, be faithful, and build relationship with those the Spirit brings. Expect the unexpected and be prepared to be pruned.

Great to see the new Faith in the North website up and running🙌 It’s designed as a place to go for anyone looking to explore more about faith and our northern Christian heritage. It’s also a place for schools and churches to discover new resources, events and information. www.faithinthenorth.org

Cathedral Isle of Man is seeking a Part Time Chief Operating Officer...

Looking forward to delving into this book & gleaning the deep wisdom from those practitioners who have shaped & contributed to it.

As we step into the season of #Advent praying for all organists, choir leaders & choirs working tirelessly over the coming weeks in carol services, regular services & Christmas services - joyfully singing of the birth of Christ. @salisbury.anglican.org @churchencoding.bsky.social

“The one who grows up to proclaim the Beatitudes was formed in the company of the one who sings the Magnificat.” @revrachelmann.bsky.social #DoNotBeAfraid #Advent

On this #WorldAidsDay praying for & remembering all those who live with the reality and impact of #HIV/AIDs & the ongoing stigma. Equally giving thanks for the advancement of science & medicine in this area.

O come, O come, Immanuel, and ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear. #Advent

The waiting is over #Advent has arrived so I can now delve into what I am sure is going to be a wonderful spiritually insightful companion for the days ahead by the wonderful @revrachelmann.bsky.social

I remain a tad bemused that we are prepared to fund (& therefore value) #assisteddying over #assistedliving

As I suspected - from my quick skim - it looks like very few ethnic minority MPs voted for this bill. Beware liberal agendas that merely pay lip service to racial inequality. www.politics.co.uk/news/2024/11...

“At a time when social care is chronically underfunded, accessible housing is scarce, and many Disabled people are unable to afford food, energy, or other essentials, this legislation sends a chilling message: the government prioritises the right to die over the right to live.”