Features (October 2009)
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Synod Forum Address
This month Bishop Paul retires after 11 years' service in the Newcastle diocese, and Link prints the address that he gave to the Synod Forum in September , reflecting on the changes he has seen during his time here and the challenges that he sees ahead.
'Eleven years is not a long period in the life of a diocese that has already celebrated its 125th anniversary but they are years that have seen a good deal of change. Few of these changes have been my direct responsibility; some I have reservations about; but it is hard to dispute their significance.
In the past eleven years we have seen the opening of Church House at Percy Main. Most of the old boards have disappeared and a network of task groups has been created. The diocese has started a new high school and a new academy opened a few days ago. Joint working with Durham is being pursued in a number of important areas and synod has now agreed that the education boards of both dioceses will, in due course, share a joint director and a common staff .
The diocese has entered into partnership agreements with the diocese of More in Norway and Botswana in Southern Africa. The evangelism agenda has been energetically pursued by our first evangelism adviser, appointed just over seven years ago. Women's ministry and ordained local ministry have both expanded and a new training scheme, Lindisfarne, is in place. Soon we will say goodbye to NEOC.
A council of faiths has been created for Newcastle with the diocese playing a key role. After a shaky start, the diocesan web site is now up and running and attracting a good many hits. Youth work has grown with three youth chaplains in different parts of the diocese. Somehow we seem to have weathered a number of financial storms and Pica continues to be a source of valuable aid and support. I could go on. Space does not permit me to talk of developments at Deanery or Parish level or at the cathedral. But what of the challenges that lie ahead? What problems is the church likely to face? I believe that there are two challenges that have already presented themselves to us, although we do not always seem willing to recognise them. They are not challenges for this diocese alone but nor are they challenges that this diocese can avoid.
The first is what one historian has called the death of Christian Britain. Christianity is no longer the default position, even if we have not yet reached a situation of out and out secularism. Instead we live in a society marked by religious pluralism; major religions like Islam and Christianity rub shoulders with a whole range of other beliefs from atheism to paganism and a general acceptance of the existence of a higher power. If, as another historian has suggested, the coronation marked a high water point in the union of church and nation, we have moved a good way since then.
Christian belief is no longer generally assumed to be true; the church is no longer treated with deference; relics of a bygone age like Christian school assemblies, Thought for the Day, the establishment of the C of E, and the presence of bishops in the House of Lords are increasingly questioned. Less than 20 per cent of live births in England are now baptised in the Church of England. As recently as 1950 the figure stood at 70 per cent. One sociologist of religion has characterised the attitude of people in this country as one of believing but not belonging to the church.
My suspicion is that once people cease to belong in any meaningful sense, faith begins to wither. At recent CIFER seminar, Dr Anne Richards told us how such terms as 'Resurrection' mean little to people who do not go to church.
The Church of England has not been blind to the problem I have tried to describe. A whole stream of initiatives have been launched under the category of 'fresh expressions of Church' that have attempted to reach out to people who are unlikely to turn up for normal Sunday worship. Much has been achieved but there are limits to what a change in the style of the way the church operates can achieve. In the end we have to confront the hard issues of belief. Many people, perhaps most people, do not find the church's claims credible.
Christians are a cognitive minority in a culture that does not share their presuppositions or beliefs. This means we have to be ready enter into dialogue with non-believers, ready to listen and learn from them, but not afraid to bear our witness and give an account of the hope that is in us.
Theology is important and theological education at every level needs to be a priority as well as a stress on intelligent preaching but theology alone is not enough. Few modern theologians seem to be good communicators and there is plenty of scope for clergy and laity who can act as mediators and make accessible ideas theologians often cloak in jargon or unfamiliar language. Theology also needs to be lived out so that people can see the difference faith makes and be led to inquire about the truth of the gospel by seeing the impact the gospel makes.
In some ways the church is a more fruitful site for theological reflection than the academy - although my own plea would be for church and theology faculty to remain in close contact, seeking to learn from each other. People like Richard Dawkins or Chris Hitchens, who ask the hard questions ,should be welcomed as allies who keep the question of belief alive and stop people sinking into apathy.
One of the most hopeful signs at the moment is the growing popularity of RE. I am told that there are now financial incentives to encourage people to train as RE teachers because there is a shortage. What saddens me is that I know quite a few young people, children of old friends, who are interested in religious questions but never go near a church.
In this atmosphere it is easy to see the importance of preaching. There are those who think that the days of preaching or oratory are over. Such people should examine Barack Obama's campaign for the presidency. It is an amazing example of what the power of the spoken word can achieve. Obama moved millions by his oratory and to a large extent he learnt his skill in church, in the black church. Revivals in the church, in all parts of the church - I am speaking of Catholics as well as evangelicals - have usually been stirred up by preaching. In today's church there is a tendency to undervalue preaching and to think it almost as something for which we have to apologise, often beginning them with a bad joke everyone has heard before. I think that is a big mistake.
I mentioned two challenges facing the church. Both are really related and stem from pluralism. The first, which I have briefly tried to describe is religious pluralism; the second is cultural pluralism. Many parts of the UK have experienced this for many years, but it is now present on Tyne side. We live in a multi-cultural society and the church must become a multicultural church.
We should not be alarmed about this. If we rise to the challenge, multiculturalism offers new hope for the church. Congregations are growing in places that are multicultural. But we do need to be aware of what is involved in becoming a multicultural church. It means more than being a church that welcomes people from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. It means being a church that not only welcomes such people, but allows them to contribute towards the life of the church and even to change it. In a genuinely multicultural church you do not just find people from different ethnic backgrounds sitting in the pews; you find them running youth clubs, organising social activities, sitting on the PCC or training to be Readers and priests. You even find them in the diocesan synod. For all this to happen, the church has to change, not something churchgoers are always prepared to see happen. We see this with young people. Congregations are usually ready to welcome young people but they are less ready to let young people shape the church. When old, established churches are not prepared to change, new churches spring up.
Some people see no problem here. Diversity is good and we are all Christian brothers and sisters. But the church is meant to be catholic, a single body that welcomes people of all nations and cultures. A congregation made up of people of many different nations and cultures sharing the same cup and the same bread offers a very powerful witness to the wider society. The basic unit of the church is the diocese, so maybe there is a place for ethnic congregations within the one diocese but they should be linked to each other and in communion with each other, helping each other and learning from each other.
As a minority body in a pluralist society the church can claim no special privileges. She cannot put itself above anyone else. She will only survive if it has a clear sense of her own identity. But this does not mean the church should turn in on herself. The church must have a clear sense of her vocation and calling and a clear sense of what she believes, but she must also be ready to reach out to the world in dialogue and proclamation, in mission and service, listening to others and cooperating with them but always prepared, if necessary, to be a sign of contradiction.'
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Aidan – a Saint for our times?
Dr. Ian Bradley, of St. Andrew’s University, a prolific author and broadcaster, and a contributor to the Demos Think Tank, has sparked full page coverage in The Guardian and Independent newspapers for his ideas about the future of Britain, its monarchy, church – and in particular his proposal that ‘Brand Britain’ needs a patron Saint.
In his keynote lecture at the St. Aidan Week Celebrations on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne earlier this summer , he expanded on these ideas and explained why Aidan was his top candidate to become Britain’s first patron saint. In his lecture he said that census returns and other research revealed that while white people increasingly think of themselves as English, Welsh, Scottish or Northern Irish, black and brown people think of themselves as British. The break-up of the United Kingdom might harm all its peoples, for the whole is greater than its parts, and we therefore need to give attention to what constitutes Britishness.
He touched on both the forms and roots of British identity, saying that he saw this as a series of overlapping identities. Although England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales each have a patron saint, the UK has none.
Today people care about identity and symbol, and patron saints are about giving a spiritual identity to a people, Dr. Bradley said. In a pluralistic society, they are inclusive, and they can do this. Other religions would rather live in a country that, unlike France, gives public space to religion, so a patron saint like Aidan would pose no problem.
We all need role models, we need neighbourhood, national and perhaps international saints. Saints provide us with stories, drama, narratives, legend. A generation brought up on Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings was hungry for stories such as that of Aidan.
Why Aidan? His style, for a start. Corman, who led the first failed mission to the English from Iona, was bullying and aggressive. He wanted to force the people into his mould; he dismissed them and wrote them off. Aidan was full of grace. English Christianity, which he spawned, has been the most gracious and moderate. Aidan provides a rallying cry for the broad, welcoming God.
Secondly, his commitment to all people and their needs. Aidan was no respecter of persons. He gave away the royal horse which would have enabled him to go around in style. He kept his feet on the ground. He sat lightly to the things of this world.
Thirdly, his links with monarchy and nation-building, namely with King Oswald who was the great prototype of the open-handed, generous king.
Finally, Aidan nurtured others. Hilda, Chad, Wilfred stand as examples of people whom Aidan nurtured, and who took the Gospel further south. Dr. Bradley asked how we should promote Aidan, and suggested establishing a network of churches dedicated to him, and also an Aidan pilgrim route. This could be called The Aidan Way.
For more information contact : Ray Simpson, International Guardian, The Community of Aidan and Hilda. email: raysimpson@aidanandhilda.org.uk
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Help needed with dementia research
The role of respect for religious beliefs, and spiritual and cultural identity in providing care for people with dementia has been the focus of much discussion over recent years and has been highlighted in key government documents.
While attention to this topic is growing apace - and has important implications regarding the training of care workers, quality of care and non-pharmacological treatment approaches - little research has been conducted and there is, as yet, no clear evidence base for this aspect of person-centred care.
Newcastle University and Northumberland, Tyne and Wear (NTW) NHS Trust have recently set up an exploratory research project which aims to investigate the effects of participation in religious services on people with moderate and severe dementia. The project will run until July 2010.
The Principal Researcher is Liz Kennedy, Trainee Clinical Psychologist, and the Field Supervisors of the project are Dr Ian A. James, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Newcastle Older People’s Psychology Services and The Reverend Brian Allen, Chaplaincy Team Leader, both NTW staff.
In the initial stage of the project, Liz intends to convene a focus group of five worship leaders, drawn from the various denominations of the Christian faith, to explore the question ‘What do Christian clergy and worship leaders observe in patients attending religious services?’
The main research question and key themes that emerge from this discussion will form the basis of a series of individual interviews with worship leaders (who were not involved in the focus group), from which hypotheses about the effects of participation in religious services on people with dementia can be generated.
Liz is now inviting Christian clergy and worship leaders who have experience of conducting religious services for, or including, people with dementia to participate in this novel research, either as focus group participants or interview participants. The focus group will convene for up to two hours, and initial and follow-up interviews will each take up to one hour: that is, for each participant a maximum of two hours of their time will be required. There will be no other costs to participants.
Please contact Brian Allen if you are interested and willing to take part in this piece of research.
Brian Allen, Chaplaincy Team Leader,
Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS
Trust St Nicholas Hospital, Gosforth,
Newcastle upon Tyne , NE3 3XT.
Tel.:08448115522 ext. 28465
email: brian.allen@ntw.nhs.uk
website: www.ntw.nhs.uk
To read Brian Allen’s article about older people, mental health and chaplaincy, click here.
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