I am tidying my personal library, and I opened Michael Hocking’s 1974 book, Handbook of Parish Work. Starting for clergy, but not stopping there, he presents his “‘Top Twenty’ list I drew up to help deacons to sort out which things are of most importance and which things of lesser importance.” He has Taking Services
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Habit 2 – Be Welcoming Imagine, for a moment, being a new person arriving at your church. How could you have found out about the church, about the service? How are you greeted when you come through the door? Be honest. If you have never been to church before, ever, what is your experience? If
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The internet is awash with tub-thumping horror that the Church of England is diluting baptism by removing “sin” and “the devil” in alternatives. Usually immersed in far more important issues such as may gays love each other or can women lead, many are shedding tears at what they see as further infiltration by those nasty,
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Imagine a beautifully-produced 350 page coffee-table-type book, with colour photos, and images down the margin. That is what you get in the Mass Explained app by Dan Gonzalez (website). If you are a generally-interested Christian, particularly a Roman Catholic regular participant at Mass, you will be delighted with this app. I keep wanting to say
If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is there, does it make a sound? If your answer is, “obviously, yes.” stop reading now. Go out and have a coffee. Talk to a friend. Read a book. Or go for a walk. Because the rest of this post will mean nothing to you. If,
We are therefore God is Read More »
We are going through the four marks of the church: one, holy, catholic, apostolic. In this post we are looking at the third mark: catholic. Sometimes we use a word and it changes meaning completely. Even to being used as the complete opposite of what was originally intended. There’s an old prayer: Prevent us, O
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Habit 1 – Focus on God Church is for God. For spirituality. For meditation. For prayer. For liturgy. This should be self evident. Κύριον τὸν Θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις, καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him. Matthew 4:10 προσκυνέω proskyneō worship God If people want the experience of a café,
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