Comms Update March 09

Communications Update – March 2009

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, magazines or websites.

This news bulletin is issued to members of General Synod, recipients of the e-mailed daily briefing, within the National Church Institutions’ All Staff bulletin and to parish magazines via the http://www.parishpump.co.uk website. 

It can also be subscribed to at no charge for automatic delivery every month to email inboxes via http://www.cofe.anglican.org/commsupdate.html/

Please scroll down to read items. Comments, please, to Peter Crumpler, Director of Communications, at commsupdate@c-of-e.org.uk 

Key fingertip facts about the CofE can be found at http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/thechurchofenglandtoday/

This month’s contents:

Credit crunch latest from C of E

Church Commissioners reassure church on levels of support

Clergy Pensions Scheme update published

Ethics, Economics and Global Justice – Archbishop of Canterbury

Beat the credit crunch – book a church wedding, says bishop

Prayers for current financial situation

Lent

Joint appeal for Zimbabwe

Twitter for 40 days and 40 nights

Say one for me – Bishop at Job Centre

Cut the Carbon

Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book

• Unsung heroes – the hunt is on
• Wider wedding welcome – new book for churches  
• The baptism of Jade, Bobby and Freddy Goody
• Church set to beat metal theft with help of ‘Griff the Gargoyle’
• Bishop’s advice to PM on Cophenhagen climate change conference
• Seeing the big questions of life and faith ‘through the eyes of a child’
• More news from the Archbishop of Canterbury
• More news from the Archbishop of York

CREDIT CRUNCH LATEST FROM CofE

Church Commissioners reassure Church on levels of support
After a year of declining asset values, the Church Commissioners have reassured Church of England dioceses that they still intend to continue their present level of support at planned levels through to the end of 2010. Read the full story here.

Clergy Pensions Scheme update published
The Church of England has published a paper on the impact of the credit crunch and recession on the financial position of the Funded Clergy Pension Scheme and what this might mean for the future of the scheme. The last actuarial valuation of the scheme, carried out as at 31 December 2006, revealed a deficit of £141m. Read the full story here

Ethics, Economics and Global Justice
The Archbishop of Canterbury called for patience and trust to be re-established in economic processes, and for governments to resist the lure of protectionism which prejudices the growth of developing economies in a lecture given in Cardiff. A synopsis and a full text of the speech can be found here.

Beat the credit crunch – book a church wedding, says bishop
The Bishop of Birmingham, the Rt Revd David Urquhart, showed engaged couples how to slice a huge chunk off the cost of their wedding, at the National Wedding Show in Birmingham, when he introduced them to the 'three V's' for choosing a church wedding: venue, vicar and vows. Read all about it here

Prayers for the current financial situation can be found here.

LENT  

Joint Appeal for Zimbabwe
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have launched a joint appeal for Zimbabwe. Writing in the Times they talked of a country witnessing the slow death of a people.  “And slow death is only intermittently newsworthy; nothing to report except more of the same, so that the temptation is to switch off.  But this doesn't mean that the need for hope is any less urgent on the ground.” Full text and details of the appeal here.

Twitter for 40 days and 40 nights
'What are you doing?' asks the Church of England this Lent as it connects with people through the social networking site Twitter and a new Facebook application designed to get people to share their top tips for helping each other. Find out more about the CofE’s online Lent here.

Say one for me
The Bishop of Worcester the Rt Revd John Inge collected prayers from those affected by the financial situation outside the Redditch branch of Jobcentre Plus on Ash Wednesday. Passers by were invited to write their name and/or their concerns on paper handed out by Bishop John which were later offered at an evening service in Worcester Cathedral.  More details here or read the BBC report here.

Cut the carbon, says Church of England
Advice from a banking boss, the latest eco-technology in a country church, lifestyle pledges in the North East and a cut-carbon-not-chocolate challenge from church and government leaders including the Archbishop of Canterbury are just some of the ways the Church of England is putting a green stamp on Lent as part of its Shrinking the Footprint campaign. Read the full story here.

Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2009
Dr Rowan Williams, has chosen Why Go To Church? by Timothy Radcliffe, as his Lent Book for 2009. Archbishops of Canterbury have commissioned an 'Archbishop of Canterbury's Lent Book' for decades, collaborating with a Christian publisher. The books concentrate on theological or devotional Christian themes relevant to Lent, in preparation for the celebration of the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ in Holy Week and Easter. The Archbishop commissions the author, and always writes the foreword. More details here.

Unsung Heroes – the hunt is on

The Church of England has teamed up with Country Life magazine to hunt for an elusive species: the unsung hero!  Rural churches and chapels are often the thriving hubs of their communities. Together, we are looking for the unsung volunteers - of any denomination - who keep them alive. More details in the 8th April edition of Country Life with a special message from the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Wider wedding welcome – new book for churches
Grooms are more conscious of the serious commitment of marriage than many people might think, while their fiancées are focused on making the wedding day itself a special occasion, according to research included in a new book. Read more about The practical guide show how recent changes to marriage law have opened up new opportunities for churches. Read more about it here.

The baptism of Jade, Bobby and Freddy Goody
Prayers were said across the country for Jade Goody and her family at their baptism, conducted by the Revd Corinne Brixton at the Royal Marsden Hospital, earlier this month. A statement by the Revd Corinne Brixton is available on her diocesan website More details on baptism here.

Church set to beat metal theft with help of ‘Griff the Gargoyle’

Manchester Cathedral was the venue for the launch of a campaign that hopes to reduce metal theft from church buildings. The campaign introduces a Church Watch scheme to Greater Manchester and its website at www.beatmetaltheft.org offers the latest information on beating the thieves.  Read ‘Griff the Gargoyle’s’ full story here. 

Bishop’s advice to PM on Cophenhagen climate change conference
Failure to secure a strong, just and effective response to the challenge of climate change at the Copenhagen climate change conference in December 2009 would amount to a moral failure on the part of humanity as a whole, Church of England bishops have told Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Read the full story here

Seeing the big questions of life and faith ‘through the eyes of a child’
Complex topics ranging from creation and freedom to sin and forgiveness are seen 'Through the Eyes of a Child' in a landmark collection of essays on children's theological perspectives published today by Church House Publishing. This is part of the Church of England’s contribution to the ‘Year of the Child 2009’. Read more details here.

More news from the Archbishop of Canterbury

• Christian Muslim Forum – Faith in Finance seminar at St Ethelburga’s centre for reconilation and Peace. Full details here.
• Pastoral visitors - following the Report of the Windsor Continuation Group to the Archbishop of Canterbury (which was published at the Primates Meeting in Alexandria, Egypt, in February 2009) the initial group of Pastoral Visitors called for by the Windsor Continuation Group in their Report and commended by the Primates Meeting in their Communiqué (para 15) met for a briefing session at Virginia Theological Seminary from 25-28 February. Full report here.

More news from the Archbishop of York

• Veteran Airborne Forces soldiers from York were so impressed with a recent parachute jump made by the Archbishop of York that they invited him to join them at a special ceremony at the city's Imphal Barracks. More details here.
• The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu challenged all Christians to get involved in active mission as part of his lecture at Ripon Cathedral commemorating the 1300^th anniversary of the death of St Wilfrid.  Full story here.