Another year of Back to Church Sunday – it’s growing steadily. We all understand the difficulties – not least that many people today don’t have a church to go back to. Going to church on BTCS is a ‘first’ and we’re delighted to see them. I also think that it makes sense to offer to our congregations a simple and practical ‘thing’ to do under the heading of mission
It makes me think of the nominalism with which we struggled when I was a Rector. The headcount was around 925 families. But, depending on where one ‘drew the line’ it could be anywhere from 600-1200. Church Offering envelopes were a sort of membership token for some – not to be used for their designated purpose. The definition of membership remains a difficult issue – and for us in the SEC.
The rest of the week? Where did it go … partly on a meeting of the quaintly-named EMU partnership – Episcopalian, Methodist and United Reformed. We need a better name than the bird that doesn’t fly. Alicia is on a well-earned holiday and we haven’t been able to appoint a new Secretary for me – so I’m in sole command of the Diocesan Office. I had to have a graduate-level lesson in working the franking machine.
Tomorrow I’m going to Copenhagan when the Danish Church becomes a full member of the Porvoo Communion.
And just in case you were asking, Poppy is quite a bit better – the most recent tests show a big improvement. We inject night and morning.
Clever Poppy. That is good news.