Church Search 666. Grace causes offence and doesn't want to apologise

They're very nice, those gloves of mine. They were given to me by a friend of my mother's who, as well as also being nice, is very much a respected, respectable and respectful member of a high Anglo-Catholic church. And so, given how cold it has been here recently, I wore these gloves to the church we attended this morning. I greatly admire those for whom being cold is a spiritually enriching experience, but for me it isn't. And I was told at the communion rail that, until/unless I removed these gloves, I would not be permitted to partake of the eucharistic host. And I was not told this politely, either.

I mean, WTF?

If a veto or taboo or prohibition on hand coverings were well known throughout certain echelons of the Church of England, I'd have been aware of it by now. It'd have been liturgicalised as follows

"Draw near with faith and remove your gloves.
Receive the body of our Lord Jesus which He gave for you
and the blood which he shed for you.
Eat and drink with bare hands in the remembrance that he died for you.
And feed on him, in your hearts - which though your hands by now may be stinging with cold, will be warm - by faith, with thanksgiving..."

Wouldn't it come across as rather, somewhat... legalistic? Pharisaical?

I mean, I had purple nail varnish underneath my gloves. I've been in African Indigenous Pentecostal churches with such a veto or taboo on painted nails that I'd have been instructed to don gloves in order to take communion. And if I were ever to have made First Communion in a Roman Catholic church, I'd have to have worn gloves. And it goes without saying (I hope) that Jesus has nothing to do with this. It took a few years after Jesus for the Church to consider its theological bases for sharing bread and wine and a few centuries for the Church to develop this into such fixed rituals.

So essentially, they were offended that I wore gloves. And they thought that I should have known that they'd be offended.

And that, for me, is the nub of the question. Should one, when visiting a place of worship, approach in fear and trepidation of how one might offend, be seen as inappropriate, not fit in? Or should one approach with openness, warmth and a readiness to engage with the people and their g/God/s?

And should one, when welcoming a newcomer into one's place of worship, scrutinise the finest points of the way s/he is dressed or behaving? Or should one just take them as they are for the time being, and leave the finer questions of their hand coverings as a matter of secondary importance to the gospel of Christ?

"Praise the Lord and pass the business plan as God embraces Mammon": a prophecy of the pissing off of Pentecostals by today's Guardian article.

The article in question, subtitled "Pentecostalist gathering draws worshippers with get-rich philosophy", and written by Robert Booth, is online here.

Basically, it's an expose of the dire materialism and cringe-inducing prosperity-gospelness of the International Gathering of Champions "Empowered to Prosper conference" and of the Kingsway International Christian Centre, who are running the event. The reporting about the KICC is probably fair journalism. But the implication that all such churches and all such over-involvement with money is typical of Pentecostalists (I assume he means Pentecostals) is, I think, slightly misjudged, inaccurate and destined to outrage.

Pentecostalism began in early 20th Century America as a way of reigniting the power which came down on the early Church from the Holy Spirit at the first Pentecost, and of harnessing that power to liberate and transform every sphere of each person's life. So whereas there's an emphasis on God doing miraculous and very practical things - bringing healing, restoring families and relationships, arranging jobs, marriages and pregnancies - it's also about developing very individual, personal, ecstatic, emotional, intimate relationships with God. Given that God is so involved and immersed in the minutae of everyday life, then God must be concerned with an individual's financial situation. But, within mainstream Pentecostalism, money is only one apsect of a holistic bigger picture.

The clue to how, within the article, the fallacy may have arisen, is the author's implication (though, to be fair, not an assertion) that Pentecostalism began in Oklahoma. What began in Oklahoma was the whole word-faith, seed-faith, prosperity-gospel millieu. With Kenneth Hagin in Tulsa and then in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, to be precise, though its roots go back much further and broader than that. What word-faith teaches is that, seeing as we are healed by the wounds of Jesus (Isaiah 53:5, far removed from its original meaning) and given that God has promised us anything we ask for in his name (John 14:3, used entirely out of context) then all believers have the right to demand of God perfect health and limitless financial prosperity. Which is all entirely materialistic, but again, not entirely about the money. Mostly, but not entirely.

So I'll be interested to read what the KICC, and what some of the many un-financially-obsessed Pentecostals have to say about the Guardian article...

wondering what Michael Guglielmucci and Todd Bentley are saying to the Church

Oh dear. First Todd Bentley, now Michael Guglielmucci. It hasn't been a good month for the Church, and especially not its charismatic bits.

Briefly put, Michael Guglielmucci is an Australian youth pastor from Adelaide, so tragically stricken by the effects of terminal cancer that he needed an oxygen tube to manage on stage. The disturbing bit of that being that his cancer was something he'd entirely made up, fabricated and faked, and had sung and preached about to thousands of people. Like he's doing below.


The full story is throughout the Australian press.

And Guglielmucci has now been speaking to the media about why he did it. His claim is that he's 'addicted to porn' and needed, essentially, a credible-sounding illness to distract himself from it and cover it up from others. He claims that his obsession with porn is so strong that he has been losing his hair and throwing up every evening, and that he therefore needed a socially-acceptable explanation for these symptoms.

But losing one's hair and constantly vomiting are not symptoms of over-involvement with porn. Instead, they are fairly common and widespread reactions to stress. So why, given that Guglielmucci's "symptoms" arose through the horrendous pressure of being both a minister of Christ to young people and a man struggling with a life-consuming obsession, why could he have not admitted all this to those he chose in his church and/or family and asked for help and support and prayer?

I would like to hope that such help, support and prayer would have been readily and discreetly forthcoming. Yet the Church, as a whole, does not have a good track record of dealing maturely or compassionately with people's sexual difficulties. The Church is still saturated by a such a simplistic dualism in which people are morally responsible for what goes wrong with their minds but powerless over what happens with their bodies, and assumes that body and mind can clearly be delineated from one another. So by presenting himself with a form of cancer known as having no environmental causes rather than an ambiguous and somewhat amorphous sexual and/or obsession-type problem, Guglielmucci became a victim of a disease, a hero and a role model rather than the pervert he may have been regarded as. I'm not excusing Guglielmucci's behaviour, and I'm not suggesting that deceiving people by fabricating cancer is ever remotely acceptable. But I think that the Church, by expecting so much and so intensely of its leaders, whilst often offering disproportionately little to support them, must bear the blame for pushing some of its leaders past what they can cope with...

why I can't join the condemnation of Todd Bentley

Todd Bentley. I've been watching him and the Lakeland Revival on the GOD Channel and YouTube for a few months now. Headbutting the groins of cancer sufferers for whom you're praying whilst shouing "wham-bam!" isn't my understanding of how God generally works (see clip below) but it held my fascination in wondering what it was about him that drew people to his ministry, godly or otherwise. I think it was all his talk of the transsexual angel named Emma which endeared me to him. As one also prone to conversing with supernatural apparitions with a questionable connection to reality, I felt some kinship with a 32 year old man still so firmly and childishly attached to his imaginary friend.

During the past week, it has emerged that Todd Bentley has been having an unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff, and hadn't been honest about it. The Christian press, and the charismatics in particular, are extremely angry and are using the revelation as evidence that Bentley was, all along, an unsavoury character, a snake-oiled charlatan and a possible agent of Satan.

All I can feel, though, is really, really sorry for Todd Bentley*. I'm not condoning his sexual misdeeds, nor suggesting that his offbeat antics have been innocuous or harmless to those his ministy has confused and hurt. I think it's entirely necessary that Bentley steps down from his position, I would hope to see a public repentance appear on YouTube soon and I would be very annoyed to see him back on stage any time soon. But haven't we all of us, under the pressure of overwork, stress or heightened emotion, committed acts that were shockingly immoral, destructive, thoughtless, dishonest, abusive or stupid?

Despite all that has happened, I cannot believe that there was nothing of God in Todd Bentley's ministry. And so, I find it oddly reassuring that God is willing and able to use someone as odd and misguided and sinful as the rest of us...



But what do others out there think?

*Of course, I really feel sorry for his wife Shonnah and their kids, too.

what happened to all those mysteriously disappearing posts tagged "church search" and "place of former employment"

I've only archived them for now. This means that I'll be able to put them back up whenever. I don't know whether taking them offline for now was something necessary, wise, advisable or crucial to prevent my eyeballs being gouged out... or whether I'm simply manufacturing yet more boring, self-indulgent emo-shit drama to detract from the real troubles of the world in South Ossetia and Mauritania. But I've turned on Comment Moderation and installed a titanium-plated statcounter, too.

Basically, I've just had yet another fairly explosive discussion about my decision to leave Place of Former Employment and our Church Search endeavour, this time from someone who I'd thought to be a friend... and my blogging about it all came into it, even though she'd obviously not read my blog. My concern following our altercation is that one or more people nearby may currently be googling themselves into a frenzy attempting to find my blog.

Or maybe they're not. Maybe I'm just being paranoid and should get offline and onto my marital duties. Or maybe they're really out to get me because I deserve it. Maybe I do have demons impregnated in my soul. Maybe I am an agent of Satan predestined to desecrate the Body of Christ or at least the odd ecumenical partnership round here. There's a fluffy red blob-like creature sitting at the end of the bed as I write this, stroking the cat with a shiny trident..

Grace and Beloved's ChurchSearch Week 8: Grace stays home to take stock of it all

One of the main things I've realised during the past eight weeks of churchsearching, is how most curchgoers claim a very clear and fixed idea about what church or The Church is or should be, but how different from one another these understandings can be. In academic theology, there's the discipline of ecclesiology, which deals with questions of what the church is or means or does or should do, but I'm not sure that this has much of an impact on the views or understandings or breadth of thinking of most churchgoers.

What follows, then, is a Survey of Popular Views on church observed amongst congregation members in a variety of Protestant denominations in urban Britain, June-August 2008

1. As the Body of Christ on earth (Embodied with the being, essence, substance, authority of the risen Jesus)
2. As what Jesus founded when he made Peter and/or Peter’s Confession the origin of apostolic succession (See the start of my Crowded Handbasket piece)
3. As a way the early Christians found to organise themselves as a group, which subsequent generations have continued and/or replicated (See the rest of my Crowded Handbasket piece)
4. As a club (Somewhere for people who believe what we do)
5. As a community (Somewhere for everyone to learn and share together)
6. As a personal thing (As something between the individual and God)
7. As a sacramental community (Celebrating communion/Eucharist/Lord’s Supper/Breaking of Bread together, conducting marriages, baptisms/christenings/confirmations etc)
8. As an evangelical community (Existing to spread the gospel, proselytise, covert individuals)
9. As an incarnate and or missional community (Existing to transform society, bringing the Kingdom of God to earth)
10. As a building used for praying and singing (It’s all about the singing and praying)
11. As a group of people who get together to pray and sing (it’s all about the people who sing and pray)
12. As an organisation submitted to the authority of a Man of God (it’s all about the Minister/Pastor/Vicar, who is always to be right)
13. As an organisation submitted to the authority of the Word of God (It’s all about the Bible, which needs to be interpreted (fairly) literally)
14. As a place for everyone (It’s about welcoming everyone like Jesus did)
15. As a place you need to be middle class/straight/white to be welcome (It’s about finding a place where you feel comfortable)
16. As a concept we don’t really like to talk about because we’re British and to talk about religion isn’t the British thing to do (Self-explanatory, surely)

I think it was Wittgenstein who pointed out that, unless you begin a discussion by extablishing a common meaning of your terms, the discussion will become frustrating, fraught with misunderstandings and, ultimately, meaningless. It is beginning to occur to me that the church (local) and Church (worldwide) is so divided not because of doctrine or practice on specific points, but because we cannot lack a common agreement od who we are...

more about the SPCK, SSG, Dave Walker, Mark Brewer saga

It's just all, all so sad.

The campaign now has its own website at SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info. There's also still a lot of intriguing, thoughful commentary from Matt Wardman, Squiggle Jones, SPCK Watch and MetaCatholic.

I mean, this is not merely about some abstract point of employment law or free speech. Someone died, too. And it continues to appall me that the actions of a Christian should drive anyone to suicide...

The SPCK/SSG bullying saga continues

From Sam, from Elizaphanian

Great admiration for him...

More SPCK bullying...

This is from MadPriest and I think self-explanatory.

It just appalls me that Christians think they can get away with treating one another like this...

VERY IMPORTANT DAVE WALKER UPDATE

Those who are not up to speed on this matter of blogger welfare should read the following post first:

THE GREAT SPCK SCANDAL
BLOGGERS STICK IT TO THE MAN

It is absolutely certain that Mark Brewer is now threatening other bloggers. Without prejudice legal advice indicates that he doesn't have a leg to stand on. Also he is sending the threats out personally and not via a solicitor.

However, I think it is time for PLAN B.

This is Mark Brewer's email address:

Brewer@bplaw.com

I would like friends of Dave Walker, and those interested in stopping bloggers from being bullied by people with money, to cut and paste this post onto their own blogs,

AND/OR

send an email to Mark Brewer with nothing more than the campaign words:

I AM ALSO DAVE WALKER

And if you're a little scared by all this just remember a very good man died because SPCK failed after it had been taken over by Mark Brewer's business venture.

Posted by MadPriest at 4:56 PM 12 comments

Please click on this a lot and then spam it around a lot

These are the blog posts Dave Walker has been legally required to remove from his blog, as retrieved by the Mad Priest. Basically, the SPCK [Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge] bookshops have been taken over by the St Stephen the Great Charitable Trust and either God and/or St Stephen have instructed the new management to disregard all employment law in their dealings with their employees and generally treat them like ****. The union Usdaw is representing many... but most Christian employees don't tend to join unions as they're used to being able to, like, trust their bosses.

All very, very sad.

July 8th, 2008
My silence

I’ve been aware that this has been a sad week for many readers of the Cartoon Blog. Many of those visiting have been mourning the death of Steve Jeynes, the Worcester bookseller, who, judging from the comments posted on this site was loved by many. In the circumstances the usual nonsense that I write on this site has not seemed appropriate, hence my silence.

The memorial service for Steve Jeynes took place yesterday. The Worcester News has a report: Tributes paid to exceptional man. Doug Chaplain was there and has written about it. See also on the SPCK/SSG blog: Steve Jeynes: A Life Remembered.

This will be one of the last former-SPCK-related posts that I expect to do until September as I am away doing one thing and another. I have one more bookshop-related thing that I need to post about which has arisen as a result of a comment (not yet visible) on this site on Sunday morning. I will hopefully do that post today (Tuesday) or tomorrow (Wednesday).

The place to go for former-SPCK-related posts for the next month or two is SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info. [Aside to Phil: hopefully you will post Plans Coming Together for New Christian Bookshop in Cardiff on the SSG/SPCK site when the time is right - a post well worth sharing.]

I hope to post a bit more on this blog this week, including an announcement about my new book and plans for Lambeth.

Posted by Dave at 1:06 am on July 8, 2008 and filed under Blogging, Save the SPCK.

5 Comments

July 3rd, 2008
Memorial service for Steve Jeynes

The memorial service for Steve Jeynes is now to be held at Worcester Cathedral at 3.30pm on Monday 7th July, followed by refreshments at Worcestershire County Cricket Club.

There is a news item in the Worcester News today, and another in the Worcester Standard. Update: Also Worcester News: Hundreds expected to bookseller’s memorial

Many tributes have been left in the comments of my previous post and on other sites linked from there.

Image: the former SPCK shop in Worcester

Posted by Dave at 7:57 am on July 3, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK.

No Comments

June 27th, 2008
SPCK / SSG: Tragic news from Worcester

There is some tragic news from the Worcester Diocese. This note was sent out today to clergy within the Diocese by the Communications department:

I am very sorry to tell you that Steve Jeynes, has been found dead, apparently having taken his own life. Many of you will know him from his work at the SSGT (ex-SPCK) shop in Worcester, from where he was made redundant two weeks ago.

Please hold (the) family in your prayers, together with the many friends whose lives have been enriched through Steve’s loving generosity in serving the Lord.

Details of the funeral arrangements will be made available in due course.

Doug Chaplain has posted here: In Worcester the SSG / SPCK saga turns to tragedy

Please remember Steve’s family, friends and all affected in your prayers.

Update: A service of Thanksgiving for Steve’s life will take place on Monday 7 July 2008 at 3:30 pm at All Saints’ Church, Deansway, Worcester. The Thanksgiving Service has been moved from All Saints’ Church to the Cathedral at 3.30pm on Monday 7th July followed by refreshments at Worcestershire County Cricket Club.

Further tributes have been posted here and here.

Posted by Dave at 5:53 pm on June 27, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK, Religion.

65 Comments

SPCK / SSG bookshop news

A couple of things:

New website
Phil Groom has set up a new group blog on the subject of the former SPCK shops. It is here: SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info. If you’re interested in SPCK/ SSG updates please bookmark this site and/or subscribe to the feed. I do intend to continue writing on the subject on this blog, but during July and August in particular I will have very little (if any) time to devote to writing on the topic owing to my preparation for and participation in the Lambeth conference and being away from home for various other reasons.

If there is anyone who would like to contribute to the new site please contact Phil directly.

Staff pay
An update to my last post - some staff have now been paid. I have made an update to my last post to reflect this and will update again if it emerges that all staff have now been paid.

News reports
Bookseller: SSG tribunal claims mount
Chester Chronicle: Union action to support sacked Chester bookshop workers
Lincolnshire Echo: ‘Sacked’ shop staff in court action

Posted by Dave at 9:09 am on June 27, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK, Religion.

3 Comments

June 25th, 2008
SSG: Bankruptcy papers received, employees not paid

Bankruptcy papers received
Some people in the UK have been receiving papers relating to the SSG ‘bankruptcy’ from the US Bankruptcy Court of the District of Southern District of Texas. There will apparently be a ‘meeting of creditors’ on 22 July in Houston.

Having done a quick search I notice that there was, on 18 June a ’status conference’ for St Stephen the Great LLC in the bankruptcy court (this can be found on a cached Google page saved here). Information on the chapter 11 bankruptcy process can be found via this page: Chapter 11 - Bankruptcy Basics

All of this must be seen in the light of Usdaw’s statement yesterday, now available on the Usdaw website:

Usdaw firmly believes that the bankruptcy proceedings in the US have no effect in the UK, because this is a UK company with entirely UK-based assets and activities.

Also, from John Hannett, the General Secretary of Usdaw:

These loyal staff are being given misleading information about these US bankruptcy proceedings and the effects this may have on their rights to take legal action in the UK. Our fear is that the Brewers’ actions may be an attempt to move assets away from the business and out of the reach of our members with legitimate claims.

“We will carry on as before with the claims against the Brewers who are accumulating wealth whilst riding roughshod over hard working employees. We will continue to assist all our members affected by this messy situation and work to rectify it as soon as possible.”

Employees not paid
On a related note some (all?) of the people who work or worked in the shops have not been paid today (the 25th) as they would usually be. See for instance these blog comments. [Update: some employees have now been paid]

Telegraph blog post
Christopher Howse (who wrote Saturday’s comment piece) has written on his Telegraph blog about the Orthodox church in Poole: Orthodox Exodus. As others have pointed out this isn’t new information, but I thought I’d post the link anyway.

Posted by Dave at 3:05 pm on June 25, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK, Religion.

13 Comments

June 24th, 2008
Usdaw press release about the former SPCK shops

Usdaw fights for mistreated bookshop workers
Shopworkers’ union, Usdaw, has submitted 15 employment tribunal claims against the Brewers, US-based brothers who have taken over a chain of UK bookshops and were seeking to impose a new contract on staff, drastically reducing their contractual rights. The Union has over 50 members at the bookshops and is expecting that the number of employment tribunal claims will rise.

The Brewer brothers were gifted the St. Stephen the Great Christian bookshops in 2006 by SPCK. The chain includes 23 bookshops, many of which are historic buildings in prime retail positions.

Following the change of ownership, a new contract was drawn up increasing the working week from 37.5 to 40 hours with no additional pay, turning all part-time staff into casual staff with no guaranteed hours every week and taking away all rights to company sick pay.

Now, virtually all Usdaw members have been dismissed with no notice, some by email, and have received little or no information about what this means for their rights and their pay.

The Brewer brothers have now filed St. Stephen the Great for bankruptcy in the US. Usdaw firmly believes that the bankruptcy proceedings in the US have no effect in the UK, because this is a UK company with entirely UK-based assets and activities. Staff have been told that they can apply for jobs with ENC Management Company, which is also owned by the Brewers, but that they no longer have jobs with St. Stephen the Great.

Usdaw is also aware that the Charity Commission has been alerted to these actions because of its role in regulating the activities of the linked charity, St. Stephen the Great Charitable Trust.

John Hannett, Usdaw General Secretary, stated:

“It is clear that staff, many of whom have been long standing loyal workers, have been mistreated and many are understandably very upset and concerned. We are very concerned at a new company (ENC Management Company) being set up in these circumstances, while our members are losing their jobs. These loyal staff are being given misleading information about these US bankruptcy proceedings and the effects this may have on their rights to take legal action in the UK. Our fear is that the Brewers’ actions may be an attempt to move assets away from the business and out of the reach of our members with legitimate claims.

“We will carry on as before with the claims against the Brewers who are accumulating wealth whilst riding roughshod over hard working employees. We will continue to assist all our members affected by this messy situation and work to rectify it as soon as possible.”

Posted by Dave at 8:13 am on June 24, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK, Religion.

34 Comments

June 21st, 2008
Former SPCK bookshops in the Telegraph

Christopher Howse: The bare and desolate SPCK bookshops

Posted by Dave at 9:57 am on June 21, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK, Religion.

5 Comments

June 20th, 2008
Today’s former SPCK bookshop news

From the Chester Chronicle: Christian bookshop sacks staff by e-mail

From the Eastern Daily Press: Christian bookshop stripped of stock

From the comments below:

The article in the Eastern Daily Press concerning the Norwich shop mentions three potential future tenants.
One of the bids is from the Norwich Christian Resource Centre, a new Community Interest Company with six directors from various denominations, all with a wealth of business experience.
They are giving their time and talents free of charge and are all passionate to re-establish the centre that had become such an integral part of the community of Norfolk and beyond, as quoted in the article.
The company would run as a non-profit making business and strive to return the centre to it’s original ethos, offering the widest breadth of stock, knowledgable staff, a high level of customer service and the ‘best capuccino in town’.
Prayers for this venture very welcome.

Also, from the comments yesterday, this by ‘concerned dad’:

My daughter applied for holiday work via an agency in Newcastle and took up a job in the Newcastle shop - we were completely unaware of the situation. She is expected to work completely on her own for 6 hours a day several days a week, somebody else does the other days - both are temps, no permanent staff, no training or guidance. She has creditors and people chasing book orders ringing up but no information to be able to respond to them. She is employed and paid by the agency (that is the theory anyway, will be interesting to find out what happens on payday!) If we had known about the situation we would not have got into this, but the agency were not very forthcoming with details about the shop until it was virtually too late…. So Newcastle is open - after a fashion, but far from satisfactory situation.

Update (lunchtime) Phil Groom has posted: SPCK/SSG News Archives. (I’ll try to say something about the blog idea later or over the weekend.)

Posted by Dave at 8:18 am on June 20, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK, Religion.

6 Comments

June 19th, 2008
Website updates


The SPCKonline website is now the same as the Third Space books website. Details of most shops have been updated. Some, like Salisbury (above - thanks to ezlxq), are on very limited hours and appear to be relying on voluntary labour. I’m aware that I need to keep updating the shop roundup page - updates appreciated.

The entry for the Norwich shop says ‘You are not authorised to view this resource’. That is probably because there is no resource to view - I am informed that a removal firm packed up all the books, fixtures and fittings and was taking them to the Chichester shop today.

Meanwhile the St Stephen the Great LLC website has been updated today “Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 June 2008 )“, but there is still no mention of the ‘bankruptcy’.

I have updated the Church Times blog with a list of news reports and letters about the former SPCK shops.

Melanie, the former manager of the SPCKonline site has written an interesting comment on Phil’s bookshop blog.

Posted by Dave at 5:43 pm on June 19, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK, Religion.

5 Comments

June 18th, 2008
Norwich / York

Norwich

Network Norwich has the following: Norwich Christian bookshop closes its doors

Meanwhile, from the comments section of this blog:

In 2003 I was taken to a city centre deconsecrated church by Stephen Platten, then Dean of Norwich. We both thought how splendid it would be to relocate the SPCK Bookshop, it’s decrepid premises huddling in a side street, to this magnificent medieval building.
In January of the next year Bishop Graham James officially blessed the vision along with representatives from virtually every denomination.
After many trials and tribulations and delays of several months, the centre opened on 13 July 2004. I had been privileged to help plan the layout and the concept.
Over 180 people attended the rededictation of the church to it’s new use in on a Friday morning in October 2004!
Within 3 years the loyal team had doubled the turnover of the previous shop and provided access to thousands of visitors from the Christian faith or none, to be offered an exceptionally broad range of product, a place to meet and be refreshed in the cafe.
We held events on a monthly basis. Highlights included: a lecture by Bishop Tom Wright attended by 350 plus, an Advent evening with Ronald Blythe during which three Salvation Army bandsmen managed to ascend the spiral staircase complete with trombone and play from the balcony, debates between bishops and humanists; Professor Brian Thorne and Ian Gibson MP and a Fawlty Towers evening!
This morning I visited the centre with my two sons, on the last day of trading. It was in fact open after 11-00.
To describe it as semi-vandalised would not be overstating the sight of half-empty boxes relocated from the London shop several weeks ago still blocking the porch and what is left of the stock lurching across the shelves.
Visiting the church on a regular basis over the past months I have been moved from frustration, to anger, to sadness, to disbelief as to how such a thiving resource could be laid to seed.
Today is a very sad day for the ex-staff, all but one of whom have yet to find new employment and the Christian community, who are voicing that ‘their’ centre has been lost - a high compliment indeed.
I count myself blessed to have been offered an alternative position within the Christian retail environment and have thus stayed in touch with so many of my customers who had become friends.
However, it’s never over until the Canary sings as we say in Narwich, so please keep praying for an unlikely resurrection in the not too distant future.
‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it’

York

‘Richard and Gill’ on Flickr have a recent picture of the former SPCK shop in York.

Meanwhile, I found this blog post written in Chinese on June 16. It sounds as if it is by someone working in the York shop. Google translated it as follows:

I should be very fortunate, at least in this area to work, to York the second week, it began a career Part-time job. However, this is not so much a subjective initiative, I found, than to use a blind cat encountered more aptly described as dead mice. At that time, purely in the City Centre Luancuan, Okay, I admit that, in fact, I had lost. The results of the accidents that have been in SPCK work.

This is one in the entire United Kingdom has 28 Chain stores of the Christian Bookshop, a harmonious working atmosphere, have fixed the breakfast 11am and 3pm the afternoon tea time and all the break are paid. However, however, however, but, boom is not long, SPCK be acquired. A U.S. company called SSG took over the bookstore this. British indeed are born of hatred of Americans, the shop all the old staff have left, but Fortunately, the Manager of new people is pretty good. I want to go to the SSG, also by the nature of the work before the development of a simple cashier to accountant, gradually began to contact the bank’s work. Sense of accomplishment that is not an ordinary Youranersheng ah.

Boom is not really long, SSG recently went bankrupt, another bookstore was an American company take over. David and Olga have left, I left the bookstore on the people. Optimistic, I am now boss hey. Pessimistic, I really do not know Bookstore will close on this, I have on unemployment.

SPCK in the UK with my life is inseparable from, I Baijia all have come from the capital where wages. However, it also sacrificed a lot with my family Dear Amanda travel out of time. Switzerland, Rome, Prague, Barcelona, Fuluolunsa I have no time to. My dear SPCK, you can see in my youth to take all the copies to you, will not be so quick to close OK. You, and so I kept enough money to the United States, Greece, the Netherlands, Sweden, the Arctic Circle, and so I kept enough money to buy Chanel, Dior, Fendi, Prada to the temporary close it, but I travel back and so on, then opened the door for ah

This might or might not mean that the York shop is open.

Posted by Dave at 11:28 am on June 18, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK.

3 Comments

June 13th, 2008
Charity Commission to investigate SSG

News reports

From today’s Church Times: Ex-SPCK shops ‘bankruptcy’
The Bookseller says that the Charity Commission is to investigate SSG: St Stephen the Great files for bankruptcy
I think the Church of England Newspaper will have a report (Just opened my online copy - nothing there as far as I can see. I thought there might be as I was telephoned.)

Closures and openings

We think that the shops that have closed since the bankruptcy announcement are:
Birmingham, Canterbury, Chester, Exeter, Newcastle, Norwich (closing on June 14) Worcester, York. These may be temporary or permanent.
Salisbury is now open again.
I’m still attempting to maintain a complete list here.
New map

On the Third Space books site (Is Third Space books bankrupt or not? Not sure.) a new map of the SSG shops appeared on June 7. Bristol, Carlisle, Lincoln and London have been taken off. Cardiff remains. ‘Leichester’ (not on the old map) has been added.
Posted by Dave at 8:20 am on June 13, 2008 and filed under Save the SPCK, Religion.

11 Comments

Does this encapsulate Britain's view of the Church of England today?

Grace hands her birth and marriage certificates to an administrator at her New Job, in order to verify her identity and eligibility to work in the UK.

ADMINISTRATOR: Grace, thank you. Right, then... so you were born Grace This and married to become Grace That. And now your place of birth... Lambeth... hang on, Lambeth?

GRACE: It's a London borough, just south of the Thames.

ADMINISTRATOR: No, but I've been hearing the name Lambeth on the radio all week... I don't know why...

Does this encapsulate your average non-Londoner's view of the Church of England today? It made me smile, anyway...

how to get Christians to talk nicely to one another

I mean, does it ever happen? How's it supposed to happen?

Throughout the past year, I've been increasingly appalled by the extent to which some within the Anglican church has lost touch with any awareness of the basic human dignity of one another. This Dave Walker cartoon sums up all that's been taking place around questions of sexuality, schism and female bishops better than I could.



At least, though, one could never accuse the Anglicans of doing what usually happens in the rest of the church, which is the silencing of discussion and debate. That's something. Go into your average non-episcopal prostestant church and ask whether the union/circuit/presbytery/denomination could convene a nationwide/international debate on the role of gay, lesbian and transgender people within its ranks, and you'll not only be laughed out the door, you'll be forbidden from even disclosing that the discussion took place because "we don't have gay people here" (entirely untrue) or "sometimes we have to agree to disagree" (cop out) or "it'd be a bad Christian witness for dissent on these issues to emerge into the public domain". Certainly it would be a dismal "Christian witness" for "dissent on these issues" to filter into the media, but it's also utterly unacceptable Christian practice for anyone to be marginalised or silences on account of their sexuality, gender or anything else.

So, how does one promote honest theological debate within Christianity whilst insisting dignity, respect andfair representation for all?

"We'd had a lively discussion in the office about whether to buy you book tokens for a Christian bookshop or to buy, you know, secular book tokens"

One of those throwaway comments that inadvertently manages to encapsulate a decade*.

They'd decided for my last day to buy me tokens for the local Christian book shop to thank God for my hard work for them.

I'm sitting with the cat, the laptop and a bottle of wine, browsing the CLC website**.


* The explanation for this statement has been removed by the blog administrator as it may have led to Grace's former place of employment launching libel action against her. Please address all queries to God instead.

** How 'bout this for a purchase?

grace grabs headlines?

I had a call on my mobile this morning from a journalist wanting to know all about our wedding, wanting to write about us.

I can't decide whether I'm reading too much into the questions he was asking, or whether he was fishing for scandal, controversy and a backstory I was refusing to provide. But if he were looking for intrigue, there'd be other wedding guests less discreet than I who might be happy to bring it on.

As disappointed as I am by how badly my current church and place of employment has responded to our relationship, I don't want to see them shamed by the media for it.

Though it might give them something to think about...

back to work...

... and I resigned from my job.

They’re asking me why. I’m taking my time before responding. As a salaried employee, I am under no legal obligation to provide them with a reason or justification for my resignation. They say that until I provide a reason, the speculation will generate rumours. Given that I won’t be there to hear the rumours, I will risk a few days to collect my thoughts.

It was the wedding day which decided it. Or, more specifically, the chorister who opened the service with the words from Handel’s Messiah:

And cry unto her, that her warfare, that her warfare is accomplished. And her iniquity is pardoned, her iniquity is pardoned. (Isaiah 40:2)

It was at that moment that I realised that I no longer needed to fight for my love for Beloved to be approved of, recognised or sacramentalised by any given church, or indeed by any particular person. God was there, and so were 200 people watching me walk down the aisle.

I don’t need to fight any longer. I need to concentrate on loving my new husband. And that may include finding a church which might respect my new husband a little more than the church which refused to marry us.

Yet after the turmoil of the engagement and all the various forms of explosiveness our marriage plans caused, all my working relationships there are so dismal that all endeavours to find a church that will respect Beloved would seem destined to cause more fighting.

I resigned because I did not want dismal working relationships within the church to distract me from my relationship with my new husband and with family any longer. I resigned because I did not want to fight the church or the Church any more.

The Bible, the church and the Church generally agree that committing to one’s partner and family should be considered more important than any other form of Christian service. In resigning from my job because resigning seems the only way to ensure I can do this, I am therefore doing nothing very controversial.

Except that, if I tell them that’s why I am leaving, I will have highlighted the ne'er-to-be-whispered truth that working for a church, Christian charity or faith-based social project can be so stressful that it can put relationships, families and marriages under almost intolerable pressure. That would be extremely controversial. And I resigned specifically because I wanted to stop causing controversy in the church.

With this in mind, do I disclose the true reason for my resignation?

If I do disclose the true reason for my resignation, I will – as demonstrated above – be launching a lump of something extremely brown and sticky at the proverbial.

But if I say something vague and fluffy and twee about seeking fresh pastures, I will have denied them a potentially very beneficial opportunity to learn from all that has happened.

And if I say nothing at all, I will no doubt soon hear that I have suffered a molar pregnancy rapidly progressing into a rare and deadly gynaecological malignancy. And the intrigue and concern of this will also deny them a potentially very beneficial opportunity to learn from all that has happened.

So really, I need to tell them at least something of why I’ve resigned.

Perhaps, newly-married or not, I’m destined to be at war with the church or Church forever...?

The Employment and Equalities Act (Churches) 2008

Somebody putting "Equal Opportunities" and "church" into Google will now think they've discovered a new piece of legislation. Tee hee.

I decided, though, today, that the government should grant all faith-based organisations full exemption from all employment and equalities legislation.

My reasoning is that the legislation has done very little to improve the employment conditions of employees in Christian organisations. All that has changed in the 30 or so years that such laws have been introduced is that Christian organisations have been more covert in their discrimination, pretending to follow the rules when they aren't, afraid to admit themselves unable to comply with or even understand what's legally being requested of them. This leads to the following problems
1. Job applicants and employees expect from Christian organisations legal rights and safeguards they will never receive
2. The vast majority of job applicants and employees do not have the time, money or courage to take Christian organisations to employment tribunals. The pressure "not to bring the name of Christ into disrepute" is immense and the adverse publicity generated can be vicious. John Reaney, who managed to win against the Diocese of Hereford was a rare exception.
3. Because the Reaney case was so exceptional, the majority of Christian organisations end up thinking they've got away with it.

If however, Christian organisations were to gain exemption from employment and equalities legislation
1. They could tell candidates the interview stage that they don't like gays/women/Blacks/immigrants so that the candidate would be aware at that stage what sort of organisation they were applying to.
2. They could stop using the Genuine Occupational Requirement clause to stipulate a youth worker who is "aged 24-26 with curly pink hair and a Scouse accent" so that they not longer look ridiculous in their own job ads.
3. Those Christian organisations who are known to be particularly good employers (such as the Faithworks Trust, Tearfund, Christian Aid etc) could receive the acclaim they deserve as outstandingly good people, properly motivated by grace, truth and love.
4. This would demonstrate that the guy who started the whole Christianity thing off was, despite never intending to form an organisation of any sort, an outstaningly kind, tolerant, welcoming, affirming and inclusive sort of bloke.

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They're more scared of you than you are of them

It's what my mother used to say when I used to get scared of dogs that were too big and fluffy and wooffed at me too loudly.

I realised it again when this week Fiance and I had social intercourse with two more of the church ministers who refused to marry us.

We had to visit Minister One to collect our Banns, which Church of England law had required him, regardless of his personal objections, to publish for us. His vicarage, nestled awkwardly between a crop of identikit multi-storey inner-city tower blocks, the premises known locally as "that building where them from the social get your bairns took off of you" and the local arterial motorway, was one of the grimmest I'd ever seen. He opened the door, despite the horizontally-snarling snow, in the very most flimsy of shirt sleeves. I wanted to ask him to please go back inside and put a jumper on before speaking to us. He seemed just so nervous of us. "You work with children, don't you?" he said to Fiance.

Minister Two came up to me, entirely unexpectedly and out-of-normal-context in the corner shop and announced to me, triumphantly, "Grace!!! I've just spoken to your Fiance in the Post Office!" As he beamed at me, I suddenly saw a friend's three year old son grinning proudly as he told me he'd got his shoes on all by himself. I didn't know, then, how to respond to Minister Two. I felt like congratulating him - but that would have come across as patronising or insincere. I wanted to ask him what they'd talked about - but Fiance would no doubt be ringing on my mobile any minute to tell me all about it. But I could see that, for Minister Two, the conversation had represented a huge achievement.

I don't want us to make people uncomfortable. I don't want to spend my whole life frightening and antagonising the church and all its structures and leaders.

Jesus did, Fiance pointed out.

Dreading it.

Fiance has invited for a meal tonight

1) the leaders of one of the churches which refused to marry us
and
2) the leader of the church who has agreed to marry us
and
3) the children will be there
and
I'm extremely nervous.

But I suspect they may all be, too.

Coward.

One of the volunteers asked me today why I wasn't getting married in my own church.

I replied that the question wasn't mine to answer.

There was a member of the management team behind her. He hasn't been able to look me in the eye all day.

Mercy Ministries. A strange definition of mercy.

I've been spending the last three days furtively watching Mercy Ministries of Australia slowly unravel under the glare of the Sydney Morning Herald.

It all sounds sickeningly familiar. The "girls" (ie young women)
1. were punished for talking to one other about why they were there
2. weren't allowed outside the front door without triplicate permission
3. weren't able to speak to medical professionals without "supervision" that meant they were afraid to be honest
4. were endlessly told that it was their fault and they were beyond help
5. were arbitrarily kicked out onto the streets even though they were worse than ever

Been there, got the T-shirt for each one. And not the Mercy Ministries T-shirts, either. Such things happen to women and men, young and old, every day in the mainstream psychiatric and mental health systems. And nobody out there expects any differently. They just expect Christians to do things better than everyone else... because Christians themselves claim they can.

It's a case, firstly, of too many expectations having been placed on Mercy Ministries. But what then makes the behaviour of Mercy Ministries so exceptionally evil (and I use that word deliberately) is that they bring God in to justify the control, oppression and condemnation. Or not God, so much as Satan and all of his powers and principalities and legions of demonic sidekicks. Which surely feels far, far worse than simply being told you're mad and untreatable for mere organic/psychological/emtional reasons. It's theology gone so screwy that it causes its proponents to lose sight of all concepts of human sanctity or dignity, or of love. Which poses the question, a la Laing, of who exactly is the mad one.

At some point early this millennium some deeply Pentecostal friends were trying to persuade me to apply to the Mercy Ministries place in Bradford. What saved me was the opening of the Bradford House being delayed until I was both well past their upper age limit and no longer wanting of any such "help". I wonder what delayed their opening. A lucky escape, I think.