Throughout our mission journey, we found that the core of our work was being present — and that for all our administrative skills, being with people was of greatest value. Yet while we could say we were “supporting refugees”, we were really walking through life with our newfound friends and learning from them. These refugee friends had lost homes, possessions and relationships, but had met Jesus and said that they were glad they came to Lebanon because meeting Jesus is worth it all.
Our friends also helped us learn the local language and taught Sylvie to make makdous, a traditional food made from aubergines. We saw that only ever receiving saps at people’s dignity and self-respect, so us coming in our weakness to learn became a gift, as much as our skills were
Phil and Sylvie Good (returning CMS mission partners), CMS magazine, summer 2023, issue 6
At times of national outrage, our beliefs in the transcendent — of things like God, good and evil, heaven and hell — perhaps rise above our national scepticism
Chine McDonald, Prospect magazine, 1 September
All prayers and congratulations from ??@NclDiocese? to ??@michael_volland? bishop-designate of ??@cofebirmingham? another runner in the House of Bishops; although as he is an ultra runner I don’t expect to be joining him on the starting line anytime soon!
Bishop of Newcastle, Twitter
We are living through a period of unprecedented scepticism and indifference about the core message of the church: that God exists, that God is love, and that he came among us to save a broken humanity from its self-destructive sinfulness. . . But the job of the clergy is to hold out in difficult times. To say their prayers, to celebrate the sacraments, to look after their parish. Faithfulness to this, rather than frenetic and nervous reinvention, is the order of the day
Giles Fraser, blog post, 31 August
Your church is sick. But that isn’t the worst part of it. We believe that someone has misdiagnosed it. The treatment plan commonly prescribed — effective innovation — will only cause your church to remain sick. . . The problem is not decline. The problem is that the secular age has infected it
From the book When the Church Stops Working by Andrew Root and Blair Bertrand, quoted by Canon Giles Fraser, blog post, 31 August
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