The wonderful Mark Russell has decided to do something about it. ReGeneration proposes to get the crusty old Bishops (and probably the few young-ish ones too) to listen to young people. Bring it on.

ReGeneration is here. Sign up.

Date: 15th September
Venue: The Betsey Trotwood, 56 Farringdon Road
Time: 7:30pm
Cost: free!

Kester writes: “In the light of the scandals surrounding the Catholic church, and the decline in church attendance over the past decades, has the classic model of the institution had its day? Is institutional Christianity an outmoded organisational technology – slow, heavy-weight and rigid – and are there new, more light-weight and adaptable ‘skins’ that provide a more flexible and adaptable service… or is the move towards a more fluid, ‘TAZ’ Christianity no more than a flash(mob) in the pan, lacking substance or ground for genuine action?”

Kester, Jonny Baker, Ian Mobsby and I will be in debate on these questions – and you too if you’d like to come along. The venue is a couple of tube stops from King’s Cross so easy to reach from Cambridge. If you are going from cambridge let me know and we can meet up on the train.

more on the story from Andrew Brown

And here, an entire fan-blog for the Presiding Bishop

It seems there is a broad consensus that the proposals are good, although there are also a few vocal and determined detractors. The debate is no doubt going to be intense at Synod this time round. But it must, surely, be time to move forward.

Mouse hits the nail on the head when he says “if we can’t create a church in which Christians feel comfortable, we really do have some serious questions to ask about how we expect anyone else to feel comfortable there.”

I agree with Mouse – and a further point would be to ask how comfortable women feel in church. DIscovfering that men don’t feel comfortable could lead to the easy asumption that Church is too feminine/shouldn’t be run by women/is what women like – but why assume that? Maybe women don’t feel comfortable either – maybe we are all putting up with something we don’t like very much. Do women like church? are they more religious than men? or are they just more willing to put up with not feeling comfortable?

I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard a woman say to me “I wouldn’t go to this church if it was just me, but the kids’ work is great, so that’s why I stick around”. That’s only anecdotal of course; it would be interesting to find out more. It would be even more interesting to find out what we could do to make Church interesting and appealing, instead of cringey, awkward or boring to the majority of people.

I’m put in mind of Jesus’ followers (men and women) who certainly went to synagogue regularly but who spend most of their time taking boat trips, going fishing, taking amazingly long walks, having huge picnics, visiting people in their homes, eating and drinking “with sinners” (down the pub?)…

Go to Mouse’s latest post to read the rest of the stats and some good comments

I wish there was a way churches could be ‘forced’ to rethink how they do what they do–the vote in religious worlds is demonstrated by the feet–people leave, but it would be very cool if there were ways for communities to challenge the ways things are done in the some way as this election seems to have done.

If we could vote for the lines to be redrawn in Church, what would you include in your manifesto?

Two clergymen in Kent are preaching not only the old chestnut that  women should be silent in church and submit to their hubands “because the Bible says so”, but even that divorce is the woman’s fault! (And where does it say that in the Bible, I ask? yep – nowhere at all)  The more junior of the two clergymen has apparently said in his sermon that the rise in the divorce rate is due to the behaviour of women. (Never to mens behaviour? Or to economics, or education, or a culture that – thank God – no longer believes that a woman is the property of her father or her husband?)

The lines of argument being rehearsed in this Kent Church have proved so offensive that women are leaving the Parish church (good decision) and cancelling their financial support. Offensive, yes, but also risible for their total lack of logic. What are single women to do in Church? (With no husband to submit to, and no husband to speak on her behalf, is she to be returned to being a chattel among her father’s property?) And even more illogical – as Mouse has found out – the leaflet accompanying this line of teaching was written by a woman!! This part isn’t offensive, it’s just laugh-out-loud stupid. Get the rest of the skinny from Church Mouse: Woman teaches men that they should not be taught by a woman.

The extremes of the argument were there – on the one hand, being in touch online isn’t “real”, on the other hand, it’s better for a teenager to be in touch with likeminded people online than to sulk alone in their room.

I agreed with elements on both sides of the argument. I agree that however “in touch” you might be via a screen or a portable device, it isn’t the same as, and doesn’t replace, the quality of interaction when you sit down and look someone in the eye while you are talking to them. I also agree that new media is a brilliant tool for connecting with people who are too far away to see face to face.

I pondered the fact that during the 50 hour conference, I had spent a large number of hours talking face to face, quite a lot writing with a pen on old-fashoned paper, but also tweeted some of the bits of wisdom that were emerging.

It also occurred to me that before we had new media, people didn’t always sit across the table concentrating on each other – how many conversations of childhood can you remember when someone had a half-focussed conversation with you while hidden behind the newspaper?

Church Mouse has a good interview up today with a “new media” officer., which explores some of these ideas further Here’s a clip:

Do you have to be a geek to use new media?
… no, you don’t have to be a geek… I think all you need to use new media is an open mind, and to come to terms with the fact that you really know nothing. Saying you need to be a geek to use new media is like saying you need to be a mathematician to run a bank. It might help, but it’s not essential. Apparently.

Read the rest here