Thanks to Exeter

Tuesday & Wednesday of last week I was invited to lead a workshop "Changing Countryside Changing Church" for Exeter Diocese's clergy conference. It was in Cornwall on the Lizard peninsula.

The workshop produced some interesting insights about the role of church and clergy in a very changed countryside.

The church role was:-

• Relationship building
• · Community cohesion
• · Worship God
• · Proclaim gospel
• · Recovery of medieval attitude of multifunctional building
• · Work with children
• · Pastoral care
• · Celebrate festivals
• · Hope bearers
• · Stable presence
• · Agent for change
• · Generous listening
• · Work/engage with the community
• · Saltiness
• · Is there a prior question – What sort of community will/should the gospel produce in this place?

The clergy role was:-

• · Enabler/encourager of others
• · Back stop
• · discipler
• · Expectation to be do-er remains and should be challenged
• · More Pauline – he exercised a remote oversight by letter
• · Spiritual oversight
• · Mini bishops
• · Valuing each church
• · Out of church buildings
• · Nourish people of God
• · Identifying new ways of being church
• · Occasional offices
• · Visible presence, being there
• · Interpreting God’s perspective for whole community

The list for the role of clergy is a formidable one and reflects something of the transition from the old way of doing things. Visible presence, occasional offices, Nourish people of God could all sit with a 1950s role. The move to Mini-bishop, Encourager/enabler of others, Interpreter of God’s perspective for whole community may cause tension. It will certainly will certainly require personal spiritual resources and highlights the need for clergy to be people of reflection, study and prayer.

But for me the main joy was going for a glorious walk on the coastal path in the Cornish sunshine, so here are some more photos of that!

Good enough to throw away

In a bizarre way these carrots are a victim of the bad weather.
Waterlogged soils mean that it hasn't been possible to harvest them. They now grown too big to meet the supermarket specification. They're healthy, nutritious, taste good, cook well, good colour... but they don't fit the spec.
So the field will be sprayed with weed killer and £3,000 worth of carrots written off. You wouldn't believe there are people dieing of malnutrition in the developing world and concern about rising food prices in the UK.
And the pea pods have occasional spots on them so the supermarket has rejected.

Dramatic pictures...

The water got into the cellar. It just about got into the bar. Selfish 4x4 drivers enjoying going through the water created bow waves that didn't help. And one silly driver of a Saab got the posh leather upholstery wet, but it was a loan car from a garage so perhaps he didn't care.


However the significant problem with the weather is less dramatic than the pictures. Prolonged persistent rain has left crops standing in fields un-harvested, just gently rotting. Added to that cereal prices are down on last year and production costs are significantly up. It's a difficult time for farmers - again.

Cause for concern

The concerned expression on Bishop John's face comes from listening to Margaret and Tony explain abut their farm.
They'd long since given up milking and the cattle in the background of the picture are the last that will be on the farm, at least in Margaret and Tony's time. The relentless scourge of TB has ground them down so there's no point in carrying on. It's not just them. Neighbouring farms are giving up cattle. The infection in wildlife is such as it can't be controlled.

Bishop John's visit was part of a day getting first hand experience of agricultural and rural issues in the diocese. He saw something of the "Go West Teme Valley" project (follow the link on the right), visiting Broadwas church and listening to their Listening Post.
After Tony and Margaret's he visited Worcester Livestock market.
Lunch was at the Young Farmers Centre at Hawford where he met "movers and shakers" from Worcestershire's rural and agricultural community. It was an excellent networking opportunity for all, never mind the bishop being there!

In the afternoon Julia Page Warwickshire College Vice Principal and Dean of the Landbased faculty gave us a whistle stop tour round the Pershore campus. The bishop's schedule was tight!

The day finished with a chance to met members of the chaplaincy committee over a cup of tea at Chris Bennett's farm. Thanks to him and Alice for their hospitality