Shock News – Church of England Produces BRILLIANT Website

Posted by Peter Ould on Feb 10, 2012 in Church of England, Frontpage, Websites, worship | 3 comments

We are speechless.

Let’s be honest, we at the Twurch see ourselves as critical friends of the Church, pointing out ways and means in which the central bodies of our beloved Via Media so very often don’t get the internet and how to use it. This means that some people in the hierarchy don’t like us very much, but others further down the food chain delight in our willingness to say what needs saying (and to do so in an amusing manner). Do we need to remind you, for example, about THAT video and the way that minutes after we pointed out its utter naffness the Archbishops’ Council suddenly realised that too? No? Good job…

So imagine our surprise when in amidst all the hoo-hah at General Synod about Women Bishops (a short summary of which is “carry on as before”) the Liturgical Commission managed to sneak in an absolutely genius website aimed at helping schools and churches put together worship for children. It’s called Worship Workshop and it’s a joy to behold. Not only does Worship Workshop help teach children and their accompanying adults about what worship is (and isn’t) it also has a very nifty interactive tool to help you put together a service of your own. Want a Mothering Sunday service with an emphasis on Compassion? Not a problem. Need to pick a range of hymns and songs that are traditional and right up to date (OK, not totally up to date – we didn’t see any of the wonderful kids worship material coming out of Hillsongs these days)? There’s oodles and oodles to choose from.

You can search by seasons and by themes. You can look up individual components of a service by themselves or use the interactive tool to produce a downloadable outline (in Word format though – we prefer non-alterable pdfs) for printing.

Honestly, the only thing that would make it better would be a moderated forum where site-users could share their tips and tricks.

Who is to blame for this moment of majesty from the Church of England? Why that would be the stunningly wonderful @revmaryhawes who works tirelessly in the bowels of Church House producing this kind of marvellous offering. Go and tell her what a good job she’s done, there’s a nice Twurch.

I mean, if we *have* to have women bishops, who else then Mary?

Oh look, we just did something controversial again. Silly us.

Twurchcast Fourteen – Canon Andrew White

Posted by Peter Ould on Jan 14, 2012 in Frontpage, Twurchcast | 0 comments

It’s been a while, but here it is – the latest Twurchcast all warmly wrapped up and raring to go for the New Year in 2012!

@peterould and @thechurchmouse chat about all the news from the back end of 2011 as well as Facebook rankings, church furniture and a whole horde of other items. Then we turn to our interview with the one and only Canon Andrew White, Vicar of Baghdad and all round good egg. He shares with Peter how he ended up in Iraq, what he does with his life when he’s not in the Middle East and how God has blessed him in Iraq in ways he couldn’t have done anywhere else. It’s an absolutely unmissable listen with the Twurch of England 2011 Vicar of the Year!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

And the Winner Is….

Posted by Peter Ould on Jan 1, 2012 in A Bit of Fun, Frontpage | 4 comments

You voted in your, well let’s be honest, tens. The numbers have been crunched, the figures analysed, re analysed, scrutinised and assessed. And now we can reveal that the Twurch of England Vicar of the Year, 2011, is…..

Canon Andrew White, the “Vicar of Baghdad”

How could there be anybody else? The man is an utter legend and as his biography on his website shows, a true disciple of Christ.

In the face of significant threats to him personally and repeated bombings of the church, Canon White pastors one of the largest churches in Iraq, St George’s Baghdad. St George’s Church ministers to over 550 local Iraqi Christian families and operates well outside the safety of the International Green Zone.  Most of the congregation are women and children – widows and orphans – since most of the men have been killed in the decades of violence in Iraq.

Based in the church compound, the St George’s Clinic employs medical staff from across sectarian divides to work side by side to deliver humanitarian relief to their neighbours, regardless of patients’ religious or ethnic background.  They provide free medical and dental care to around 100 Iraqi patients every day, treating 2,000 people every month.

As if tending to such a church in such a place was not enough of a full-time job, Canon White also frequently exchanges his dog collar for a bowtie and engages in conflict mediation in the area.  He has built up standing and reputation with the most senior religious leaders in Iraq.
Through these relationships of trust and confidence, Canon White has brought together the leaders of the opposing sectarian factions and his Foundation has sponsored a number of high-level peace talks between them.

These religious leaders have enormous influence in the region; influence that they can use for peaceful means or to incite sectarian violence.  In meetings chaired by Canon White, they produced the first ever joint Sunni / Shia fatwa against violence in Iraq, which was read out in at least 80 per cent of the mosques throughout Iraq, as well as on several popular satellite television channels.

In October 2010 Canon White was in New York, collecting the Train Foundation Civil Courage prize.  This prize is awarded to individuals who have shown steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk to themselves.  Most previous recipients of that prize are now either dead or in prison.

White says: “I have been detained at gun-point, been thrown into a room with people’s chopped-off fingers and toes all over the floor, and have had my picture posted on walls around Baghdad with a notice saying, ‘Wanted, dead or alive.’  Members of my church have been kidnapped or killed.  I have lost many friends.  It is very difficult.”

Did we mention he does all that whilst struggling with MS? No? He does…

Andrew White, we salute you. If you felt that you wanted to let him know what a good egg he is, pop over to his Facebook page and do the honours.

The full results of the vote are below.

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P.S. Honorary mention goes to the cart-wheeling verger of Westminster Abbey. We reckon if he’d had a dog collar he might well have won!

Vote for Vicar / Priest of the Year

Posted by Peter Ould on Dec 31, 2011 in A Bit of Fun | 0 comments

The nominations are in and the vote is underway. Please vote for your preferred candidate. Our very clever IT systems will prevent you from voting twice, but if you attempt to circumvent them, we may still be able to tell and God and the angelic hordes certainly will.

Nothing like a bit of guilt to end the year on.

Anyway, voting closes at midnight and we’ll announce the winner tomorrow.

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Vicar / Priest of the Year

Posted by Peter Ould on Dec 30, 2011 in A Bit of Fun | 13 comments

By popular demand, here is the first ever annual (if we make it to Christmas 2012) Twurch of England “Vicar / Priest of the Year”.

The rules are very simple – today we open nominations until later this evening. In the comments below, nominate any ordained and licensed clergy person in the Church of England (so yes, technically a deacon who is not a priest or vicar could win, but that would just make the title even longer – oh what the heck – “Vicar / Rector / Priest / Deacon / Bishop of the Year” it is!) giving their name, twitter ID, blog site, Facebook or some other way we can all know who they are. Give a brief reason why they should win, and we’ll include them in the poll tomorrow.

We’ll start you off. The Twurch’s nomination is Sally Hitchiner (@sallyhitchiner) for being such a media darling during the summer riots AND actually doing stuff on the ground that mattered as well.

Over to you. Who should win our coveted prize? Who is worthy of praise, honour and a slight amount of consequential deprecation? We’re looking for great achievement, public acclaim or just sheer theological prowess. Like the bloke below.

Right, you know the level we’re aiming at now. Get to it.