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Ministry Today 61 Editorial

By Alun Brookfield.

Welcome to this latest edition of Ministry Today. This time we’ve gone a bit more controversial than most previous editions, for the simple reason that we at Ministry Today UK believe that all of us in pastoral ministry are faced with a huge range of issues not faced by previous generations.

For example, most of us have Muslims living and working in our neighbourhoods and it’s important that we relate well to them – honestly and forthrightly, but starting from a proper understanding of the things we have in common.

Take the issue of congregational decline. How do we help our people face up to the realities of loss of ways of doing church which has served them for perhaps four generations?

And same-gender relationships are a bone of contention for many, but we need to understand, to care, to serve and support all those to come to us for spiritual help and ministry.

Furthermore, when they or anyone else arrives on our doorstep, do we welcome them as well as we might? Have we thought about how we are perceived by our visitors?

With all this and more going on, change is even more unavoidable and necessary than it has ever been. As Julian of Norwich once wisely observed: “All things are passing, but God never changes”.

All these and more are issues explored in this edition of Ministry Today. Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest, by all means, but if you feel you have something worth saying on any article, please write to us and we’ll do our best to include it the next edition.

A final word of warning: the views expressed in all articles are those of the author alone, and publication does not indicate that Ministry Today UK necessarily shares those views. Even among our Board, we disagree about some of these matters, but, as the apostle Paul encouraged, we differ in love.

I also apologise to contributors and readers alike because, after a serious computer crash, I was unable to recover the footnotes to some of the articles. I hope that will not hinder your enjoyment of the articles or your reflections on the issues under discussion.