wfn.org | English bishop says God's kingdom 'grinding to a halt' in proliferating meetings

[ENS@ecunet.org]

2001-117

English bishop says God's kingdom 'grinding to a halt' in proliferating meetings

     (ENS) A senior Church of England bishop--widely seen as a possible successor 
to George Carey as archbishop of Canterbury--has warned that the Kingdom of God 
"is grinding to a halt under the multiplicity of consultations and meetings" in 
the church. 

     James Jones, the bishop of Liverpool, made the remarks as he took up the 
chairmanship of the church's Board of Mission.

     Jones told the Church of England Newspaper  (CEN) that whenever difficult 
issues arise in the Church of England, someone suggests setting up a 
consultation. "Nobody ever audits the amount of time and paper, or person hours, 
that will be spent on this," Jones complained. "We have really got to exercise 
some leadership and say: 'Do we really need as many meetings? Do we really need 
as much consultation'?"

     Jones, who became bishop of Liverpool in 1998, said that it was It was 
"slightly strange" for the church to have a separate board of mission because 
"the church is mission." He compared it to a political party saying "we've got an 
officer for politics."

     The bishop suggested that people be given more time with their friends and 
families so they could "share the lover of life, who is Jesus, with the world."

     "One of the problems in our mission is that we berate and beat over the head 
the people who have been Christians a long, long time--and of course they have 
got no friends left who are not Christians," Jones added. "Over 80 per cent of 
people who become Christians do so not through a strategy but through a personal 
relationship."

     When Jones's appointment was announced last February, he said: "I am 
optimistic about the future of the mission of God. There's a spiritual instinct 
in all of us. We need to have our eyes open to where God is at work in the world. 
Jesus Christ is the same today as he was yesterday. Christianity was born in a 
world as richly pluralistic as it is today."

--This story is based on an article by Ecumenical News International.