From the PrincipalSleeping Giant

I probably spent too much of the first half of my life lounging about inside my own head because it took me a very long time to wake up to the existence of the natural world. I noticed it, of course, bumped into it, fell over it (a lot!), and not infrequently got stung by it. By and large, though, I tended to think about nature as just background to the interesting human stuff. That changed decisively on the edge of an extinct volcano some way into a desert in Arizona. Everywhere, I looked - and I could see for miles – humanity had made no mark, which left me the one, and entirely insignificant, human creature on the landscape. Red rocks and grey sand, heat rising, turkey vultures hanging about an unrelenting sky, scraggy bushes, and creosote trees older than Anglicanism. Hostile, crushing, and entirely beautiful. Above all, I felt the tension between grandeur and delicacy, the immense and the vulnerable; small sticks of life and flickering lizards and boulders chucked from here to the horizon. This was sufficient a shock that, since then, even sparrows strike me as mysterious and privy to some stuff God doesn’t care to share with us. So, when Stephen Taylor, Archdeacon of Maidstone, contacted me about environmental awareness and theological education, I was keen to hear what we have to learn as a college about perhaps the most urgent concern in a world not short of desperate issues.

Stephen is a member of the Church of England’s national environment group, an adviser on ecological issues for Canterbury diocese, and he has collaborated with the Christian charity ‘A Rocha UK’ in promoting their ‘Eco Church’ project. Stephen remains encouragingly hopeful, enthusiastic about such changes as introducing ‘Creationtide’ into the Church’s liturgical year;

he’s also convinced that renewed attention to the doctrine of creation gives Christians a vital foundation for addressing environmental urgencies. Our attention to the natural world, he told me, should be neither anthropocentric nor fear-driven but, while realistic as to present dangers, should recognise that our responsibilities are a joyful privilege, an invitation to delight in and care for the life in which God himself takes pleasure. Promoting ecological concern within the Church of England, though, still demands an uphill climb. Good things are happening, both locally and nationally. More parishes are joining ‘eco-church’ and using A Rocha’s resources to audit their environmental impact, lower their energy consumption, work with ‘green’ companies and agencies, and promote environmental education, theological reflection, and spirituality. Nationally, the Church of England, together with the London School of Economics, has developed a way of measuring the environmental impact of major companies against the Paris agreement. This information is used to guide investors and put pressure on boards. In terms of investment the CofE is a relatively small player, but our national initiative to join with major investors to influence the practices of oil companies is exercising a genuinely powerful force. On the other hand, still too few parishes have joined Eco-Church, despite the economic benefits of doing so, and, though the environment is certainly on the national agenda, it doesn’t seem to have the priority it has elsewhere in the Anglican Communion. Stephen provided the rather sobering example of preparations for the next Lambeth Conference. The agenda committee asked the Primates to name the two most important items on their regional agenda. Within our global communion, only the Church of England failed to put the environment as one of those top two priorities.

The Church of England has a huge reserve of ‘soft power’, the power to influence, inspire, galvanise and guide. When it comes to forming

attitudes and moving wills to action, the Church has far greater significance than we sometimes realise (or that politicians and the ‘opinion forming’ media would like us to realise). As Stephen put it, as regards environmentalism, the Church of England is a “sleeping giant.” In terms of our credibility, though, we have obstacles to overcome: Christians are widely thought of as ‘anti-science’ and hostile to worldly life; moreover, many contemporary spiritual movements that focus around environmental concerns understand Christianity as a root cause of nature’s plight. Over time, we can change this, through consistent action, humble listening to the suspicious, gentle correction of the caricatures, and a confident offering of our theological, spiritual, and artistic vitality in relation to God’s good creation. The challenge Stephen leaves us as a theological college is to help wake up the giant by developing our curriculum, enriching our worship, keeping discussion of environmental matter on the agenda, and, in becoming an ‘Eco-College’, putting our money where our mouth is. We need your help, so I’d appreciate hearing your comments and suggestions. The good thing about a sleeping giant is that, when poked enough to wake it up, everybody’s going to hear about it.

The website address for Eco-Church is https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/

God bless.Yours, Revd Dr Alan GregoryPrincipal

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Welcoming our newacademic registrar

I am Alison, the new academic registrar. I started work at the College at the end of August and am really enjoying meeting all our students. I am rapidly getting to grips with Moodle and my main roles are managing Moodle, deadlines, extensions and liaison with Durham University.

I am married with two teenage girls, so with all four of us I am kept very busy. In addition, I am the Chair of Governors for a local primary school. I’ve been the Chair for a number of years and am passionate about the role of governance and the support that our local schools require.

When I have spare time, I like to bake cakes, read crime novels and sing.

Alison Minton

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St Augustine’s College of Theology

Malling Abbey52 Swan Street

West MallingKent ME19 6JX

Trinity House4 Chapel Court

Borough High StreetSE1 IHW

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Transforming formation

Latest Staff PublicationThe Bible Reading Fellowship has launched an exciting new series of ‘Really Useful Guides’ to the books of the Bible. Each Guide will be a short, accessible guide to a book of the Bible, intended to help people read a biblical book for themselves, understand it and make use of it. Simon Stocks is the OT series editor and has produced the first Guide in the OT series, on the Book of Psalms.

The Guide is intended for a general Christian readership, home group leaders, lay readers and anyone who just wants to know a little bit more about the Psalms. It is simple but authoritative, laid out in an easy-to-read format, with not too much text on the page and plenty of headings, bulleted lists, bold type and diagrams where helpful. It is not a technical commentary or introduction, but gives just enough background and context, along with a user-friendly summary of the key features of the book in question.

Simon says ‘I’m really pleased to be involved in this project with BRF. Reading the Bible is one of the most basic ways for people to grow in their faith, and I am keen to overcome anything that makes that difficult. I’ve made it short and easily accessible, explaining things that might otherwise be off-putting, and demonstrating how the Psalms can be useful in contemporary Christian life. I hope that this new series can be made available to as many churchgoers as possible.’

See the BRF website for further details and sales at www.brf.org.uk

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Treasurer position sought (voluntary)St Augustine’s requires a voluntary Treasurer to join its board of Trustees.

The person appointed will need to be available for meetings normally 8 times a year (week days) in West Malling and London. The role will require on average one day a month (including meetings). All reasonable expenses will be reimbursed. The College invites expressions of interest, with details of relevant experience by 31st March 2019.

Please email registration of interest and CV to: Rebecca Young at email: r.young@staugustinescollege.ac.uk

Benedictine HospitalityOver the past year or so, the Benedictine Community of St Mary at Malling has welcomed new guests into its home: the St Benedict’s Centre and St Augustine’s College of Theology. St Benedict himself invites us to ‘to welcome all guests as Christ’. This hospitality brings both the giver and receiver into the presence of God. It is an essential element in our monastic ethos, an ethos we hope is shared by all who live and work at Malling Abbey.

Who is ‘the guest’, though? All of us. We are all guests because God has called each one of us – nuns, employees, members of Pilsdon, the Centre and the College – to this place of peace and God-centred quiet. We are therefore to welcome each other as ‘God in Christ welcomed us’.

Our community also has a ministry of welcome which extends to all whom we meet: the postal worker, delivery staff, medical personnel, shop assistants, and the Big Issue seller. We take a real interest in them, pray for them, always being ready with a smile when we pass in the street. All these encounters are opportunities to welcome God in our midst.

A journalist once asked me ‘What are nuns for?’ The answer came unbidden: ‘We remind the world of joy.’ Our Benedictine ethos of welcome, of being truly present to another person, adds, I believe, to the world’s store of joy. Please pray for us and for the diffusion of joy and confidence in God to our local community, through the lives of our oblates, by way of our neighbours at Malling, and on into the world.

Mother Mary David OSB

Jonathan studied law and economics at Trinity College Cambridge before joining city law firm Taylor Wessing following his graduation.

He specialised in employment law, becoming a partner in 2000 and subsequently Chief Operating Officer. Jonathan trained for ordination with St Augustine’s (then known as SEITE), and was ordained in 2004, serving for seven years as a self-supporting minister in parishes in Lee and Blackheath whilst continuing his career in the city. In 2011 he moved into full-time parish ministry, continuing to serve in Blackheath before taking up his first post as Vicar of Christ Church Gipsy Hill in 2012. He is currently the Area

Dean of South Lambeth, and, amongst other things, a member of the Diocese of Southwark’s Lay Leadership and Ministry Working Group and a season ticket holder at Crystal Palace Football Club.

Jonathan joined the Council and Board of Management of St Augustine’s in 2013. He is married to Yvette, who is also a lawyer, and they have four teenage children.

Preaching Hope in a Troubled WorldPreachers lay and ordained took part in a workshop in November on the theme of Preaching Hope.We considered where our Christian hope comes from, and thought about some of the barriers in the Church and the world which can hinder our preaching of hope - for example preaching in an ageing Church.

In order to help us overcome these barriers, we listened to the

perspectives of preachers from the world Church. We listened to a

preacher from Kenya who showed how to embody hope in our language, a

Korean-American preacher who showed how we can use the theme of pilgrimage to

preach with hope as a minority Church, and an African-American preacher who showed

how we can preach hope out of despair. Revd Ellen Eames Please contact St Augustine’s College if you would be interested in attending Preaching Hope in future.

The annual Service of Thanksgiving and Celebration of Awards took place this year on home territory for our West Malling site. On Saturday 20th October, we were welcomed to St Mary’s West Malling for the service. The parish church provided an intimate setting as students who had completed qualifications from the full range academic pathways were each presented with a certificate to recognise their achievement.

Certificates were presented by the Principal, the Revd Dr Alan Gregory, who also preached. Revd Alan chose as his theme the anointing of Saul as the first king of Israel and the gift of his prophetic frenzy which accompanied the outpouring of the Spirit for his call. Readers may be relieved to learn that those completing their awards did not proceed through West Malling in a prophetic frenzy, but did enjoy some very satisfying

cakes and nibbles, with some being seen beating a path to local hostelries with their family and friends after the service!

The College is very grateful to the Revd Green for his support and that of his team in using St Mary’s; to Alex Norris, Christopher Winter and all who sang in the choir for the music they provided; to the Revd Jonathan Croucher for representing the Board of Trustees of the College as their Chair and particularly to all who came to collect an award and those who supported them.

We look forward to repeating this whole-college event next year, when it will take place on Saturday 19th October… all College students and supporters: make a note in your diaries now!

John Seymour

Library update The transfer of the books from Southwark Cathedral to Trinity House in August went very smoothly. Many thanks to Simon Stocks for his careful planning of the move, and to all the willing band of volunteers who packed and unpacked a large number of boxes! Access for students has vastly improved as a result of this move as the library is always open during office hours at Trinity House instead of just for a few hours on a Monday afternoon. Another successful development has been the addition of two self-service stations in the libraries at Trinity House and in the Mother Agnes Mason library at West Malling. This means that students and staff can independently issue books to their library record and renew or return them, and they can also consult the library catalogue online. We are currently trialling a set of instructions for this, and hope that everyone will soon feel confident to use the barcode scanner!

Book Sale Our Book Sale in aid of library funds in October was a great success and we were delighted to raise more than £1200. This will all be used to increase the stock of books from the course bibliographies which should help to improve the availability of some of the texts that are always in great demand. Thank you to all who came along to buy, and we hope to have another sale in the spring, so look out for dates for your diary!

Why Worship?Each time St Augustine’s College gathers, we begin with an act of worship. You would seriously miss the point if you thought this was to get the prayer done before getting down to the real business of study. It is a great privilege to lead God’s people in worship. As a significant part of what ministers and priests are called to do, they need to do it well, which requires a number of different competencies, skills, and sensitivities. We must attend to our voice and demeanour, lead confidently but not domineer, and hold the service together, while enabling the contribution of readers, intercessors, musicians, and so on. All this requires practice, which is why worship has such an integral place in our programmes of study at St. Augustine’s.

We ask members of the College to worship in different styles, which requires teamwork, shared responsibilities, and mutual understanding. A designated tutor supports the planning and helps in reflection afterwards. Practice is informed by study of the foundations of worship, of the elements and forms of worship. A vital element in every pathway of study, this helps the student to understand the components of worship and to appreciate

how worship flows and holds together as the offering of the whole gathered community. Over the seasons of the Christian year, each act of worship will have its distinctive mood and themes, expressed through the words of the prayers and the biblical readings. We use the lectionary to ensure that we hear the full gamut of scripture each year.

Whenever the College gathers, worship is on the timetable, and not only for reasons of ministerial training. Worship is ’primary theology’: here is the primary context in which we hear and respond to God’s Word and also the corporate act from which comes our shared theological vision of the triune God. This resonates with the Anglican ethos reflected in the suggestion that people see what Anglicans believe by the way they worship. In addition, worship is profoundly formational and so integral to a college whose raison d’être is the nurture of God’s people. When we gather together for worship, we are not there for instruction and certainly not entertainment, but to place ourselves before God with open hearts and minds and imaginations. We bring ourselves before the God who promises to be with us when we have ‘gathered together’, so that, through the Holy Spirit, God may form and fashion us more closely to the image and likeness of Christ, which is the outcome of our communion with God. We don’t we have to screw ourselves up to believe this or that, or

to have a particularly religious experience, rather we give ourselves into the ‘hands of God’, to Christ and the Holy Spirit, as the Father makes and constantly re-makes us into the likeness of Christ. We certainly offer our worship to God, but it is in and through that worship that God works his gentle work on us, like a potter with the clay. That is why worship is so integral to the life of a formational community such as ours.

Christopher Irvine Honorary Teaching Fellow in Sacramental Theology & Theology and the Arts, and Priest in Charge of Ewhurst and Bodiam in the Diocese of Chichester.

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A selection of photos taken during St Augustine’s Induction Day at Malling Abbey on the 15th September 2018

Revd Dr Simon Stocks

Celebration of Awards

New Chair of Trustees: Jonathan Croucher

Induction DayOn 15th September, we held our Induction Day for the new college year. This is one of the very few occasions on which the entire first year gathers at the same time and place, so in order to ensure posterity does not forget, we took an old-style college photo, complete with a back row swaying on the top of an abbey wall. The result, a surprisingly stable group, now hangs in the office as the first in a photographic tradition. Sue Jelfs, the Learning Adviser to Lay Ministry in the Rochester Diocese, led a presentation on unconscious bias that brilliantly succeeded as both funny and distinctly sobering. During the afternoon, we discussed an attempt to draw up a ‘covenant for conversation’, an outline of what we might want to commit to if we take seriously the opportunity of Christian learning in a diverse community. This covenant recognises that “frank, confident, and trustful conversation is an essential part of our common learning” and that we need to venture our questions, insights, and stories in this learning. This risky business sometimes leads us into conversation that, though difficult or even disturbing, brings (to coin a phrase) the promise of ‘transforming formation’.