Vicar: Celebrating the Renewal of Parish Ministry

by Alan Bartlett

Publisher:

SPCK

, 2019

Overview

The Church has long been talking about the oncoming challenges of providing ordained ministers to lead and enable local churches. Now structural change is really happening: but those at the sharp end—‘vicars’—are often bewildered and demoralized.

This book celebrates the tradition of English Anglican ordained pastoral ministry; it also affirms the value of vicars’ ministry and way of life, and the great gift they have for relating to our communities and churches. The ‘vicar’ (parish priest, pastor, minister) still leads people—those who ‘come to church’ and those who don’t—in prayer and praise, cares for them in their sufferings and rejoices with them in their joys. This deep wisdom has sustained the Church for centuries.

Yet, the question must be asked: how can we be better equipped to make prudent decisions about the way church ministry has to evolve now?

Key Features

• Affirms the value of vicars’ ministry and way of life
• Celebrates the tradition of English Anglican ordained pastoral ministry
• Explores the future of Anglican ministry

Contents

Theological Foundations

• Introduction
• Whose World is it Anyway?
• What on Earth is the Church For?
• The Mysteries of Place
• Signs of the Kingdom

What Do Vicars Actually Do?

• In persona Christi—and Not
• No More FKB (‘Father Knows Best’)
• The Chief Exec?
• Joy and Throne and Hair Shirt: The Bible and Vicaring
• Sacraments of the Present Moment
• ‘You’re the Man Who Talks about God’: Evangelism Neither Bashful nor Cheesy

What Sorts of People are Vicars

• Self-Fulfilment or Self-Sacrifice or Self-Fulfilment?
• Are Vicars Sad?
• ‘Do justice . . . love kindness . . . walk humbly with your God’
• Jesus-Likeness

Conclusion

• Success?

Praise for the Print Edition

At a time when many conceive of religious faith in terms of rigidity of mind and violence of action, it is vital to listen to those voices which rightly understand Christian faith in terms of astonishing divine grace and compassionate human wisdom. Alan Bartlett is one of those voices.

—Walter Moberly

What makes his book different is that it is written from an Evangelical (or, more accurately, post-Evangelical) perspective; and that it appeals a good deal to English and Anglican tradition, and especially to the writings of Jeremy Taylor, Richard Hooker and Julian of Norwich, in making the case that the Church should take a more affirmative approach to both the human condition and the totality of creation.

—Ian Bradley

Product Details

• Title: Vicar: Celebrating the Renewal of Parish Ministry
• Author: Alan Bartlett
• Publisher: SPCK
• Publication Date: 2019
• Pages: 256
• Christian Group: Anglican
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Topic: Pastoral Theology

About Alan Bartlett

Alan Bartlett has been an Anglican priest for 25 years. He has served in four north-eastern parishes as well as teaching in a theological college, where he was the postgraduate Director, and is now working as a CMD Officer in Durham. Alan taught Anglicanism, church history, spirituality and practical theology. He has written widely on Anglicanism and spirituality and now reflects on the future of English Anglican parochial ministry as both experienced practitioner and theologian. He is married to Helen, a railway chaplain, and they have two adult children.