Slumdog Millionaires

Well it was off to the AMC at Five Ways this evening to see the Oscar winning "feel good film of the decade".

I must admit that for most of the film I felt thoroughly depressed as we saw the sheer brutality of oppression in a developing country.

The sadness was the social context that a boy from the slums could escape the poverty by winning - in the end by chance - a TV competition.

There was no suggestion that political or social action could change the lives of everyone, not just one fortunate individual. It was particularly unpleasant to see the exploitation of the few people who should have been the "goodies", the spivs who ran the phony orphanage.

However it was a good love story with a few heart stopping moments. If you stay to see the credits you see the inspiration for the brilliant T-Mobile ad.

It made a change for a Saturday evening.

Visiting a church

Not certain I agree with his methods or conclusions but Mike Holmes raises a number of issues as he describes his experience as a stranger at a church somewhere in the USA.

Spare a prayer

Earlier this month I had several phone calls - all on one day - from friends and colleagues who were told that their contracts were not being renewed. Much of my work these days is with agency workers especially in IT and I know how easily they can be "let go".

Well, for those friends, today is "D-Day" and when they close down their computer this afternoon they will leave to a very uncertain future. I'm sure this will be replicated in workpalces across the country, if not the world. I imagine that the last Friday in March will see a similar exit.

As I have said on a previous occasion:

I know from my contacts in the agency world that contractors - those who don't show up in statistics as staff - are being hit hard. Lot's of three or six month contracts have not been renewed. These people don't show up in the official figures as it is hard to claim unemployment benefit.

Nor do the new unemployed easily show up anywhere. This time there aren't the big factory closures hitting whole communities. It is a war of attrition as staff and contractors are laid off one by one, scuttle home to the suburbs and spend hours on Jobsite hoping to find a lifeboat.


Many of the new unemployed are white collar, have mortages on homes that were overpriced and now in negative equity, have built up credit cards debt and wouldn't be seen dead joining a trades union. They certainly won't regard themselves as "working class" and won't - at the moment - be joining demonstrations demanding work.


So if you are stuck for people to pray for, remember those who leave work this afternoon.

Bring back the council house

It is a relief to see someone talking sense about loans and personal finance. At long last the government is to ban the insidious practice of offering home buyers a 100% against the value of their house.

Unbelievably during the recent housing boom the banks did not protect themselves from a possible collapse in the market by asking potential buyers to put down a deposit. In fact on some occasions they even offered potential buyers mortgages of 110 or even 120% of the value of their dream home.

When the market is on the rise, I suppose it isn't a problem. If a house is worth £100,000 and is mortgaged for the same amount it doesn't matter as the value of the house will increase. When its worth £120,000 there's nice margin of equity.

However if the value of the house then sinks to £80,000 we get negative equity which means that if the bank has to foreclose someone is £20,000 out of pocket.

Taking on a mortgage is a big commitment and a decision that shouldn't be taken lightly. It doesn't do potential home buyers any harm to have to pull a deposit together. It means regular savings and an understanding that things such as ownership don't come easily.

The problem in recent years is that the our wider economy has become alarmingly dependent on the housing market and this brings inherent dangers as I spelt on this blog out nearly 12 months ago.

Housebuilding need no be dependent on vulnerable individuals taking out impossible to repay loans in the quest for a roof over their head. We need to look at "social housing" - even the much derided "council housing" that took care of me as a child - and build more homes for affordable rents.

The recipients of such homes will still be able to furnish and decorate their homes, the house builders will be able to buy the bricks and piping. The economy will be stimulated without asking people to take on horrendous risks, and at the end of the process the wider community will have an asset and income from rent

Avoid morality parents told

According to the Sunday Times parents should not talk about "right or wrong" in certain circumstances, with their children. If parents can't talk about moral values, who can?

The launch of ChurchCall.co.uk

Well after several weeks of work, sometimes deep into the night, my company today launched ChurchCall.

The business case is simple - the one piece of modern technology that is readily accessible to most people is the mobile telephone. It provides an easy and comparatively inexpensive way of communicating very quickly and simultaneously with a large number of people.

I personally use ChurchCall to send out an SMS text message instead of printing off weekly church notices. Those who are on the list get the news whether they come to church or not, helping us keep in touch with many of our fringe members.

We looked at several systems and think we have found the most user friendly. I had in mind that it should be easy enough for even the most technophobic church official to use, which includes me!

We offer a free trial to get potential customers started and if happy you can buy a bundle of credits for less than a tenner including the VAT. This service is not available in the United States but should be functional anywhere else in the world!

So if you want to have a try go to http://www.churchcall.co.uk/.

I don't want the Bible on the top shelf!

Fascinating piece in today's Daily Mail which claims that the Bible, Koran and other spiritual books should be placed on the top shelves of the library stacks. The Mail claims that this is because some Muslims believe that the Koran is "above all other books" and should be on the top shelf, so it has been decided the Bible should be treated equally, presumably so as not to offend us Christians.

My view is that if the Muslims want the Koran beyond reach that is a matter for them. When I worked in the retail trade the reps used to tussle to get us to put their products at "eye height" somewhere between 4 and 5 feet off the ground. They didn't want the bottom shelf and hated the top shelf. In fact when I published a book I used to go into Waterstones and complain it it were not at eye height!

So I hope that the Bible is stocked in libraries where it can be seen and reached. My sensitivities will not be offended.

Do you know your Biblical references?

The story I reported earlier today about students not knowing Biblical references in literature has prompted the BBC to run a simple 10 question test.

Alas my score was not quite 100%, but this I put down to my lack of literary education (very secondary modern) rather than my knowledge of the Bible (mainly acquired at a Plymouth Brethren Sunday School).

Have a go.

Students need to know the Bible

Andrew Motion the Poet Laureate makes an interesting claim in today's Guardian which may give our educationalists something to think about.

He says:

Children should be taught the Bible throughout their education because it is an "essential piece of cultural luggage" without which they will struggle to fully understand literature, according to the poet laureate, Andrew Motion.

Too many students arrive at university to study English literature barely knowing who Adam and Eve were because teaching of the Bible and its "great stories" is disappearing from the school system, he said. He was not arguing for religious indoctrination, but for people to learn historical stories which have influenced writers. "I am not for a moment suggesting that everybody be made to go to church during their childhood. But what I do think would be worth thinking about [is] how there could be some kind of general treatment of this all the way through a child's schooling," he told the Guardian.

People cannot expect to understand much of literature - from John Milton to TS Eliot - without learning the Bible first, he said. The sermon on the mount and the crucifixion are stories which have influenced story structures ever since, while the book of Ruth is essential because of "the beauty of the writing". Children should read the Bible, he said, "simply because it is full of terrific stories. They speak to us about human nature and the recurring patterns of human behaviour."

Motion, who is professor of creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London, said that all humanities undergraduates at university level should be given crash courses in the great stories. "I would start with Christian stories, Qur'anic stories, Greek and Roman stories, but it could be refined depending on what the subject is: a little history for people doing English, a bit of English for people doing history, for example."

Keith Porteous Wood, executive director and former general secretary of the National Secular Society, said: "It's a bit excessive - children already get 45 minutes of religious education a week for 10 years. They also attend compulsory acts of worship which includes reading the Bible. Isn't that enough?"

From what I've heard of Religious Education in many schools it is a long way from the stereotype portrayed by the National Secular Society. Indeed in many respects I understand that it actually plays down the role of Christianity and focusses on moral and ethical issues - all very laudable in their own way, but not giving the solid understanding of the Bible narrative of that is necessary to understand much of British culture, history, and literature

Resourcing Renewal

Last October this blog carried an interview with Martyn Atkins, last year's President of Methodist Conference and then recently appointed as General Secretary of the Methodist Church.

I must admit I was surprised that they even let me in the doors of Church House and delighted that Martyn was so open. In retrospect I'm sorry I hadn't read Martyn's book Resourcing Renewal when I met him.

It is an optimistic little book about how the mainstream churches can again learn the lessons of growth. It is also a humble book because it acknowledges that parts of the Church (in the broadest sense and including us Methodists) have actually got it wrong. Too often we cling to an interpretation of theology and a way of doing things that mitigates against proclaiming the gospel.

I especially found his stories about the growth of the church in places such as Cuba and China especially inspiring. When you understand how churches with so little can grow and flourish, the decline in British Methodism with its well paid workforce and abundant supply of buildings becomes even more poignant.

Too often we talk of old churches being a drain on our resources. Sadly closure and realising the land value is an easier option than filling them with activity and enthusiasm.

What did make me sad was that many of the ideas which Martyn explores were tried in some Methodist churches nearly a generation ago. I joined such a church in 1983 and discovered the joy of what we now call "fresh expressions" and the opposition that it encountered.

So as I read Martyn's book I was aware that he was trying to encourage the mainstream churches to play "catch up" with all those little churches that had spun off and spun away from Methodism, the URC and the like.

The one denomination which does seem to have grasped what needs to be done are surprisingly our colleagues in parts of the Church of England. The Alpha course is the most obvious example but the Anglicans seem resilient enough to be able to develop churches which actually welcome people who want to grow their faith.

From what I have seen of much of Methodism I sense a feeling of antagonism towards those of us who believe that the Church's primary responsibility is to preach the gospel and build a community of believers.

Frankly a great many of our Ministerial team and leading members have not been "Born again". They simply don't understand what that means and cannot have a living relationship with the Holy Spirit. I have personally been on the receiving end of much of the sheer nastiness that comes when such people are challenged.

Methodism is at a cross roads. We can ask God to renew us or we will become a new agey sect, a bit like the worse of the Quakers or Unitarians, both of whom do splendid work but are also in a steep decline.

We've bought several copies of Martyn's book and each is being devoured by the remnants of our fresh expressions congregations. It seems we actually got it right thirty years ago when the rest of Methodism was getting it so wrong and determined to punish us for it.

Sadly many members of that congregation have now dispersed to other denominations, though several have remained in Methodism and even been ordained. Next time your circuit looks to invite a Minister, shortlist the "City Roaders". I promise they are up for change of the positive sort!

Apparently Martyn's book is out of print and difficult to get hold of as it is being reprinted. We contacted Ann at the Upper Room Bookshop in Plymouth and she soon found us four copies of the first edition which arrived with great speed!

The "porn again" churchgoer

One can only imagine the grief and embarrassment of the family of Nikki Jayne a young woman from Wigan who tells this morning's News of the World:

“I was quite religious when I was growing up.

“I used to go to church every Sunday and me and my friends ran a tea club for the older people. I went every week until I was in my early teens—that’s when I started to discover other things in life, like boys.”

Now she stars in pornographic films and the press feel free to use her religious beliefs as a way of ridiculing her faith.

The News of the World jokes:

THE little angel pictured on the right has grown up to be a porn-again Christian who is dedicated to her missionary work.

From churchgoer to a real goer, the wild Wigan lass once served up cups of tea and biscuits every Sunday. Now she’s serving up 34C cups and taking the sex industry by storm.

One more instance of the way in which Christianity is being marginalised. I can't imagine such a story being run about a youngster from another faith, but perhaps youngsters from other faiths don't turn out to act in porn films? I just wonder what people of other faiths make of this sort of story? Does it fill them with disgust that a newspaper in a nominally Christian country can run such a story?

But it is a stark reminder of that 13+ barrier that many young people seem to find hard to get over: is there a sign outside every church which says "13 year olds not wanted, come back when you are 18 and converted". I think I saw such a sign when I was about 13, but I haven't seen one since, though I'm told they are clearly there if you are 13, outside most churches.

I include the link to the News of the World story, but must warn it contains offensive language and images.

A ray of hope

This week's Methodist Recorder, featuring the dismal news that we are having to dig deeper into our pockets to pay the pensions of the deadbeat "liberal" ministers who did much to empty the churches in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, makes disheartening reading.

However tucked away on page 20 there is a little ray of hope, showing that there are signs of life yet in the old institution.

The circuit in Tower Hamlets, a London Borough, are looking to appoint a "Circuit Executive Officer" and pay them £43,000 per year, not quite what a Minister costs in London but an interesting alternative to a dog collar.

The advertisement actually uses language which is vaguely familiar to those of us in the modern world of work. It speaks of "strategic vision" and needing someone qualified to take responsibility for fiance, property, human resources and administration. A far cry from the idea that theological training qualifies a Minister for all these complex needs.

They even use the phrase "change management". I think the only time the Methodist Church had ever seen that phrase before was when I offered to be a member of the Strategy Committee - but alas my application was, as they say, lost in the post.

But the good news is that change is afoot. It will be interesting to see how this role works out.

Black History Month

For anyone interested in Francis Asbury and his relationship to Black people there's a timely reminder that Asbury preached the gospel to people of all races on Bishop Peggy's blog.

She tells the story of Harry Hoosier who was used by God to bring some 10,000 souls to him. Worth a read.

Why the UK has a chlamydia rate that is now out of control

This blog rarely does moral outrage when it comes to what happens between consenting adults behind closed doors.

But if you have the stomach for it, today's sex survey in the News of the World gives some indication as to why Britain has an out of control rate of chlamydia infection, one of the highest abortion rates, one of the highest teen pregnancy rates, and one of the highest divorce rates in the Western world.

And in its wake of this fiesta we find a string of very unhappy children, but that would "spoil" a good story.

How to destroy your church

Thanks to the Christian Professionals newsleterr from Linkedin I found this fascinating series of articles on "How to destroy your church", something that I have given a lot of thought to recently.

Some of the points made are worth thinking about, perhaps readers can add a few more:

How to Destroy Your Church: Zip Your Lips If you really want to destroy your church quickly, here is the number one rule: zip your lips when you see something wrong. Got that? Don’t say anything. Don’t speak up. Don’t voice your concerns. Don’t make waves. Read the full article.

How to Destroy Your Church: No Pruning Allowed One of the simplest ways to destroy a church is to put up a sign that says, “No Pruning Allowed!” When you see slight deviations from the Word of God, little sins here and there – just let them alone. After all, they’re small. No big deal. Nothing to get up in arms about. Or are they? Read the full article.

How to Destroy Your Church: My Way or the Highway Destroying a church is easy, particularly if you are in a position of leadership. Simply insist on “my way or the highway.” It’s a very equestrian position: dig in your heels like a mule, and get on your high-horse at the slightest provocation … Read the full article.

How to Destroy Your Church: Don’t Look in the Mirror If you want to destroy your church, you should never – figuratively speaking – “look in the mirror.” Don’t spend time examining yourself for sin. Don’t put your words, actions, attitudes, and thoughts to the test. Don’t do group evaluations to see whether the church, the leadership team, the committees, etc. are on target scripturally, or are perhaps heading off the straight and narrow down the path of sin. Read the full article.

How to Destroy Your Church: Do Not Touch One surefire way to destroy your church is to hang a placard around the neck of each person in leadership that says “Do Not Touch!” When you do so, the person becomes exempt from the tap of reproof, relieved from the hand of correction, unaccountable to any accountability. Read the full article.

Snow joke today

Well I did it. Despite the dark warnings of more chaos to come I caught the bus at The Dog in Bearwood and was just 35 minutes late for my meeting in Outer London - due to a points failure at Milton keynes and nothing to do with the weather. How comes the rest of the country has ground to a standstill?

Its snow joke

Well I set out at 6.15 am for my usual Monday morning trip to London. No problem with the bus from The Dog, no problem with the Virgin train into Euston. However on arrival I found London's transport paralysed. Even the Circle Line, which runs entirely underground was suspended. The Hammersmith and City Line, my normal route, was suspended and stay closed all day.

I did notice as I made my way on the near empty trains that the bulk of the passengers making their way to work seemed to be in their fifties and sixties - the younger age groupings seemed strangely absent. Eventually I arrived at my destination 20 minutes late, only to find myself almost alone! One of the others who made it had come in from Lichfield.

I get the impression that London's transport system just gave up. Yes it was a heavy fall of snow but they could have done more to keep the show on the road. I did. Why didn't they.

Tomorrow I will retrace my journey as I make my way to London for a new assignment. Looking out of my window now I wonder if I will get away from Birmingham New Street. If I get a chance I will let you know.

How would you feel about going to the Lords?

Seeing the painful exposure of a decent man like Peter Truscott has made me think that possibly I once had a lucky escape.

Reading that Peter Snape has been knocked about for moving amendments to bills about buses is hardly surprising: even if he was not on the board of a transport company he would be taking a consistent interest in public transport. What sort of laws would we expect him to take an interest in? Peter has been fanatical about buses before the rest of us could pay a full fare. The man has got a length of railway track where the rest of us have a spine.

Way back in the dog days before loosing my seat in the European Parliament a senior colleague in the European Parliamentary Labour took me aside and asked "How would you feel about going to the Lords?".

My response was immediate and direct - at that time of my life, I was just 50: insulted.

Labour was trying to get a quart into a pint jug. The newly elected Labour government had done some sort of deal with the Liberal Democrats and agreed to a system of proportional representation for the elections to the European Parliament.

Now I wasn't certain whether the individual concerned was just making conversation or actively seeking my response with a view to being ennobled, but several of my colleagues made the leap within the next six months.

One of the reasons why I was wary of getting involved with the Lords is that I believed then that it lacked legitimacy: with nearly 700 hereditary peers I felt it was ill-suited to be a viable part of the constitution of a modern democracy. Neither was I then - and still am not - happy about the existence of the bench of Bishops from the Church of Blunderland.

Now I have met exceptionally good members of the Lords from both of these groups - the late Brook Forrester springs to mind, as does John Oliver, the former Bishop of Hereford, both of whom I worked with on a number of initiatives.

Time has now moved on and the hereditary Lords will soon be extinct. The Bishops remain but perhaps we can live with them as increasingly there are representatives from other religious groups, including two Methodists (though I was told way back in the mid eighties by George Thomas that we were really only "entitled" to one, and that was Donald Soper).

But my other reservation about the Lords was the lolly. I had a young family to support and couldn't see how I could possibly provide for them on the basis of a daily attendance allowance that today amounts to £330 a day for 120 days each year - an income of under £40,000 before the expense of running two homes. As a top up to a pension it would be wonderful, but as a main income, a disaster.

The temptation in such a position to respond to offers of work as a "consultant" must be overwhelming. I can well understand how some members of the Lords now find themselves in the spotlight and it was one that I did not want to resort to.

Let me say a word about lobbyists. At the moment they are being cast as the bad boys and girls - tempting these innocent parliamentarians with offers they find hard to refuse.

Not so, a good lobbyist knows their stuff, knows the legislative process and the detail of a bill going through the respective legislature. It is quite common for them to approach members of the Commons, the Lords and the European Parliament with ready drafted amendments from their legal support staff.

My attitude when approached by lobbyists was simple: what's in it for my constituency? That must be the absolute acid test. For this reason I took amendments and tabled them in the European Parliament. These had been drafted by trades unions, the farmers organisations, even one body representing the wc manufacturers. No money passed hands and I was always careful not to be compromised.

There was one occasion when I felt that I was being treated too well. An oil company invited me to spend a day on an oil rig in the North Sea. The evening before I found myself booked into a luxury hotel (it really was luxurious) and offered one of the finest dinners I have ever set eyes on. I thought the hospitality was little lavish but I was their guest.

As we were on the second round of the port the managing director started lobbying us, very blatantly about, sections of the proposed Working Time Directive. I then realised that the reason I was there was not to learn about the oil industry but to be lobbied about the WTD.

My own trades union had a very strong view on the WTD, one that I shared. The following morning, I insisted on paying the cost of the room myself and found myself nearly £500 out of pocket.

Now had the oil company came to see me in my office I would have happily discussed the issue with them. Big companies used to do that: as a legislator I needed to know what was happening especially if it had a beneficial or detrimental impact on my patch.

The weakness with the Lords is that not only are their members underpaid and therefore expected to have outside interests, but that they don't have any form of constituency with whom to relate.

I look forward to an elected second chamber.

By the way, does the Methodist Public Affairs team keep an eye on what our two Lords are up to. I hope we don't just leave them to their own devices!