This week our message is from the Revd Canon Dr Sandra Millar, Director of Mission and Ministry.
The Kingdom of God is justice and joy.
On Tuesday afternoon more than 160 colleagues will descend on the Hayes, a Christian Conference Centre in Swanwick, Derbyshire. We gather for the Diocese of Gloucester Clergy Conference, which happens every three years. The Bishops invite all licensed ordained clergy to join them for a time away, when there will be learning, listening, and sharing as we come together.
For each conference a small team is involved in planning and preparing, and huge thanks are due to them. We think through every aspect of our time from welcome to endings, from teaching to relaxing, from feeding the soul to feeding the body.
This year the theme is the Kingdom of God is Justice and Joy, and we have input from a leading biblical scholar, Dr Paula Gooder, who will be helping us explore some of Jesus’ challenging parables. We also have a keynote address from the Chancellor of the University, Dame Clare Marchant, and a whole range of learning groups where we can explore some of the most pressing justice issues of our world. Minds will be stretched.
The conference is not a retreat – but it is a time to draw encouragement from being together and to feel blessed in what we do. There is time for clergy to know they are prayed for, to take part in worship and to gain new insights which will help others when they return.
Whether you are in a rural community or the heart of a city or town in our diocese, thinking about justice is very timely. Clergy will return having been inspired to reach out into our worshipping communities and to our neighbourhoods with a message of hope and love. And our prayer is that everyone will leave with a new sense of joy in ministry as together we continue to follow Jesus Christ day by day.
There are more and more opportunities across the diocese for different kinds of leadership to meet together but alongside this it is also significant to have times of peer learning, meeting with those who do similar roles and sharing experiences.
Pray for your clergy this week, and do ask them when they return what the 48 hours has meant for them, so that everyone can share in the message of justice and joy.
The Revd Canon Dr Sandra Millar
Director of Mission and Ministry
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