Reflections and Stories

Rach's Reflection: Evangelism is a Scary Word

1 Aug 2019

I was at a Christian festival around the age of 15 when I claimed my faith as my own. I was really excited, and volunteered to go to Torquay High Street with others from the festival to give out hot cross buns to strangers if they would talk with me about why there was a cross on the top of them...

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What is Ecumenism? What isn’t it?

24 Jul 2019

Let me first be clear by ruling out what ecumenism is not and should not be. Ecumenism is often wrongly caricatured as merely passively accepting everything other denominations say, think, do and believe without thought or question. However, to participate in the services or activities of...

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Discovering Ecumenical Services at University

24 Jul 2019

Growing up in an Anglican tradition, I got to know the service styles of a few local churches over the years, gaining some sense of what a wonderfully eclectic concoction the Church of England is. However, aside from a couple of visits to Methodist or Catholic churches, I had little practical...

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It’s The Little Things

16 Jul 2019

For all of my life so far, I have been a Methodist. I was baptised in a Methodist church and I was confirmed in a Methodist church. My mum is a Methodist minister. And yet I found myself, inexplicably, attending an Anglican church whilst at univeristy. 

Don’t worry. I’m still a Methodist...

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Coming Out of my Catholic Bubble (and I've been doing just fine)

16 Jul 2019

I really enjoyed my Roman Catholic school education but, like everything, 14 years within such a system had its positives and negatives. I have fond memories of singing great hymns at primary school (‘Shine Jesus Shine’ is a particular banger) and my very inspirational secondary school...

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Coming Home to Chaplaincy

20 May 2019

In 2012, after years of working hard to get the grades I needed to get a place at university and move away from my hometown, I found myself as an undergrad at Newcastle University - the furthest away I could get whilst still being in England.

I had been working shifts while retaking A-...

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Finding Faith through Chaplaincy

20 May 2019

I became a Christian in my penultimate term of university. It was the end of a period in which God was leading me to Him.

I had seen Christianity as a moral way to live, but didn’t believe in Jesus. This gradually changed at university. I met people who were open about their faith and who...

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The Breathing Sacrament of Chaplaincy

3 May 2019

CN: references psychosis, suicide/suicide attempt, trauma.

University chaplains champion faith presence and practices on campus. What is sometimes less obvious is that they are part of university wellbeing teams: there for anyone of any faith, denomination or none, for...

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Rach's Reflection: Championing Chaplaincy

3 May 2019

One of the many joys in my job as the Regional Development Worker for the North West is the time I spend with chaplains. Whether it’s a Facebook chat planning preaching appointments, a 1-2-1 over a cuppa, or a phone call to check that they're okay and talk about how I can support them and their...

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Challenge Accepted!

30 Apr 2019

As a teenager, whenever someone uttered those dreaded words, “I challenge you to…”, I could never resist attempting straightaway whatever it was that ended the sentence. As a result I wouldn’t normally recommend jumping into something so quickly, but as part of...

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