The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, gave the plenary lecture at the Church Times Festival of Preaching this month in Great St Mary’s, Cambridge (Features, 20 September).

In the lecture, she spoke about the weariness she has detected in the Church and in society at large. She also explained why she worries, for practical and theological reasons, about the C of E’s drive to increase in size and numbers.  

“The constant mantra that we must grow, indeed that we are going to grow if we follow the strategy, the deliberate setting of targets to increase the number of worshippers, the judging of a church’s success according to its size — all this is putting undue pressure on clergy who are overstretched and congregations whose morale is low. . . 

“We cannot and must not continue placing unreasonable and unrealistic expectations of growth in numbers on the shoulders of our clergy. If growth is to happen, it will be God’s doing.”

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