FEFE

Free expression
Fresh expressions


 

A clear and simple guide to selected churches and churchgoers, church organizations and schools, with the emphasis on Street Pastors

 

 

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it's wide as well as long.
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of a portable device.

 

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This is the newest page of the site. It will be revised and extended.

     

 

 Above, the Ship of Fools

 

An extract from the site

 

http://ship-of-fools.com/mystery/

 

' ... Ship of Fools has been sending Mystery Worshippers to churches worldwide. Travelling incognito, they ask those questions which go to the heart of church life: How long was the sermon? How hard the pew? How cold was the coffee? How warm the welcome?

The only clue they have been there at all is the Mystery Worshipper calling card, dropped discreetly into the collection plate.

 

I take a much more rigorous view. I'm not a worshipper, of course, but I think that worshippers should take a less flippant view. Those questions aren't the basics at all. The questions that are important include this. Does the Church promote belief in Hell - or Eternal Separation from God - if a person, eg a person who lives in the parish, a person who works in local businesses, local schools and the rest - I give many more examples in these pages - has no belief in Jesus Christ as Personal Lord and Saviour, for a variety of reasons. Again, some of the reasons are given in these pages.

 

 

 


      

 

 

Sheffield Street Pastors: Preacher and Street Pastor Tricia Watts. Church Army 'Key Evangelist' and Street Pastor Kinder Kalsi

 

 

Above, Tricia Watts, Coordinator, Sheffield Street Pastors, preaching to the converted at Rock Christian Centre, Sheffield on good-good news and good-bad news, on Jesus as the Saviour of the World (exceptions apply: unsaved sinners, the vast majority of people in the world, past and present, not included.) Message 'Baby born in a stable' stuck to newspaper by evangelist, not added to image by me.

 

 

 

Above, 'Evening Prayer with Smartphone' from the Facebook page of Attercliffe and Darnall Centre of Mission, Sheffield. Kinder Kalsi on the left, Gina Kalsi in the centre, person on the right not identified here. Kinder Kalsi on Sheffield Street Pastors: 'Gods hands and Feet on the streets of sheffield' [Punctuation as in the original.]

 

Tricia Watts. Supplementary material on Rock Christian Centre 

 

From the profile of Tricia Watts not on this page but the page

 

http://www.rockchristiancentre.org/people/tricia-watts/

 'I love taking Barney walking (dog) and love holidaying in hot places!'


The profile of Tricia Watts here will have to be very different from the profile of Tricia Watts published by Rock Christian Centre and the Centre will be criticized too. The Centre gives a clear statement of  belief.

 

http://www.rockchristiancentre.org/what-we-believe/

 

According to Rock Christian Centre, people are 'corrupted by sin, which incurs divine wrath and judgement' and 'justification of sinners' is 'solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ.' This is the doctrine that 'good works' do nothing to avoid 'divine wrath and judgement.' What the statement doesn't do is to spell out the hideous consequences. I do that below, using a wide range of examples. Everyday acts of kindness and goodness, saving life in extreme circumstances are of no avail. A person may be a loving mother or loving father, a humanitarian, a scientist or engineer who has made enormous contributions to human welfare, but without the faith in Christ as personal Lord and Saviour, they are all subject to the divine wrath and judgement and destined to spend eternity in separation from God.

 

Rock Christian Centre, like Kinder and Gina Kalsi's Centre of Mission, has published no Safeguarding Policy and has no Safeguarding Officer. Why not? Both centres belong to the organization 'Arise!' which includes the Diocese of Sheffield.

 

Amongst the blessings bestowed on Tricia Watts and Kinder Kalsi is this: they were chosen to present the award for best pub and runner up pubs at a ceremony organized by 'Sheffield Best Bar None.'

 

From the page

 

https://bbnuk.com/best-of-the-best-bar-none-in-sheffield-recognised-in-ceremony/

 

Sheffield Best Bar None hosted it [as in the original] 11th Annual Awards Ceremony on Thursday 13th February at Sheffield City hall Ballroom.

 

Pub – Presented by Tricia Watts & Kinder Kalsi – Sheffield Street Pastors

Runner Up – Benjamin Huntsman

Runner Up – Sheffield Waterworks

Winner – Bankers Draft

 

Tricia Watts is the Coordinator of Sheffield Street Pastors.

 

The Best Bar None page pays tribute to the work of Sheffield Street Pastors, although the tribute seems half-hearted: 'They are familiar will most of the people on the streets, and will often have a chat or signpost to support services ... ' Street Pastors like to present themselves as being on 'the front line,' even though it's the police who are on the front line in the episodes of chaos and violence which take place in city centres late at night and early in the morning. They're on the front line - they're the first line of defence - when missiles are thrown during violent protests, when gunmen open fire and thugs wielding knives injure and kill.

 

A serious omission: the half-hearted tribute to street pastors doesn't mention something which is not just important to these and other street pastors but far more important than offering water to intoxicated people or administering amateurish first aid, occasionally. The tribute doesn't mention the 'Power of Prayer.' The Street Pastors would regard themselves as much more important than the police, who are simply doing 'man's work.' They are doing God's work! Or that's what they claim. Prayer can work miracles, or that's what they claim. From

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jul0ET4-8bw
which is about the work of Reading Street Pastors.

 
'If there's a fight going on, I'll ask God to intervene.'    31s

At 6:21, a Street Pastor turns to prayer. The words of his prayer:  

 

'They just had a bit of a fight in the doorway between two groups  So father I just ask you into the situation to deal with it  to keep these groups separated and may they all go home safely on their own.'

 

Street Pastors are part of the 'Ascension Trust. Their site has a page on prayer and Prayer Pastors

 

https://www.ascensiontrust.org.uk/about-us/prayer/

 

Prayer Pastors:

 

  • Come to base, support the street pastor teams any way they can and ‘pray them out’

  • Stay in contact with the street pastor team on patrol and keep a log of calls & incidents

  • Respond to specific needs and situations that arise

  • Pray for protection and divine appointments

  • See frequent answers to their prayers

Tonight (29/30th September 2018) at 1 am we had a call from the team of four street pastors in Portrush. The team members had been talking to a young man from Draperstown (33 miles away), who was rather the worse for wear and needed to get home. He did have money to pay for a taxi, and the team asked us to pray for a taxi or a way home for him.


We prayed immediately and within 7 minutes had another phone call to base. A couple had pulled up in their car and asked if the Street Pastors were ok, and was there anything they could do to help? It so happened that they were from Maghera (6 miles from Draperstown)!


When the driver of the car and the guy in need of a lift realised it was a perfect fit, they happily bumped fists. The guy got in and they drove off.

 

What a lovely quick answer to our prayers – within just a few minutes!”

 

Is God's power confined to small events, such as 'a bit of a fight' and ordering a taxi? The Street Pastors would surely say that God's power is much greater than that. God is all-powerful, according to them. Strange that the page should include the minor matter of the taxi and only one other example of an answer to prayer when a very large number of other examples are available to them if the prayer pastors 'see frequent answers to their prayers.'

 

If God is willing to help out by providing a taxi, why was God unwilling to help in cases where the need was so much greater?

 

When Nazi Germany was about to invade Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Russia and the rest, when Nazi Germany was planning to invade Britain, was prayer the answer? Would it have been the slightest use if a Christian had prayed, 'father I just ask you into the situation to deal with it to keep these groups separated ... ?'

 

It was armed force, not prayer, which eventually defeated Nazi Germany and lifted the nightmare of summary executions, systematic killing in the concentration camps and the extermination camps and the whole apparatus of terror.

 

Tricia Watts and the other Street Pastors keep quiet about this but I've no reason to keep quiet, every reason to challenge their evasiveness.

 

Tricia Watts, and the others, believe that the police who put their lives at risk, the police they see during their night-time activities, are all doomed to spend eternity in separation from God, in hell - apart from the tiny minority who 'accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. They believe that all the people they help or claim to help in their night-time ministry, by offering water or directing them to the social services or whatever) are all doomed to spend eternity in separation from God, in hell - apart from the tiny minority who 'accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.'

 

They believe that all the people who fought and died to oppose the Nazis share exactly the same fate as the Nazis themselves, eternity in separation from God, in hell,  by offering water or directing them to the social services or whatever) are all doomed to spend eternity in separation from God, in hell - apart from the tiny minority who 'accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour.'

 

Tricia Watts held up a copy of the newspaper 'The News of the World' and gave some trivial, but quite witty examples of good-bad news. She didn't give any examples of the horrific bad news to be found in newspapers, the rape of babies, the killing of babies, rescue attempts which came to nothing, children sold by parents who had next to nothing left, tragic accidents, and so much more. Does she have very limited empathy, very limited recognition of the scale of the suffering of people? These are examples, surely, of bad-bad news, or news which would be bad-bad news if it were not for the human goodness which again and again is a counterpoint to the bad news, the human goodness which tries to prevent the bad or limit the bad but so often comes to nothing. These people too are destined to spend eternity in separation from God, in hell.

 

After giving a few trivial examples of good-bad news, Tricia Watts claimed - proclaimed - that Jesus is different. Jesus is 'good-good news.' What? Is she serious? (She isn't serious in the sense of a serious person making a serious contribution to a serious subject.) She preaches, Rock Christian Centre preaches, that Jesus is 'the saviour of the world.' Nothing of the kind. Since most of the world is made up of people who have been , are and will be peple without an active faith in Jesus as Lord and Saviour, the vast majority of people are 'unsaved sinners.' Jesus has saved, according to these hideous doctrines, only a tiny minority, not 'the world.'

 

The people who did backbreaking work - and still do backbreaking work - for 12 hours a day, 14 hours a day, 16 hours a day and who had a few days holiday in the year and never a holiday in the sun, although they may have worked in the sun, suffering from thirst as well as exhaustion, have also been consigned to hell. If it seems difficult or impossible to imagine a place worse than the stone quarries at Mauthausen concentration camp, where inmates were worked to death, or the nightmarish conditions of the other camps, Christians have come up with a much worse place. The nightmarish conditions of the camps were for a limited time, but hell is for ever, according to the Chrstian 'good news' (or 'good-good' news) of these people.

 

The air crews who flown Tricia Watts to her holidays in the sun and the people who have served her needs at the hotels where she stayed share Hell with Nazis, as 'unsaved sinners,' apart from the tiny minority of saved sinners.

 

Not forgetting the staff and customers of the Bankers Draft pub, which received the award from Tricia Watts and Kinder Kalsi. They would probably be surprised to learn that the pair who presented the award believe, with complete conviction, that the 'unsaved sinners' among the staff and customers are destined to spend eternity in hell.

 

 

Kinder and Gina Kalsi, Centre of Mission

 

 Amongst the issues discussed in this section: The Centre of Mission's failure to publish a Safeguarding Policy or to appoint a Safeguarding Officer, risks and practical difficulties associated with some of their 'Mission Methods,'  the Mission's prayer and prayer-walking, the Rock Centre's failure to publish a Safeguarding Policy or to appoint a Safeguarding Officer, the Rock Centre and 'the power of prayer,' Tricia Watts and holidays in the sun, Tricia Watts and hellfire for unbelievers, Kinder Kalsi and Tricia Watts present an award for 'the best pub.'


Above, an image (modified so as to observe copyright) from a series of prayer videos published by the Centre. Most have recorded 0 views. Two of them, including this one, are much more popular - no less than 3 views each!  During most of the prayer session, not just the introduction, part of it shown here, but the prayers, Kinder Kalsi is shown with eyes down, obviously looking at the screen of his Smartphone, his fingers shown again and again tapping on the keypad. He may be praying or giving the appearance of praying, but his mind is obviously on other things. Recommended, a viewing of the video:

 

https://www.facebook.com/AttercliffeCofM/
videos/1029186674298705/

 

The Attercliffe and Darnall Centre  of Mission was established jointly by Diocese of Sheffield and Church Army, with the support of Sheffield Methodist Circuit and the United Reform Church. The Church Army appointed Kinder Kalsi  Lead Evangelist and Gina Kalsi Pioneer Evangelist.

 

The oversight of the Diocese of Sheffield and the Church Army - and the other Churches - has been grossly deficient. Most Sheffield Churches and Church organizations have a safeguarding policy.

 

The existence of a safeguarding policy is no guarantee that abuse won't occur, of course. Julie Morris, Staff Governor, Religious Education teacher and Safeguarding Lead at St George's Central Church of England School in Wigan was sentenced to imprisonment, along with her partner, for a large number of child abuse offences, including nine counts of rape. They filmed themselves abusing and raping a girl under the age of 13.

 

Publication of a Safeguarding Policy is a statement that the Church takes safeguarding seriously. To ensure that everything possible is done to prevent abuse in the Church takes far more effort than simple publication of a Safeguarding Policy (or praying, so often a substitute for effective action.) Lack of a Safeguarding Policy amounts to an admission that safeguarding is a low priority for the Church or a Church organization, or isn't in the least important.

 

 

The Diocese of Sheffield is a member of the very large group of Churches called 'Arise!' A significant number of these Churches don't have a Safeguarding Officer or publish a Safeguarding Policy. The Attercliffe and Darnall Centre of Mission doesn't seem to have a Safeguarding Officer or Safeguarding Policy.  Putting search terms which include these words into Google gives no results. Why not? Why haven't the Sheffield Diocese and the Church Army, who established the Centre for Mission, made absolutely clear the need for a Safeguarding Policy and the publication of a Safeguarding Policy? Why haven't they madi it absolutel clear that the Centre of Mission has to have a Safeguarding Officer? The Centre for Mission has helpers. Four of them are mentioned by Kinder Kalsi in his early morning attempt to bring the Gospel to a few people in Sheffield. Were the helpers vetted? What safeguarding controls are in place at the Centre for Mission? None at all?

 

The material above on safeguarding was added very recently. Before publishing it here, as a matter of courtesy I sent a short email to Gina Kalsi to inform her about these safeguarding issues and to give her the chance to comment before I published this new material, if she wanted to comment. The email never reached her - it was blocked. I've known for a long time that Tim Ling of the Church Army had blocked all emails from me to all members of the Church Army. I explain the circumstances at the end of this section. Tim Ling's decision was a blunder and does him no credit at all, I'm sure.  What I didn't know is that he'd imposed blocking to a much wider range of recipients, including Gina Kalsi. The issue is important, I have no other convenient way of contacting Gina Kalsi - I'm not a member of Twitter or Facebook, so I don't make use of whatever methods of contact Twitter and Facebook make available to members.

 

This is a very instructive case. There's more striking information and comment on these Church Army 'Key Evangelists,' particularly in Stage 2.

The 3 stages in this Mission - and so many other missions - as I see it.


Stage 1. Excitement, elation, claims that God is not just lending a helping hand in the birth of the mission but actively guiding his disciples. Action - prayer, more prayer and even more prayer, even though these people would recognize that God already knows what they want to achieve for God, his kingdom and the community. Emphasis upon transformation - transforming lives, transforming communities. If challenged - but they are practically never challenged, although they are here - the evangelists/transformers would be very unlikely to give an honest answer to this direct question:

 

Do you or don't you believe that the people you intend to reach in the community you intend to transform will spend eternity in fellowship with God if they accept your message - if they ever hear about it - and will spend eternity in separation from God - in the place traditionally called 'hell' - if they don't hear about it or do hear about it but don't accept it - perhaps for the reason that their lives involve backbreaking hours at work or work which takes up most of their time and energy or their lives involve other intense - sometimes horrendous - difficulties and they never get round to considering the issues - and if they ever do consider the issues, find intellectual or ethical or practical difficulties in your message.

 

Kinder Kalsi is of Sikh origin. Does he believe that Sikhs not converted to belief in Christ as Lord and Saviour are destined for hell, or eternal separation from Christ. Attercliffe and Darnall have many, many believers in Islam and many mosques. Do Gina and Kinder Kalsi see any difficulties here for the 'transformation' of Attercliffe and Darnall. Is the mass conversion of Attercliffe and Darnall to belief in Christ in the least likely?

 

Can Attercliffe and Darnall give a clear Statement of Belief on just this aspect of Christian belief, as they see it. Do you believe in eternal damnation for the people of Attercliffe and Darnall who fail to accept the 'good news' of the gospel (the very bad news of the gospel, atrocious, hideous news for people who for one reason or another fail to accept it.)

 

The birth of this Mission wasn't a difficult one. It had a great deal of support, the support of the Church Army, the support of the Diocese, and of other Churches. The Methodist Church is mentioned in the publicity material published by the Diocese but the United Reform Church was also involved.

 

From the site

 

https://www.sheffield.anglican.org/news/evangelists-appointed-to-attercliffe-darnall-sheffield-centre-of-mission

 

Evangelists appointed to Attercliffe & Darnall (Sheffield) Centre of Mission

2nd December 2019

 'Church Army has announced the appointment of two pioneering evangelists for the new centre of mission in Attercliffe & Darnall (Sheffield) to build new Christian communities among groups currently untouched by church. The centre is being established jointly by Diocese of Sheffield and Church Army, with the support of Sheffield Methodist Circuit

'Kinder Kalsi CA [CA: 'Church Army'] has been appointed Lead Evangelist and the Reverend Gina Kalsi has been appointed Pioneer Evangelist. Both Kinder and Gina are currently engaged in Christian mission in Sheffield and bring considerable skills, knowledge and vision relevant to their new patch. It is expected that they will take up their posts around the beginning of March.
 
'The centre will work in collaboration with the Church of Christ/St Albans and other local churches, and will build on the foundations of previous mission in the area, seeking to enable new people to encounter God’s love, and to transform their community through faith expressed in word and action.   
 
'Fuller information will be publicised when the launch of the centre is announced publicly.'

 

Stage 2. After the mission has begun, attempts to publicize the issues. The focus is entirely upon the so called  'good news,' not the bad news, the fate which awaits 'the others.' The Trasformation Claims continue. Prayer continues, and often on a massive scale - even though the evangelists believe that God, supposedly omnipotent, already knows  what the evangelists want to achieve, is already completely aware of their own needs, the needs of the community - the needs of the community as they see things, from their own perspective - there's absolutely no guarantee that their views is free from distortion, based upon incomplete, very faulty evidence.

 

The information here comes from these main sources:

 

The page 'YOU'RE INVITED TO CUPPA WITH A KEY WORKER'

 

https://churcharmy.org/cuppa/

 

'Cuppa with a key worker is your chance to hear from staff on the frontline of Church Army's work where you are and across the UK and Ireland.'

 

The page includes this:

 

April 2021 featuring David Craig and Emma Taylor from Envoy Community as well as Gina and Kinder Kalsi from Church Army's Attercliffe & Darnall's Centre of Mission.

 

The interview with Gina and Kinder Kalsi is at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TdtgpRJnc4

 

125 views so far, long after the interview was published. I'll come back to the interview later. Before that, I'll comment on his Lindedin profile and his Twitter and Facebook pages, where Kinder Kalsi has a lot say about himself, his activities, the pleasures he finds in life, but not so much specific information about his evangelism.

 

Extracts from his Linkedin profile:

 

Lead evangelist for attercliffe and Darnal Centre of Mission at Church Army UK & Ireland [Spelling: 'Darnal' here should be 'Darnall.']

 

About
I have a heart for community cohesion through Christian Values. I want people to go through life through the cycle of Grace....1. know they are loved by God. 2. Their identity 3. what sustains them and then 4. and then achievement.

 

[So, he has 'a heart for community cohesion through Christian Values. According to the site

https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/
yorkshireandthehumber/wards/
sheffield/E05010864__darnall/

Darnall had in 2020 7,528 Christian people and 8,451 Moslem people. I haven't found figures for Attercliffe but this is another area with many Moslem believers. Kinder Kalsi said, accurately or not, that there are 9 mosques in Attercliffe and Darnall. How can he possibly expect to establish 'community cohesion through Christian Values, unless Christian evangelists like himself and Gina Kalsi convert the Moslems, or most of them, to Christianity. This is never going to happen. He's living in a dream world. How many people in total have he and Gina Kalsi converted to Christianity since the Mission was established, to the best of his knowledge? Thousands, hundreds, a few, next to none or none? I've found plenty of claims about little things, very little things, but nothing about major successes - successes for them, that is.]

Back to his Linkedin page:

I love networking .....
Community Evangelist and Training Enabler St Bart's and St Stephen's Church
Aug 2009 - Jul 2013   4 years

Sheffield, United Kingdom

I work where people are ..... in 2 local schools, pubs, local groups and run a youth Club.

I also enable the training of future church army officers.

He gives a comprehensive and detailed Curriculum Vitae, including this information:

Lollypop man
Ealing council
Sep 1983 - Jul 1985  1 year 11 months

Store Manager
B&Q
Jan 1986 - Sep 1999   13 years 9 months

all over west london from greenford, hayes, Chiswick, staples corner, Slough
from Saturday Checkout operator (greenford) to Store Manager (slough)

I have to ask, can he confirm that he was a Store Manager for B&Q for this period of time? To go from Checkout Operator to Store Manager is perfectly possible but he presumably has the evidence to support his claim.

Highly recommended, a viewing of a Facebook video showing Kinder Kalsi in action:

https://m.facebook.com/ibringyougoodnews/posts/
2535299096581426?locale=sw_KE

The film shows him in Sheffield City Centre, just before 7 o' clock, as people are arriving for work. He explains that he's not usually up this early - an exception is 'getting on an aeroplane, for holiday.' He explains that he and his helpers have 767 angels 'to deliver.' The angels are fluffy toys which it seems have been knitted. Most of the shops are closed. The angels are placed anywhere where they could be found. He's shown planting one of them on top of a bollard, where it can easily fall off. He hopes that someone will find it and he says that people 'might' find some of the angels 'when they come into work this morning.

There seems to be nothing fixed to the angels to explain why they've been put in the street but according to a report in The Star newspaper, each angel has a message stating 'you are loved by God this Christmas, take this home as a reminder.'

This message, calculated to inspire a sudden rush of warm feeling in the person reading it, comes with the burden of dogma. A reader who knows nothing about the dogma may be impressed, but exploration of the faith reveals a hideous message rather than a message of hope. People who never accept the message or remain indifferent to it are doomed, according to the dogma.

The vast majority of people who notice an angel or find an angel are likely to be mystified, puzzled, but only for a few moments, if that. They'll have other things to think of. If they lead isolated lives and are very lonely, the angel will do nothing to take away the feeling of loneliness at Christmas.

It would be difficult to imagine a more pointless exercise than this distribution of angel dolls, if the objective is to convert people - and that's the real objective. All it will achieve is a contribution to litter in the city centre. The people who knitted these dolls were wasting their time, or could have spent their time on much more important things.

 From the Twitter page of the Attercliffe and Darnall Centre of Mission:

Calling all creatives which is all of us really.

From its Facebook page (16 January 2022):

Played games and chatted life
Thank you God for a dishwasher for the bulk of it.

The Church Army Prayer Diary had a request to pray for Kinder Kalsi, Lead Evangelist. Have the prayers for Kinder Kalsi requested in the Prayer Diary had any effect? The Facebook page of St Arban's Church Sheffield ;

https://facebook.com/StAlbanssheffield/

includes an image of a poster publicizing an event:

12 Hours of Prayer for Attercliffe and Darnall
Sunday 23 January
St Albans Church.

Attercliffe and Darnall Centre of Mission took part in the event.

Back to the Church Army Cuppa Video. The video is introduced by 'CA Comms (Neil), who hands over to Neville Willerton, the Church Army Director of Operations. Some of the views and activities of Attercliffe and Darnall Centre of Mission mentioned in the video.

Angels - larger than the ones used in the futile Sheffield city centre event - were placed 'in strategic positions' in the neighbourhood. Many of them have been attached to trees in the local woods, together with paper butterflies. The messages attached have next to nothing to say, inevitable when the space on the angel or butterfly is so small. Why should people who want to walk in woodland have to see these inane attempts to convert people? Does someone who wants to appreciate the trees and the wildlife have to see these things? When the angels and the butterflies begin to look untidy, when the rain turns them soft and soggy, when they turn to litter, did the Centre of Mission remove the litter?

They have obviously spent a very long time praying for their mission activities. What they have completely neglected are the risks associated with some of their activities. Were the notes that came with the angels and other items attached with pins that could cause harm to a young child who picks one of them up or is given one of them?

Dog faeces can pose a significant health risk to humans, particularly young children as their immune systems are not fully developed.  An angel or butterfly that falls in the soil in the woodland can pick up dog faeces. All faeces contain bacteria that can cause stomach upsets, but the greatest risk is from toxocariasis, which is  is particularly hazardous to small children as it can result in blindness. 

Gina Kalsi: 'We did lots and lots of prayer walking.' To attempt to solve problems in a community often needs a great deal of work, sometimes a massive amount of very demanding work. It often requires money, often a great deal of money. It requires stamina, a whole range of personal qualities and often special skills. Success can't be guaranteed. People who spend a great deal of time on insoluble problems, people who use methods which have no prospect at all of achieving the objective are wasting their time.

 

Attempts to solve problems of crime, vandalism by prayer walking are futile. Attempts to bring peace to the world or greater security to an estate by prayer walking are futile. Attempts to convert non-believers and believers in other religions to Christian belief are futile. Attempts to increase the numbers of people giving up their time to the Centre of Mission by prayer walking are futile. Prayer walking encourages a facile approach.

The evidence provided by Kinder and Gina Kalsi for God's answer to their prayers is minuscule. Gina Kalsi mentions a family who 'were praying to other Christians to move near them and so we've connected in with them as well. So God has really been at work connecting us into them.'

Some of the material above was published on the site but I removed it before long. I'd spoken with Kinder Kalsi by phone and found him an amiable person. I never comply with orders to remove material from the site. I take a great deal of care to ensure that the material is fair-minded but if someone can show that the material is unfair to some extent, or if the person can show that their personal circumstances are very, very difficult, then I'll consider removing material.

I've sometimes decided not to publish material on a person in the first place if I know that the person is facing difficulties or for other reasons. I've sometimes decided not to publish because the person is young. I think young people should be allowed to make their mistakes (which may be far less serious than the mistakes of much older people, of course) without the penalty of adverse comment, but not in every case.

Eventually, I decided to restore the material on Kinder Kalsi, and to extend it, including now material on Gina Kalsi.  I took into account the fact that the two are Church Army Evangelists, and the actions of the Church Army, in particular the actions of Tim Ling and Lu Skerratt-Love of the Church Army's Research Unit, give me no reason at all to spare the Church Army adverse publicity. Banning, blocking and attempted censorship for no good reason are serious matters.

If I ever find that Kinder and Gina Kalsi don't believe any longer in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour then I'll probably remove all the material on them, although it's possible I'd retain it as archived material. The advantages of a continued income from the Church of England may act as an inducement to continue evangelizing, or attempting to evangelize, but I'd hope that if they ever had serious doubts about their faith and lost their faith, they wouldn't let the (loss of) money stand in their way.

As it is, they obviously believe in the power of prayer so they can pray for my conversion if they like, whilst continuing to pray for the transformation of Attercliffe and Darnall. if only they could realize that the mass conversion of Attercliffe and Darnall by their efforts, by prayer walking or other forms of prayer, by God's work on their behalf in response to prayer - is impossible.

Stage 3. A condition I'll call 'Evangelist's Ennui,' a kind of resignation, apathy, disillusionment but not experienced with any intensity, I would think. The heady days when the Mission project began are in the past, prayer is now deluded-mechanical rather than deluded-intense, conviction that the project will achieve very much has largely gone - but the Evangelist is as convinced as ever that God called the Evangelist to the project, the project was blessed by God, that prayer is answered, that the final outcome will (prabably) be glorious. The Evangelist disregards any evidence to the contrary. The Gospel accounts give sources of comfort and consolation to many Christians not known to non-Christians - belief in the work of the devil and demons, who can disrupt the plans, even if the final outcome will (prabably) be glorious.

Supplementary background information on the machinations of Tim Ling and Lu Skarratt-Love. Other pages of the site give more detail.

I have two allotments on the Morley Street site, which is very near to St Polycarp's Church. My Website has material on my allotments. (There are many images on the Home Page of the site.) I found that it was proposed to start a garden church on the Morley Street site. I sent a detailed email to various recipients giving argument and evidence why I found the proposal to be flawed. Amongst other things, I mentioned issues to do with security and safety. I pointed out that there had been a murder on a nearby allotment, although this was a long time ago. A young person was stabbed with a garden fork. There have been incidents of criminal damage and  aggression to allotment holders, a disturbing, if intermittent record of trouble. One of the emails was sent to Lu Skerratt-Love, since she'd publicized the proposed garden church and was prominent in the Forest Church Movement in Sheffield, synonymous with the garden church movement.

 


I sent it to the email address of the Church Army, since this was the only email address I could find. The email never reached her, since Tim Ling of the Church Army had blocked my emails not to her but to all other members of his department, and, I found, other people as well. The tone of my emails was courteous, written in a matter of fact style. They have also guided the people involved with the garden church (Lu Skerratt-Love seems not to have taken a direct role.) It was announced that the inaugural meeting of the garden church due to take place in September would need to be delayed, whilst attention was paid to matters to do with security/safety. It can only have been my email which led to the decision. I'd pointed out matters which they had overlooked. They had also overlooked the immense pile of garbage - plastic waste, metal and other things - in the site of the proposed church. I'm informed that this had been dumped there by a member of the community group which had given permission to the garden church to hold services there, in defiance of allotment law, as I pointed out. I've done everything possible to bring people's  attention to the flytipping but it was overlooked by the garden church members. My Website gives a great deal of other information about the issues.

 


In October, South Yorkshire Police contacted me to inform me that they had received a complaint from Lu Skerratt-Love, who wanted me to remove all reference to her from my Website. This was an outrageous request, an interference in free expression. On 23 November, I received a message from the police giving a further complaint from Lu Skerratt-Love, who stated that she didn't wish to receive emails from me and that the emails must cease. But Lu Skerratt-Love must have known that I hadn't been sending any emails. Emails from me were blocked and are still blocked. This was surely a clear-cut waste of police time. This matter will have caused distress to the young policewoman who had to deal with this completely unnecessary complaint. Lu Skerratt-Love has obviously no understanding of the pressures on the police, the many, many demands on police time. This issue isn't at an end. I intend to do much more.

 

 

Poster outside the 'offices and prayer space' of St Alban's Christian Community, including Kinder Kalsi's and Gina Kalsi's Centre of Mission. I can' email either Kinder Kalsi or Gina Kalsi to inform them about the material here.

Above, another poster. This is actively misleading and evasive. 'We give thanks for the people in our area who are helping others out, being good neighbours, and looking after us all.' 'We give thanks to God that the Lockdown and Vaccination programmes are bringing down the rate of Covid-19 infection in our area.'

But all the churches and church organizations mentioned at the bottom of the poster have conservative evangelical views - they adhere to the doctrine that good works - such as helping others out, being good neighbours, looking after us all, helping to prevent Covid and treating people with Covid, all the doctors, nurses, scientists and so many others - these good works are of no use at all in saving people from everlasting torment in hell. According to this doctrine, only faith in Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Saviour can achieve this.

This primitive, hidous, inhuman doctrine is adhered to by the churches and church organizations listed on the poster:

Attercliffe Centre of Mission, St Alban's Church, Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic, Church of Christ in Darnall, Darnall Road Baptist Church, Galeed House, Living Waters Fellowship, Church of Jesus Christ Apostolic.

I'll contact all of these (in the case of the Centre of Mission, I can't use the most convenient method, email, because the Church Army has blocked all emails from me), asking them to contact me if they don't believe in this barbaric doctrine, or if they have any comments to make. They could try defending their beliefs, but that isn't likely in the least, of course.

Global Connections, the UK Network for World Mission, is in charge of Galeed House, which runs all kinds of activities, but activities with an ulterior motive: conversion, saving people from hellfire.

https://www.globalconnections.org.uk/about-us/basis-of-the-network

Basis of the network

As a network, we require our network members (and affiliates) to agree to the following basis of faith and cooperation.

1. Basis of Faith  (Extract). The Basis of Faith is essentially identical with the one given by Rock Christian Centre. An extract is provided above.

 

  • The divine inspiration and infallibility of the Old and New Testaments as originally given and their consequent entire trustworthiness and supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

  • The universal sinfulness and guilt of fallen human beings, making them subject to God's wrath and condemnation.

  • The substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ the incarnate Son of God as the sole and all-sufficient ground of redemption from the guilt and power of sin and from its eternal consequences.

  • The justification of the sinner solely by the grace of God through faith in Christ who was crucified and bodily raised from the dead.

 

 

 

 

Church schools

Clicking on highlighted text in this list takes you to the section in this column

 

Crompton House Church of England School

Reservoirs of Hope

Julie Morris, Deputy Headteacher, Staff Governor and Safeguarding Lead at St George's Central Church of England Primary School, Wigan: child abuser


Crompton House Church of England School

 

Crompton House Church of England School is in Oldham. Before coming to Tapton School, Sheffield, David Bowes, 'Reservoir of Hope,' was Headteacher at Crompton House School. I discuss his use of power to achieve his ends on the page Capability: an abuse of power in education.

 

The site

 

https://www.angelfire.com/nb/lt/docs/
quotesPerf.htm#P4


includes this

 

'David Bowes, Headteacher of Crompton House [Oldham C of E school] is happy to admit that many 'Church of England' parents actually attend services with the express purpose of winning a place at his school. Applicants need a reference from their vicar, and only a handful are from ethnic minorities ...

' "Many parents, if they were completely honest, would say that they think this is a great school, and they think going to church for five years to ensure a place is the right thing to do." '

 

[Times Education Supplement, 29/6/01]

 

According to David Bowes, pretending to be a Christian or sitting in a pew over a period of years is 'the right thing to do' to achieve the objective of ensuring a place at a Church of England School but this has nothing to do with ethics.

 

 

'Reservoirs of hope'

 

This section isn't about Church schools but the material is relevant to Church schools. I give extracts from a report from the 'National College for School Leadership.' A few of the extracts, which convey delusions and illusions to be found in Church schools but not only found in Church schools. One of the Headteachers who contributed to the report, David Bowes, was a Headteacher at Crompton House Church of England School, Oldham. He moved to Tapton School, Sheffield, not a Church school. It was whilst he was at Tapton School that he perpetrated the acts which are documented on my page Capability: an abuse of power in education.

 

... faith gave me confidence in the rightness of my decisions.

 

I have trained my deputies and staff through three-dimensional modelling of this style of leadership...They will then go out and spread this as disciples ...

 

' ... a range of sustainability strategies without which their effective functioning would be impaired. Such strategies included belief networks, sustained by high levels of self-belief in the rightness of their underlying value system.'

 

[Well, this certainly applies to the churches! The churches are 'belief networks, sustained by high levels of self-belief in the rightness of their underlying value system.']

 

The report was written by a former Headteacher, Alan Flintham.  The report has two different strands:

 

(1) inert-and-pompous-bureaucratic-sanctimonious speak
(2) the comments of headteachers. Some of these are bizarre. I quote them later. There are a few relatively sensible ones, although not at all penetrating or enlightening. So many of the comments -  mediocrity-verging-upon-the-moronic - are enough to discredit the author of the document and to raise serious questions about the Headteachers who chose to be associated with this doomed enterprise, one which it's impossible to take seriously.

 

The report begins with a remark from no less a thinker than Tony Blair:

 

From hope comes change.

 

This is worse than a platitude. A platitude is a trite, dull or obvious statement or remark. This ignores realities, such as this aspect of reality: hopes are often deluded, based on wishful thinking or no real thinking at all, arising when evidence is ignored or falsified. The change that comes from this kind of hope is likely to be the kind of change that achieves nothing or next to nothing. It may even be  change that is catastrophic.

 

One of the Headteachers in the study went so far as to define 'spiritual and moral leadership.' Difficult. How to do justice to something of such grandeur and importance, real or imagined? This Headteacher defines spiritual and moral leadership' in much more banal terms, as:

 

The extra bit that makes the difference.

 

One Head puts on record his enthusiasm for the metaphor of Reservoir of Hope:

 

It is singing true...I was so excited by it I went home and talked to my wife about it and my deputies the next day.

 

Some heads who found the metaphor of the reservoir valuable were 'anxious to refine and develop it further.' One made the helpful comment:

 

...reservoirs unfilled lead to drought.

 

Actually, not so helpful. Anyone with an elementary capacity for critical thinking would have said 'Drought leads to unfilled reservoirs.' Although it would have remained a bland and useless comment.

 

A gushing comment from another Head:

 

I can get quite emotional, perhaps it's the internal reservoir overflowing.

 

Another's experience was different:

 

I spent my reservoir too much.

 

How does anyone go about 'spending' a reservoir?

 

Another Head makes this modest claim:

 

An innate belief in my own intelligence and ability to achieve.

 

Lack of any originality whatsoever - in thinking or expression - seems to be a congenital fault of many of these Heads:

 

I'll not be beaten, because when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

 

Not all these Headteachers are theists, but this one is:

 

I hold out my hand [to God] and it will be taken.

 

And this one?

 

In my darkest moments, I say thank goodness he is here with me.

 

But this comment isn't about a relationship with God but a relationship with the chair of governors!

 

 

One Head has the dangerous notion that faith gives rightness, so that a Head's decisions concerning, let's say, staff and finances must be right.

 

... faith gave me confidence in the rightness of my decisions.

 

And the equally confident

 

You know from your own internal value system what is right to be done straightaway ...

 

One Head, described as a 'male primary church school head' is so confident of his transcendental powers that he compares himself to Jesus and his disciples:

 

I have trained my deputies and staff through three-dimensional modelling of this style of leadership...They will then go out and spread this as disciples ...

 

['three-dimensional modelling?']

 

Another Head's personal reservoir is strengthened by OFSTED, an organization more bureaucratic than spiritual:

 

OFSTED game me the validation that I'd proved that I could do the job ... and that refilled my personal reservoir.

 

Overall, the pervading impression is of staggering banality and mediocrity. These are some of the people who have given by the Government such power, and not just the power to increase the 'salaries' of their teachers. These are the people whose power is effectively untouched by the unions, to a significant extent, or, very often, personnel departments. People who generally evade the most basic criticism - although not here.

 What wonderful opportunities there are now for Christian megalomaniacs in state schools, or spiritual non-Christian megalomaniacs in state schools! What wonderful opportunities for people who believe in their own infallibility! What opportunities for emotionally and rationally limited people who have discovered the confidence that can come with just one hopeless metaphor! T

 

he astonishing levels of conceit and self-importance that could ever make them believe that there was any linkage at all between the vastness of a reservoir and their own claims to importance!

 

As for David Bowes, he is one of the people listed in the 'Acknowledgements' section as having 'validated its outcomes.' He was, along with the other participants, asked the question, 'Could you give examples of critical incidents in your leadership story of how you have acted as the reservoir of hope for the institution yet preserved your own internal reservoir of hope?' He co-operated in this childish and deluded exercise. David Bowes is someone I know well. If he does claim to be a 'reservoir of hope,' then his understanding of the word 'hope' is very different from mine.

 

The author of this report seems to me to have become institutionalized, no longer able to distinguish sense from rubbish, in no fit state to act as a guide to anyone. A significant number of his interviewees likewise.

 

David Bowes showed, in my experience, not the least interest in green issues. This 'reservoir of hope' had nothing whatsoever to say about environmental hope, and in my experience did nothing to further it by his actions. Computers at his school were routinely left on overnight, lights no longer needed were kept on, windows left open, wasting heat energy. Now, the school's green credentials are not in doubt, but the change had nothing to do with him. It was achieved by a group of pupils and a tiny number of teachers. It's common in schools for the Head to be given the credit for achievements which they did nothing to bring about.

 

How would educationalists manage without the word 'strategies?' In this report we have, for example, 'a variety of replenishment and sustainability strategies.' Completely new to me is the use of another word, taken from the useful world of surveying and cartography to do duty in this mediocre world, the word  'triangulated.' It appears in

 

'exemplars of the behaviour of a system under stress, even though that recollection may be personalised, distorted and non-triangulated. And also in the reflection opportunities within the Leadership Programme for Serving Heads, triangulated by the views of other members of the school community.'

 

'In-house modelling of spiritual and moral approaches to leadership' is suggested as one way to meet 'the professional development needs of senior staff...'

 

A quotation from someone called 'Starratt' (I have to admit that I've never heard of this particular thinker, although he's apparently quite big in the world of educational research) is intended by the author of the report to be a recommendation. The quotation is about 'the leader' of an organization. The leade goes on to 'routinise the vision and mission in organisational structures and procedures.'

 

Another amazing passage:

 

' ... a range of sustainability strategies without which their effective functioning would be impaired. Such strategies included belief networks, sustained by high levels of self-belief in the rightness of their underlying value system.'

 

Well, this certainly applies to the churches! The churches are 'belief networks, sustained by high levels of self-belief in the rightness of their underlying value system.'

 

I'm sure that the Reservoir of Hope  David Bowes (or David Bowes ROH)  is sustained by high levels of self-belief in the rightness of his underlying value system. I have no belief in the rightness of his value system. According to the report,

 

'the successful headteacher ... acts as the external reservoir of hope for the institution.'

 

 It's explained that 'the external reservoir of hope is where the head acts as the wellspring of self-belief and directional focus for the school.'

 

I can imagine many unlikely things but imagining that David Bowes could ever act as the 'external reservoir of hope for his institution' is more difficult than imagining a round square. In my experience, moral stature is in short supply in bureaucrat headteachers. It isn't attained by simply claiming it. Moral stature is one thing, sanctimoniousness and pious platitudes quite another.

 

Alan Flintham writes,

 

'Napoleon Bonaparte described leaders as “dealers in hope”, an appellation which requires them not only to maintain reserves of inner selfbelief and personal resilience when faced with challenging circumstances, but also to inspire and imbue those they lead with that same spirit of hope in the prospect of a better future. And the school leaders of today are equally required to be the harbingers of hope ... '

 

Napoleon did have 'reserves of inner self belief and personal resilience when faced with challenging circumstances' (such as the hardships of the retreat from Moscow) but he didn't offer 'the prospect of a better future' to everyone.

 

From the Wikipedia entry for casualties in the Napoleonic Wars:

 

'Erik Durshmied, in his book The Hinge Factor, gives a figure of 1.4 million French military deaths of all causes. Adam Zamoyski estimates that around 400,000 Russian soldiers died in the 1812 campaign alone—a figure backed up by other sources.Civilian casualties in the 1812 campaign were probably comparable. Alan Schom estimates some 3 million military deaths in the Napoleonic wars and this figure, once again, is supported elsewhere.Common estimates of more than 500,000 French dead in Russia in 1812 and 250,000–300,000 French dead in Iberia between 1808 and 1814 give a total of at least 750,000, and to this must be added hundreds of thousands of more French dead in other campaigns—probably around 150,000 to 200,000 French dead in the German campaign of 1813, for example. Thus, it is fair to say that the estimates above are highly conservative.

 

'Civilian deaths are impossible to accurately estimate. While military deaths are invariably put at between 2.5 million and 3.5 million, civilian death tolls vary from 750,000 to 3 million. Thus estimates of total dead, both military and civilian, range from 3,250,000 to 6,500,000.'

 

Did Napoleon bring that spirit of hope in the prospect of a better future, as Alan Flintham claims? Or is Alan Flintham clueless?

 

'Reservoirs of Hope' was  published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

 

 Some opinions of Cambridge Scholars Publishing, from the site

 

http://www.poliscirumors.com/topic/cambridge-scholars-publishing

 

'I wouldn't publish there. Their books are expensive and they don't screen out the crap.'

 

'Garbage. If you can't publish a piece somewhere better than CSP, you probably aren't ready to publish it yet. They are simply hoping people mistake them for Cambridge. Most amazingly, some people do.'

 

'Cambridge Scholars Publishing, based in Newcastle, 230 miles away. Says it all.'

' "I have enjoyed teaching international law to students of the Master of Laws Degree, even though I did not study the subject." Literally from the author's preface of a book CSP published about international law.'

 

Julie Morris, Deputy Headteacher, Staff Governor and Safeguarding Lead at St George's Central Church of England Primary School, Wigan: child abuser

The information in this section about the horrific crimes of Julie Morris and her partner is followed by striking information about an OFSTED inspection of the school and information about the response of the school to the conviction of its Deputy Headteacher and Safeguarding Lead.

 

From the page

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-59754035

 

A primary school deputy head teacher and her partner have been jailed for dozens of child sexual abuse offences, including nine counts of rape.

Julie Morris, 44, the safeguarding lead at a school in Wigan, and David Morris filmed themselves abusing and raping a girl under the age of 13.

The teacher was jailed for 13 years and four months.

Her 52-year-old partner, of St Helens, admitted 34 offences at a previous hearing and was jailed for 16 years.

Julie Morris, of Hindley, worked at St George's Central C of E Primary School in Wigan but the charges are not related to her employment.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the videos showed Julie Morris giggling as the abuse took place.

Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Andrew Menary, said: "Every now and again you see cases, the circumstances of which are almost beyond belief. This is one of those cases.

"It demonstrates that human depravity really knows no depths."

The Crown Prosecution Service said it was one of the most horrific cases they have had to deal with.

"It truly appears like both of them were equally involved," district crown prosecutor Damion Lloyd said.

"They've formed this horrendous sexual interest in children and they've acted out their most unpleasant fantasies on the victim.

"It feels like the relationship between them is just a self-feeding cycle where they have effectively driven each other on to worse and worse acts."

In his 20 years of prosecuting, he said it was the "pinnacle" of the most "disgusting and depraved types of acts that people can discuss and do".

 

...

 

Julie Morris admitted two counts of rape, nine of inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity and two of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

She also admitted three counts of taking indecent images of a child, one of engaging in sexual communication with a child and one of possessing indecent images of a child.

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

Newcastle Street Pastors: the hideous hidden agenda

 

'Newcastle' here is Newcastle-on-Tyne, not Newcastle-under-Lyme.

 

Newcastle Street Pastors. You received an award from Northumbria Police in 2021, although the claim you make (on your Website) that it was an award for 'excellence' is surely mistaken. The decision of Northumbria Police to give you an award, any kind of award, was surely mistaken. For Northumbria Police to give Newcastle Street Pastors any kind of endorsement would be mistaken. Police forces in the United Kingdom may be glad of the help of Street Pastors but the help shouldn't be exaggerated. On this page, I give reasons for thinking that any help is marginal and that the help comes with ulterior motives, a hidden agenda, a hideous hidden agenda.

 

Street Pastors in various towns and cities have received awards from 'Best Bar None.'  For example, Exeter Street Pastors received a “Support Organisation of the Year” award from Best Bar None and a cheque for £500. After this profile of Newcastle Street Pastors, there's a short profile of Exeter Street Pastors, with the focus of attention their Coordinator, Diane Hurst. (Clicking on the highlighted text takes you to the section.) Anyone who thinks that the group's overwhelming priority is the safety and welfare of drinkers will have to think again. It's clear that the overwhelming priority for them is a very different one.

 

It would be a mistake for police forces to endorse Street Pastors and Best Bar None to endorse Street Pastors and to give any money to Street Pastors because so many of the  beliefs and doctrines of Street Pastors are not just alien to the values of a liberal democracy but to the evidence. Any members of the public thinking of donating to Street Pastors will, I hope, reconsider after reading some of the evidence here. There are so many other charities, other causes, which deserve your money far more. The Street Pastor movement isn't all it seems.

 

My other pages on Christian Churches and Christian organizations examine other issues with extensive documentation. I would urge anyone thinking of donating to a Church or a Church organization to think very carefully, to examine the evidence. The Churches aren't all they seem.

 

Many - not all - Churches keep well hidden the hideous implications of their beliefs and doctrines. Here,  in many other places in the site, I draw attention to them. There's information here about the beliefs of Paul Waugh, Coordinator of Newcastle Street Pastors, the doctrines he believes in. Some, perhaps many Street Pastors may not share all his beliefs concerning human sexuality, not to the same extent but, with a few exceptions,  they will share his other beliefs. Similarly with the Churches and other Christian organizations. In the past, it was different. The overwhelming majority supported his beliefs on human sexuality as well as his general beliefs.

 

He believes, the vast majority of Street Pastors will believe, the majority of Churches and Church organizations believe, in  past centuries almost all Churches and Church organizations believed:

 

... in consequence of the fall of Adam man was corrupted became a sinner alienated from God without strength and at enmity against God

The eternal security of all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour

The judgement seat of Christ

The  judgement of the unbeliever

The eternal punishment of those who reject the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour

The personality of the Devil

 

Some of his beliefs  concerning human sexuality, documented in more detail below. In past centuries, the overwhelming majority of Churches and Church organizations held these beliefs. A very large number of present-day Churches and Church organizations retain these beliefs.

 

The denial of the belief that 'adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God's holy purposes in creation and redemption.'

The denial of the belief that 'sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God's original creation.'

 

Newcastle Street Pastors, do  you or don't you believe that if a young person dies of a drugs overdose in Newcastle City Centre whilst you're on patrol, despite your best efforts or the efforts of other people - police,  paramedical medical, nursing staff, members of the public who lend a hand - then the young person is destined to spend eternity in separation from God, if  the young person doesn't have the all-important faith in Christ?  Do you believe that all the revellers from pubs and nightclubs in Newcastle city centre whilst you patrol, all the police officers, paramedical and medical and nursing staff who may be there, and, of course, all the members of the public are also destined to spend eternity in separation from God if they lack the necessary faith? Give a simple answer to some simple questions but by all means mention complications if you want to.

 

But I already know the answers to these questions!

 

The Coordinator of Newcastle Street Pastors is Paul Waugh. I'm not a member of Facebook so I haven't been able to look at the content of his Facebook page but I do have this introduction,

 

'Hi Gents, Paul Waugh is Chaplain at Newcastle Airport and Coordinator for Street Pastors Newcastle. Paul worships at Regent Chapel.' Paul isn't a Chaplain at Newcastle Airport any longer.

 

Comments: 'Hi Gents ... ' Not a good beginning. To make an obvious point, what about the ladies, the women? Does he or doesn't he believe that all the staff of the airport, all the pilots and co-pilots, all the members of people who use the airport are destined to spend hell for eternity - the ones who don't share his belief in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the World (the vast majority of people)?

 

He does believe that! Extract from the Website of Regent Chapel, where Paul Waugh worships

 

https://www.regentchapel.co.uk/our-beliefs

 

We believe and teach that…

 

All people

  • Have sinned and deserve God’s judgement.

  • Can be saved only by faith in God and acceptance of the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary.

 

Christians

  • Are those who have trusted God and acknowledged Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

  • Have become the home of God’s Holy Spirit whose presence is displayed in holiness and good works.

  • Are secure in their salvation through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

There's also a 'Statement of Beliefs,'

 

https://www.regentchapel.co.uk/statement-of-beliefs


which include these 'DOCTRINES' Extracts:

 

The Divine Inspiration and Authority of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments

That in consequence of the fall of Adam man was corrupted became a sinner alienated from God without strength and at enmity against God

That the justification of the sinner before God is alone by Faith in Christ and his atoning sacrifice

That every justified believer is born of God

The eternal security of all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Saviour

The judgement seat of Christ

The Great White Throne [?] and the judgement of the unbeliever

The eternal punishment of those who reject the Lord Jesus as the only Saviour

The personality of the Devil

The preaching of the Gospel to every person

We are signatories of the Nashville Statement on human sexuality - please see for more information

 
https://cbmw.org/nashville-statement/ 

 

Extracts from the 'Nashville Statement:'

 

Article 1.
We deny that God has designed marriage to be a homosexual, polygamous or polyamorouse relationship. We also deny that marriage is a mere human contract rather than a covenant made before God.

Article 2.
We affirm that God's revealed will is for all people's chastity outside of marriage and fidelity within marriage.
We deny that any affections, desires or commitments ever justify sexual intercourse outside marriage, nor do they justify any form of sexual immorality.

 

Article 4.

We affirm that divinely affirmed differences between male and female reflect God's original creation design and are meant for human good and human flourishing.

We deny that adopting a homosexual or transgender self-conception is consistent with God's holy purposes in creation and redemption.

 

Article 8.
We deny that sexual attraction for the same sex is part of the natural goodness of God's original creation.

 

Article 9.
We affirm that sin distorts sexual desires by directing them away from the marriage covenant and towards sexual immorality - a distortion that includes both heterosexual and homosexual immorality

 

Article 10.
We affirm that it is sinful to approve of homosexual immorality or transsexual immorality and that such approval constitutes an essential departure from Christian faithfulness and witness.

 

Article 12.

We affirm that the grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power, and that this pardon and power enable a follower of Jesus to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.

 

To confine attention to Article 12, this is audacious in its disregard for the evidence, the cumulative evidence, the massive evidence that many, many Christians who have accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour and have received a 'merciful pardon and transforming power' haven't been 'enabled' to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.'

 

In the second column of my page on Safeguarding and Abuse, I give some of the evidence, but this is a tiny fraction of the evidence relating to Bible-believing, Christ-centred abusers. A few examples from the page:

 

A primary school deputy head teacher and her partner have been jailed for dozens of child sexual abuse offences, including nine counts of rape.

Julie Morris, 44, the safeguarding lead at a school in Wigan, and David Morris filmed themselves abusing and raping a girl under the age of 13.

 

John Smyth, a barrister, fought battles in the courts for 'Christian values.'

'After five years of sadistic beatings in a garden shed by one of the UK’s most prominent barristers, and with a “special beating” to mark his 21st birthday imminent, Andy Morse tried to take his own life.

 

'The student had endured thousands of lashes on his naked buttocks administered in the name of Jesus by John Smyth QC. He could no longer endure the pain, terror and humiliation.

Fortunately, his housemates broke down the bathroom door and called an ambulance. But Morse was not Smyth’s only victim. There are more than 100 known survivors, and perhaps many others: public schoolboys who took part in a network of military-style Christian holiday camps.

Extracts from the page of the Newcastle Street Pastors Website, viewed on 12 February 2022

 

https://streetpastors.org/locations/newcastle/
2020/11/09/our-newsletter-is-now-available/

 

 

 

RECENT POSTS

[But the 'latest newsletter' turns out to be even older than the autumn 2021 newsletter, from November 9, 2020.]

 

OUR LATEST NEWSLETTER IS NOW AVAILABLE

 

The Website of Newcastle Street Pastors may look good, or quite good, but as a matter of urgency, they should update it. Haven't they been so active recently? Or so active that they haven't had the time to update it?  Or too busy with Bible reading and praying to make the effort? Or simply  disinclined to make an effort?

 

Now  information about the disturbing work of a  group in Newcastle-on-Tyne which isn't Newcastle Street Pastors but which shares their beliefs, such as their belief in the power of prayer. I only hope that Newcastle Street Pastors don't agree with the practice of 'Healing on the Streets' even if they agree with the beliefs.

 

One of  many, many groups which promote the dangerous delusions of healing by prayer is One Voice York: It's all about Jesus. The Joint Chairs are Al Rycroft and Caleb Ellwood.

 

http://onevoiceyork.org.uk/healing-on-the-streets/


The page has the heading 'Healing on the Streets' and promotes the work of a group in Newcastle-on-Tyne, 'Together in Christ Tyneside.'  Robert Ward of St Luke's Church, Newcastle came to York to explain what happens. Robert Ward is a Trustee of Newcastle Street Pastors. A list giving the name of the Patron and the names of Trustees is appended at the end of this section. Robert Ward said this:

 

'From the point of view of the city authorities this ministry is in partnership with Street Pastors, which the same group of church leaders oversee.'

 

More information, clarification is needed. Is this so? Does 'the same group of church leaders oversee Newcastle Street Pastors and 'Together in Christ Tyneside?' Can Newcastle Street Pastors provide the information, the clarification? I'll contact them to find out.

 

Some of the hazardous and potentially very harmful practices of  these credulous people:

 

Firstly the team get together and pray at 1.30pm and seek words of knowledge for the day. Usually they find that they have advance warning of the types of sickness they will face on the street.

Between 2pm and 4pm each week, a huge windproof banner is set up saying “Healing” and eight chairs are set out in a line. The prayer team wait for people to come along and sit down. Teams of three pray with each person. If the person requiring prayer is female, at least two of the three in the team will also be female.

The prayer teams will introduce themselves ask about the need and ask permission to lay a hand on an arm or shoulder. They then take care to tell them that Jesus really loves them and then pray straightforward ‘pick up your bed and walk’' prayers for a few minutes. They never pray with eyes closed, never shout and always crouch down to the same level as the person on the chair.

Young people often come in groups, with skateboarding injuries or concerns about their parents and grand-parents.


Attempts to treat young people with skateboarding injuries instead of telling them to seek proper medical treatment are inexcusable. Allowing them or encouraging them  to speak about their parents or grandparents is inexcusable. These Christians have no knowledge of the family circumstances, which may be very complex and very difficult and are in no position to give advice. The parents and grandparents aren't there to give their version of events. The young person's account may or may not be trustworthy. The 'pastors' have no way of knowing. The young people should be encouraged to seek professional advice if the case seems in the least complex or difficult.

 

Newcastle Street Pastors and  the deluded people who claim to treat skateboarding injuries have the same hideous beliefs in hell for people who don't accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Saviour.

 

Information and claims from the  Website of St Luke's on Robert Ward.

 

https://stlukesnewcastle.co.uk/about-st-lukes/

 

Working Together

We work together with other churches in Newcastle on city wide projects.  Robert leads a Pastors’ group, Together in Christ (TIC),  TIC is a wonderful association of senior church leaders who meet weekly to pray and out of which have come many strategic ventures, like Healing on the Streets (HOTS) (emphasis supplied) and The Turning.

Patron and Trustees of Newcastle Street Pastors

 

Patron: Lord John Shipley OBE
Trustees: Revd Robert Ward, Rev Canon John Sinclair, Rev Leanne Bell, Rev Mark Sharman, Mr. Mike Johnson

 

Churches

My page  www.linkagenet.com/themes/fefe.htm

contains, in the second main column of the page a long list of Sheffield churches, most of them churches participating in 'Arise!' with links to profiles.  This page includes in this column the same list but on this page, English churches from outside Sheffield will also be listed, if I include a profile of a person at the Church, so the coverage of this FEFE page will be broader than my earlier FEFE pages, although much less detailed.  Obviously, I can only include a small number of English Churches, amounting to a tiny fraction of the whole.

 

Profiles will only be included on this and the other pages if I consider that the Churchgoer has views - or 'beliefs' - which are cause for concern. Profiles will be removed from the site for a variety of reasons - finding that the person is facing desperate difficulties of one kind or another, for example - but not because the person simply objects to being included. I don't regard my 'Free expression' as unlimited, not subject to {restriction} but nothing here is abusive or unfair. Anyone who thinks differently is welcome to contact me.

 

List of Churches, not fixed but to be extended.

After the List, there are comments on churches and churchgoers, very few in number for the time being. The sign after an entry in the list indicates that there's a profile on this page for a person or people associated with the Church or Church organization. The profile of Kinder and Gina Kalsi is in the column to the right. Existing profiles and profiles of people added to the page in the future are in this column.

 

People from over 140 different churches across Sheffield are participating in Arise 2021:

All Saints Church, Totley
All Saints, Aston
All Saints, Ecclesall
Antioch Community Church
Attercliffe & Darnall Centre of Mission
Bamford Methodist
Bents Green Church
Bents Green Methodist
Bethel Sheffield
Bride of Christ
Bushfire Ministries
Calvary Deliverance Ministries
Cemetery Road Baptist Church
Central United Reformed Church
Christ Abiding Ministries
Christ Church Central
Christ Church Darnall
Christ Church Dore
Christ Church Endcliffe
Christ Church Fulwood  Jane Patterson
Christ Church Gleadless
Christ church Heeley
Christ Church Hillsborough & Wadsley Bridge
Christ Church Pitsmoor
Church of Christ Darnall
Church on the Corner (Elim Pentecostal Church)
City Church Sheffield
City of Refuge Foursquare Church
Cornerstone Benefice (Stocksbridge, Deepcar & Bolsterstone)
Crown of Life Community Church
Diocese of Sheffield
Cathedral
A Visitation
Dore
Dore & Totley Christian Fellowship
Dore & Totley URC
Dore and Totley IRC
Dore and Totley United Reformed Church
Ecclesall All Saints
Ecclesall Church of England
Elim Central Church
Emmanuel Church Sheffield
Emmanuel Waterthorpe
Galeed House Darnall
Gatehouse
Gleadless Valley Methodist Church
God’s Righteousness Bible Church
Grace Church, Handsworth
Greenhill Methodist Church
Hampden View Wesleyan Reform
Harvest Field International
Hatfield House Lane Methodist Church
Hathersage Parish Church
Heeley Parish Church
Hillsborough Baptist Church
Holy Cross Gleadless Valley
Hope Centre
Hope City Church
Hope Family Arbourthorne
International Christian Worship Centre
Jubilee Centre
Kings Centre, Nether Edge
Lansdowne Chapel
Liberty Church
Living Waters Christian Fellowship Darnall
Meadowhead Christian Fellowship
Meersbrook Park United Reformed Church
Millhouses Methodist
Mosborough Elim Church
Mount Tabor Methodist Church
NCS Sheffield – St Thomas Philadelphia
Nether Green Methodist
New Christian Covenant
New Hope Community Church
Oughtibridge Parish Church

Chris Tufnell  Anna de Castro
Our Lady of Beauchief & St. Thomas of Canterbury
Our Lady of Lourdes
Pitsmoor Methodist Church
RCCG (Amazing Grace Tab) Hillsborough
Richmond Church
Rock Christian Centre, Burngreave
Sacred Heart Catholic Church Hillsborough
Salvation Army Sheffield Citadel
Share Pioneer Ministry (Parson Cross)
Sheffield Central Elim Pentecostal Church
Sheffield Christian Life Centre
Sheffield Nazarene
Sheffield Vineyard
Shiloh United Church
Shiregreen IRC
South Anston Methodist
South Sheffield Evangelical Church
Southern Light Community Church
Spa View Community Church
St Alban’s House Community
St Andrew’s URC
St Catherine of Siena
St Chad’s Woodseats
St Francis Bramley
St Francis of Assisi Catholic Church
St Gabriel’s, Greystones
St James Anston
St James Woodhouse / Central Mission Partnership / St John’s Park
St John’s Chapeltown
St John’s Owlerton
St John’s Park
St Leonard & St Mary’s Armthorpe
St Luke’s Lodge Moor Sheffield
St Margaret’s and St Thomas
St Mark Mosborough
St Mark’s, Grenoside
St Mary Magdalene Whiston
St Mary the Virgin, Beighton
St Marys Handsworth
St Matthew Carver Street
St Patrick’s, Sheffield Lane Top
St Paul’s Norton Lees
St Paul’s Parson Cross
St Paul’s, Wordsworth Avenue
St Peter’s Church Ellesmere
St Peter’s Greenhill
St Philip’s
St Polycarp’s
St Timothy’s Church Sam Wakeling
St Vincent’s Catholic Church
St William of York Sheffield
STC Sheffield
Tapton Hill Congregational Church
The Crowded House
The Michael Church Lowedges United Reformed Church
The New Hope Community Church
The Rock Christian Centre
The Salvation Army
The Vine
The Well Sheffield
Totley Rise Methodist
Trinity URC Hunters Bar
Upperthorpe christian community
Victory Assembly
Wadsley Parish Church
Welcome Baptist Church
Wesley Hall Methodist Church
Whirlow Spirituality Centre
Wisewood Methodist Church
Yorkshire Baptist Association
Zion United Rerformed Church Oughtibridge

 

Sheffield Churches/Church organizations not members of Arise!

 

Church Army  Kinder and Gina Kalsi 
Christ Church, Endcliffe
St Augustine's Church, Endcliffe
St Mark's Church, Broomhill
St John's Church, Ranmoor

 

 

Members of the House of Laity are elected every five years. Despite their name, they are not directly elected by the Church of England's members. To be eligible for election a person has to be on the electoral roll of a Church of England parish church and be elected by their church's members or co-opted onto the parochial church council, then selected to represent the parish at the deanery synod.[1] From there, they have to be selected to represent the deanery at the diocesan synod, from whose numbers the diocese's representative to the General Synod is elected.[4] There has been criticism of this method of election with suggestions that it leaves the system open to influence from special interest groups.

 

 

Profiles

 

    Christ Church, Fulwood, Sheffield: Dr Jane Patterson

 

Jane Patterson is a very influential person in the Church of England: she could even be described as a 'Very Important Person.' I give the evidence after giving a very brief account of some of her beliefs.

 

 

Above, Fra Angelico's depiction of Hell

Contemporary believers generally - not always - dispense with the lurid details and concentrate on 'the essentials,' eternal torment or eternal separation from God.

 

From the page

 

https://www.sheffield.anglican.org/UserFiles/
File/Synod/General/Elections_2021/-Complete-Set-Lay.pdf

2021 ELECTION FOR 4 LAY PEOPLE TO REPRESENT THE DIOCESE IN THE GENERAL SYNOD HOUSE OF LAITY


the section

'What do I believe?'

Jane Patterson writes,

'I believe that the Bible is the divinely inspired and written Word of God, that its pages tell us about who God is, His perfect plan for the world He created, His offer of forgiveness and a restored eternal relationship for everyone who believes in the death and resurrection of His only Son, Jesus and who confesses Him as Saviour and Lord. I believe that the Bible shows us how we should live and that ‘the great commission’, at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, remains the church’s mission statement 2000 years later.'

 

Not many human activities, not a vast number of human activities, but all human activities are reduced in this ultra-systematic system of belief to a simple division.

 

 

These are 'breaker boys,' child labourers in a Pennsylvania mine, who carried out backbreaking word underground, at risk of crushing from rock falls, drowning in the underground waters, being burned alive in underground fires, to supply people with some of the necessities and comforts of life. I doubt if many - or any - of them had the necessary belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour to spend eternity in fellowship with God. After lives of unrelenting hardship or massive achievement, everyone, the poor, the destitute, the victims of war, the carers, the scientists and engineers, climbers and mountaineers, miners, builders, plumbers, accountants, farmers, factory workers and philanthropists - people in every single human activity - are destined to spend eternity in hell or whatever polite term is the current synonym for hell?
 

 

Above, this is Alex Honnold, an extraordinary climber, someone who climbs massive rock faces without the protection of a rope. If he falls, he dies. Here, he's shown climbing in Yosemite, California, on a face called 'Heaven.' He's a committed atheist, so not eligible for heaven if he does fall. Christians can take self-satisfied pleasure from this possibility if they want. Of course, they may have achievements of their own, perhaps very substantial achievements, or perhaps not.

 

I've drawn Jane Patterson's attention to the material here and invited her to respond if she thinks the comment here is unfair or misrepresents her beliefs.

 

Jane Patterson believes that this, from Psalm 137, is divinely inspired and the 'Word of God,'

 

Babylon, you will be destroyed.
Happy are those who pay you back
for what you have done to us -
who take your babies
and smash them against a rock.

 

Jane Patterson believes that this too is divinely inspired and the 'Word of God.'  Dr Patterson believes that this was an order from God:

 

Exodus 22:18

 

Put to death any woman who practises witchcraft

 

Jane Patterson believes in an 'offer of forgiveness and a restored eternal relationship for everyone who believes in the death and resurrection of His only Son, Jesus and who confesses Him as Saviour and Lord.'

 

Jane Patterson has led an undergraduate medical education scheme. She believes, on the evidence of her Election Address, that all these undergraduates are destined to spend eternity in separation from God, except for the small minority who confess Jesus as Saviour and Lord. Likewise in the case of all the people who live in the parish, in the city of Sheffield, and in the wider world. She believes that all the Jews who died in Nazi extermination camps and concentration camps are destined to spend eternity in separation from God.

 

Jane Patterson was elected to the House of Laity. She has a public role now and can be expected to deal with scrutiny. I hope she will put in the public domain her email address, so that anyone who wants to contact her about matters to do with theology or other aspects of Christian life an practice are able to make use of this convenient method of communication.

 

Jane Patterson as C of E VIP

 

From the Document

 

APPEAL BY MRS APRIL ALEXANDER IN RESPECT OF THE ELECTION OF MISS JANE PATTERSON AS A MEMBER OF THE CROWN NOMINATIONS COMMISSION BY THE HOUSE OF LAITY OF THE GENERAL SYNOD

 Constitution of the Appeal Panel: Mrs Julie Dziegiel [Oxford] Mr Martin Kingston QC [Gloucester] Canon Geoffrey Tattersall QC [Manchester] [Chair]

DECISION delivered on 6 April 2018 [Bold print: emphasis is mine]

 

'Mrs Alexander examples this conflict by citing the fact that in December 2017 Miss Patterson gave one of the readings at the ordination service at which Pete Jackson, one of the leaders of CCW, who had been ordained to the diaconate by two Kenyan bishops in 2013, was ordained a priest in East London by a `missionary bishop` affiliated with the Anglican Communion in North America and the Anglican Network in Canada [both affiliated with the Anglican Mission in England] when in the preceding month she had participated in the selection of nominations for the Bishop of London, one of the five most senior bishops of the Church of England who has, as a matter of right, a seat in the House of Lords. 37. In support of her submission Mrs Alexander relies on the following matters: 37.1. The ordination of Pete Jackson as deacon and priest and his exercise of his orders in the Diocese of Sheffield was in contravention of the Overseas and Other Clergy (Ministry and Ordination) Measure 1967 and Miss Patterson “authorised” them in that as a trustee of CCC and CCW she had “overseen what appear to be direct violations of this Measure and of the canon law that underlies it” and that such activities “are in direct conflict with the principles of governance of the Church of England”; 37.2. Having regard to the factual matrix Miss Patterson is an agent who acts on behalf of the Prime Minister who recommends the person who will be appointed by the Queen to the office of bishop; 37.3. Equity imposes special duties of loyalty, known as fiduciary duties, to guard against any temptation to betray the trust reposed in the agent; 37.4. Miss Patterson, as a member of the CNC, is in a position where her knowledge of confidential discussions as to the needs of the diocese, the performance of the former diocesan bishop and other diocesan staff and the consideration of possible candidates for appointment “can be used to benefit CCC and CCW which operate in direct conflict with the principles of governance of the Church of England” and that she “could attempt to influence the outcome [of the appointment of bishops] in ways that benefitted CCC and CCW which were and continue to be in direct conflict with the principles of governance of the Church of England”

 

The Board found in favour of Miss Patterson, not Mrs Alexander.

 

  Oughtibridge Parish Church
Chris Tufnell  Anna de Castro

Chris Tufnell is the vicar of the Church. Anna de Castro is the Children, Youth and Families Worker of the Church. She was elected to the House of Laity of the General Synod in the same year as Dr Jane Patterson, whose profile is immediately above this one.

 

Compare and  contrast these two extracts. Extract 1 is from the Website of Oughtibridge Parish Church, Sheffield

 

https://www.opc.org.uk/explore/

 

Extract 2 seems to come from a very different world, much more gloomy, but  I've every reason to believe that Chris Tufnell and Anna de Castro believe in the doctrines stated in the second extract!  I'll be contacting both people and if they are sure I'm mistaken, all they have to do is point this out and changes will be made to the section, or it will be deleted.

 

Extract 1. Oughtibridge Parish Church

We believe the message of Christianity is the best news in the world and that it’s relevant to everyone.  It’s simple, it’s beautiful, it’s about God and his love for us, it’s about a great rescue and a man called Jesus.  It’s a message that has changed our lives and binds us together as a church community. We would love to share this good news with you!

 

Extract 2. The good news according to Church Society, a Conservative Evangelical organization. It's clear from this formulation that the 'good news' consists in the fact' ( not a fact in the least, of course that not everybody will spend eternity in separation from God. Some, a minority will be saved:

 

' ...  all people are under the judgement of God and his righteous anger burns against them.  Unless a person is reconciled to God they are under His condemnation and His just judgement against them is that they will be separated from Him forever in Hell. (Romans 1 v18, 2 v16, Revelation 20 v15)

 

 'Jesus will come back and the world will end, there will then be a final judgement where those who have not accepted Jesus will be cast into hell with Satan and his angels. Christians will receive new bodies and live in eternal bliss in the presence of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. (Hebrews 9 v27, Revelation 20 v11, 1 Corinthians 15 v51)

 

'The biblical way of salvation has often been attacked over the centuries, however it is stated clearly in the 39 Articles of the Church of England:

 

Article 6: Of the sufficiency of the holy Scriptures for salvation.

Article 1: Faith in the Holy Trinity

Article 9: Of Original or Birth-sin

Article 2: The Word, or Son of God, who became truly man

Article 4: The resurrection of Christ

Article 11: Of the Justification of Man

 

'Unless a person is reconciled to God they are under his condemnation ...' Good works are no defence. Article XII 'Of Good Works' states

 

Good Works ... cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God's Judgement.'

 

I explore and explain the hideous, inhuman consequences of these doctrines in so many places in my pages on Christianity so there's no need to give further comment here. Of course, the fact that a doctrine is 'inhuman' is no criticism for Christians, or so many Christians. God supposedly has no need to adhere to human or humane norms.

 

I quote a short extract from Psalm 137 in various places in my pages on Christianity and I'll quote it one more time here. In her Election Address published before the elections to the House of Laity, Anna de Castro included this:

 

My commitment to you.
If you choose to vote for me, I would commit to ' ... Being faithful in upholding and safeguarding the truth of Scripture in all areas.'

 

Extract, Psalm 137

 

Babylon, you will be destroyed.
Happy are those who pay you back
for what you have done to us -
who take your babies
and smash them against a rock.

 

Do Chris Tufnell and Anna de Castro believe that these words are divinely inspired, that this passage is an example of 'the truth of Scripture in all areas,' the area here being treatment of babies?

 

A verse which I quote in various places in my pages on Christianity is this, Exodus 22:18 in the 'Good News' (!) translation:

 

Put to death any woman who practises witchcraft.

 

Do they believe that this too is an example of 'the truth of Scripture?'

 

Can they assure the people who live in Oughtibridge that God has no plans at all to consign them to Hell for eternity if they fail to accept Christ as Lord and Saviour - there may be many, many reasons. Again, I give many examples of the hideous consequences of orthodox Christian belief, Conservative Evangelical variety, on the pages of my Website.

 

Are you willing to put your answers in the public domain? Or will you prefer to keep your beliefs secret? Do you find these issues very, very challenging, or does your faith allow you to address the issues openly, without any difficulty?

 

Oughtibridge Parish Church is a member of 'Arise!. See the material on my page

 

www.linkagenet.com/themes/fefe.htm

 

which gives a great deal of information on Arise! as well as criticism. The page includes profiles.

 

   Sheffield Cathedral: A Visitation

 

https://anglican.ink/2021/03/21/visitation-team-finds-a-culture-of-bullying-at-sheffield-cathedral/

A Determination by the Bishop of Sheffield in the light of the Report of the Commissaries following a Visitation at Sheffield Cathedral 1st November 2020 to 28th February 2021

Extracts from the Report and extracts from the Bishop of Sheffield's reply

Bishop
' ... in relation to the issues addressed in the Visitation, I must acknowledge my own responsibility. Throughout 2020, and even before, I failed to find a swifter, more effective way to address matters of which I was being made aware, and I profoundly regret this.'

 
Report

Section 1: The culture and HR ethos of the Cathedral The Visitation Team found evidence of an environment at the Cathedral which has tolerated bullying and blaming and has been characterised by a fear of speaking out. There is a pattern of people who have fallen out of favour at the Cathedral subsequently exiting the organisation, and the perception of this for onlookers among the staff and volunteers has only served to reinforce their fears and concerns ... In addition, a lack of cross-department engagement has meant weak relationships, which have in turn resulted in poor interactions and have created room for distrust and misunderstanding.


Bishop

In the light of this, I direct that Chapter should: 1. Engage an expert third party to undertake an audit of senior management skills, capabilities and management styles, to ensure that all staff, but especially senior managers, are equipped with the requisite experience and abilities to enable a journey to a healthy and happy future for the Cathedral, including, eg, where appropriate the introduction of performance management plans that specifically seek to strengthen and develop staff. Where appropriate, individuals should be encouraged to achieve qualifications from national awarding bodies. 2. Introduce and sustain a fully-fledged pattern of routine line-management and staff meetings across the Cathedral, together with annual appraisals, properly recorded, and with goals agreed for each employee which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. 3. Fully review and refresh the Staff Handbook, in particular reducing the warning for failure

 

Report

Section 3: Chapter’s handling of complaints The Visitation Team found that the Cathedral Complaints Procedure raises a question about its robustness for matters relating to senior managers, on account of their own place in the procedure, but found no evidence that Chapter saw the invidious position in which this placed senior members of staff. The Team also heard from multiple people that they were not confident in the Cathedral complaints and grievance processes. A few participants in the Visitation even noted that some who had raised a complaint or grievance were no longer in employment or service of the Cathedral, and that life could become difficult for some people who raised complaints or grievances. In relation to two specific complaints processes in 2020, the Team found evidence that recommendations had not been followed through. It has to be admitted that in these instances, the poor behaviour of complainants was not helpful. However, this fact does not remove from Chapter its obligations as a governing body to fulfil the role of objective oversight. The Visitation Team has encouraged me to put some parameters in place for Chapter to guide its future handling of any complaints. In the light of this, I direct that Chapter should: 1. Ensure that any complaints against members of the Cathedral staff are handled with an independence and thoroughness not evident in the cases reviewed by the Visitors. 2. Ensure that complaints are handled in strict accordance with the ACAS code, with appropriately expert HR advice 3. On the first such occasion, provide me with an account on completion to reassure me that due process has been followed, and followed through.

 

St Timothy's Church, Crookes, Sheffeld: Sam Wakeling


According to the page

https://hodigital.blog.gov.uk/author/sam-wakeling/

'Sam Wakeling is an interaction designer working for the Home Office in Sheffield.'

 

Altruism may be inextricably linked with selfishness, drawing attention to a genuine abuse may resort to means which are futile and ridiculous, an abuse may be real, there may be a need for reform, but the abuse may be linked with benefits which are massive. The people who draw attention to an abuse, real, imaginary or a an abuse-with-benefits may be childish attention-seekers, or people with great strengths who are also narcissistic and with many weaknesses.

 

Extinction Rebellion carried out stunts, such as gluing Extinction Rebellion protestors' body parts to the road. Collins English Dictionary, entry for 'stunt:'

 

1. A feat of daring or skill 2. Anything spectacular or unusual done for attention.

 

The Extinction Rebellion' stunts aren't 'feats of daring or skill. They are grotesque but not spectacular. They were certainly 'done for attention.'

 

 

Above, circus performers in a car stunt in a stadium in Montreal, 1946.

 

The picture also illustrates 'car crash.' From the Macmillan Dictionary, entry for 'car crash:' 'Something that is completely unsuccessful.' The dictionary gives an illustrative example but I'll supply this instead: 'The Extinction Rebellion protest was a ridiculous car crash.'

This page of the St Timothy's Church Website

https://www.sttims.org.uk/sermons/2019-09-15/

 amounts to clear-cut advocacy for the deranged stunts of 'Extinction Rebellion'

https://www.sttims.org.uk/sermon-speaker/sam-wakeling/

Biblical texts quoted:  Genesis 2:15-17 and 3:1-7, Matthew 4:1-11. Preacher: Sam Wakeling.

From the article by Graham Wroe in the 'Sheffield Telegraph' with the clumsily worded heading 'What led Sheffield Christian fined for climate protest to sit on the pavement outside airport that day.'

https://www.sheffieldtelegraph.co.uk/news/people/what-led-sheffield-christian-fined-for-climate-protest-to-sit-on-the-pavement-outside-airport-that-day-3247146

'Sheffielder Sam Wakeling, a father of two children, was arrested with six friends whilst taking part in a prayer vigil outside London City Airport. It was part of an Extinction Rebellion protest in October 2019. He was convicted and fined £796 for failing to provide his name and address when asked by a police officer. He explained to the court that he was silent because he was in prayer.'

He was fined almost £ 800 for a futile protest. Another futile protest he took part in is recorded on one of his pointless Youtube videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKcBwkOLkLE



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exeter Street Pastors
Coordinator: Diane Hurst

This wide-ranging section is about the Diocese of Exeter as well as Exeter Street Pastors, about the general public in Exeter as well as the people who are interested in mission and evangelism - converting the people of Exeter to a belief in Christ. Useful background information:

 

The latest British Social Attitudes Survey (2021)shows a 'huge generational surge in the non-religious. The proportion of the population belonging to no religion has continued to grow and is likely to rise over the coming decades: some 68% of 18-24 year olds say they belong to no religion, with just 18% saying they are Christians – including 0.7% saying they are Anglicans.

 

From the Diocese of Exeter Website

 

https://exeter.anglican.org/prayer-pastors-are-the-bedrock-of-the-street-pastor-movement/

 

PRAYER PASTORS ARE THE “BEDROCK OF THE STREET PASTOR MOVEMENT”

 

Above the heading, an image of a man praying:

 

CAPTION: A Prayer Pastor reacts to what is happening on the streets and takes it to God in prayer

 

Below the caption, material (posted 29 January 2020) on

 

' ... the crucial part played by Prayer Pastors in supporting the teams out on the streets.'

 

Diane Hurst, Exeter Street Pastors Coordinator, said “Prayer is the bedrock of the street pastor movement, and we wouldn’t deploy without prayer pastors. They are the powerhouse behind the scenes, bringing everything that happens on the street to God and expecting and getting His answer, in some cases immediately.”

In Exeter there are a minimum of two Prayer Pastors who stay in the base at Unlimited Church and support the teams on the street, praying into situations like violent fights or lost phones.  Street Pastors and Prayer Pastors can testify first hand to the effectiveness of such prayers.  Diane says many of the Prayer Pastors comment on how valuable the role is to them. She said “One lady told me, ‘I am more blessed than I imagined by serving this ministry; my relationship with God deepens as I fellowship with others and witness God working in the lives of people on the streets of Exeter’.”

The crucial role played by the Prayer Pastors means that, if there are not enough Prayer Pastors available, there will be fewer teams on the streets. Diane said “We don’t deploy unless there are two prayer pastors at base, and therefore sometimes that means that the street pastors need to stay in and pray.  This can result in just one team going out rather than two teams.”

 

Imagine if there were such groups as 'Battlefield Pastors,' operating not on the streets of towns and cities but on battlefields. The Battlefield Pastors are supported by 'Prayer Pastors,' who are not on the battlefield but behind the front line, away from the fighting, at base. Their role is to 'pray into the fighting.' The battlefield pastors 'bring everything that happens on the battlefield to God and expecting and getting his answer, in some cases immediately. When British forces were heavily outnumbered and their situation seemed desperate, they might be able to call on artillery support or aircraft for help. The action of the Battlefield Pastors would be very different - praying to God and expecting God's answer, in some cases immediately.

 

The Battlefield Pastors wouldn't deploy unless there were two Prayer Pastors at base. Sometimes this would mean that the Battlefield Pastors would need to stay at base and pray instead of going to where the fighting is taking place.

 

Would the Prayer Pastors be 'getting' God's answer? Would this be anything other than a futile, completely mistaken view, one that takes absolutely no notice of realities? The regular troops doing the fighting, taking the casualties, risking injury and death, have to deploy.

 

The Street Pastors and Prayer Pastors might benefit from some remedial teaching in military history, about the gruelling realities of the evacuation from Dunkirk, about D-day,  the Battle of Britain,  the Somme, Verdun, Stalingrad, the extreme sacrifices needed to fight in these conflicts, the extreme sacrifices which had to be made to liberate the concentration and extermination camps.

 

They would benefit from knowledge of the harsh realities of the Exeter blitz, the rebuilding of lives as well as buildings after the attack on the city from the air, which devastated the city centre - there were other attacks. This is a very good account of 'the city's darkest day of the Second World War,' the attack of May 4, 1942.

 

https://www.devonlive.com/news/history/exeter-blitz-dramatic-pictures-show-358818

 

Below, the Exeter Phoenix memorial,  representing the reconstruction of the city after WWII, to me at least, an artistically successful and evocative design, one which deserves to be widely recognized - the contrast between broad, powerful wings and thin, almost frail legs, the Phoenix above the stylized flames. Its simplicity may seem severe to some, but if so, the severity is appropriate. The reconstruction of Exeter, like the immediate response to the attack by the people of Exeter -  the fighting of fires, the rescue of the injured amidst the chaos, and the rest - called for stamina, gruelling work, a whole range of human qualities in response to severe challenges.

 

 

To become a Prayer Pastor makes very modest demands on a person's empathy, sympathy, compassion, knowledge of the world, awareness of the harsh realities of the world, appreciation for the beauties of the world. According to the Exeter Diocese page,

 

'You don’t have to be particularly gifted at praying to be a Prayer Pastor- you just need to be a committed Christian, over 18, take an active part in a local church, and be available to cover one prayer shift a month.'

 

What exactly do the prayers pray for? The material on prayer in the section above and other places on this page and other pages of the site gives much more information about this topic. The Street Pastors and Prayer Pastors praying for a taxi is one example. On another page, I discuss praying for good weather. It's likely that if the weather has been very windy and very wet and very cold in the days before the scheduled night-time visit to the streets, the prayers will pray for good weather during their visitation. In that case, God would have to make all kinds of adjustments involving adjustments of wind direction and velocity and air pressure and so much else. Changes to meteorological conditions which would benefit the Street Pastors might well have disadvantages: lower wind velocities would be a disadvantage for generation of electricity by wind power, less rain might well disadvantage gardeners and farmers who want more rainfall. But obviously, the idea of praying that God will change the weather is so stupid that only stupid people - or people with a stupid side - will pray for such a thing.

 

Prayer Pastors will have been praying hard for God to intervene in the Coronavirus epidemic. They haven't simply supplemented the only effective measures, such as vaccination and preventative measures, they've had completely misplaced, deluded confidence in prayer as an effective measure.

 

In past centuries, people prayed to God for cures for epidemic disease, and other diseases. They had no effective cures based on scientific medicine. Did God answer their prayers.

 

From the Wikipedia entry for 'Black Death:'

 

The Black Death ... was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Afro-Eurasia from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causing the death of 75–200 million people in Eurasia and North Africa, peaking in Europe from 1347 to 1351. Bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis spread by fleas, but it can also take a secondary form where it is spread person-to-person contact via aerosols causing septicaemic or pneumonic plagues.

 

 

...

 

 

Renewed religious fervour and fanaticism bloomed in the wake of the Black Death. Some Europeans targeted "various groups such as Jews, friars, foreigners, beggars, pilgrims", lepers, and Romani, blaming them for the crisis. Lepers, and others with skin diseases such as acne or psoriasis, were killed throughout Europe.

 

 

Because 14th-century healers and governments were at a loss to explain or stop the disease, Europeans turned to astrological forces, earthquakes, and the poisoning of wells by Jews as possible reasons for outbreaks. Many believed the epidemic was a punishment by God for their sins, and could be relieved by winning God's forgiveness.

 

There were many attacks against Jewish communities. In the Strasbourg massacre of February 1349, about 2,000 Jews were murdered. In August 1349, the Jewish communities in Mainz and Cologne were annihilated. By 1351, 60 major and 150 smaller Jewish communities had been destroyed.

 

 

Above, Jews being burned at the stake in 1349. Miniature from a 14th-century manuscript, Antiquitates Flandriae

 

Street Pastors and Prayer Pastors are in urgent need of remedial training not just in military history but the history of medicine, the history of water supply and sewage treatment (most deaths from disease throughout history have been caused by disease spread by contaminated water). There are many other fields where their ignorance should be an embarrassment to them but obviously isn't.

 

Supplementary material on the Exeter Diocese - for the time being, only one individual attached to the Exeter Diocese, James Grier.

 

I'll begin with a brief quotation from the section above, on Newcastle Street Pastors. I could have chosen a very different starting point, of course.

 

'Peter Ball, a Bishop, was sentenced to 32 months' imprisonment for misconduct in public office and indecent assault after admitting the abuse of 18 young men over a period of 15 years from 1977 to 1992. One of his victims, Neil Todd, took his own life.'

 

The horrific acts of Peter Ball are relevant to genteel formulations of Christian faith, the pious hopes of so many Anglicans, for example. Take this example, which delineates the world of 'Rev Preb' James Grier of the Exeter Diocese,

 

https://exeter.anglican.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/7-General-Synod-Electoral-Address-James-Grier.pdf

 

It contains this routine claim:

 

We live in a world that is more desperate than ever for the Good News of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed afresh in this and every generation.

 

This claim has the disadvantage of being untrue. It's untrue to claim that football supporters before, during or after a match are 'more desperate than ever for the Good News of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed afresh in this and every generation,' that climbers before, during or after a climb, musicians before, during or after a concert, comedians before, during or after a show - the list could obviously be extended indefinitely - are 'more desperate than ever for the Good News of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed.'

 

What does the Rev Preb James Grier believe? His article begins with this:

 

'I am a Devonian, born and bred and passionately committed to the Church of England in Devon.'

 

A challenge to James Grier. Do you or don't you believe this of other Devonians, the people born or living in the County of Devon (a magnificent one, one I've visited often and appreciate very much), do you believe that only the Devonians who accept Christ as their Lord and Saviour are destined to spend eternity in union with Christ - all the others are destined to spend eternity in different circumstances, the place - not a place, of course, but a condition -  which has traditionally been called - still is called, by many - Hell. If he doesn't happen to believe that, there are vast numbers of 'fellow-Christians,' fellow members of the Church of England, who have believed that and still believe that. Many, many Christians would believe that Peter Ball was forgiven for his sins, since he had accepted Christ as his Lord and Saviour, but his victims - the ones who had no belief in Christ as Lord and Saviour, perhaps because the beatings led them to abandon their faith, are consigned to Hell.

 

This is William Philpotts, a former Bishop of Exeter

 



In 2006, the Church of England voted to apologise to the descendants of victims of the slave trade.


An amendment "recognising the damage done" to those enslaved was backed overwhelmingly by the General Synod.

 

During the debate, Rev Simon Blessant said, in connection with the Church of England and the slave trade, 'We were at the heart of it.' He gave information about the involvement in the slave trade of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, which owned the Codrington Plantations.

 

These were two sugarcane growing estates on the island of Barbados. In 1710, they came into the possession of the Church of England 'Society for the Propagation of the Christian Religion in Foreign Parts.' The plantations were run by managers, nominally supervised by a Board of trustees of the Society headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a committee of Church of England bishops.

 

The plantations depended upon a regular supply of new slaves from West Africa. For almost a decade after the 'Society for the Propagation of the Christian Religion in Foreign Parts' inherited the plantations, slaves were branded on the chest with the word 'Society.'

 

During the debate, the fact was mentioned that when the emancipation of slaves took place in 1833, compensation was paid not to the slaves but to their owners. The information was given that the Bishop of Exeter and three colleagues were paid nearly £13,000  compensation for 665 slaves. This compensation was well over  £ 1,000,000  in current values. The Bishop of Exeter, William Philpotts, had opposed the Abolition of Slavery Act.

It can safely be assumed that the Bishop of Exeter had a belief in the Son of God but that some - perhaps many - of the slaves had no belief in the Son.

 

Of course, throughout all the slave-owning period in this country - and throughout all the heretic-burning and witch-burning period in this country - at such places as St Paul's Cathedral and King's College Cambridge, as well as quiet and lovely village churches, sermons were preached, prayers were said, for the most varied reasons, including condemnation of heretics and witches, holy communion was taken, evensong sung. 

 

The Gospel according to St John, 3:18, 'He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.' (King James Bible.)

 

One of the modern translations for the whole verse- like others, it updates the language but not the theology:

 

'Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.' (English Standard Version.)

 

The Gospel according to St John, 3:36 in the King James Bible:

 

'He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him.

 

It seems clear that slaves without belief in the Son of God are condemned and subject to the wrath of God, whilst slave owners with belief in the Son, such as the Bishop of Exeter, aren't condemned but have everlasting life.

 

 he Church of England's acceptance of slavery, with exceptions, wasn't in the least in conflict with Biblical ethics. After all, Jesus Christ preached the gospel in a slave-owning society, one in which slaves were flogged, worked to death and crucified, and never at any time, according to the Biblical record, declared that slavery was an evil and had to be ended. Jesus Christ was supposedly without sin but the Church has never claimed that the knowledge of Jesus Christ was without limitations. He had no knowledge of the measures necessary for adequate public health, for example - the provision of safe drinking water - or the measures necessary to end the Malthusian nightmare of pregnancies far in excess of the replacement rate and very high levels of infant mortality, or the agricultural measures needed to avoid the cycle of famine. Jesus Christ shared the limited knowledge of the people of his time and also shared many of their views,  including an indifference to the horrors of slavery. If Jesus wasn't indifferent to the horrors of slavery, why is there no record at all in the Biblical account that he opposed slavery?

 

St Paul showed such energy in promoting the doctrines of redemption and complete indifference to slave ownership. His epistle to the Galations, 3:28, in the 'Good News' translation.

'So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.'


 St Paul was interested only in the fact - or the fact in his theology - that slaves who accepted Christ as their saviour and free people (including slave-owners) who accepted Christ as their saviour were in this respect, this all-important respect, according to him, the same - their sins were forgiven. The sins of the two groups would be very different, of course, but not in every way. The sins of the slaves might include, in this despicable theology, swearing, the sins of the slave owners might also include swearing. There's no record of St Paul, or Jesus Christ, claiming that flogging a slave or breaking up a family of slaves - selling the parents to one new owner and the children to a different new owner - was a grave sin.

 

 

Of course, throughout all the slave-owning period in this country - and throughout all the heretic-burning and witch-burning period in this country - at such places as St Paul's Cathedral and King's College Cambridge, as well as quiet and lovely village churches, sermons were preached, prayers were said, for the most varied reasons, including condemnation of heretics and witches, holy communion was taken, evensong sung.

 

'He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life: but the wrath of God abideth on him.

 

It seems clear that slaves without belief in the Son of God are condemned and subject to the wrath of God, whilst slave owners with belief in the Son, such as the Bishop of Exeter, aren't condemned but have everlasting life.

 

The Church of England's acceptance of slavery, with exceptions, wasn't in the least in conflict with Biblical ethics. After all, Jesus Christ preached the gospel in a slave-owning society, one in which slaves were flogged, worked to death and crucified, and never at any time, according to the Biblical record, declared that slavery was an evil and had to be ended. Jesus Christ was supposedly without sin but the Church has never claimed that the knowledge of Jesus Christ was without limitations. He had no knowledge of the measures necessary for adequate public health, for example - the provision of safe drinking water - or the measures necessary to end the Malthusian nightmare of pregnancies far in excess of the replacement rate and very high levels of infant mortality, or the agricultural measures needed to avoid the cycle of famine. Jesus Christ shared the limited knowledge of the people of his time and also shared many of their views,  including an indifference to the horrors of slavery. If Jesus wasn't indifferent to the horrors of slavery, why is there no record at all in the Biblical account that he opposed slavery?

 

St Paul showed such energy in promoting the doctrines of redemption and complete indifference to slave ownership. His epistle to the Galations, 3:28, in the 'Good News' translation.

'So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.'

 

 St Paul was interested only in the fact - or the fact in his theology - that slaves who accepted Christ as their saviour and free people (including slave-owners) who accepted Christ as their saviour were in this respect, this all-important respect, according to him, the same - their sins were forgiven. The sins of the two groups would be very different, of course, but not in every way. The sins of the slaves might include, in this despicable theology, swearing, the sins of the slave owners might also include swearing. There's no record of St Paul, or Jesus Christ, claiming that flogging a slave or breaking up a family of slaves - selling the parents to one new owner and the children to a different new owner - was a grave sin.

 

The Exeter Street Pastors, like the Street Pastors of all the other towns and cities where they pray, distribute flip-flops, charge phone batteries for night time revellers, provide water for slightly dehydrated revellers, obey this theology of condemnation for the many - condemnation for most - and redemption for the few - the very few. The Diocese of Exeter will very likely include some people who have reservations about this theology or reject it completely, without making public their reservations or rejection, but the majority endorse the theology.


Shrewsbury and Telford Street Pastors and the Police and Crime Commissioner, West Mercia Police

John Campion is the Police and Crime Commissioner, West Mercia Police.

https://www.westmercia-pcc.gov.uk/key-information/

It was John Campion who donated a vehicle, a very substantial one, to Shrewsbury Street Pastors. The van is also available to Telford Street Pastors.

 

From the Website of Shrewsbury Street Pastors

 

https://streetpastors.org/locations/shrewsbury/

 

'Since March 2018 we have had the use of a 3.5 Tonne vehicle that has been donated by The Office of Police and Crime Commissioner West Mercia Police. This vehicle is the Shrewsbury Street Pastors Triage Support vehicle, nicknamed ‘The Donkey’. It has been used to support the work of our foot patrols out on the streets of Shrewsbury. Our future aim is to use the vehicle for outreach, preventative work and promotional activities, to raise the awareness of our charity’s objectives.'

 

And this:

 

'A bottle of water for those who are dehydrated, a pair of flip-flops for those struggling to walk in high heels, a space blanket for those without a coat, a phone call to track down missing friends or arrange a taxi home, or simply a listening ear – all are part of a night’s work for a Street Pastor.'

 

Providing these items, providing these services is surely a very modest - a marginal - contribution to addressing the difficulties of people on a night out. Attempting to persuade people to take more responsibility for their own welfare, for example, by bringing a coat, or attempting to persuade pubs and night clubs to have available flip-flops - they have the water, of course. Dehydration after the pubs and night clubs have closed is very unlikely to amount to a medical emergency and there should be no need for space blankets. In any case, lightweight space blankets which take up hardly any space are widely available in camping shops and stores.

 

Anyone who sees that big, big vehicle donated by John Campion to the Street Pastors should summon up an image of the contents - lightweight things like flip-flops and space blankets and a small first aid kit (the street pastors won't be attempting major operations.) Only the water has much weight and takes up space, and how much water do they need to rehydrate the revellers during a few hours of the night? A few litres, surely. John Campion should have donated a rucksack to carry them. Better still, the street pastors should have bought their own rucksack.

 

It's quite common for people to try ascending Lake District peaks without adequate equipment or clothing - wearing flip-flops, for example. Sometimes, mountain rescue teams have to be called out to rescue them. What if there were 'mountain pastors,' ready to lend people in flip flops proper walking or mountain boots? What if there were 'trained' mountain pastors claiming to help  the proper mountain rescue teams, but obviously with far less training and experience than the members of mountain rescue teams?

 

It's often necessary to protect people from the consequences of their own actions or lack of action but it's better if people can be persuaded to take far more responsibility. As it is, street pastors seem content to allow the situation to continue. If it does continue, they can continue to pose as fearless venturers into the dark, 'offering help to those in need.' The 'need' in this case isn't amongst the most pressing needs of humanity.

 

As for the need for a taxi, the revellers have a phone, all of them or most of them, and they can phone for a taxi unaided. The Street Pastors view of taxi services can be very different from the view of people outside this particular cult. From the column to the left:

 

Street Pastors are part of the 'Ascension Trust. Their site has a page on prayer and Prayer Pastors

 

https://www.ascensiontrust.org.uk/about-us/prayer/

 

Prayer Pastors:

 

  • Come to base, support the street pastor teams any way they can and ‘pray them out’

  • Stay in contact with the street pastor team on patrol and keep a log of calls & incidents

  • Respond to specific needs and situations that arise

  • Pray for protection and divine appointments

  • See frequent answers to their prayers

Tonight (29/30th September 2018) at 1 am we had a call from the team of four street pastors in Portrush. The team members had been talking to a young man from Draperstown (33 miles away), who was rather the worse for wear and needed to get home. He did have money to pay for a taxi, and the team asked us to pray for a taxi or a way home for him.


We prayed immediately and within 7 minutes had another phone call to base. A couple had pulled up in their car and asked if the Street Pastors were ok, and was there anything they could do to help? It so happened that they were from Maghera (6 miles from Draperstown)!


When the driver of the car and the guy in need of a lift realised it was a perfect fit, they happily bumped fists. The guy got in and they drove off.

 

What a lovely quick answer to our prayers – within just a few minutes!”

 

This is Andrew Pantling, Coordinator of Canterbury Street Pastors

 

https://streetpastors.org/locations/canterbury/team/

 

 

'Have been a prayer pastor for 9 years with Canterbury Street Pastors. I took over the role in September 2020 and have enjoyed every moment. It has been an interesting year.  As I have been around the teams for many years, I have got to know each member and know they are a great team! Through the years I have seen prayer work and prayer work instantly out on the streets as a result of our prayers as prayer pastors.

PRAYER WORKS!'

 

Does prayer work, or is this an empty claim?
Does prayer prevent or cure coronavirus? Should Christians put their trust in prayer or in preventative measures and vaccines?
Did prayer prevent or cure the plague and all the other diseases which afflicted humanity before scientific medicine provided effective treatments?
Many Christians still pray for favourable weather. Can prayer do this?

Can prayer prevent wars, including wars between Christians, such as the European Wars of Religion, fought in the 16th, 17th and early 18th centuries? One of these wars, the 'Thirty Years War,' devastated Germany and killed a third of its population. The Christians of the opposing sides will certainly have prayed for victory over the opposing side.

Why should 'god' need prayer to prevent harm or correct harm? Doesn't 'god' already know about the harm?
Can you provide evidence that prayer can work 'instantly' out on the streets as a result of prayer?

 

The police use rational methods to prevent and combat crime. For example, in their use of necessary force, the police use minimum force to arrest the suspect. That's the ideal, often achieved or  generally achieved. If Street Pastors believe they can restrain someone committing an act of  violence by prayer, then they're deluded. They belong to a cult rather than an organization which can be respected. 

 

Supplementary material on the former Treasurer of Canterbury Street Pastors and his actions.

From the Website of the Ascension Trust

 

https://www.ascensiontrust.org.uk/
2018/02/21/internal-financial-controls-for-ascension-trust-

 

'Some of you may have heard that an irregularity was discovered in our finances during 2017. I can advise that a significant amount of money was stolen from Canterbury Street Pastors bank account by a person in a position of trust, who had access to the on-line bank account, but with no authority to act in this way. The Trustees had been increasingly suspicious for some time and in 2017 identified that fraud had taken place. They initiated a full audit and then advised the Police who recorded the crime, but preferred to allow a civil prosecution to recover the funds to proceed.

 

'The Trustees successfully prosecuted the individual and the Courts found judgement against this person in January 2018, requiring full repayment to Canterbury Street Pastors with costs. The Trustees are now enforcing this action ... '

 

The person who carried out the fraud was the Treasurer of Canterbury Street Pastors, William Howe, a lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church. He went on to steal equipment from the college and was imprisoned.

 

 
One of the Street Pastors' objectives - in fact the Street Pastors' most important objective - is to save sinners. Apart from that, the Street Pastors' reliance on prayer should make it very undesirable for a public body to give a donation.  The Office of Police and Crime Commissioner West Mercia Police made a mistake in subsidizing an organisation with this objective. None of the activities mentioned, such as providing water to people out late at night, can possibly be regarded as so vital as to justify this donation. There are so many causes with a far, far greater claim on the generosity of donors.

 

It's wrong that public money should have been spent for this purpose. There are vastly more important  claims on public money. I'm not in the least suggesting that his political judgement is flawed, only that on the evidence I have so far, it was flawed on this occasion.

 

John Campion swore an oath of impartiality on his appointment. It  includes this: 'I do solemnly and sincerely promise that I will serve all the people of [your Police Force Area] in the office of police and crime commissioner without fear or favour.'  This is simply a brief comment, no more - I think he favoured a Christian organization without good cause. I don't claim that he broke your oath of impartiality, but as I see it, there are strong arguments and extensive evidence to show that he was mistaken.


So much criticism of  police forces in this country seems to me to be unfair, failing to recognize that in organizations which are large and complex, facing a very wide range of problems, in the case of the police, very demanding problems as varied as knife crime and gun crime, sexual abuse and property crime, the difficulties of vulnerable people, and so many others, facing demands from so many members of the public which are impossible to satisfy, it's inevitable that some people - many people - will be left unsatisfied -  the familiar, intractable difficulty of finite resources and infinite - or very great - demands.

 

The police forces have many, many employees, of course, and, human nature being what it is, it's very

likely that from time to time a small percentage will make serious mistakes, which are rightly publicized by the media. Sometimes, criticism which  should be specific  becomes generalized, amounting to a general indictment of the police. It becomes grossly unfair. Honest criticism is one thing but all too often,  the strengths of the police forces are overlooked. In a role which is particularly important, protection of the public from violent crime, the police forces rarely fail, and in all their other roles, the successes surely outweigh the failures. But I'd want to put it much more strongly than that.


Police officers risk injury and sometimes death. Street Pastors are overwhelmingly unlikely to be injured let alone killed on the streets at night, but they are ready to portray themselves as 'on the front line,' doing a vital job, and more than that, doing hazardous work.

 

 

Above, street pastors away from the front line, not risking the dangers of the night - outside the Cowes Co-op, after duties at a festival.

 

The site

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/
police-workforce-england-and-wales-31-march-2021/annex-statistics-on-the-number-of-police-officers-assaulted-in-the-year-ending-march-2021-england-and-wales

 

gives the information that in the year ending March 2021, there were about 37, 000 assaults on police officers in England and Wales. There were 11, 235 cases of 'assaults with injury on a constable.'

 

An extract which conveys something of the intense difficulties faced by police officers, but not faced by Street Pastors, or not nearly as often. Although Street Pastors may be in close proximity to incidents of aggression, almost always, the aggression isn't aimed at them.

 

From the Website of the National Police Chiefs' Council

 

https://www.npcc.police.uk/2017%20FOI/CO/078%2017%20CCC%20April%202017%2006%202%20Spit%20Guards.pdf

 

 

'The spit guard is a lightweight mesh garment that is placed over a person’s head to help minimise the risks of communicable diseases (blood borne viruses (BBV)) and injuries associated with a suspect spitting and biting. A Spit Guard will not prevent every injury through spitting or biting, it will not prevent the first instance of spitting. However there are circumstances where a suspect is deliberately spitting saliva and possibly blood, where officers need to be in close proximity to them in order to achieve a lawful objective e.g. searching, preventing self-harm etc where the use of Spit Guard can effectively minimise the risks to officers. Spit Guards cannot prevent the blunt trauma injury from biting, however they can reduce the transfer of bodily fluids in these cases.'

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jul0ET4-8bw
which is about the work of Reading Street Pastors.

 
'If there's a fight going on, I'll ask God to intervene.'
    31s

At 6:21, a Street Pastor turns to prayer. The words of his prayer:  

'They just had a bit of a fight in the doorway between two groups  So father I just ask you into the situation to deal with it  to keep these groups separated and may they all go home safely on their own.'

 

Despite all their prayers and all their clams, the record of the Churches is often horrific and more often dismal.

 

If there's a fight going on, Street Pastors pray. The police officers stop the fighting, if necessary calling on other officers to help, risking injury and sometimes worse. When the fighting has been brought to an end, the Street Pastors can then thank God for stopping the fighting.

 

When police have to waste their time on very minor issues or non-existent issues then of course this is time which they can't give to more important issues.

 

Some supplementary material, an extract from an email I sent.

Lu Skerratt-Love is an employee of the Church Army and a trustee of St Mark's Church, Sheffield. The Website of the Church has publicized her attendance and the attendance of other members of the congregation at Extinction Rebellion protests in London. She writes that she and other protesters prayed during the protests. The Extinction Rebellion protests made huge demands on police time. Again, there were obvious consequences - people the police could have helped weren't helped, people the police could have arrested and should have arrested perhaps weren't arrested. Lu Skerratt-Love obviously has insufficient belief in the power of prayer, unlike the Church Pastors who think that God will provide a taxi or a some other vehicle if they pray for it. She didn't pray for my conversion or pray that I would remove material from this Website, she asked the police to intervene, and on two occasions. I think this may well be a clear-cut case of 'wasting police time,' which is an offence.

 

On 23 November 2021, I received a communication from South Yorkshire Police to inform me that SYP had received a complaint from Lu Skerratt-Love 'who attends St Mark's Church Broomhill regarding some emails that you sent her and the Church in early October ... '

The background is extensive but I hope the information I provide will help to clarify matters. Lu Skerratt-Love has been and still may be a prominent advocate of the 'forest church' movement in Sheffield. 'Forest Churches' have become synonymous with 'Garden Churches.' In September, Lu Skerratt-Love publicized on the Website of St Mark's Church a new initiative - work on a garden church/forest church at the Walkley Bank Allotment Site in Sheffield. I have two allotments at the same site. There are many reasons why I found the proposal to begin a church at the allotment site problematic, in fact misguided, and I set out the reasons in an email sent to St Mark's Church (since the Church had, after all, publicized the new venture) and to Lu Skerratt-Love. The email was sent on 8 September, 2021. The concerns I mentioned in the email involved practical difficulties, difficulties to do with security and difficulties to do with the law ... The email in which I outlined my concerns never reached Lu Skerratt-Love. I sent the email to her Church Army email address. Lu Skerratt-Love is employed by the Church Army. I sent a copy of the email to Tim Ling of the Church Army. It seems that either St Mark's Church or the Church Army brought the email to the attention of Lu Skerratt-Love. Tim Ling promptly blocked emails from me, not just emails addressed to Lu Skerratt-Love but emails to all members of his department, a research department. 


I find it incredible that Lu Skerratt-Love contacted South Yorkshire Police with a complaint concerning emails from me on or shortly before 23 November  when she must have known that ever since 8 September or shortly after no emails from me could possibly have reached her, since my emails were blocked. Given that my email concerning the garden church was matter of fact, simply pointing out certain difficulties, the decision to block emails was outrageous, a completely unwarranted attempt to stifle reasonable communication. I've every reason to believe that reasonable communication by email with the Church Army, including Lu Skerratt-Love, is still impossible. 

 

Leeds Street Pastors

 

Buildings which are neglected show tell-tale signs of neglect. Websites which are neglected keep up appearances. Their pages can look like the pages of a glossy magazine, but lack of content shows. This Website is bare. The neglect goes back a long time, back to 2016. The last news posted was on May 4, 2016 - not that there's any news dating back to that time, so far as I can see. The posts described as 'recent posts' date back to May 4, 2016, but I can't see any. The most recent dates in the section  'Upcoming patrol dates are as follows' are 7 and 28 May, 2016.

 

The Coordinator of Leeds Street Pastors is Maureen Jones. What does she have to coordinate? Not very much, it seems. Maureen Jones' Church affiliation is provided: the 'Church of God of Prophecy.' This is yet another fundamentalist Church basing its beliefs on an infallible' Bible and  preaching Hellfire for unbelievers - including vulnerable people who are unbelievers. The Church of God of Prophesy doesn't have a Website. A Website is the usual place where a Church makes known its Safeguarding Policy and contact information about a Safeguarding Officer. I've no idea if this Church has a policy or an officer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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