The visibility of mission agencies in general and USPG in particular among recently ordained Anglican clergy : an empirical enquiry

Attitudes toward mission agencies in general, and toward the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG) in particular, were assessed using two 10-item scales completed by 833 recently ordained Anglican clergy from the UK. Clergy were generally positive toward mission agencies and willing for their churches to engage with them, but more reluctant to form personal links. Most clergy felt agencies should give priority to the relief of poverty and to development needs, rather than to spreading specifically Christian beliefs. Results for the USPG indicated more uncertain responses than for mission agencies generally, which probably indicated a lower visibility for this agency among some clergy, especially evangelicals

The psychological temperament of Anglican clergy in ordained local ministry (OLM) : the conserving, serving pastor?

This study draws on psychological type theory as originally proposed by Jung (1971) and psychological temperament theory as proposed by Keirsey and Bates (1978) to explore the hypothesis that ordained local ministers (OLMs) within the Church of England reflect a psychological profile more in keeping with the profile of Church of England congregations than with the profile of established professional mobile clergy serving in the Church of England. Data provided by 135 individuals recently ordained as OLMs (79 women and 56 men) supported the hypothesis. Compared with established professional mobile clergy there is a higher proportion of the Epimethean Temperament (SJ) among OLMs. Oswald and Kroeger (1988) characterise SJ religious leaders as ‘the conserving, serving pastor’. The implications of these findings are discussed for the evolving ministry of the Church of England

Attitude toward homosexuality among Anglicans in England: the effects of theological orientation and personality

Disapproval of homosexuality (homonegativity) was assessed using a four-item summated scale in a sample of 7,295 readers of the Church Times who were regular worshippers at Anglican churches in England. The theological orientation of respondents was assessed on three scales measuring preference for liberal or conservative, catholic or evangelical, and charismatic or non-charismatic expressions of faith. Individual differences in personality were assessed using the abbreviated form of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised (EPQR-A). Scores on the homonegativity scale were generally high, indicating disapproval of same-sex intercourse, same-sex marriage and the ordination or consecration of practising homosexuals. After allowing for sex and age, the main predictors of homonegativity were the three measures of individual theological orientation, each having an independent and additive effect. All four scales of the EPQR-A predicted homonegativity to some extent, but the most important relationships were a negative correlation with the psychoticism scale and a positive correlation with the lie scale. In liberal catholic and broad churches, it appeared that those who were psychologically most susceptible to social conditioning were most likely to be homonegative, but this was not the case in conservative evangelical churches

Factors Predicting Engagement With Society Among Anglicans In England

This chapter examines five different measures of social engagement among a religiously committed sample of churchgoers in the Church of England. The five measures include a measure of civic participation, three measures of social concern and a measure of social conscience. In each case these dependent variables are compared with predictor variables that are classified into four groups: individual variables, social variables, individual religious variables, and congregational variables. Assessing theological orientation for Anglicans in the Church of England requires a combination of scales that reflect the different historical and theological traditions in the denomination. The chapter is based on analysis of lay people from the Church Times survey of 2001. The results for the analysis of the Civic Participation Index (CPI) have been reported in detail elsewhere and are given in order to compare them with the analyses of social conscience and social concern, presented here for the first time. Keywords: Anglicans; Civic Participation Index (CPI); Englan

Ecology of the Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) in relation to vole abundance at Eskdalemuir, south Scotland

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D34019/81 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

Psychological type and the pulpit : an empirical enquiry concerning preachers and the SIFT method of biblical hermeneutics

A sample of 389 experienced preachers completed a measure of psychological type. They then read Mark 1:29-39 and recorded their evaluations of the four reflections on this passage proposed by Francis (1997) and which were derived from the SIFT method of biblical hermeneutics and liturgical preaching. Three main conclusions are drawn from these data. First, compared with the United Kingdom population norms, preachers within this sample were significantly more likely to prefer introversion, intuition, feeling and judging. Second, preachers were four times more likely to prefer a sensing interpretation of the text rather than a thinking interpretation, emphasising the richness of the narrative rather than facing the theological questions posed by it. Third, there was little evidence to suggest that preachers were less likely to appreciate interpretations consonant with their less preferred or inferior function than those consonant with their most preferred or dominant function. In this sense, the richness of the SIFT method should be accessible to preachers of all psychological types

Statistics for evidence-based policy in the Church of England : predicting diocesan performance

This study computed the percentage changes recorded on six separate performance indicators between 1991 and 2000 in order to calculate the effect of the Decade of Evangelism on the mainland dioceses of the Church of England. The performance indicators were usual Sunday attendance, Easter Sunday communicants, Christmas communicants, electoral roll membership, total baptism figures, and total confirmation figures. Statistical procedures (including cluster analysis, analysis of variance, canonical correlation analysis, and multiple regression) were then employed in order to identify from the range of variables routinely collected by the central church authorities policy-related factors associated with church growth (or at least reduced decline) over this period. These analyses identified four areas, concerned with expanding non-stipendiary ministry, with encouraging the ordination of women, with resisting church closure, and with promoting a financial policy that includes planned subscriptions and charitable giving. These conclusions are offered as an applied example of using statistics as a tool for mission and as the basis for evidence-based policy

Living in sin? : religion and cohabitation in Britain 1985-2005

Frequency of cohabitation among 13,703 adults from the British Social Attitudes dataset for 1985-2005 peaked at around 26-30 years of age, and increased significantly over the period of study. Cohabitation frequency was compared between those of no religious affiliation and Christian affiliates who (a) attended church at least once a month, (b) attended church, but less than once a month, and (c) never attended church. Active Christians were 3.2 times less likely to cohabit than non-affiliates, and rates of cohabitation have remained stable over time in this group. Christian affiliates who never attended church were 1.2 times less likely to cohabit than non-affiliates, suggesting that even affiliation without attendance may indicate greater affinity to Christian moral attitudes compared with non-affiliates