Better story

Yesterday we went to All Souls, Langham Place, just off Oxford Street, for the annual Evangelists Conference, which this year had the theme 'Better Story.'

It was subtitled 'new ways to tell the better story of the gospel in our narrative-soaked world.'

The conference considered the power of stories, including in advertising and political campaigning,  and then asked how we could communicate the gospel in story form, making the most of the compelling attention grabbing nature of stories and their emotional power.

The day ended with a kind of specimen sermon - based on the narrative of the crucifixion, that used stories and illustrations particularly well, kind of showing us how it was done. It was a really excellent conference.


LUNCHTIME TODAY saw the ministers of the Bermondsey Deanery Chapter (the ministers of the seven parishes of Bermondsey deanery), meet up at St Mary, Rotherhithe, Rectory for lunch with Bermondsey MP, Neil Coyle (right).

It was good to hear about Neil's work in Parliament and for his constituents here in Bermondsey, and his reflections on the recent party conference.

We discussed some of the key local issues - housing and crime (particularly moped based crime and that affecting mobile phones) seem top of the agenda at the present moment.

At a time when the world can be very cynical about politicians, it was good to be reminded once more of the thousands of public-spirited individuals, from all parties, who work so hard to serve the people of their area.