It was a very special privilege to gather last week with clergy and some of our lay leaders from across the diocese for our tri-annual Diocesan Clergy Conference. As the Church, we are charged in this time to share God’s love and to work for the coming of the Kingdom. So we return from the conference recommitted to sharing in this great commission with you, with the whole baptised people of God and with partners of goodwill across our communities.
Tag: Bishop Robert
Message from Bishop Robert, 20 September 2022
It will be a great joy to welcome our Reader community to the Cathedral this coming Saturday for our Annual Reader Day and, in the afternoon, our Annual Service during which Bishop Rachel will be admitting three new Readers who have now completed their training.
Readers have a long and distinguished history of ministry and play a significant part in the ministry of the church today and we owe them a great debt of thanks. Of course, their ministry is significant for all they do in preaching, teaching, pastoral care and, more recently, in pioneer ministry. It is, however, equally significant for what Readers are.
Message from Bishop Robert, 6 September 2022
For those of us who seek to follow Jesus Christ, this is where our hope and our confidence is to be found – a hope and confidence that will allow us to speak a different story, that will challenge the narrative of gloom and doom that seems all pervasive.
#EcoChurchInAnHour Caring for the environment
Bishop Robert meets the Assistant Operations Director at Trinity Cheltenham, Marion David, to talk about how care for the environment runs through everything they do as a church at Trinity.
The Lambeth Conference
Last week, Bishop Robert wrote about the Lambeth Conference and now we are here in Canterbury, alongside the Bishops from our partner dioceses. There are about 700 Bishops from all over the world, plus about 500 spouses and ecumenical guests, and it is a privilege to encounter one another and hear about contexts very different from our own, with challenges we can only begin to imagine.
Bishop Samuel visits Diocese ahead of Lambeth Conference
Bishop Rachel and Bishop Robert welcomed Bishop Prasana Samuel and his wife, Prof Esther Samuel, from our partner diocese in Karnataka Central, India, as they prepared to attend the 15th Lambeth Conference.
Message from Bishop Robert, 12 July 2022
In our Gospel reading last Sunday we encountered (Luke 10 v 25f) a lawyer who puts to Jesus one of, perhaps the most, fundamental questions of human existence. ‘What’ he asks, ‘must I do to inherit eternal life?’
Message from Bishop Robert, 28 June 2022
One of the priorities that Bishop Rachel and I share with the Archdeacons, is to spend time with benefices that are ‘in vacancy’ when we can. I don’t really like the word ‘vacancy’. It’s better than ‘interregnum’, between two ‘rulers’
Church of England unveils plan to become major provider of social housing nationally
The Church of England is taking steps to set up a national housing association which will enable the Church to become a major provider of social housing. It will pioneer a shared land management and development service to develop skills and capacity across its network of dioceses.
Message from Bishop Robert, 17 May 2022
A new feature of my recent visits to some of our schools has been to learn about how children and staff are welcoming Ukrainian children to their community. The hospitalityContinue reading
Easter Eve confirmations 2022
The evening before Easter, after sunset, a group of people who wanted to publically confirm their faith and trust in Jesus, gathered at Gloucester Cathedral for a confirmation service. BothContinue reading
Message from Bishop Robert, 22 March 2022
On Monday last week, I found myself with a group of our clergy in the Greek Orthodox Church of Nablus in the Palestinian West Bank.
Eco Church in an Hour: Registration
Churchwarden Roger Eldridge looks after the stunning St Mary’s Church in Edgeworth which achieved a Bronze Eco Church Award on first registration for the scheme. Bishop Robert visited him toContinue reading
‘Save the Parish’: A response from Bishop Robert
It is to the parish church I owe fairly much all that I am. As a child taken to my parish church, I first heard the stories of the scripturesContinue reading
Message from Bishop Robert, 1 February 2022
All our desire, all our intentions, will only be fruitful if they are rooted in a vision of the holiness of God.
Praying together for LIFE Together
Worshipping communities and individuals in and around Gloucestershire are invited to join in monthly prayers on Zoom for the work of the church in this area. “Do not worry aboutContinue reading
Christmas message from Bishop Robert, 14 December 2021
What a mess… Just when we thought we might have seen, if not the end, at least the worst of the pandemic, we have Omicron, and it seems we takeContinue reading
Video: Hardwicke site models housing pods
An innovative project in Hardwicke, Gloucestershire, could help to tackle the problem of a lack of affordable accommodation in local communities.
COP26 week 1
A summary of week 1, in the life of the overall conference and the Christian presence in Glasgow. Key announcements this week: An agreement has been made by mostContinue reading
A space to remember babies loved and lost
Bishop Robert visited Christ Church, Cheltenham to bless a special remembrance area in the church garden for Baby Loss Week. People from the local community who had been affected byContinue reading
Message from Bishop Robert, 12 October 2021
Being a disciple of Jesus is an adventure – it can unsettle, challenge, disturb us but always leads to life.
You will read elsewhere in today’s Bulletin of the continuing invitation to be engaged with ‘Living in Love and Faith’ the teaching document which as Bishops we have prepared about identity, sexuality, relationships and marriage.
Message from Bishop Robert, 28 September 2021
“If we did not already know that we were living in anxious times, it took only the news last Thursday that some 20 garages across the country had run out of fuel, to there being queues on Friday and by Sunday over half of garages closed. Most of us know, in our heads at least, that provided we all act wisely and don’t panic, there won’t be a problem…
Message from Bishop Robert
“But I have not done enough.” These words were said to me some years ago by a member of the congregation in the church of which I was the Rector, to explain why they could not go ahead and be confirmed. ‘I have not done enough… I don’t deserve it…’ of course, as I tried gently to explain, if any of us waited until we have done enough to be confirmed no one would ever be!
Message from Bishop Robert
Over 8 million people in this country live in overcrowded, unaffordable and sub-standard accommodation, I cannot but recognise that this is both an affront to human dignity and a challenge to act …
