by Margery Roberts
i2i Publishing, 2017.
As a churchwarden in a traditional church, much of it felt painfully familiar:
- the struggles of a church with a declining congregation, whereas down the road is a big successful evangelical church which many think you should copy, at the expense of sacrificing traditional liturgy and sense of the sacred;
- when the heating goes wrong it is ‘your fault’ if you can’t get it fixed by next Sunday;
- page 147, “That church of yours seems to be getting you down. It seems to be on your mind the whole time”, the appreciation that the role can be all consuming to the detriment of your personal relationships, especially if you are trying to fit it in alongside a full time job.
The book left me thinking, which is the sign of any good book.
There were a couple of minor points that did not quite ring true:
- a couple of the characters said “how do you do” on first meeting, I never hear that said today no matter how formal someone is;
- one non-churchgoer asks incredulously “does anyone believe in God anymore?”, but surely even the most secular person knows that there are plenty of people who believe in God?;
- Archdeacons have to make tough decisions by having the iron fist in the velvet glove, but the Archdeacon in this story didn’t show much velvet glove, particularly in the first encounter.
In summary, this is an important book, which I would recommend to any churchwarden – here is an author who understands you in your darkest moments!
Adrian Vincent, August 2018