Rowan Williams - The Aftermath

There has been a bit of a storm lately concerning Rowan Williams's comments about Sharia Law. Whatever the rights and wrongs of those comments, it does raise some interesting points.
Firstly, does the Archbishop of Canterbury need to have a rethink about any press releases and the like regarding public pronouncements he has made and how they can be interpreted?
Secondly, Do we pray for our Church leaders? Sounds a bit twee, but sometimes some Christians (and we include ourselves here, although not towards Rowan Williams) can be theologically hostile towards their leaders, and/or to other Church leaders, where they neglect to pray for them!
Thirdly, how can we be supportive of our leaders in a way which helps prevent such situations in future.

This isn't necessarily condoning or criticising what Rowan Williams as said, but as Christians we should help build each other up and that means making sure such situations, when they arise, are contained

CHURCH UNITY HELPS HOMELESS

In anticipation of the publication of the March edition of IMPACT (the Christian Political Forum quarterly e-zine) we are publishing a series of extracts from articles that will appear in IMPACT this quarter. The first is from the article "Church Unity Helps Homeless", in which the CPF interviews Paul Ware, Co-ordinator for Croydon Churches Floating Shelter, on the continuing success of the shelter.

“A guest from our first season stayed with us for about 6 weeks. He had lost his job in the city, his flat and his girlfriend through alcohol. At the end of the shelter he entered a rehabilitation centre in Scotland. After 6 months treatment and much encouragement he made contact with his estranged family. He obtained employment and was reunited with his girlfriend. He contacted me a few months ago to say he was now married with an 18 month old son, in regular employment and lives locally. This turn around in his life was due to the help we had given him and he felt it was ‘pay back’ time. He is now a volunteer at one of the churches on a regular basis.”

You can read the full article in IMPACT, which is going to be distributed on Monday 12th March. You can receive IMPACT via the CPF e-mailing list. Join the mailing list by emailing us at cpf-online@excite.com. Please put 'CPF' in the email title.