Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Surprised by the Arcbishop


Had a fantastic day at the HTB Leadership Conference in the Royal Albert Hall yesterday. It was a day of great teaching and not a few surprises. First up was Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. Head of the Church of England.

The "established" church does not carry much positive press and my own opinion, based on my own ignorance, has not been stellar. So hearing from the Archbishop left me questioning some of my views. Here are some of the points from his interview with Nicky Gumbel.


  • Nicky: What was in your mind when you were being appointed and prayed for as head of the Church of England? Justin: Its not about me, it's all about Jesus.
  • Asked about his conversion he said: "Nicky you were a very disruptive influence in my non christian life" 
  • My first experience at church was staggeringly boring so it just shows me that God is bigger than this. 
  • Someone took the time to explain the cross to me.
  • He spent three summers smuggling Bibles into the old communist block. With up to 1000 Bible hidden in a secret compartment in his vehicle.
  • Leadership lesson: As was given responsibility very early & expected to get on with it 
  • Leadership lesson: Its fun to work with great team 
  • Everyone has a christian vocation its not the preserve of the professional clergy.
  • You know it is natural for churches to grow.
  • The extraordinary thing about Jesus is that he never says get into the right place and I will meet you there. He says I am with you and I will take you to the right place. 
  • The quick fix to the quieting of the spirit in your life? Prolonged prayer & fasting.
  • If Jesus isn't at the centre of the church we are just rotary with a pointy roof. 
  • Fear is dealt with by grace. 
  • It's not what we are but who God is. 
  • We are what we are before God & nothing else - Murray M'Chenye 
  • The cathedral should be a safe place to do risky things for Jesus.
  • We need to be a risk taking church. There is absolute security in Christ but no safety. 
  • We cannot live for our cause to win we must live for His cause to win. 
  • Take up our cross, bear the hurts, and repay in love 


1. Have a passion to do what you do. ( if you haven't got the passion stop)
2. Have compassion ( for the people you work with if not you are a bully)
3. Have empathy ( take care of people) sympathy & empathy are different. Empathy means you are involved
4. Have courage ( courage is not the absence of fear it is the management of fear)

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

You can watch it at http://youtu.be/yXEgyiP4PzU?t=1h2m21s

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