Despite being a vicar, I still feel a little stab of panic if I am asked to stand up on the spur of the moment and pray. I am not a good conversationalist and I struggle for words. A monk once joked, "never ask a monk to pray; we can't do that without a book" and I know what he meant. But I do value silence and in this I am not alone. A friend recently told me a story of Mother Theresa, who was asked how she prayed. "I say nothing, I just listen to God". "So what does God say to your?" the interviewer asked. "Nothing, he just listens to me" replied Mother Theresa. Sometimes, we just need to shut up, rest in the silence and be glad.<br>
Recently, I was talking with a group of friends. We all were university teachers, but also of a certain age, with retirement fast approaching. So, as people of a certain age are prone to do, we looked back. We discussed what advice we might give to our younger selves; if we were forty years younger, would we contemplate careers working in universities? I was probably the most positive, but even I am very glad I am not just starting out in the university sector. Universities now seem to have a much harder edge than when I started. We have key performance indicators, we have to set SMART objectives which can be measured and evaluated every year. We have targets for income raised, papers published. In short, universities have whole-heartedly bought into the world of commercial business, where profitability and accountability are key. Now some of this is a good thing; 30 or 40 years ago, some in universities had very comfortable lives, drawing a good salary for very little in return. Universities do need to change and to meet the needs of society. However, we all agreed that whilst we needed to learn from the outside world, we simply could not copy what successful commercial companies did, because the core business of a university is not to make a profit but to educate students and undertake research. Somehow, this seems to have been lost, hence our collective lament.Now on one level this story is simply about four elderly university professors and their lament. But I think there are wider lessons here. So many organisations, including the church, seem to have uncritically embraced the ways of working that are successful for big commercial concerns, forgetting that they exist for other purposes. I suspect a business case based on following an itinerant preacher with a handful of followers, ending in his execution, would get very far on “Dragons Den”. But in that there is a lesson.
We are delighted to welcome the Rev Kina Robertshaw as our new rector, who was formally installed as rector of all the parishes in our benefice on April 18th. Kina was previously Associate Minister at Bromyard where she gained considerable experience of working in rural communities. Kina was born in Angola and left home at 17. She was a successful entrepeneur in the fashion industry until she started to train for full-time ministry. She carried out research on Christian entrepreneurs for a master's degree and has co-authored a book on the subject. Kina can be recognised by her broad smile, her enthusiasm for meeting and talking to people and her dog, which she takes for walks. For those who want to know more about Kina, her website is Kina Robertshaw