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The Church Sofa Weekly Round Up – The Slightly Synod Edition.

So there’s been some news from the Synod this week…

Something about Synod plans to mobilise one million worshippers

Well. It seems one million members of The Church of England should get ready to be mobilised for mission…

Members of the General Synod welcomed the Church of England’s campaign Motivating the Million aimed at helping congregations in speaking about and living out their faith in homes, communities and workplaces.

Church of England website.

All sounds dramatic, and the press release about this is worth a look, but I wonder what its going to look like?

The Church Mouse take on evangelism is worth a read on this subject.

When you’re the wrong type of Christian…

As someone who works with young people, I’ve seen the impact that love can have on people. Sometimes, what people need most is “simply” a family a family to love them.

It seems, if you want to be foster parent, and look after people, then you should probably be the right kind of Christian.

This weeks Twitter High Point…

Something a bit silly…

A new challenge for all the preachers out there! Try and beat this preacher…

Brookman, a minister for Memorial Road Church of Christ in Oklahoma City, was delivering a Sunday message from 1 Corinthians 12 when his sermon illustration nearly resulted in the purchase of $28 worth of toilet paper.

The sermon, titled “Greet One Another,” was based on the Apostle Paul’s admonition that the church function as one body with many parts.

religionnews.com

Basically, just get yourself on MP3, and find a reason to say “Alexa. Play Cheesy Christian music”

Something to watch…

*Warning, possibly a interesting take on “Heaven” lays below…

What did you find online this week?

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Trying Out The C of E Amazon Alexa Skill

Church-of-England-Amazon-Alexa-Skill

Want to understand the Church of England a bit more? You can know ask Amazon Alexa.

Alexa, Amazons voice assistant that is available on everything from the Amazon Echo / Dot devices to various tablets and TV sticks, has the option to install a skill that allows users to ask extra questions… about almost anything (presuming the right skill has been installed.)

The Church of England Skill?

Well according to the Amazon website you can ask questions such as…

• To read the prayer for the day
• For grace before a meal
• To read the Lord’s Prayer
• What is the Bible?
• Say a bedtime prayer
• Who is the Archbishop of Canterbury?
• Find my nearest church
• Can I get married in church?

The Amazon page for The C of E Skill has more details, and the links to enable the skill on your device.

Perhaps I just wanted to say “Open the Church of England”, but I figured I would give it ago…

I also wondered what Alexa would be like at saying Grace…

On the surface I guess it may seem like an oddity, but its good to see the good old Church of England, branching out and doing something a little different to engage with people.

Check out The Church Times for a proper report into this, but be warned. That website contains far less Lego figures.

Question. If the Baptist Union creates an Alexa skill, and we installed that on one Echo Dot, and we installed the C of E skill on another Amazon device, would they argue about baptism between the two of them?

(On a side note, this may be the first ever Church Sofa that features my voice. Before I know it, I’ll be producing a podcast or a vlog or something)

 

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Just Pray?

Ok, so it seems that an advert for a Church of England campaign, Just Pray?, has been banned from being shown at cinemas:

If you feel down about this being banned, just think about how many more people are probably watching this advert online, because of the ban?
And one more thing… how would we all react if it was an advert advertising Atheist beliefs?

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Rev Paul Williamson, A Reminder of What Is Not Found in The Bible

Rev Paul Williamson has made a last ditch attempt to halt the consecration of the Church of England’s first female bishop, by shouting during Rev Libby Lane’s ordination: “A female bishop is not found in the Bible”.

Here is Rev Paul Williamson thoughts about women bishops on Sky News.

Well, Sofa would like to remind Rev Paul Williamson of a few other things that aren’t in the Bible:

  1. Dog Collars! Get that thing off your neck!
  2. The “Arch” Deacon.
  3. A Whale swallowing up Jonah.
  4. Nuns… and Monks
  5. Three Kings.
  6. Non alcoholic communion wine.
  7. English people.
  8. A Donkey taking Mary to Bethlehem.
  9. Massive churches to be “filled”.
  10. The Church of England…

Some of these are presumptions, so please feel free to school me on any of the above.

Please feel free to add to the above list below:

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Church of England Inspires Rap Song About Payday Loans

It looks like the campaign by the Church of England, to highlight the world of payday loans has inspired a rap tune. The rap tune is inspired by the Archbishop of Canterbury’s comments on responsible lending, and aims to highlight credit unions as a better way to borrow:

Read mirror.co.uk for more information