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Church Stained Glass Windows as You’ve Never Seen Them Before
Steve Bunce, a photographer from Barnstaple, has taken a series of breath-taking photos of church stained glass windows across Devon and throughout the UK. Steve, who is a member of Holy Trinity Church, Barnstaple, and has just finished training as a Licensed Lay Minister (LLM), began taking the photos as a way of experimenting with different photography styles. He said it began at his stepson’s wedding rehearsal, where he did an intentional moving shot of…
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Dartmoor Music Teacher Commissioned as ‘Boots on the Ground’ Church Army Evangelist
A music teacher from Devon is among 15 people to have been commissioned as a Church Army Evangelist during a service at Sheffield Cathedral. Heidi Lewis has been training part-time in the Church Army for the last four years, alongside her part-time role as a Mission and Families Development Worker with the Ashburton and Moorland Mission Community. She also works as the Head of Music in a local school and has a teenage daughter. The…
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Bishop of Exeter Critical of Government Response to Rural and Coastal Housing Crisis
The Bishop of Exeter says that “systemic change” is needed to tackle the housing crisis in rural and coastal communities. Opening a House of Lords debate on housing on Monday, the Rt. Rev’d Robert Atwell, said: “The demand for social housing in rural areas is growing at ten times the rate of that in towns and cities. “In Devon, with the current rate of net additions to affordable housing stock, even if housing waiting lists…
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Devon Vicar Experiences Church as ‘Force for Good’ in Melanesia
A Vicar from Devon says the Anglican church in Melanesia has the potential to be a proactive ‘force for good’ in the face of the challenges the islands are facing, including rising sea-levels, pollution, political tensions and unemployment. The Rev’d Lydia Cook, Team Rector of the Otter Vale Mission Community, spent two weeks in May in the Pacific Solomon Islands. The trip was organised by the Devon-based charity, the Melanesian Mission UK, which supports the…
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Reflections on July General Synod
The July General Synod in York from 7 to 11 July included a number of reports, presentations, updates, debates and votes including on: safeguarding, climate change measures, the Living in Love and Faith proposals, the role of the parish, marriage fees, governance and prisoner rehabilitation. The Diocese of Exeter has nine General Synod representatives (five clergy and four lay people) who attended the five-day synod and took part in debates and votes. Here are some…
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Archbishop of York Tells Bishop of Exeter “Devon Will Miss You and So Will We”
The Archbishop of York has given a moving farewell tribute to the Bishop of Exeter at the July General Synod in York. It was Bishop Robert’s last General Synod before he retires in September and he was given a standing ovation following the Archbishop’s speech. In his address, the Most Rev’d Stephen Cottrell spoke about Bishop Robert’s years as a Benedictine Monk and said: “Someone once said to me of the Bishop of Exeter…
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