Occasional Papers On The Rural Church 1

20 pages clean and tight. "FOREWORD The Norfolk Churches Trust has for some time felt there was a need to bring up to date Norfolk County Churches and the Future. Since its publication in 1972, the grant aid position has been transformed by the coming of state aid and the growth of the county churches trusts, but there has also been tremendous change at parochial level with the decline in clergy numbers and, often, in weekly services. What might have formed a book has become, largely because of costs, a series of occasional papers, of which this is the first. The Right Reverend Peter Nott, Bishop of Norwich from 1985 and a patron of the Trust, and the Right Reverend Anthony Russell, Bishop Suffragan of Dorchester, and until this year Director of the Rank Centre, Stoneleigh, and incumbent of three small parishes, have kindly contributed two stimulating essays on the rural church. Furthermore both are members of the Archbishops' Commission on Rural Areas, of which the Bishop of Norwich is also Vice Chairman. At a time when cumulative grant aid is usually well over 50% and often much higher, even if repairs have to be phased, these first essays deliberately concentrate on questions other than money and fabric. Michael Sayer, my predecessor as chairman, co-ordinated this project and has provided a short introduction. We are very grateful to Barclays Bank plc, and the Florence Clarke Charitable Trust, and the Wynne-Parker Charitable Trust for sponsoring this publication, which coincides with the start of the Archbishops' Commission on the Rural Areas." Size: 8vo.…