Welcome to Steve Wilcockson
Last Updated on Wednesday, 01 February 2012 13:04
The new Archdeacon of Doncaster, Stephen Wilcockson, began his ministry in the Diocese of Sheffield last night (25 January) urging congregations to “confidently engage with the thinking of our contemporaries and start to win back the mind of our communities.”
At a special service led by the Bishop of Sheffield, Dr Steven Croft, Archdeacon Wilcockson reflected the great theme of the day in the life of the Church: the Conversion of St Paul.
He told a congregation of clergy and laity from across the Diocese: “Like Paul, we are called in our day to engage with the market-place of ideas, and to show that our message offers a coherent, cogent, convincing and compelling account of the universe and the place of humankind in the big scheme of things. We don’t have to be defensive about, or apologise for, the Gospel. We can afford, like Paul, to be on the front foot with all of this. We can confidently engage with the thinking of our contemporaries and start to win back the mind of our communities. Let’s not settle for shallowness.”
The Service included all the usual legal aspects of such a welcome as well as special music and readings.
The Archdeacon said that many of the qualities of St Paul the Apostle are needed by the Church of the 21st century to meet increasing need and rigorous debate.
And he urged congregations in the Diocese to open their doors to everyone: “We need Christian communities with that same vision today, when so many of our neighbours feel outsiders to Church, estranged from the Gospel, ill at ease with our ways. Do we offer the kind of welcome that enables them to take a step in, or do they feel like they have gate-crashed our party?”
Thanking the Diocese for their welcome the newly installed Archdeacon said: “The Bishop of Sheffield’s Team, the Diocesan House Staff, together with the Cathedral Chapter and Staff, have all been most welcoming, and already I feel among friends. So thank you all most warmly.”
