Welcome and thanks for visiting!

Many visitors will know that I've recently retired after forty years of Church ministry - serving inner city and housing estate parishes, teaching theology, publishing and lecturing, and most recently 18 years as a Bishop in the Church of England. What's happening now? Among other things:

*  I'm championing ministry in deprived Housing Estates around the UK.

*  I visit India often - teaching & supporting empowerment projects.

*  I'm Bishop Visitor for an Anglican Benedictine Convent in the UK.

*  I'm constantly challenging the Church to be liberational.

This website is my small way of sharinig some of the excitement so please enjoy!

There is early and new stuff here, representing my interests and publications on many topics. I greatly enjoyyour contact so if you want to comment click on the picture above and up will come my email address.

Go well and God Bless                                                            

Please read on down to find out about my most recent trip to Indial, including a photo album.

More recently, I have contributed two chapters to a new book entitled Crossover City entitled "I Can't Go There!: The Urban Vocation", and "God is a Group?: The Persistent Presence of the Holy Spirit."  The book as a whole is the work of the Urban Mission and Theology Group, and well worth reading!

You may have read an older book called 'Let's Do Theology' but did you know that I've completely re-written it and brought it up to date. I read the old one and knew it was well out of date and I'd learnt so much since all those years ago so look out for the new 2nd edition, now available on Amazon etc (and from me)l

Crossover City, Continuum, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4411-3864-4

Resources for Urban Mission and Transformation

edited by Andrew Davey

'Crossover City will raise the game for many of those engaged with passion and delight in the joys and struggles of urban ministry.This ministry is lived out in the shadow of the cross and in the light of the resurrection. It is a ministry of pain and healing, of suffering and joy. Increasingly it is a complicated ministry, as communities within communities learn to live creatively with difference and diversity, and to celebrate these as gracious gifts of God. Our deliberations in urban theology, reflected in the various essays in this book, are all geared to helping God's people in the city live out the joy, simplicity, and compassion of the Gospel.This book should go some way to open the ears of some of our clergy to the call of God to the inner city, and to ministry on "difficult" estates.'
From the Foreword by Archbishop John Sentamu

Theological reflection, case studies and new insights come together as practitioners, theologians and urban clergy reflect on the presence of the Church in urban communities asking, how might we speak of urban mission in the twenty-first century?

Crossover City confronts the theological priorities of the Church as it attempts to hold the tensions between expectations of its partnership in social regeneration and welfare and its prophetic voice through its continued and transformative presence in the poorest marginalized communities. It challenges the way theology is often done in isolated factions that deny the openness and collaboration which must underpin the transformative mission our urban areas cry out for. Crossover C/ty is critical reading for those in theological training and parish ministry seeking resources for a creative and radical witness in our increasingly urban world.

Andrew Davey is National Adviser on Community and Urban Affairs, Church of England and Honorary Research Fellow in Religion and Civil Society, Manchester University, UK. He is the author of Urban Christianity and Global Order and The Urban Challenge.

Trip to India 2010

I went to India this year with two purposes in mind. First, to attend a conference in Bangalore on the subject of Post-Colonial Theology – how the history of Empire still insinuates itself into our international relationships and even affects the way we think about ourselves and others. My part in the conference was to give the inaugural address and also to serve on a panel discussing recent post-colonial tendencies in ecclesiology – what vestiges of domination-behaviour are still to be found in church life and structure.

My second purpose in visiting India was to journey southward to explore with local project workers the plight of some of the poorest of the world’s inhabitants. Venturing deep into the blisteringly hot forests to listen to the dispossessed so-called “tribal” peoples, as they shared something of their suffering, was humbling – and their hospitality amidst their iron-age domestic circumstances was deeply moving. I also shared the life of the fisher folk of the east coast who struggle to maintain any semblance of acceptable standard of life. They welcomed me into their homes which were simply huts made of mud or old torn sheets and they delighted in sharing their few scraps of food – and were distressed if I should not accept it readily.

In some villages, local workers are bringing the women together to create co-operatives, providing the villagers with the wherewithal to work and make a living to feed themselves and their families. The work of these co-operatives is so inspiring and the villagers so hardworking and enthusiastic that some projects are really taking off. I have therefore joined up with a few others here in the UK to create a small charity called “Friends of the Poor in South India” so that we can send contributions to those projects we found most inspiring. Providing a goat, a cow, sewing machines or rope making equipment can produce the wherewithal for a village to turn itself from destitution into a vibrant and empowering community. They are managing to earn a little extra in order to pay back the cost of our grant so that we can help the next village in turn. So the one donation is recycled time and time again and in this way we are seeing hundreds of families move from destitution to empowerment.

I cannot begin to describe my emotions on meeting these people in their tiny forlorn homes, seeing them struggle to care for one another and their rejoicing at even being noticed by the outside world. If you feel you can help, do make contact and I will send you the address for donations. We have formed a registered charity so you can even gift-aid it so that the Government adds the tax onto what you donate. I can guarantee it will go to the poor – we have no administration costs because our charity is so small and we are in personal contact with the poor villagers themselves and we do not go through any big institutions to reach them.

 

Just one other thing, on my way home I stayed for a while in Dubai – renowned for its wealth – but I stayed with the Anglican Chaplaincy which is also working with the desperately poor workers who are constructing this playground for the rich. They too live in atrocious conditions in men-only work camps outside city limits and are bussed in and out to work their gruelling shifts on the great skyscrapers of the city. There is no unionisation and the work is very dangerous and they have no redress, even though many workers lose their lives in the construction process. The Anglican Chaplaincy is deeply caring for all concerned and the Dubai Government allows the Christian community to worship on Fridays so it was there that I was pleased to conduct a confirmation service.

I returned to the UK having gained what feels like a thousand new friends – their beaming faces amidst their desperation remain fixed in my memory.

Regarding the conference on Post-Colonial Theology, if you wish to partake of this fascinating discipline, then join the on-line international seminar which continues daily at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=23694574926  

 

Let's Do Theology, Continuum, 2009, ISBN 9780826425515

Resources for Contextual Theology

Flyer and Order Form

Let’s Do Theology is the key text for all who wish to do theology in an exciting and transformative way. Accessible and practical, whilst at the same time addressing the key questions about the nature and challenges of theology, this book will enable readers to bring together their faith and their life’s issues, and also help students of theology face the challenge of how academic theology can be life-transforming.

Read Introduction