Rosalyn Murphy has been vicar of St Thomas, Blackpool since 2008.

What have been the highlights so far of your time as leader of St Thomas’s?

Without a doubt, it has been witnessing the transformative power of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of those who are vulnerable, invisible, and ‘being at the margins.’   When I first arrived, two young women were unemployed and in the midst of losing their housing benefits.  I decided to take them under my wings and ‘love them to the Lord.’  I remember when initially they didn’t feel ‘holy enough’ to even enter the Vicarage.  Now, they ring the bell and come in for a chat or cup of tea whenever they’re nearby.

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To book on the conference download a booking form here. To find out more about the conference timetable please go to our conference pages.

The College of Preachers and Premier Christian Media have teamed up to host the first Young Preacher of the Year competition. The aim is not to promote celebrity preaching, but to encourage the next generation of Christian preachers. They say, ‘Yes, it’s a competition, and there`ll be just one winner; but we hope that there’ll be no losers. We want everyone who enters this event to find that it helps them with their preaching.’

To enter, you need to be between the ages of 18 and 30 on the 18th January 2010, and you need to be endorsed by a church leader. You need to submit an audio recording of you preaching for no more than 20 minutes in an act of worship, with a transcript. The closing date is the 28th May 2010. Short-listed contestants will be asked to submit a further sermon and then seven finalists will be invited to preach live at Methodist Central Hall on a Saturday in November.

Full details are on their website www.youngpreacher.org.uk, wouldn’t it be brilliant if it was won by a woman, so either get yourself nominated or nominate a friend, either way let’s get women noticed for their preaching.

“My perception was there was a dearth of younger women on General Synod, particularly clergy, and I thought it was important to have that representation improved. I thought I fitted the bill, it would be interesting to do for five years and see that national level that impacts the local level. I’ve made two speeches – one on women bishops and one on disability.”

Check out Katie in this General Synod Election video:

Are you going to stand?

“The digital age isn’t killing off preaching, but…too much preaching is doing too little to motivate people to look at the world differently and therefore live in it differently. If that’s so, we have to question what we preachers are actually saying about the Bible and about contemporary issues, and how well we’re engaging with our congregations.” Click here for more info

Our latest March bulletin has been sent out if you’d like to receive a copy then please do let me know email me info@awesome.org.uk. If you become a member of Awesome you will automatically be sent this on email. If you want to join us to find out how we are involved in helping Ordained evangelical women in the Church of England go to our member pages.

Latest information is that there’s a fantastic new website “Women in Worship Network” that Vicky Beeching has just launched. Check out her blog entry athttp://vickybeeching.com/blog/womeninworshipnetwork-site-is-live/. Thanks to Peter Ould for this update.

Prepare Booking Form

Also the booking form for our 2010 Conference “Prepare: Realising our God-given potential“ has now been finalised, with workshops being led by Rosie Ward, Lis Goddard and Bridget Adams, the main speaker is still to be finalised so there will be a more detailed leaflet to follow but if you’re keen to get signed up then please download the form and get more information on our events pages, or download it here.

The Awesome committee are pleased to announce we have finally secured a venue for a conference this September. It will be held in the beautiful house and settings of Lindors, which is in Gloucestershire.

Dates for the conference are Monday 27th to Wednesday 29th September

Booking form will be out soon email us if you want to get sent the booking form more will follow on the events page

Chaplain in the Business community in Watford.

What is the role of business in God’s purposes?  If you thought it didn’t have one then think again!  Business people have always been involved in God’s mission; in the New Testament we are introduced to Paul, Lydia, Dorcas, Priscilla and Aquilla amongst many others.  And since then Christian business people have played key parts in spreading the gospel.  These days, Business as Mission (BAM) is being used to bring about transformation across the world.   Let me explain why business is so well placed to do this today.

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