A Reluctant Priest-hood
This page is linked to my blog where I'm sharing parts of my as yet unpublished book, A Reluctant Priest(hood).
It's about God's calling (especially to ordained ministry in the Anglican Church), priesthood and pioneer ministry.
Hi folks. Sorry for radio silence from me on this page, and lack of blog posts. Covid has pushed this down my list of priorities and reduced my energy for this at the moment. I hope to return to it at some point soon.
Cheers. Andy Px
02/03/2020
https://andypoultney.blog/what-saying-yes-is-all-about/
What saying ‘yes’ is all about...
The next installment. An homage to Larrry the Lamb and Maximus Decimus Meridius...
God’s call is always an invitation, but not an invitation to a function. Our response therefore, is not so much about choosing a job, it’s about an inclination of the heart, one of inviting God to keep reimagining possibilities in us.
24/02/2020
https://andypoultney.blog/reimagining-not-reimagined/
A bit of the book in which I pay tribute to heroic friends who continue to demonstrate why Reimagining Possibilities is a posture to choose, not a destination to reach…
18/02/2020
‘…we need to, ‘lower the bar of how church is done but raise the bar of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus’.
Alison Morgan
A post from my book about why Reimagining Possibilities is vital for all, especially those God is calling to ministry...
Why Reimagining Possibilities is so important – Andy Poultney's Blog I am clearly passionate about the ideas of priesthood and pioneering, there’s lots of words ahead on those subjects. But, we can only really explore those subjects fully when firstly the possibilities, potential and prospects, of who and what we are, begin to be reimagined. In other words, you...
Dear friends. Thank you so much for liking the ARP page and following my blog posts - it's humbling, and the feedback has been a great encouragement to me - huge thanks!
Would love to ask a favour of you please. I have now approached 4 publishers and await their response. Obviously part of the purpose of the blog is to gauge an appetite for the material, and it's usefulness. To that end, if you are connected with people who may be interested in what I've written, or who may be exploring a calling/ordained/pioneer ministry then I'd be so grateful if you would point them to this page and the blog posts please. And getting feedback from them would be even better - thank you!
Just so you know where I'm headed with all this. I'll keep blogging bits from the book until (he says hopefully!) I get a publisher, at which point it might be up for some negotiation. The book is long, possibly 3 books in fact, so I reckon it'd amount to around 100 or so posts in all. Just in case you're someone who likes to know where things are headed (like me!).
Thanks again for your engagement - very grateful. Cheers chums, Andy Px
10/02/2020
‘God picks the weakest, the smallest, the meanest of people on the face of the earth, and he uses them’.
Saint Francis of Assisi
The next bit from the book - introducing Reimagining Possibilities.
Reimagining Possibilities – Andy Poultney's Blog In the opening verses of the fourth Gospel John describes a fascinating exchange between John the Baptist, and the Jewish leaders. The Baptiser had just been getting on with his main role in life, preparing the way for Jesus. But his radical call to repentance and general actions were disturbing...
03/02/2020
‘I am alarmed at the apparent way in which the quality of those being selected to train for ministry is being sacrificed on the altar of quantity’.
Something of why I’ve written the book and my hopes for it...
A personal plea… – Andy Poultney's Blog The genesis for it came in 2005 when I was at the beginning of the Selection Process[1]. In Chelmsford, the diocese in which I underwent this process, individuals are asked to research and write a paper about ordained ministry in the Church of England as part of the process – many Chelmsford can...
27/01/2020
The next instalment...
“…we all want to be ‘successful’ pioneers, not the, ‘well done for having a go’ kind”. A post expressing some of what I was feeling having made an unexpected move to Sheffield in 2017…
21/01/2020
This blog post from the book gives some biographical detail about me and my experience in ministry as of the time of writing, in 2017.
Who I am – Andy Poultney's Blog I will unpack in more detail who I am and my background, throughout the book, but for now here’s just a sketch to give you an idea of who Andy Poultney is. I was born and raised in Romford, on the borders of east London and Essex – the town’s most famous children are sporting legends Steve Dav...
17/01/2020
My second blog post, introducing me, one of many ordinary pilgrims trying to follow Jesus, and describing something of what it means to say ‘Yes’ to God’s call. It’s a celebration of the ordinary…
Who am I? – Andy Poultney's Blog A very reasonable question for you to be asking at this point is, “but who are you?” At the Emirates and I guess many other stadiums too, when a relatively unknown player from an opposing team is announced, the crowd of 60,000 Arsenal[1] fans respond disparagingly as one, by shouting, “Who?!...
Hi there. I’ve invited you to like the page as you may be vaguely interested in how the blog and book develop and/or you may have a role in helping people discern some kind of calling to ministry...thanks for liking!
Andy P
13/01/2020
Here's a link to my first blog post, A couple called, including a cheesy picture of me and Linsey P from yesteryear...
A couple called – Andy Poultney's Blog While the year itself is rapidly fading in the collective memory, the reverberations from 2016 ripple on. It was as an epoch defining year. It began with a number of high-profile celebrity deaths, which then just seemed to continue throughout. In the middle, the United Kingdom was stunned by t...
06/01/2020
06/01/2020