Letters | 4 January 2018

A church for all people

Sir: I enjoyed reading Ysenda Maxtone Graham’s account of debates in the Church of England in the interval between our parish mass for Advent 3 and our service of nine lessons and carols (‘Mission impossible?’, 16 December). She asks whether the church is planning ‘a back-door “evangelical takeover”’. The simple answer is no. Yes, the Archbishops’ Council has helped to fund churches such as St Luke’s Gas Street in Birmingham, St Philip’s in Salford, and St George’s Gateshead — though it is a bit harsh to dismiss these churches, which are effective in reaching students, young people and families, as ‘centres for instant conversion’. But we have also supported churches in outer estates in Blackpool, rural ministry in Salisbury and in Cumbria, parish development across County Durham, and traditional parish work in the diocese of Coventry and in the Bishop of Ebbsfleet’s traditional catholic parishes. Our work is about supporting all traditions of the church, to help us become once again a growing church for all people in all places.