2026 Winter

The theme of this issue is ‘Christian ethics’. If we are ‘People of the Book’, to take John Barton’s famous title, we must also remember that Barton added a question mark to it, and that applies to Christian ethics as well. The Bible is not an instruction manual, and we look in vain for ready-made answers to the moral problems of our age. As Robin Gill examines in our opening article, whether it is assisted dying or questions of sexuality and gender, it is to the abiding virtues embedded within the four Gospels that we should look first – compassion, care, faith/trust and humility, and above all, love for others. This carries over into Peter Clough’s discussion of Old Testament ethics, and particularly ‘commanded violence’. Were the genocides in the Old Testament historical acts which reflected God’s will, and are there analogies in the attacks on Iran? A few years ago we might have regarded such arguments as unlikely. Today they are being articulated by politicians in charge of powerful armies.

Elsewhere we look at ethics and the environment, and have a piece on modern slavery from the Clewer Initiative.There are lighter touches too, including ‘Cartooning as calling’, and new sections on spiritual development and retreats. fwollowing on from last issue’s piece by Jane Walters, Chair of the Association of Christian Writers, on how to ‘Be a writer’, you now have the chance to be recognised as one, with our new writing prize in memory of Editor Richenda Milton-Daws.

One of the significant changes coming to lay ministry very soon is the introduction of a new National Register which will include Readers/LLMs. To answer your questions about what this will mean in practice, Carrie Myers, Head of Lay Ministries, speaks with Iain Ambler, Data Operations Manager for National Church Institutions.

Meanwhile, I would encourage you to look at the Transforming Ministry website, where you will find over 10 years of back issues available for download, with articles on everything from ‘Ministry in vacancy – and beyond’ through to ‘Making Christ known in a secular society’. Our next issue will be on the subject of Rural and Urban Ministry, and if you have any insights, please do get in touch.

Tom Otley is a Reader in the Diocese of St Albans