My name is Andrew
Dowsett, and I am an ordained Anglican serving in the Church of England northern Diocese of Durham.
I started this blog
while on the staff at St Thomas,’ a large network-model church in
Sheffield, which became known for the development of missional
communities, and for The
Order of Mission, a global community of missional pioneers, which grew out
of that church. Posts from 2004-2007 are more personal and cover a time of
transition for us as a family, from being part of St Thomas’ to being sent out
as members of The Order of Mission. Posts from 2007-2009 were written while I
was at theological college at St John’s, Nottingham; posts from 2009-2011
in Liverpool (curate at St Andrew’s Clubmoor) and from 2011-2013 in
Southport (curate at St James’ and St Peter’s, Birkdale), during
which time I was serving in the Diocese
of Liverpool. From Advent 2013, we have lived in Sunderland, where I joined the team at Sunderland
Minster. Since 2019, I had, additionally, oversight of the neighbouring parish of St Nicholas,
Over the years, the
focus of my posts has varied. As well as recording personal story, I have
written about issues relating to:
missional church
leadership;
discipleship;
the trans/formation
of identity; and
the rich resources of
the Christian tradition—particularly the liturgical calendar—for mission in a
post-modern, post-Christendom context.
These and other
interests are filed under headings listed on the side-bar.
My primary reason for
writing is to help me process ideas. My posts are often overly-long, and often
come in flurries of activity. While this breaks all the ‘rules’ of a good blog,
other people have found it helpful to read along. Most of their interaction,
however, happens elsewhere—in conversation; on Facebook; by email—rather than
here. Whether you are a new visitor or an old friend, you are very welcome. And
if you find any of my posts helpful, would you consider forwarding them on to
others?
My wife, Jo, and I
have three young adult children—a daughter and two sons. I enjoy taking photographs, some
of which end up on here; have dabbled in drawing; enjoy running, mostly 5K and 10K;
and prefer small-screen dramas, with their unfolding story-arcs, to the
big-screen.
andrew [at] dowsetts
[dot] net
or contact me
on facebook
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Disclaimer:
All opinions
expressed on this blog are those of the author, Andrew Dowsett, unless
otherwise attributed. They should be regarded as provisional (“The illiterate
of the C21st will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot
learn, unlearn, and relearn.” Alvin Toffler; “Repent and believe.” Jesus). They
do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Liverpool or Durham Diocese, The
Order of Mission, or any other group to which the author belongs or has been
identified with. Any comments posted in response express the opinion of the
person making the comment. Censorship is kept to a minimum; however, the author
asserts the editorial right to remove any comment.
