Comments on: The future of Church House Publishing (1)

By: wannabepriest / More casualties in Christian publishing, this time in Scotland

wannabepriest / More casualties in Christian publishing, this time in Scotland — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:24:55 +0000

[...] that sounds familiar, where have I heard a story like this before where a publishing arm of a central church organisation was an easy target in cost-cutting [...]

By: wannabepriest / Where did the Common Worship profits go?

wannabepriest / Where did the Common Worship profits go? — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:09:09 +0000

[...] is just a brief addendum to my two much longer posts about the future of CHP’s book and new media work [...]

By: David

David — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:38:35 +0000

Sheridan – thanks for commenting. Well between me and thee, Mission-shaped Church certainly had a big impact. Reading that book and being inspired by it was a major reason in why I started to explore the possibility of ordained ministry.

By: Do we need an Anglican Books Forum? « SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info

Do we need an Anglican Books Forum? « SPCK/SSG: News, Notes & Info — Tue, 19 May 2009 06:56:31 +0000

[...] There is more detail on Wannabe Priest’s blog. [...]

By: Sheridan James

Sheridan James — Mon, 18 May 2009 12:01:45 +0000

I would love to know how many people who are currently training or recently ordained went forward thanks to the impact of reading Mission-shaped Church. I know quite a number (myself included). How many priests were re-energised by that book? What is the worth to the church of the passion and commitment that book inspired – a lot more than CHP’s deficit.

As Joni Mitchell famously sang “You don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone, take paradise and put up a parking lot.”

By: Richard Greatrex

Richard Greatrex — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:48:58 +0000

As a full-time bookseller and house-for-duty priest who has found Vis Lit from versions 1 to Live invaluable and who has sold thousands of CHP books over the years I echo strongly Phil Groom’s comments. Will Hymns A & M have the courage and foresight to publish a ‘Faith in the City’? Would it be financially viable for them to publish the Ordination Services? To be fair Hymns A & M have been a hugely creative, professional and thoughtful publisher over the twenty years I’ve been in bookselling and most of me feels that CHP is going to be in good hands however, I do hope that the excellent CHP staff will be treated with integrity.

But what worries me is the loss of an official voice for C of E publishing and the concentration of the religious book trade into the hands of a few conglomerates. This does not strike me as a very ‘Fresh Expressions’ move. How is this going to help foster a diversity of Christian expression? What will be the impact on the smaller publishing houses whose work is no less valuable?

By: wannabepriest / The Future of Church House Publishing (2)

wannabepriest / The Future of Church House Publishing (2) — Sat, 16 May 2009 14:22:02 +0000

[...] to the future of CHP, the recent press release that I talk about at length in part one of this blog post makes no specific mention of the new media work and that has me worried. It does say that [...]

By: Phil Groom

Phil Groom — Sat, 16 May 2009 10:34:21 +0000

Similar concerns. My three penny worth:

1. Does the Church of England need an independent voice for its publishing division? (yes)
2. Is it right to concede so much control of the Church’s voice to the Church Times? (no)
3. What provision — pastoral as well as financial — is being made for staff who now face the very real possibility of redundancy? (My Lord Bishops??)

By: Church House Publishing: There’s certainly a future but is there any hope? #CHP « UKCBD: The Christian Bookshops Blog

Sat, 16 May 2009 10:31:59 +0000

[...] number of important questions have already been asked by wannabepriest, with Bishop Nick Baines joining in the conversation but Dave Walker, unfortunately, finding it [...]

By: Pam Smith

Pam Smith — Sat, 16 May 2009 09:54:15 +0000

Received wisdom in many organisations is that to keep your budget increasing you should overspend slightly to show you need more, whereas if it’s a separate business it’s a loss not an overspend.

When you get to the year end a loss is a loss not an overspend if the dept is set up as a separate business.

The issues of how new theological thinking should be encouraged and disseminated, and good people losing their jobs when they have been doing a good job, are both issues in which the wider church should take an interest, but unfortunately the ‘bottom line’ is what counts when you’re looking at things on a purely financial model and those decisions both at Diocesan and national level usually seem to be taken in closed session.

Which is understandable and necessary in many ways – you can’t discuss all possibilities fully if you have to do it in public – but it means the thinking by the wider church needs to be done before the private discussions if it’s going to have any influence.

I’m not sure how much opportunity there is for thinking in a more conceptual way as a church when we seem to have slipped into crisis management mode as a default where money is concerned, but ideas can come up to General Synod from deaneries so maybe that’s where people should start to raise questions.