A New Lease of Life?

The Church of England now supports more retired clergy than there are clergy engaged in active stipendiary ministry. Evidence suggests that in some areas it is retired clergy who are keeping ministry afloat (especially in some rural dioceses), while others feel their experience and expertise is no longer valued by a changing Church.

In this stimulating (and at times disturbing) book, the editors have published for the first time the findings of a survey conducted among 784 religiously-engaged retired clergy. Then, against this background, they have drawn together the voices of fourteen retired clergy from across the breadth of the Church of England.

Here are unique windows into who religiously-engaged retired clergy really are, how much they engage in the life of the Church, what they believe, and how they feel about the churches and congregations to which they continue to relate.