It's Goodbye to GRoW but no need to stop GRoWing by Barrie Morley

GOODBYE TO G.Ro.W

Dear 'G.Ro.Wers'.

      I have decided to let the G.Ro.W. website close.    It began, as the germ of an idea around the year 2,000 as an M.Th thesis.  The question was how to facilitate a teaching ministry in Circuits, Benefices and groups where lots of different preachers fill pulpits each year, and the church might not have a mid-week study group.   The lectionary works its way through much of the Bible over three years, but when one preacher follows another week by week the themes and emphases within each book can easily be missed if people concentrate only on the particular passage for that Sunday.    G.Ro.W  might be described as 'Lectionary meets Team Preaching' encouraging preachers to look beyond each particular passage, to the background and themes of the book from which they preach.

     So why is this the end?    The reasons are threefold.  First, personal pressures are particularly severe at the moment and look like continuing for some time.      Finding contributors (apart from a few faithful people) is difficult.     There are now many magazines and websites for preachers to use, and interest in   G.Ro.W is not great in terms of numbers.

   

     May I thank all those who have contributed to or supported G.Ro.W. over the years,  the members of the old Sherburn Methodist Circuit in Yorkshire, all contributors, (especially more recently Stuart Gunson and Philip Holmes).  James Morley who has looked after the Website, Peter Sheasby, who has made it known in the Sheffield District, Wayne Grewcock who has given it space on the website each week, and everyone else, from many places.

   And a final word.  For those of us who wish to continue the underlying idea of G.Ro.W, the following questions at the start of sermon preparation might be helpful.

                                  WHO wrote this book?

                                  TO whom?

                                   WHAT issues does this book address?  WHAT are its underlying themes and emphases?

                                   How does this week's passage fit into that overlying structure and the themes of this book?

                                  IN the light of all that, what does this passage, within the book, say to us in this church at this time?

                                             

SO, thanks for your support, and...LET'S KEEP ON GROWING!

Rev. Barrie Morley

March 2016