Having wrestled with the best way to choose a new leader, the Church of England has decided to use the social networking site Twitter. It will also seek the views of people of all faiths and none, from the Chief Rabbi to Professor Richard Dawkins.

For the first time in history, the long and usually private process will begin with a widespread public consultation, to be finished by the end of May.

The Crown Nominations Commission, which must present the Prime Minister with two possible successors to Dr Rowan Williams, will also ask for contributions from “senior figures in other faiths, the secular world and the life of the nation”.

A spokesman for the Church of England said the invitation would be made through the church press but also through other media including the social networking site Twitter, where the CofE already posts news in nuggets of 140 characters or less. Tweeters and others will be asked to offer names and “views on the needs of the diocese of Canterbury and the wider community”.

This would appear to be good news for the candidates known to be active on Twitter.

The Bishop of Durham, the Rt Rev Justin Welby has 562 followers; the Bishop of Bradford, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, has 3,953; and the early front-runner for the job, the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, has 21,558.

Of course, if you wanted to find out what all the Bishops in the Church of England were doing, we’ve got a list for that. At the moment we’re following 732 people and organisations who are tweeting and do an official job for the Church of England. They include clergy, churches, diocesan staff, cathedrals and General Synod members. You name it, we’re following them.

The community that has coalesced around the Twurch extends into other churches as well. The Anglicans we follow are constantly interacting with Methodists, Baptists and all manner of non-conformity. Tweeters start following the official twurch lists (we follow so many people there are two lists) and it takes a very short while before their interacting and forming new friendships.

So who better to turn to find out what the Tweeting church is thinking and saying? Over the next few weeks and months we’ll be finding exciting (and lets just be honest about it, sometimes way outside the box) ways to cover the selection of the new Archbishop of Canterbury. There will never be a more exciting time to be Anglican and on Twitter.

Apart from the second coming. We suspect that event will be a social media meltdown. Second best exciting time it is then…

Archbishop Rowan Williams has today announced his acceptance of the position of Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge with effect from January 2013. He will therefore be stepping down from the office of Archbishop of Canterbury at the end of December 2012.

Dr Williams’ intentions have been conveyed to The Queen, who is Supreme Governor of the Church of England and who formally appoints the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Dr Williams was appointed the one hundred and fourth Archbishop of Canterbury in 2002. He said today:

It has been an immense privilege to serve as Archbishop of Canterbury over the past decade, and moving on has not been an easy decision.  During the time remaining there is much to do, and I ask your prayers and support in this period and beyond.  I am abidingly grateful to all those friends and colleagues who have so generously supported Jane and myself in these years, and all the many diverse parishes and communities in the Church of England and the wider Anglican Communion that have brought vision, hope and excitement to my own ministry.  I look forward, with that same support and inspiration, to continuing to serve the Church’s mission and witness as best I can in the years ahead.

Dr Williams will continue to carry out all the duties and responsibilities of the Archbishop of Canterbury, both for the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, until the end of the year.

The Crown Nominations Commission will consider in due course the selection of a successor.

Of course, we broke this story back last summer. On top of that, we’ve already let you have your say as to who the runners and riders are. Now, where is that Paddy Power affiliate link?

Which is all waffle speak to highlight the fact that the Church of England has managed, in the space of just a few weeks, to publish yet another brilliant website! What is going on?

The site in question is the awesomely titled “Pray One For Me“, an online intercession hub where anybody and everybody can submit a prayer request in the knowledge that a special bunch of elite prayer warriors will be on their knees within minutes petitioning the Lord Almighty with your concerns. Or something like that.

Actually, it’s quite quite brilliant. Not only can you post prayers under several different category titles (thereby sneakily educating the heathen and not so heathen masses about the different forms of prayer), but there are also videos with some of the different prayer warriors explaining how anyone can pray, different ways of praying and how to become a 25th Level Ignatian Prayer Master in just 3 hours (OK, we made that last one up).

It’s OK to pray. Many people do and about a wide variety of subjects. Some big, some small, but all important.

By posting a prayer request here, you can be sure that it will be prayed by Christians on your behalf.

Your prayer can be about almost anything. We’ve found that the some of the most frequent topics are family and friends, thanking God, guidance, healing and worldwide problems. When you post you will be offered the chance to tell us what category you prayer falls into and you can add your own tags. But if it’s about something else, that’s fine. Your prayer is unique and it will be treated like that.

Pray One For Me has a Facebook page. Why not follow us there?

Finally it’s important to know that Christians believe all prayers are heard and answered, though sometimes not in the way we would expect.

In usual Twurch style we desperately tried to find something, anything wrong with the site in order to have a witty ending to this blog post once again decrying the Church of England for not getting it quite right. Thing is, we couldn’t. At all. Anywhere.

We’re currently in shock here at Twurch Towers – two in a row (counting the excellent Worship Workshop) and the Church of England seems to be finally setting a trend for doing the web well! Is Jesus about to turn up?

Let’s be honest, we at the Twurch see ourselves as critical friends of the Church, pointing out ways and means in which the central bodies of our beloved Via Media so very often don’t get the internet and how to use it. This means that some people in the hierarchy don’t like us very much, but others further down the food chain delight in our willingness to say what needs saying (and to do so in an amusing manner). Do we need to remind you, for example, about THAT video and the way that minutes after we pointed out its utter naffness the Archbishops’ Council suddenly realised that too? No? Good job…

So imagine our surprise when in amidst all the hoo-hah at General Synod about Women Bishops (a short summary of which is “carry on as before”) the Liturgical Commission managed to sneak in an absolutely genius website aimed at helping schools and churches put together worship for children. It’s called Worship Workshop and it’s a joy to behold. Not only does Worship Workshop help teach children and their accompanying adults about what worship is (and isn’t) it also has a very nifty interactive tool to help you put together a service of your own. Want a Mothering Sunday service with an emphasis on Compassion? Not a problem. Need to pick a range of hymns and songs that are traditional and right up to date (OK, not totally up to date – we didn’t see any of the wonderful kids worship material coming out of Hillsongs these days)? There’s oodles and oodles to choose from.

You can search by seasons and by themes. You can look up individual components of a service by themselves or use the interactive tool to produce a downloadable outline (in Word format though – we prefer non-alterable pdfs) for printing.

Honestly, the only thing that would make it better would be a moderated forum where site-users could share their tips and tricks.

Who is to blame for this moment of majesty from the Church of England? Why that would be the stunningly wonderful @revmaryhawes who works tirelessly in the bowels of Church House producing this kind of marvellous offering. Go and tell her what a good job she’s done, there’s a nice Twurch.

I mean, if we *have* to have women bishops, who else then Mary?

Oh look, we just did something controversial again. Silly us.

@peterould and @thechurchmouse chat about all the news from the back end of 2011 as well as Facebook rankings, church furniture and a whole horde of other items. Then we turn to our interview with the one and only Canon Andrew White, Vicar of Baghdad and all round good egg. He shares with Peter how he ended up in Iraq, what he does with his life when he’s not in the Middle East and how God has blessed him in Iraq in ways he couldn’t have done anywhere else. It’s an absolutely unmissable listen with the Twurch of England 2011 Vicar of the Year!

You voted in your, well let’s be honest, tens. The numbers have been crunched, the figures analysed, re analysed, scrutinised and assessed. And now we can reveal that the Twurch of England Vicar of the Year, 2011, is…..

Canon Andrew White, the “Vicar of Baghdad”

How could there be anybody else? The man is an utter legend and as his biography on his website shows, a true disciple of Christ.

In the face of significant threats to him personally and repeated bombings of the church, Canon White pastors one of the largest churches in Iraq, St George’s Baghdad. St George’s Church ministers to over 550 local Iraqi Christian families and operates well outside the safety of the International Green Zone.  Most of the congregation are women and children – widows and orphans – since most of the men have been killed in the decades of violence in Iraq.

Based in the church compound, the St George’s Clinic employs medical staff from across sectarian divides to work side by side to deliver humanitarian relief to their neighbours, regardless of patients’ religious or ethnic background.  They provide free medical and dental care to around 100 Iraqi patients every day, treating 2,000 people every month.

As if tending to such a church in such a place was not enough of a full-time job, Canon White also frequently exchanges his dog collar for a bowtie and engages in conflict mediation in the area.  He has built up standing and reputation with the most senior religious leaders in Iraq.
Through these relationships of trust and confidence, Canon White has brought together the leaders of the opposing sectarian factions and his Foundation has sponsored a number of high-level peace talks between them.

These religious leaders have enormous influence in the region; influence that they can use for peaceful means or to incite sectarian violence.  In meetings chaired by Canon White, they produced the first ever joint Sunni / Shia fatwa against violence in Iraq, which was read out in at least 80 per cent of the mosques throughout Iraq, as well as on several popular satellite television channels.

In October 2010 Canon White was in New York, collecting the Train Foundation Civil Courage prize.  This prize is awarded to individuals who have shown steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk to themselves.  Most previous recipients of that prize are now either dead or in prison.

White says: “I have been detained at gun-point, been thrown into a room with people’s chopped-off fingers and toes all over the floor, and have had my picture posted on walls around Baghdad with a notice saying, ‘Wanted, dead or alive.’  Members of my church have been kidnapped or killed.  I have lost many friends.  It is very difficult.”

Did we mention he does all that whilst struggling with MS? No? He does…

Andrew White, we salute you. If you felt that you wanted to let him know what a good egg he is, pop over to his Facebook page and do the honours.

The full results of the vote are below.

P.S. Honorary mention goes to the cart-wheeling verger of Westminster Abbey. We reckon if he’d had a dog collar he might well have won!

Nothing like a bit of guilt to end the year on.

Anyway, voting closes at midnight and we’ll announce the winner tomorrow.

The rules are very simple – today we open nominations until later this evening. In the comments below, nominate any ordained and licensed clergy person in the Church of England (so yes, technically a deacon who is not a priest or vicar could win, but that would just make the title even longer – oh what the heck – “Vicar / Rector / Priest / Deacon / Bishop of the Year” it is!) giving their name, twitter ID, blog site, Facebook or some other way we can all know who they are. Give a brief reason why they should win, and we’ll include them in the poll tomorrow.

We’ll start you off. The Twurch’s nomination is Sally Hitchiner (@sallyhitchiner) for being such a media darling during the summer riots AND actually doing stuff on the ground that mattered as well.

Over to you. Who should win our coveted prize? Who is worthy of praise, honour and a slight amount of consequential deprecation? We’re looking for great achievement, public acclaim or just sheer theological prowess. Like the bloke below.

Right, you know the level we’re aiming at now. Get to it.

I’ve posted about her before, having first come across her when she supported Jools Holland at the Royal Albert Hall in London a couple of years ago. She is the only support act I have ever seen who could have gone on all night – the audience loved her. Last night we went over to the Barbican at York and she was brilliant.

Imelda May not only has a great voice, but she also can sing. From the high-energy Johnny Got a Boom Boom to the poignant Too Sad to Cry, she lives the song. From rockabilly through to ballad, she commands them all. And from the moment she walks on stage she commands the space with a charisma that is at once bigger than the venue and yet intimate in her connection with the audience. Bizarrely, you come away thinking the gig is not just about her – when she thanks the audience for coming out, hopes they are going home happy, generously thanks not only the band, but also the crew and venue management, you know she means it. This is an artiste who knows her audience, doesn’t take them for granted, and repays every penny (and more) of the ticket price.

But, it’s the music that is just brilliant. Her band are superb: tight drummer, excellent double bass player (how does he do that stuff?), evocative trumpeter/guitarist, and fantastic guitarist (and writer of some of the songs). Clever, entertaining and totally engaging, her approach is summed up in the song Humble and Proud: she struts the stage with charisma and confidence, belting out these wonderful songs, yet never overreaches herself.

Just go and see her. Don’t book a seat – stand where you can dance. OK, sort of dance.

The support yesterday was Big Boy Bloater. As I tweeted, I’d never heard of him before. But he and his band (the drummer and keyboard players reminded me for some reason of the Proclaimers) were entertaining, funny and promising of more to come. I didn’t get the CD. But, I will.

Human beings need ritual points at which they stop and recall where they have come from. An honest appraisal of our ‘story’ should help prevent arrogant amnesia and recall us to a certain collective humility. We didn’t get to where we are today from some sort of historical or cultural vacuum. Which is why, whatever the worldview of people in the UK, we all need to understand and collectively acknowledge the Christian history and development of (at least) Britain.

This isn’t about evangelism or special pleading. Rather, it is about understanding how we have got to where we are… in order that we can understand why we are where we are… in order better to think about where we want to go to.

For Christians this is a regular practice.

The people of Israel were ordered to build into their annual diary particular rituals designed to remind them of their roots. Warned that growing affluence would make them forget, they had to do physical things to ‘live’ the memory. (See Deuteronomy 26, for example.) The basic story of the Hebrew Bible is this: God calls his people to show the world who and ‘how’ he is – a vocation that brings responsibility, not privilege or status. This gets contorted – they forget that once they were slaves who had nothing and they begin (as they were warned would happen) to think that their growing wealth was the product of their own hands alone. Their refusal to remember their story – and then live graciously towards others – led them into exile and the loss of all their identity landmarks.

If we forget that we needed grace, forgiveness, generosity, we will enslave others. If we forget that we were once hungry, we will consume while others starve. That’s the logic.

The Christian community re-members constantly. The Eucharist (Holy Communion) involves a re-telling of the Christian story – a putting back together the ‘members’ or the memories. That is why it is called a ‘eucharist’ – a thanksgiving, because we should not be able to leave this corporate celebration of grace without being reminded of our vocation to give grace.

More could (inevitably and obviously) be said. ‘Never forget’… and build in phyiscal rituals that bring us back to reality – that’s the message that goes beyond military casualties and penetrates our whole common life. But, now I have to go out…