Having celebrated its first 50 years in 2022, the trustees of the Prayer Book Society have turned their attention to the next phase in the development of the Society.
Speaking at the recent AGM, trustee Jon Riding told the audience of members that the Society had, “fulfilled our original task. Preserving the BCP had largely been achieved.” So, “What should the role of the Society be into the next fifty years?”
The Society is encountering a younger generation who are discovering the BCP for the first time. “Some are encountering it in college chapels, others in cathedral or city church choral evensongs, some in the stillness of 8 o'clock communions and all are expressing their delight in finding something that speaks so deeply to them in the frenzy of their 21st century world, “ said Jon.
This led the board to ask the question, “What the role of the Society should be in serving this new generation of BCP supporters and the church in which they find themselves?”
Launching a new five year Strategy document, Jon said that, “The board concluded that the Society should in the future focus on advocacy for the BCP both to the church and to the wider world and identified three key contexts for this work.”
These are Mission, Discipleship and Building Community. Each of these are spelled out in the strategy document which can be downloaded here. But the three core messages are;
1. The PBS should spread this message of Mission through the BCP to the Church of England, its leadership, churches, congregations, clergy and training institutions.
2. The PBS needs to prepare and share materials to assist in the use of the Prayer Book as a guide in this journey of discipleship.
3. The PBS needs to provide a variety of events at a variety of locations to enable members to come together in community both online and in person.
“All of this suggests that we have an exciting time before us,” Jon told the audience in St Giles-in-the-Fields, London. “Clearly, we shall need to review what we do and how we do it to ensure that we are best placed to engage in this new ministry. We should also continue to give thanks for the vision and commitment of those who carried the Society through its first fifty years as we look to promote the beauty of the BCP to a new world.”
