The Household of Cornelius and the Conversion of Peter

Bishop Steven delivers his sermon at the clergy conference 2025diocese of oxford

The Household of Cornelius and the Conversion of Peter In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian cohort as it was called. So begins the third in this sequence of stories of conversion. Again the Holy Spirit is at work beyond and outside the Christian community. Again the Holy Spirit […]

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The Bishop’s charge to church wardens

"Thank you so much to the Wardens elect, and to the outgoing churchwardens for the ministry you exercise week in and week out. " That was the opening line to Bishop Steven’s annual Charge to the churchwardens who tirelessly serve our parishes.…

Put out into deep water: Macedonia

All the way through the Acts of the Apostles the disciples are living out Luke 5. They continually put out into deep water, let down the nets and see what happens even in the most unlikely circumstances. +Steven traces part of that story over…

The crown of thorns

Father Jean Marc Fournier is chaplain to the Paris Fire Brigade. On Monday evening, Abbe Fournier led the successful attempt to rescue the precious objects from the burning Cathedral of Notre Dame. Among them was the crown of thorns, the…

The Wisdom of Puddleglum

Who is your favourite character from Narnia?  For those under 30, the Narnia chronicles are children’s books penned by CS Lewis, a kind of forerunner to Game of Thrones with much less blood and sex.  My favourite is Puddleglum the Marsh…

I won’t wear make up on Thursday

A moment of jeopardy

The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd Steven Croft, spoke in the House of Lords yesterday as the House debated Further discussions with the European Union under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. "My Lords, I always rise to speak…

Evangelism in today’s culture

Rethinking evangelism

An (unauthorised) background paper for the General Synod. The General Synod of the Church of England meets in London next week (20-23 February, 2019). The main theme of the Synod is evangelism in different shapes and forms. On Wednesday we…

How do people come to faith? Catechesis 101

It was good to welcome over 450 clergy and LLM’s to five different Bishop’s Study Days across the Diocese of Oxford in November. We welcomed a guest theologian at each of the study days who gave us a deep dive into the Christian tradition.…