Reigning men!

Hurrah for Christian Vision for Men and its pioneering work to encourage chaps in their Christian lives - at home, in the workplace and in church.

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Check out the website for information on the many ways CVM can work alongside local church leaders.

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You will also find info about their two Band of Brothers conferences taking place later this year one on land and one (splice the mainbrace!) at sea.

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And three cheers for the 'inclusive' silhouette design.

Veritasse

Do you know about Veritasse?

Here is their vision:

The Vision of Veritasse
The aim of Veritasse is to glorify God through the arts and serve him with the talents he has given us.

We are committed to:

• Encouraging and supporting Christian artists and organisations, establishing links and forging friendships.
• Promoting Christian arts at conferences, exhibitions, festivals and events, initially in the Christian field but also moving into the secular.
• Playing an active role in spreading information about Christian arts, enabling artists to speak out God's message to their communities and the wider world
• Supporting suffering communities in India through our charity work.

We would love to hear from anyone who has any comments/questions about our work.

Easter eggcitement

Cheery CL Archivist Mr Gnome invites the Tachbrook Park team to take part in his Easter Egg Quest 2008.

He has hidden umpteen chocolate eggs around the CPAS office.

But where are they?

Well, none is hidden in such a way as to pose the mildest of health and safety issues.

(Er, should that be 'elf and safety'?)

And, please note, none is hidden in colleagues' desk drawers or on desk tops. All are in open-access, public, open-to-all areas.

Everyone should be able to find an egg. Inclusive, or what?

The hunt begins at 12.30pm on Thursday 20 March.

Seek, and ye shall find.

Special bonus prize
Not only has he hidden the eggs, teasing Mr G has secreted himself within the building.

A very special prize awaits his finder.

The Gospel According to St Matthew

Pier Paolo Pasolini took the text of the first Gospel as his filmscript for this great movie, dating from the early 1960s.

Shot in southern Italy, with a mostly unprofessional cast, it remains one of the most powerful and
beautiful treatments of the life of Jesus on film.

Top o'the mornin'

The CL blog celebrates St Patrick's Day with the friendly smile of the Rev Paul Hoey, the CPAS Ministry Adviser for Ireland.

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Paul's work encouraging church leaders and congegations takes him all over the land of saints and scholars.

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Working in partnership with congregations, Paul helps churches move forward into growth - and to have a lot of fun in the process.

Son of Man

This new film from South Africa has not received the exposure it deserves.

Here's the commentary from the editor's local arts cinema:

Mark Dornford-May brings the greatest story ever told to the screen in this crisp, rousing and politically engaging film. The language is modern, as is the setting, a violent township in the fictional Kingdom of Judea, which could stand in for any African country which has experienced poverty, upheaval, political corruption and ethnic conflict.

Modern parallels are implied - war-torn Judea is taken over by 'coalition forces' until democracy is established - but details are irrelevant. Jesus is a political figure, videoed by a spying Judas, making his mixed bag of disciples give up their guns, tempted by a black-leather-clad Satan. Hypnotic visuals, eloquent music and gritty performances make this a riveting, moving experience.

Not only a political figure, but a healer as well. And, yes, he rises. It's a wonderful, unconventional film.

Sadly, it probably won't get a screening at your local multiplex, so look out for it when it comes out on DVD.

Make a Start!

A busy railway station - many people, many journeys.

This drawing by Simon Smith will be familar to users of the CPAS inquirers' course Start!

Currently celebrating its fifth birthday, Start! remains a unique resource - it's designed for small groups. And it begins, as it were, much farther back than other courses - no assumptions about participants' knowledge of God, Jesus Christ or the Bible.

Check out the Start! area of the CPAS website.

Hair today....

An episcopal epiphany of excellent C of E leaders.

Liverpool, Canterbury, Bath and Wells, Maidstone, Birkenhead. Can you match the face to the diocese?

And those beards!

Hurrah for the Gandalfian splendour of Archbishop Rowan's effulgent growth, setting the standard for his more neatly be-fuzzed brethren.

And, let's buck the trend, three cheers for the glistening non-hairiness of Bishop Peter Price. Beyond cool.

Call me MODEM!

This just in...

Have you heard of MODEM?

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According to their website: 'MODEM is a national ecumenical Christian network, which encourages authentic dialogue between exponents of leadership, organisation, spirituality and ministry to aid the development of better disciples, community, society and world. You can find out more about our vision here.'

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We'll shortly be posting a review of the book shown above.

Christ of the Isles

Church Leadership goes out to subscribers all around the UK and Republic of Ireland.

So with our geographical spread in mind, here's a splendid image 'Christ of the Isles', showing the risen Saviour with the patron saints Patrick, David, Andrew and George.

The icon may be seen in the Russian Orthodox Church at Felixstowe, Suffolk.

Role models

Dominic Savio, 'the schoolboy saint', has been held up as an 'exemplar' for many in the Roman Catholic faith community.

Do you have a particular role model / example / inspirational person?

Someone without whose guidance or example you'd not be the person you are today?

You do? Let's celebrate him or her.

Brief descriptions to the editor, please.

A fairtraded chocolate reward for every submission. (All at the expense of the Mystery Donor.)And here are two further potential role models.

One of them embodies the spirit of gung-ho, pioneering adventurous leadership - and the other is Indiana Jones.

Dive into the archive!

A few minutes to spare? The CL Archivist offers his top tips for searching the CL archive.

Log in! Check that you've keyed in your user name and password in the relevant boxes at the top right of the screen.

Find the search box It's at the top right of the screen - inside is 'Search CPAS'.

Use key words Every item in the archive is 'tagged' with words to describe its content, and to link it to the issue of CL in which it originated. Key in CL60 (no space) to see all the resources stored from that issue.

Or key in words such as Easter, Harvest, Drama or Meditation.

Look carefully Say you've keyed in Remembrance. The screen will show two resources, but also tells you that there are 11 resources matching the description. Look to the right and click on 'View all results', to see the complete list.

Pick a theme Look for the Downloads link in the grey box on the left-hand side of the screen. This will take you to an index in which resources are categorized by theme: Service outlines, Worship resources and so on.

Be patient! Most of our resources are saved as PDF files. Download times will vary according to the speed of your Internet connection.

Pictures and images Most of the images in the archive are in series to illustrate a particular sermon/talk - and should be tagged appropriately. Of course, you can use them for other purposes. Most sets of images are saved as PowerPoint presentations. Once you've downloaded a resource, you can copy and paste images into your own documents and presentations.

Unable to find what you are looking for? E-mail or call the editor and he will do his best to help you.