Lynda Barley moves on

The Reverend Prebendary Lynda Barley, currently Head of Research and Statistics for the Church of England, has been appointed as Truro Diocesan Secretary and Canon Pastor at Truro Cathedral. She takes up her new post in November. The diocesan press release can be read at:

http://www.trurodiocese.org.uk/news-and-links/?id=556

Lynda studied mathematics and education at the University of York and subsequently worked as a statistician, social researcher and educational inspector in a number of contexts. She is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and a member of the Market Research Society.

She was ordained as an Anglican clergywoman in 1996 and was appointed as Head of Research and Statistics at the Archbishops’ Council in 2000. In that role she has been hugely influential in enhancing the Church of England’s data-gathering infrastructure and in improving its deployment of statistics for missiological purposes and ecclesiastical policy-making.

She has also commissioned public opinion surveys on church-related topics, inaugurated an annual ‘Faith in Research?’ conference, and written three excellent research-based booklets entitled Christian Roots, Contemporary Spirituality (2006), Churchgoing Today (2006), and Community Value (2007).

Quite coincidentally, the publishers of these three titles, Church House Publishing, are offering them at the reduced price of £2 each in the summer 2011 sale. For further details, go to:

http://www.chpublishing.co.uk

Further back, Lynda was the author of the section on recurrent Christian data in the Reviews of United Kingdom Statistical Sources volume on religion, published in 1987 on behalf of the Royal Statistical Society and Economic and Social Research Council. This can be found at:

http://www.brin.ac.uk/commentary/documents/eBook-RUKSS-Religion.pdf

Interesting insights into Lynda’s work as a church statistician can be found in the interview with her by Terence Handley MacMath which appeared in the Church Times, Issue 7599, 7 November 2008.

BRIN readers will be reassured by Lynda’s report that ‘Plans are being made to ensure continuity until a new appointment is made for the Head of Research and Statistics at the Archbishops’ Council.’