DEAR SISTERS AND BROTHERS,
September. The month when, whatever age we are, there is a sense of “Back to School” after a long break.
New shoes, new blazer, new shirt. And, as you will read in this edition of the Magazine, lots of new initiatives. I was reading an article from the Bury Times in the Bury Archives written by the Bishop of Manchester (The Rt Revd Patrick Rodger) who installed Canon Smith back in 1966. In it he wrote about the vital importance of town centre churches being places of lively Christian witness and recognising, even then, that the culture was changing and that places like our own parish, which have few residents, have the potential to become more like museums to the past than flourishing Christian communities serving the present and contributing to the future of our town.
Our initiatives are all around who we seek to share the Gospel in this generation. From encouraging us not to drift from Sunday worship straight home, but to get to know each other, to seeking to tell bible stories to infants and their families; from encouraging locals to come in and explore our amazing church to offering space to remember loved ones, we are grateful to all those who generously are enabling us to continue in that ministry and mission to which the Lord calls us. Do read, pray and, where possible, offer your gifts of time and creativity.
The Diocese is not standing still, either. Manchester Diocese is in a challenging place at the moment; financially we are struggling; fabric-wise, many of our buildings are showing their age; numerically, like churches across the western world, we are discovering that the things of faith are edged out by our increasingly self-absorbed world. Each of us will have stories of family members, brought up in church, who no longer attend.
One of the things the Diocese is doing is looking at its patterns of work. It has made redundancies in Church House. It is looking to see what areas of life are essential. And, in this, it is looking at the strategic shape of the Church. Presently, for instance, we are part of Bury Deanery, one of nineteen deaneries across the Diocese (a deanery is a group of churches that work together, pray and think together). In the future, this will change. Consultations are taking place. It is a reminder that nothing is fixed. Remaining the same in this quickly changing world leaves any organisation as an irrelevance.
Part of our evolution here is the addition of three members of the Ministry Team. Dawn Wight, Jackie Heaton and John Vale are to become Authorised Lay Ministers on 22 September. The service, during which they will be authorised by the Bishop, will be in the Cathedral. We will hear more about their work and responsibilities in future editions of this Magazine. Please pray for them.
The Church of England is part of the Anglican Communion. And the Anglican Communion has committed us to play our part in the “Five Marks of Mission”. This is something that we don’t talk about very much. We tend to think that we have “done church” if we offer worship and read the bible. The Five Marks push us to think in much wider terms about what it means to be a Christian Community. Look them up if you want to know more. I want to ask you to think about the Fifth Mark of Mission. It says this; ‘To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth”. So, here’s a question for all of us to think about; how can we do that? How can I do anything to contribute to the “integrity of creation”? There are things we can do at home; where do we get our energy from? How many miles do we have to travel? Do I really need this food/these clothes/this item?
Banksy’s art is prophetic. It makes us think about our own place in the life of the world and whether we, too, are motivated by the values that shape us (Gospel values, I hope) to play our part in tackling the earth’s situation. Sometimes, in the bible, God uses those beyond the circle of faith to teach those who claim faith something about what it means to live. Perhaps Banksy is one of those people?
Have a great September.
With love and prayers,
Julian
Rector