Book Review by Brian Newsom.
Changing
Churches - Building Bridges in Local Mission,
by Jeanne Hinton.
Churches
Together in Britain and Ireland (2002). ISBN 085169-264-8.
Changing
Churches is a fascinating report on the Building Bridges of Hope (BBH)
project which was set up by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland to
discover what different ways of relating to local communities are most effective
for mission. A
summary of the aims, what has happened and been learned so far and the future
plans are contained in an appendix by Simon Barrow, Secretary of the
Churches’ Commission on Mission, CCBI.
This is written in a formidable socio-scientific jargon, for example: Focusing
vision: The importance of local churches articulating their specific calling
through integrated strategies for community engaging, mature spiritual life,
enabling leadership and appropriate structure (p132).
But don’t let this put you off reading the bulk of the book which is
about the various churches and communities that Jeanne Hinton studied in a
frantic round of visits.
Here
I have to declare an interest as I am a Reader in the Church in Wales at
Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain, close to the border of Powys and Shropshire, where
Michael Bennett our Vice-Chairman is now Vicar, and which was one of the
twenty-odd local Christian communities across England, Ireland, Scotland and
Wales, included in the study. And
our story of the coming together of Anglicans, Welsh and English Presbyterians
and Methodists, and Roman Catholics, from Llansantffraid and Llanfechain, is
related in the book.
We
normally think of changing churches as referring to those people who move
from congregation to congregation looking for the perfect church, where they can
feel happy and fulfilled. And
of course they never find it. This
book is about churches that are responding to changes in society and seeking to
meet the needs of the people in their locality.
This is amply demonstrated in the heart-warming story of the development
of the ecumenical Forthspring Inter-Community Group (named after the
local river Forth) in the strife-torn, Springfield Road area of West Belfast,
where the Protestant and Catholic communities meet.
In
Leyland, the Catholic church of St Mary’s became the catalyst for a coming
together of ten different churches from the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and
URC denominations. This has
resulted in the town becoming more open to God, and a spreading pool of goodwill
generally.
There
are also stories of churches arising, phoenix-like, from the ashes of urban
deprivation, like that of the Furnival pub in north east Sheffield which has
become an ecumenical, multi-cultural, Christian community.
Café 2000 is another, similar initiative which has blossomed in the
wilderness of the Marsh Farm estate in Luton.
Here a body of dedicated volunteers offer spiritual, practical and
psychological help to people living on the edge of society.
In
Glasgow the Late Late Service is run by an ecumenical Christian community
with strong links to the mainstream churches, to minister to young adults who
find traditional forms of church service out-moded, or even incomprehensible.
Whilst in Edinburgh they have a Club Church, which caters for that
part of the population that is still in bed of a Sunday morning after a hard
night’s clubbing in the city.
They too are dissatisfied with mainstream church worship, but they want
something more than the club scene itself offers.
Also they still have an interest in spirituality and a need to discuss
matters of concern and faith in depth.
This
book should be read by all Christians who have a concern for reaching out to the
un-churched in their immediate vicinity; for there are examples of faith in
action which will inspire you all.