Ruth Smith reflects on Livability’s recent urban retreat 

 In the shadow of Manningham Mills in Bradford, symbol of the city’s prosperous industrial past, lies a hidden treasure. Hidden away amidst the noise and the rush of urban life is St Cuthbert’s R.C. church, a quiet haven which is rich in spiritual heritage and artistic treasures. Embedded in its walls are a collection of beautiful stonework Stations of the Cross, sculpted and gifted to the church by the world-renowned Eric Gill.

On 29^th November a group of 22 Christians from Leeds and Bradford gathered at St Cuthbert’s for an urban quiet day. Instead of retreating into the countryside to find God in the midst of his creation, they came to look for him in the heart of the city.

The Stations were the main focus of their reflections: a strange spiritual exercise for the start of the Advent season. Yet as the day progressed the fullness of the salvation story was played out, with the Incarnation of Christ reaching fulfilment in his Passion and Death, and the joy of Resurrection and Ascension offering up the Advent hope of new heavens and new earth.

Aided by some written resources, participants were able to reflect on the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ journey to Golgotha and beyond. They were encouraged to use their imaginations to look beyond the Bible stories into the experiences of those who were there as witnesses. There was opportunity for them to focus on their own life and journey with God, and to pray for others.

As well as the Stations, other artworks caught the imagination: the lovely Leonard Walker stained glass windows; the figure of Mary depicted as a Bradford mill girl; a statue of Joseph carrying the baby Jesus. One participant commented on how he had never seen Joseph as a step father, yet in a sense he was just that. He found himself thinking about friends he had who shared that same status, and the difficulties they face.

Another said that as she looked at Mary, she noticed the design of the window beyond, which reminded her of bobbin ends. She found herself reflecting on the value of work and productive employment: a call to prayer during times of economic challenge and rising worklessness.

Each person who attended is engaged in one way or another in urban life and work. Some work in community or youth projects. Others were ‘ordinary’ Christians who belong to urban churches. In the midst of their busy lives, this quiet day was an opportunity to remain in the city and yet come apart to find peace and renewal. It brought affirmation that they are part of his story: God remains with them just where they are. As Zechariah assures us, the Lord is still in the city.

 Ruth Smith, a Community Mission Advisor for Livability in Leeds

[Acknowledgment and thanks to Fr. Eamon who allowed us to use the church and church hall for this day]

Jesus said ‘Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.’

The seeds I picked up on a walk after this year’s harvest seem an embodiment of hope, and they are. In its hard case each seed is packed with the chemical codes and vital ingredients for making a new plant.  The important thing is that, for the hope to be realised, the seed itself has to stop being a seed. In Jesus’ phrase, it has to die. That idea of dying is scary. If we are the seeds, and Jesus seems to be suggesting that we are, then most of us are happy to stay as seeds. It takes a brave seed to want to fall into the earth, to give up being what it is, to become something else.

But let’s look at that dying more carefully. Does the seed really die? Isn’t it rather transformed, gently and slowly, into a plant? Doesn’t it become the hope it embodies, the thing it was always meant to be? Because growing into plants is what seeds are for.

So what does Jesus say to us? When we fall into the soil of the real world with its dirt, smells and dampness we run a huge risk that we will lie and rot. But that risk-taking is our calling, it is a first step into who we are meant to be. The world  will not stifle us, but it does demand a response with its need for practical love and the light of God’s truth. When we obey his call God will help us grow into the beautiful, fruitful plants he designed us to be. It is not death, it is a new sort of life because when Jesus died it was not the end.  He promises us the same transforming power of his Spirit to give us perpetual, abundant new life. And the place we take up that new life is in the grimy reality of the everyday fallen world where he is building his kingdom.

And remember that Jesus goes on to say in John 12:26: ‘Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.’

David Arscott is one of Livability’s Community Mission Advisors and is based in Leeds.

Imagine a day free from:

Having to get things done. Being able to pick up on time for yourself, friendships, family conversations, hobbies, reading, contemplation.

Travelling. Being able to enjoy what is local, what we can walk to or get to easily in our street or neighbourhood. Those things we rush past during our busy days and think, I’d love to go there sometime…

Being away from home Being able to explore again and enjoy the place we live in, to relish it.  Perhaps look out of the window or into our thoughts. To pick up on those things that make our living space a home.

Worrying about spending.  Being able to focus on what is free and  what we already have. To pick up neglected possessions and enjoy them again, maybe rummage out some forgotten clothes, books, DVDs, games, sports equipment, look on the iplayer for tv and radio programmes. Maybe leisurely cooking from the basic ingredients we already have.

The rush of life.  Being able to give time to one or two things so that when the working week recommences we have something precious to look back on. Being able to face another hectic week from a day a calm.

These are things we often save up for our holidays. For me the true sign of being on holiday it is getting out my art materials from where they were put away last summer and making new pictures. But God does not mean me to wait a whole year. He gave us a weekly holiday.

Sundays were made for us. God knows what we are like, that we are full of good intentions but …So He gave us clear commands about not spending money, not travelling, avoiding work. He wants our Sundays to be weekly holidays, real holy days, set apart as special. Jesus said ‘Look at the birds of the air. They don’t fret about working but your heavenly Father looks after them. How much more will He look after you?’ I know I have six days to rush about and try get everything done. I have to accept that I usually won’t and now I don’t waste Sunday trying to catch up. God knows we need a rest. As I honour Him and put Him first by being trying to be obedient I am finding He tends to take care of things. All those seemingly vital tasks will still be there on Monday but Sunday will not come around again for seven days. I find once I get into the pattern of Sundays as real days off I am always looking forward to the next one and planning things to enjoy. But none of them have to be done. If I find they are feeling like chores and I am not enjoying them I stop. I  know I there will be another Sunday just next week.  Thank God for Sundays!

David Arscott is a Community Mission Advisor for Livability and is based in Leeds.

Eternal life. That’s the pie in the sky when you die, isn’t it? It is living forever in heaven with Jesus and all the believers. I used to think so but now am not so sure. We know the phrase from the famous verse John 3:16 when Jesus uses it and says: ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’

I had to preach recently on Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane. It contains this verse which puzzled me: John 17:3; ‘Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.’

There it is: eternal life. That suggests life with the quality of being eternal, going on forever. Isn’t that right? Well, does not seem to be what Jesus is saying.

A bit of research helped. Apparently the Greek phrase is zoe = life and aionios which means, essentially, not just eternal. It is much richer than that and it is this richness that Jesus is talking about. According to NT Wright aionios suggests ‘the life of the age to come’ – the life of the new world order which early Christians believed had already begun although somehow the old age was also continuing.

So when we talk to people about Jesus, about being a Christian and having eternal life we are not talking about something that happens when you die. Eternal life begins here and now and what these words of Jesus emphasise is that it is about us getting to know God – and God graciously revealing himself to us. We start to touch eternal reality, including all sorts of goodies too numerous to mention here, but we cannot grasp it all at once. I think that to fully know God would genuinely blow our minds. He is so far beyond our comprehension and imagination, but he comes to us in the form of Jesus who is more understandable. Hence eternal life being about knowing him as the one God sent. Paul suggests something about this in 1 Corinthians 13 when he talks about knowing in part now, but knowing fully in the future.

Sharing something of God’s reality with someone is helping them take their next step into eternal life. It may be encouraging them in the good they are doing or warning them about the consequences of sin. It may be praying for them or with them or sharing a helpful Bible story or verse. It may be modelling Christ in our loving service. It is anything which points them towards and helps them to ‘know the one true God’.

In a youth project the leaders were running a group conversation about sex. In the midst of this one of the leaders was pressed about her own life and admitted that, yes, she was a virgin. This caused some gasps of surprise, a bit of laughter and joking and some embarrassment for the leader. But the young people were struck by this evidence of a belief lived out.

A perpetual question I hear in my job is ‘What are we trying to do in communities?’ A major part of my answer is, ‘To bring the power of God into people’s lives.’

I believe that this allows for the hope of people coming to faith in Jesus, to knowing God for themselves. It also allows us to work with those who do not yet acknowledge God but are open to having someone pray about their situation, advise them, befriend them, serve them and possibly pray with them.

In tough areas we come across people caught up in difficult situations whose problems are caused by complex issues and histories. There is no quick fix. Parts of the problem will be to do with wrong choices they have made in the past and are possibly still making. Other parts of the problem are outside their control.

In Proverbs 4:10 it says ‘The wicked stumble in the darkness and they do not know why’. I believe part of our job is to help people see why they are stumbling, what parts of their lives they can change and what parts, for now, they cannot. In Deuteronomy 6: 4-7 it says we should talk about God’s law all the time and remind each other of His commands. The good news we have is that God is King, Jesus is Lord and in His Kingdom there are His laws to be obeyed which leads to blessing and contentment. I believe we do people a disservice if we do not tell them about this and give them the chance to respond. I think it must be done very sensitively and at the right times. We bring news of God’s accepting love and also of his justice evidenced by our service to them. He loves us even though we sin but there are consequences to our sin in this life and if we continue in sinful ways it blocks the path to His blessing and to His power bringing change.

It’s a tricky topic and maybe not popular in liberal times but I feel that it is part of the Christian distinctive we offer. No one will listen to us unless we model it ourselves. So the call to obedience and allowing the power of God to transform people’s lives begins with us.

David Arscott is a Community Mission Advisor for Livability in Leeds.

'The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendour of the old.' Proverbs 29.

Ann Morisy recently led a session on the Love is a Verb course about ageing which left me really challenged about church and our mission with older people.

The UK has an increasingly ageing population – we currently have more over 65’s than under 16’s. Some research shows that those who grow older with a faith have a better experience. So this is great for the church, isn’t it? We are being told we have a ‘product’ (excuse the crass advertising terms) which a growing number of people need! So what are we doing about it?

I’m currently working with a church who set up a luncheon club in the 1980’s. This quickly became a thriving ministry during a time when the term ‘pensioner’ was something of a badge of honour. Oh how things have changed! People are living longer and retiring later, they are more active and the term pensioner is now a somewhat derogatory term.

So society has moved on, but churches often haven’t. Many luncheon clubs like this one have seen numbers dwindle as regulars have died and interest has waned. The older age group is now spilt into two age brackets: the 65-75 year olds are often still working or volunteering in some capacity or may be caring for their grandchildren. The over 75’s, possibly less mobile, have a very different set of needs/wants. The church I’ve been working with mainly attracts the latter group providing a ‘meat and two veg’ lunch and an activity (the most popular being bingo). My own nan is in her early 70’s and her response is that she wouldn’t be seen dead in a luncheon club such as this!

Why is that, what are the needs/wants of those in this category and how can we creatively engage with both age groups in a meaningful way?
We work with many people who are running thriving ministries with older people.
A good example is that of another church I am working with who have a group called the N40’s (short for the New Forties). They reach those in early retirement attracting them by arranging social gatherings and visits to interesting heritage and tourist sites.

Work with older people is often unglamorous and can take a back seat in our church. It’s easy to see why it’s appropriate that we pour energy and resources into our work with children and youth but the Bible is clear about our responsibilities to honour the wisdom and contribution of older people.
Leviticus 19:32 says “ Stand up in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God.”
Psalm 92:13 and 14 says, “Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.”

The Church urgently needs to focus on finding ways of honouring and respecting, of drawing on the wisdom and experience and encouraging older people to feel they still have a part to play. We also need to communicate our conviction that however old we are it’s never too late to grow spiritually or to find new life.

What are the creative ways that you engage with older people in your churches/projects?

The famous 'Class sketch' from the Frost show in 1966. We like to think that things have changed, but have they?

Should this report surprise us? Should it be a call to arms? This week I’ve had several conversations about this issue with people inside the church as well as outside. Friends from working class backgrounds mostly blame the local council or government. Middle-class friends put this down to one of the following: bad schools, bad parents or bad job opportunities. A banker friend even said, “Jesus had special powers to spend time with poor people. I don’t have that. I don’t want to put my wife and baby into harm’s way. I want the best for them”.

How did it happen, though, that some communities have schools with such low standards? And parents who are not able to inspire their children to achieve? And why are there not enough good job opportunities for those without a university degree?

Mostly people are embarrassed to talk about class, wrongly believing that if we don’t speak about it then it might not exist. To me this sums up a major problem with our response to news that the UK has a modern-day caste system, just as immovable as any seen in India. There is very little mixing of people from different classes.

I realised this a few years ago and later moved from Wimbledon (a very white and middle-class commuter-belt suburb) to Whitechapel (an inner-city Bangladeshi area with many homeless people). I had high hopes of making a difference in a poor area. Over time, though, the reality of burglaries, street drinking and violence has made me less idealistic about how these problems can be overcome. I have made only small steps to meeting people who are not middle-class. The problems sometimes seem huge and I feel the urge to retreat to an area where people look and act like I do.

For now, though, I will stay put. How will I ever understand the lack of opportunities for many people in the UK unless I know people for whom this is the case? In small ways I want to work against the belief that some people are too troubled or difficult to engage with. For now this means that I stand up for local people when they are told to ‘go home’ by white people. When I see conflict on the street, I intervene. I contact the police frequently. And in this way I have a small amount of hope (like a mustard seed?) that there will be a point in the future when good levels of social mobility will be normal.

Interested in this topic?
We like the research by Richard Wilkinson that show that inequality is the most important indicator of health, happiness and security in society. Read more in his book, The Spirit Level.

Jill Clark, April 2011

A few months ago, the Merton Street Pastors’ team that I am part of made some new friends.  Four people sleeping rough in a bin cupboard.  Some, like us, helped them but not all were so generous – neighbours complained to the police and council and tried to have them moved on.  As well as providing tea and food, our team of Street Pastors did what we could – we tried to refer them for emergency shelter but were told it wasn’t cold enough.  We spoke to council officials about their situation but discovered there was little they could do.  They all came over from Eastern Europe and initially found work with accommodation.

When the work dried up they were asked to leave and made homeless but because they had not registered with the authorities on arrival they are not entitled to any help now.

In January they had to move on as someone let off a firework in the bin cupboard that had been their home.

Our friends' new home

Their new location is some residential car parking bays by some flats.  They have three bays, one has a mattress, the middle bay has a desk and chair with a clock on the wall and the third bay has another mattress.  They have made it as comfortable and as much like home as it can be.

One of the guys recently got a job and the first thing he did when he got paid was to buy food for them all.  This is what the kingdom of heaven is like, one person working and taking care of the others.  It reminds me of the model in Acts 3 where the early believers shared everything they had.

Our new friends constantly thank us, but for what? We have provided cups of tea, the odd meal and referred them to agencies who have not been able to help them so far.  No, we are the ones who should be grateful to God for allowing us, through them, to see what kingdom living really looks like.

Eleos homeless outreach in London

I recently went along to the 15^th anniversary service of Eleos Christian Church. Eleos is a small church in Bethnal Green that has a bigger impact on the lives of the people it serves than many churches six or seven times its size. OK, I may be biased (I worked there for six years between 1997-2003!) but I don’t think I’m exaggerating.

At the heart of Eleos is a desire to show God’s love and mercy to people in desperate need. Looking around the room at the celebration I saw many lives that had been profoundly changed. These are people who have not come from churched backgrounds, but rather have been sought out and brought into the kingdom of God by those who have experienced God’s mercy and want to show it to others. The church does some tremendous work amongst homeless people and  runs the Church Without Walls in Victoria, on the streets every Saturday at 7am in the morning. The Church Without Walls is a vibrant expression of church that has seen many, many lives changed by God.

The thing that characterises the church and its Pastor, Kurt Erickson, is an understanding of the importance of the value of one soul. It’s the thing that has always struck me about Kurt. He will do whatever it takes to see an individual’s life impacted with the good news of Jesus. I use the word soul deliberately. Salvation is central.  What I admire about Kurt is that he doesn’t just want to meet people’s practical needs. At the heart of what they do and completely integrated throughout every aspect of the ministry of Eleos, is the clear, upfront proclamation of the Word of God. It’s inspiring to see how seamlessly the handing out of a hearty breakfast is integrated with worship, prayer and preaching on the streets of central London.

I want to challenge you to think about what you are doing this week. Are you aware of the value that God places on each individual life? Are you and I prepared to live sacrificially so that others can see, hear and understand the good news of Jesus?

Check out Eleos yourself.

Catalyst Trust run their Love is a Verb course every year. It aims to train and equip people to work in areas of urban deprivation and deals with issues such as addictions, prostitution, domestic violence, homelessness and more.  A significant part of the course is defining a personal vision statement and helping participants be intentional and ‘live on purpose’ (a phrase coined by Tom & Christine Sine ‘Living on Purpose’).

‘To fight injustice with every bone in my body!’ was the inspiring statement coined by a criminal justice lawyer on the course.  Others were more general and included; ‘to show a way of life that is best of all’ and some were more specific about working with low income families, youth or orphans. Another person worked in media and wants, ‘to eradicate negative images of women in the media’.

Completed vision statements were written on post-it notes and then put up on the wall.  I was really encouraged to see these statements of purpose reminding me that we are all part of Christ’s body and are each called to play our own part in bringing God’s love and hope to a broken world.

Mine was, ‘To love outrageously, live wisely and courageously encourage.’  It’s scary to share it and to know it’s out there now – I’ll report back how I’m doing with living this out in the months to come…

Hayley Teague