Partnership in Manchester

It’s rather scary to note that in September it will be thirty years since I arrived in Manchester to train for ministry. Thirty years!! I have to say Manchester changed my life. I loved back then its vibrancy and positivity and fun. When I come back, it always feels like coming home. 

Today I was back in the city to see what the Methodist Central Hall in Oldham Street does ecumenically. I’m going on a Churches Together training event next month for new ecumenical officers and you have to do a context visit first. So I was glad Ian Rutherford invited me to come today to see what happens in Central Hall and flows out of it. 

Ian suggested I arrive in time for a 12pm prayer meeting. Since the beginning of January people have gathered every weekday to pray for an hour. The hour today was amazing. There were 50 to 60 people gathered from all over Greater Manchester of various traditions and ages. I sat with some students from the Metropolitan Uni. The prayer meeting wasn’t what I expected! We prayed out loud together but separately. So there was a cacophony of noise in the chapel. Deacon Jenny who led the hour quoted the verse of the hymn which says “the voice of prayer is never silent.” 

We had a time of praise. I loved that Andy Fishburne was there. He was in the World Wide Message Tribe when I lived in the city. He prayed “Jesus you are brilliant!” A lady behind me kept clapping Jesus. Some voices were loud, others were silent. We had a period of silence listening to God, a time to pray that hidden treasures in us might be used, and a time to pray for different parts of the city and light candles and put them on a map to remember different communities. I placed a candle on Mossley, my first appointment.

Several things struck me about the prayer meeting. Church wasn’t mentioned in the hour only that we might need revival! And —- most of us didn’t know each other but there was a power about being there to do something. There was also a confidence that God might be doing something and a joy to be in his presence. Also unlike some prayer meetings in this style there was a desire to pray together to pray for transformation and wellbeing in the city. One man kept praying out loud “eradicate poverty, eradicate poverty.” 

At the end we clapped God. But it didn’t feel sickly or trite. It was a genuine privilege to be amongst these people. It was a positive expression of unity in diversity. I only get three or four at a prayer meeting!! There were several there for the first time. I wonder how they got to know about it. What also impressed me was I didn’t feel a stranger in the room. I don’t do crowds and I don’t find mingling with new people easy, but this was great. I ended up praying in a style I’m not usually comfortable with! What happened there?

After lunch, Ian showed me round the vast building that is Central Hall. It’s now used by various church groups, not just a Methodist congregation and is home to a refugee group and has a cafe run by ex offenders. There was a vibrancy about as we passed various groups using the building. 

Ian then told me about a shared commitment to social justice in the city. He’s involved in various projects bringing hope and recovery out of trauma  for people working in partnership with other agencies like the cathedral and Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Manchester, who sees the faith communities contribution to the what does the city need question as the city’s conscience. I was very impressed by Ian’s commitment to work with partners to seek the common good and his gentle yet determined leadership bringing the Gospel and its liberation with others where it is needed most. 

It felt as we chatted this afternoon we’d known each other for ages and we only met today. What really made me feel hopeful is that while our contexts are very different, the same emphasis in ministry is developing in my context just as it is in Manchester. 

Yesterday, the building stronger communities lady from the new North Yorkshire Council called a meeting of possible stakeholders to form a community partnership in Ripon. Present were several councillors, a representative from Ripon Together, Ripon Bid, Ripon Community House and me. What’s great is that the council want a faith representative on the group and I have to say I was welcomed and my views were respected and listened to. Ian and I reflected that things have changed and where the Church is prepared to engage with the issues people face today and ask the questions people want answering, rather than the questions we think need answering, then there can be good engagement with others. I rather like Andy Burnham’s phrase that we are the conscience of a community.

Manchester has always had a vibrant pulling together spirit. The cotton mills of old “cottonopolis” were places, while hard to work in, which formed strong bonds of friendship; the Peterloo massacre was an event where people rose up together against injustice, I was in the city when the IRA bomb went off. The city was rocked for a time but it rose again, resilient. The post box above wasn’t destroyed. It’s a sign together we cannot be defeated. Ian shared he has there when the bomb went off at the Arianda Grande concert in the Arena. For a while there was a flashback to that IRA bomb. But people stood together, including faith groups.  Even walking round the city tonight there felt a sense of pride and togetherness that this is our city and we share it together and together we will work for it’s good. Isn’t it brilliant the Church is part of that? 

It was lovely after I left Central Hall to go into St Ann’s Church. I used to use it a lot as a peaceful place to receive. Then it was lovely to mooch round Waterstones on Deansgate “the largest bookshop in the North.” I was very good. I only bought one book on the Ramsay Macdonald first ever Labour government 100 years ago and how together those involved made a difference. It was then lovely to have dinner in Annie’s which is my favourite place to eat in the city. It used to be owned by Fiz off Coronation Street. I’ve no idea if she’s involved now. It was lovely to walk through the old Corn Exchange now full of up market eateries. What community would have been in there in its day? 

I guess today has been about the opportunities proper trusting partnership can bring. Churches are struggling. We cannot do all we want to do now because we don’t have the resources. Maybe we are being called to join with others who share the same desire as us to make things better and we throw the Jesus answer into the mix. We need each other. Before we left each other and we prayed for each other’s ministry (how fab was that?) we reminded each other of Wesley’s sermon on the Catholic spirit: “if your heart is with my heart, give me your hand.” 

We need each other. I have gifts to give you that you don’t have. You have gifts to give me that I don’t have. Together we travel on. Mind you, there is a limit how much we tolerate people. I need a break from the worse for wear ladies on this train from Leeds to Harrogate who are shouting “we have pizza, we have pizza!”