The Church of England - the Estate we're not in!

Today I was so very blessed by a service in a gem of an estate church in Hartlepool. St Mark’s church  (Clavering Road) lies at one end of a parade.  Being Christ the King (and us being up in the Northeast to think about and reflect on Fresh Expressions at the National FE Conference) we found ourselves in this little place of worship swelling the congregation to something a little shy of twenty warm and living bodies. The Sermon was competently delivered; the Eucharist done with respect and reverence; the welcome was warm and encouraging. The place was a gem and a blessing! After the service we were invited to fellowship with the regulars.

I have to say that in my travels I have experienced so many woeful expression of church which have left me saddened, unfed and, to be honest, totally depressed as the theology, liturgy and welcome was pretty poor. But St Marks was something so very different from what I have come to regard as the norm'!

At first glance it didn't look like a church - after all there's no spire and, as you can see from the image above, the yellow signage draws the eye such that you might be forgiven for thinking it's part of the shop. But on closer inspection you soon get to see that it's something a little different from the other two places on this small parade of shops. 

One serves the community by selling beers, wines and spirits, the second offers the  community the staples of life and the third, St Mark's, offers the community that surrounds it the word of God, the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and a place of Welcome, a meeting place for the community: the older folk, the parents and the children.

Looking at the geography of the estate. St Mark's and St John Vianney (RC) are well placed to make real a Christian presence in this quite sprawling housing  development and proclaim the Gospel of Christ. There's also the Central Methodist 'Estate Church' outside of this map to the Southeast. 

Here was something that had a heartbeat and yet there was something of sadness about the place. The person preaching spoke of the death of a minister and spoke of the thirty years this faithful little congregation had ministered to the people around them and the fact that this would soon end too. This stopped me in my tracks and the words of the Bishop of Burnley, the Rt Revd Philip North, warning that the Church of England was “complicit in the abandonment of the poor,” and the fact that the decline of support for the estate churches and the poorer areas would undoubtedly grow unless we took note of this and engaged in the placed where 'Jesus is not to be found' (my emphasis) continue to decline unless the bishops, diocesan staff and parish priests acted to redress this.

Now when +Phillip said this (and he heads up the CofE estate church committee and is on the executive of the National Estate Churches Network) there was much nodding and agreement - so what's going on here I wondered? How, and why is this being allowed to happen?

Imaging my surprise when I mentioned +Phillip's word to the people I was drinking tea with as it transpired that  +Phillip began his ministry in this very church (along with one other who also ended up with a pointy hat!)!!!

Let me quote +Phillip further:
“The simple and hard truth is that, in the poorest parts of the country, we are withdrawing preachers. We are seeing the slow and steady withdrawal of church life from those communities where the poorest people in our nation live.” He cited attendance figures - the proportion of people who attend an Anglican church in England was 1.7 per cent, but on estates just 0.8 per cent - and spending: 

“Nationally, we spend £8 per head of population on ministry. In some rural areas, that figure rises to £24 per head. On the estates, we spend just £5 per head — by far the lowest. The poorer you are, the less the Church values you.” 

I am saddened and disappointed to have come across this closure. I understand that it doesn't fit in with the deanery plan and undoubtedly the local purple shirt has approved the closure too - but what of those who will not find themselves able to make the journey to a new fellowship?

What of those families the Church of England is abandoning? Are we hoping the RC church or the methodists of some other fellowship or denomination will spring up to take up the challenge?

The Bible tells us that one side of a story sounds good until we hear the other side.

What I do know is that in 1960 multiple beneficed Parishes (MBP) accounted for some 17% of the incumbent bent posts - today this number is 71%. Perhaps this is the case here and what we see is the church rationalising the workload of the incumbent. Perhaps it's about Parish Share and St Mark's is one of those who having little is seeing what it has taken away (amazing how many people don't understand the stewardship and commitment to the Master in the parable of the talents, isn't it?).


But how very sad that +Phillip, championing the plight of the estate church and the poor, has the place where his words and fine sacramental ministry touched lives, thrown onto the fire :-(

Somehow feels like a bit of a disgraceful situation to me - I wonder whether this has made the local press like so many of the 'good publicity' projects that abound has? Will there be a note from the CofE in the local paper wishing the people of that area well as they close this work?

I can only sign this as saddened of Tamworth

The light shines in the darkness and it has not been overcome!