Picture: Anne Roony and Bernard Vause (front), following their baptism at the Morecambe Unity Service, with ministers (from left) Michael and Tracy Kohl (Morecambe Community Church), and Rev Paul Beard (Torrisholme Methodist Church.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (18th - 25th January) provides a great opportunity for local Christians to pray together. Many groups around the county used the CTBI resources this year, and there are stories of some special events below. Send us your stories of anything special your local churches did to mark the week so that we can share them!
A Great Launch to Guild Year for Preston’s churches
"Smiling all the way through with such joy…”
Words from an email of thanks received after one never to be forgotten Unity Week Service. On the afternoon of Sunday 22nd January 2012, Preston Guild Hall was host to an extraordinary Ecumenical event. About 1850 people from almost 80 different Preston churches came together for a united service to launch the 2012 Preston Guild – a once-every-20-years Preston event which has enormous significance for the city. Carmelites, Pentecostals, Greek Orthodox and Seventh Day Adventists rubbed shoulders with Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Methodists and Baptists. Never before has such a comprehensive collection of Preston’s Christians met to worship in one place.
This was not a performance by high profile presenters or musicians – there will be plenty of opportunities for that later in the year, most notably at the Open Air Service on September 3rd. Rather, this was the assembly of pilgrims at the start of the Guild, and the focus was on meeting people, simple group worship and common commitment.
Peter Lumsden, one of the coordinating team for the Churches’ involvement in the Guild, led the Service, and expressed the hope in his address that by the end of Guild Year "The Churches in Preston" may have become "The Church in Preston" - a hope enthusiastically echoed by many. Churches Together in Lancashire sent words of support and encouragement. A group of young people performed ‘A Parade of Guild Values’ – movingly explaining what each value meant to them. And the Guild’s Festival Director, Stella Hall, gave warm endorsement to the central role the churches had to play in the work of the Guild Year.
Stephen Garsed, another member of the coordinating team, summed up the task that lay before the Churches in his commentary on Luke 4:16 – 21:
We live in a city where faith has been eroded by materialism, a materialism that is now beginning to fail people. It is ironic that Guild Year - our year of celebration - brings the bleakest economic prospects for decades. We have a widening gap between rich and poor. We have a crisis of faith, hope and love in our City. Many people in our city claim that the church is irrelevant because it is divided and doesn’t meet the needs of ordinary people.
But therein lies a real opportunity to bring Lord’s Favour - by working together in social action to bring faith, hope and love to our city - to truly bring Good News to Preston. This is quiet purposeful work, and the enduring legacy from it will be the real measure of how well we have brought the Lord’s favour to our City.
Well done to the Preston team for such a wonderful start to a momentous year.
12 Morecambe congregations unite for an ecumenical baptism service
ABOUT 80 people connected with 12 different churches in our district came together at a special baptism service recently at Stanley Road Baptist Church.
The ecumenical believers’ baptism saw Bernard Vause and Anne Roony share their testimonies before being immersed fully in water as a symbol of their Christian faith.
Bernard is a regular preacher on the Methodist circuit and is president of Morecambe Brass Band association. Born into a Salvation Army family, he was dedicated as a baby but never baptised.
He was baptised by Rev Paul Beard, minister at Torrisholme Methodist Church, and Michael Kohl, from Morecambe Community Church (MCC).
Michael and his wife Tracy, who are pastors at MCC, then baptised Anne who has started attending the church quite recently.
Retired URC minister, Rev Richard Davis, spoke powerfully on Matthew 28:16-20, encouraging the congregation to be committed disciples of Jesus.
Afterwards he said: “It has been great to have so many churches represented. The music and the singing were quite stupendous.
“I was impressed by how alive the whole service was – it was a real celebration of togetherness and of oneness in Jesus Christ.”
Other people involved during the service included Keith Tattersall (Wesley Methodist), David Thorp (St Martin of Tours, Westgate), Dan Giles (Home Church) and Steven Hewitt (Stanley Road).
The service was also timed with the end of the ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’. A video of the service can be seen at www.stanleyroad.org.uk/tv.
