Number 106 Winter 2011 The Revd James Barnett Pioneer Minister Inside This was the moment Our charity of the year MCCN Conference Mission Staff (Superintendent Minister) Telephone: 0113 242 4951 The Revd Caroline Ryder (Chaplain to the Universities) Telephone: 0113 343 5071 The Revd Pat Creamer (Counsellor, MIND) Telephone: 0113 264 5831 The Revd Philip Bee (Director, Oastler Centre) Telephone: 01484 609 288 Telephone: 0113 242 5254 Mr Trevor Parker (Mission Administrator) Telephone: 0113 245 3502 Chair of the District The Revd Dr Elizabeth Smith Telephone: 0113 278 5546 Circuit Stewards Mrs Gwen Pridmore Telephone: 0113 266 5093 Miss Marjorie Cossey Telephone: 0113 295 6373 Local Preachers 1984 Mr R K Lolley 1986 Mrs P Goacher 1991 Mrs E Waller 1994 Ms J Aitchison On Note Worship Leaders Mrs Ann Bailey The Revd James Barnett has been welcomed and licensed as the recently appointed Pioneer Minister to the new residential communities in the city centre of Leeds. This post is being funded jointly by both Methodists and Anglicans through o u r p a r e n t denominations, and is itself an exciting expression of the way in which we can work more closely within the Anglican-Methodist Covenant. James was previously team vicar at St George s in the city centre, so is no stranger to Leeds. He will be working with very different challenges in this appointment without walls, and will relate both to Oxford Place Methodist Church, where he will have an office base, and to Leeds Parish Church, and other city centre ministries. Leeds St Peter s Leeds Parish Church The Revd James Barnett, Bishop John Packer and the Revd Liz Smith J a m e s W e l c o m e Service, on 15th November at the Leeds Church Institute, took the form of an adapted Methodist welcome service led by Revd Dr Liz Smith, Chair of the Leeds Methodist District, within which Bishop John Packer (Ripon and Leeds) licensed James for his ministry. James was warmly welcomed by representatives of both denominations and supported by friends and family members. Adapted, with permission,from an article on the Leeds Methodist District web site
This was the moment This was the moment when before turned into after, and the future s uninvented timekeepers presented arms. This was the moment when nothing happened. Only dull peace sprawled boringly over the earth. This was the moment when even energetic Romans could find nothing better to do than counting heads in remote provinces. And this was the moment when a few farm workers and three members of an obscure Persian sect walked haphazardly by starlight straight into the Kingdom of God. These words by the Quaker author, Ursula Fanhope, give me a glimpse of a different take on the Christmas Story. We so often think of time as divided by the birth of Christ into BC and AD. Modern-day scholars sometimes use CE, meaning Common Era, instead of AD but the effect is the same. Human history is divided, at least by western timekeepers, into that time before the birth of Christ and this time after it. In life, some people do the same. Some people, who have perhaps had a specific moment of conversion will divide their life into the time before and the time after that special moment. They might say, for example, that this is how I was before and this is how I am now that I am a Christian. For those of us who have not had that specific moment of conversion and for whom faith has been a gradual process of growth, this can sometimes make us feel like second-class Christians. We should not let it do so though. There are a good many of us for whom faith has come gradually. We must not think that our faith is any-the-less real for the process of its growth in us. We could look at the Christmas Story and see the same division. A particular reading of Ursula Fanshaw s poem would have us see the significance of the birth as a moment in time. She could suggest that with the cry of the babe the world shifted on its axis, everything changed and nothing was quite the same again. In some respects this is true. In some other respects it is not so true. With the birth of the child in the manger came a new hope, a new possibility, a new expectation of the Kingdom of God. Some recognised it shepherds and wise men responded to angel call and starlight. Men and women down the ages have seen it too. And if we look very closely, we too can see the signs of the Kingdom in our midst. And when we do see it then life does indeed divide into before and after. When peace overcomes pain and poverty, when injustice is overwhelmed by freedom and justice, when the light burst through the darkness there is the Kingdom. Praise to God the Christ is come! More pioneer ministers The appointment of the Revd James Barnett as a Pioneer Minister in the centre of Leeds (as reported on the front page) is the first of three appointments. James s ministry is to the new residential communities, the other two will be to the leisure industry and to the business community. It is hoped to make these appointments in 2011 New Charitable Status Oxford Place Church is the only church in the Leeds (Mission) Circuit. Under new regulations it has become necessary to register Leeds (Mission) Circuit as a charity. For the record our Registered Charity Number is 1138731. 2 Life and Work 106
Our Church Family and Friends On Note? We congratulate Kathleen Goacher, our oldest member, on her 97th birthday (13th October) Angela and Ken Tait on the birth of their granddaughter, Maud, a sister for Iris and Felix and a daughter for Emma and Chris We welcome Lois Rawlings and Patricia Smith to the membership of Oxford Place We remember Joan Meadley who died in September 2010 You may have noticed that on our front page the name our new deacon, Jenny Jones, appears under the heading On Note. Some of you less knowledgeable about the ways of Methodism may have wondered what this means. Put simply it means that Jenny has been given permission (by Adrian our Superintendent) to preach. This is the first stage in becoming a local preacher. In times past the note was a physical piece of paper which novice preachers had to present at a chapel to verify that they were indeed permitted to preach. The training for becoming a deacon does not include preaching and those deacons who have a call to preach are expected to become local preachers before or after they become deacons. Jenny has set out on this road, and we wish her well. Our giving to Charities and Connexional Funds September 2009 to August 2010 Christian Aid 117.39 Mission in Britain 74.87 Methodist Relief and Development Fund 88.00 Bible Society 23.50 World Mission (Easter Offering) 133.39 Methodist Homes for the Aged 32.00 Action for Children 38.00 Benevolence Fund 48.50 Notes The tax reclaimed under the Gift Aid scheme for the Specified Collections goes directly to the charities concerned. These figures do not include 1379.48 raised for our Charity of the Year Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network (LASSN) which with the amount raised last year makes a grand total of 2787.76 for the charity. The Benevolence Fund enables ministers and deacons to give to needy people Connexion? Connexional? On this page you will see the word connexional. The Methodist Connexion not connection refers to all the churches in a particular area. The British Methodist Connexion includes all the churches, in all the Methodist districts of Scotland, Wales and England, along with the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and Shetland. On the Methodist web site you will find these words: This sense of being connected makes a difference to how the Methodist Church as a whole is structured. At its heart is an understanding of the Christian community as the 'body of Christ'. Just as a human body contains different limbs and organs that depend on each other, so we should be close and caring enough to feel each other's pain and delight. We should put the good of the whole body before our own individual needs. When ministers or deacons are ordained in the Methodist Church, they are also 'received into full Connexion.' www.methodist.org.uk Life and Work 106 3
Our Charity of the Year A few months ago at our Annual Church Meeting, we decided that our Charity for the Year 2010-2011 would be the Methodist Relief and Development Fund, usually known simply as MRDF. Our focus at the moment is on the work of Voluntary Action for Development (VAD), an MRDF partner that works in Uganda. If you have any fund-raising ideas or can help with fund-raising activities please speak to Mavis Freeman Tel: (0113) 278 0292 or at Oxford Place. What is MRDF doing? MRDF is funding Voluntary Action for Development (VAD), an organisation that supports water, hygiene and sanitation projects in rural areas of central Uganda. MRDF has been working with VAD since 2001. VAD supports communities in five ways: Access to safe water sources VAD works to increase access to safe, clean water by helping to construct wells, water tanks and new water sources. Being able to use clean water from a well close to home allows people to spend more time working - which can lead to increased incomes. It also means people can save the money they would have spent on medical treatment for waterborne disease. Since 2001 VAD has helped to create nearly 400 new water sources in villages, households and in schools. VAD helped to install a well in Gobero village in 2008. A community member donated part of his land for the project and provided financial support to run the water source. 250 people now have regular access to clean water. Run by a locally elected Water User Committee, the village has implemented opening hours to prevent the well drying up. With advice from VAD they will plant mango and avocado trees around it to provide shade and to encourage water to flow, as the tree roots help to draw the natural spring water to the surface. About MRDF MRDF exists to bring about significant and long term change in some of the world's most marginalised communities, and to empower people to change structures that are oppressive and unjust. To fulfil this charge, MRDF has three core priorities: contribute to the eradication of poverty, through transformative long-term development, and disaster relief increase the effectiveness of overseas partner organisations to contribute to the eradication of poverty challenge the causes of poverty and injustice through education and advocacy, both in the UK and overseas Taken from the MRDF web site at: www.mrdf.org.uk About VAD BACKGROUND Voluntary Action for Development (VAD) is a non-profit making indigenous, non-governmental Organization initiated in May 1996, and registered under the Non- Governmental Organizations Board of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the same year. VAD operates in Wakiso, Mpigi and the North-Eastern districts of Uganda. Vision: A result oriented organization with a self reliant community. Mission: Empower the rural poor communities to effectively participate in their social economic development initiative. VAD Core values: Self respect and respect for others Team work and commitment Trustworthiness Accountability God fearing Goal: "Contribute to the improvement of the living conditions and uplift the standards of living of the rural poor and disadvantaged communities including women, children, people with disability and the very poor people." Taken from the VAD web site at: www.vaduganda.org 4 Life and Work 106
No time for homework (abridged) Characters: Daniel, Granny, Teacher Narrator: This is Daniel. He lives with his grandmother, Gertrude. He starts his day every morning at 6am when he walks to get water it's a three hour round trip. It's a long walk and it means he misses a lot of school. Teacher: Daniel! You're late, where's your homework? Daniel: I'm sorry sir, I didn't have time last night. Teacher: That's not good enough Daniel! Your grades are not improving; you won't pass your exams at this rate! Narrator: The next day, Gertrude became ill and Daniel had to stay behind to collect water and finish the chores. He had to do this again the following week, and the week after that, and the week after that... Many children like Daniel have to sacrifice their education for simple things like collecting water. That is why the work that we support through MRDF is so important. By helping communities to build wells and install water tanks, children like Daniel have more time to concentrate on their education and don't spend hours away from their homes. One well in a village could break the cycle of a child having to choose survival over education. This and most of the material on the preceding page has been taken from MRDF s booklet Partner a Project and is reproduced here by permission. From Life and Work (Autumn 1989) From the Finance Report Our expenditure has already increased in the current year and it is good to be able to report an increase in the Sunday collections while we have also been able to increase the contribution from our "commercial" activities. Despite this, our deficit for this year is likely to be well over the 2000 recorded in 1988. Seen elsewhere The average increase in directors' salaries in UK in 1987 was 46. 3% average, mark you: in one case it was 296.3% Reconciliation Quarterly, December 1988. The latest Government figures available show that in 1985 two and a quarter million children were living on or near the Government's own definition of the poverty line. Reconciliation Quarterly, December 1988. If we want rich people to work harder we pay them more. If we want poor people to work harder we pay them less. Postcard In the One World Shop, Merrion Centre, Leeds Life and Work 106 5
MCCN The Methodist City Centre Network Conference 2010 Jenny, Adrian and I attended the recent two-day conference organised by the Methodist City Centre Network (MCCN). We had five invited speakers: the Revd Pete Hancock (Chair of the Leicester District, and previously involved in RUN Reaching the Unchurched Network), the Revd Pete Phillips (Secretary of the Methodist Church s Faith and Order Committee and Director of Research for Centre for Biblical Literacy at St John's College, Durham), the Revd Lucy Winkett (recently on the staff at St Paul s Cathedral, but now rector at St James, Piccadilly), Phil Summers who with Peter Moreton are Applecart an arts project which uses storytelling, music, drama and visual arts explore the richness of the Gospel with a twenty-first century audience) and Deacon Eunice Attwood (from Brunswick Church in Newcastle and currently the Vice-president of the Methodist Conference). A report of the conference is available on the MCCN website with links to other web sites, on-line videos, and speakers presentations, but I would like to pick out some particular things that were said or offered by our speakers or were mentioned in discussion. The ministry of city centre churches is reactive rather than programmed, with a number of chaplaincies and partnerships, and is ecumenical, inter-faith, and encounters people from a mix of cultures. We sometimes tell the story the wrong way giving our church the wrong shape that prevents or inhibits people from coming in. People believe but do not want to belong. Is the virtual the same as the real; is a virtual (on line) relationship as valid as a (real) face to face one? We have a society where immediacy (of response) is expected, where we are distracted by the digital. There is evidence to show that the being part of the digital world changes the brain, different patterns, different memory processes. The digital environment is here to stay and this is the world to which we are called. Yet the Word became flesh. Without face-to-face in the flesh contact Christianity does not work. Christianity is redolent with enfleshed corporeality: the church as Body of Christ, being in Christ, Christ in us, centrality of rites and ritual, and faith without works is dead. Christianity is a rich mixture of head and heart. We need to hold events as well as having an on-line presence. The church is often told that it is dying. Rather than dying the church is grieving, grieving for a past when we knew where we were and what we had to do. The church is living in a half-changed world. What is being thrown out? What is being kept in? We need to rediscover a confidence in our liturgy, our own public prayers. It can be good without being all singing, all dancing. Lucy Winkett Perhaps we should think of the church as a school easier to join offering learning, life-long learning, something that is a continually changing community people join, people leave. We need to cultivate silence, commit to relationships, reflect divine love in a commercial, sexual city. We should do this with our shoes off we walk on holy ground God is there, we need to get out of his way. Applecart sets out to engage the power of the theatre to be didactic, take multiple points of view, cover all ages, break open hearts and minds, and outrage people by telling the Gospel stories through a creative arts project, outside the church environment (in a pub). Young women who are prostitutes often say that if they had been helped when they were younger they wouldn t have ended up in prostitution. Many were sold into the business by someone in their own 6 Life and Work 106
family. Most want to stop doing it. Paying for sex has become acceptable. We should have something to say about this. Young girls are increasingly being sexualised through what they wear and what is expected of them Amazon sells pole-dancing kits as a toy. In a video one of the young women (from the GAP project in Newcastle) talked about what had happened to her prompted by a series of her own photographs of places. I see what you can t see. What happens behind ordinary doors and ordinary shop fronts: drug-taking and paid-for sex. The conference concluded with Holy Communion at which Paul Smith (Plymouth) presided. Eunice preached a sermon using the gospel story of Jesus sending the disciples out in a boat and then coming to them, walking on the water, lifting Peter up when his faith failed and he sank as he tried to walk on he water, and then the calm that followed when they were all in the boat. She used each stage in the story as a metaphor for situations we encounter in our mission. The formal programmed sessions are only part of the value of the conference. Whatever speakers are invited, whatever sessions are planned, what each participant at the conference takes away will vary. Some will be Liz Our District Chair writes... Flocks and Shepherds In the centre of Leeds on Light Night in October, I became the guardian of a sheep, thanks to the amazing creativity of Pyramid of the Arts. Their installation Flocks made dramatic use of the Oxford Place steps and doorway. Pyramid of the Arts is a community arts group, working with all abilities, and based in Oxford Chambers. The sheep I have acquired is not soft and woolly, but made of clay and can sit comfortably on my outstretched hand. She is, nevertheless, very definitely a sheep and has been named Eve-Ewe! The invitation was to take one of the many sheep in the Flocks installation which also included some stunning paper birds in flight and take it on some travels before returning it to the Pyramid of the Arts flock. Little did they know what they have set in motion! Eve-Ewe has accompanied me to many places in the past weeks and continues to do so. She has been so named because she eavesdrops on all kinds of conversations, and has views on all kinds of things. On the district website you can see pictures of her in places of worship, Paul Smith inspired by one speaker, bored by a n o t h e r, challenged by one s p e a k e r, comforted by another, but (as e v i d e n c e i n support of Pete Phillips claim that to be Christians we must meet) for many the most valuable aspect of the conference is t h e b e i n g together, sharing s t o r i e s a n d experience at meal times and in coffee breaks, joining in the la ug h ter a nd friendly banter in the evenings, which for some continues beyond midnight, getting to know those we have not met before and getting to know better those we have. Ken Tait Each month the Chair sends out a letter for publication in church magazines. As Life and Work appears quarterly, then it maybe some time before the Chair s letters appear on this page. Occasionally we will omit a letter that, in in business meetings, at training events, even at Methodist Council. Her presence in such places challenges me to be mindful of how those events might be seen and heard by a complete stranger who wandered into our midst. She reminds me that often we are talking about things that others might be surprised, and encouraged to hear: how do we let them know that the Church cares about issues such as work with families and young people, hospital and prison chaplaincy, people seeking friendship and places of safety? She also helps me to catch those moments when we fail to be the best that we are called to be, and lose touch with the communities we are seeking to serve. And Eve-Ewe likes to have fun! The guardian of sheep is, of course, a shepherd even in a city centre! Eve-Ewe is a reminder to me of human flocks, and of responsibilities of shepherding that many of us share in. As we approach Christmas, let us spare a thought for sheep on the hillside, and people on the streets. Let us listen for some sharper perspectives to challenge our complacencies, and perhaps we can also glimpse something of the wonder and mystery of the One come to be among us Lamb of God and Good Shepherd of all the sheep, not of a single flock. Life and Work 106 7
Sundays January February March 2 Epiphany 10.30 Holy Communion Mrs Patricia Goacher 9 Epiphany 1 10.30 Mr Rob Lolley Mrs Patricia Goacher 6.30 Reflective Worship 16 Epiphany 2 10.30 The Revd Caroline Ryder Mr Rob Lolley 6.30 Time to Talk 23 Christian Unity 10.30 Mrs Liz Waller 30 Epiphany 4 10.30 Mrs Ann Bailey 6 Epiphany 5 10.30 Holy Communion 13 Epiphany 6 10.30 The Revd Caroline Ryder 6.30 Reflective Service 20 Epiphany 7 10.30 Mrs Patricia Goacher 6.30 Time to Talk 27 Epiphany 8 10.30 Mr Rob Lolley 6 Transfiguration 10.30 The Revd Philip Bee Mrs Liz Waller 13 Lent 1 10.30 The Revd Caroline Ryder 6.30 Reflective Service 20 Lent 2 10.30 Mrs Patricia Goacher Mr Rob Lolley 6.30 Time to Talk 27 Lent 3 10.30 Deacon Eunice Attwood Vice-president of the The 10.30 Sunday Service is for all ages. Except during school holidays the Junior Church engage in a separate activity for part of the time. Tea and Coffee are served after the service. Time to Talk is an informal worship service in the Lounge Café. Visiting Preacher D e a c o n E u n i c e Attwood is stationed at Brunswick Newcastle. She is currently Vice president of the Methodist Conference. Christmas at Oxford Place Friday, 24th December Christmas Eve Communion at 11.30pm Saturday, 25th December Christmas Day Family Worship at 10.30am Weekday Worship at Oxford Place Wednesday 12.30pm Service of Holy Communion Easter Day is 24th April 2011. Information about our services will be printed in the next issue Weekdays January 7 10.45am Women's Network Meeting Speaker: Awais from Touchstone Centre in Bradford on Sharing God's love in Christ with different faiths and cultures 29 Friends of the Earth Yorkshire and Humber January Get Together February 7 7.30pm Pastoral Committee 18 10.00am Sisters in Harmony Concert 28 7.30pm Church Council March 4 Women s World Day of Prayer (Services in various places*) 7 7.30pm District Forum Night 9 Lay Workers Quiet Day 19 Singing is Fun* *Look out for details nearer the time. Please let the Editor know of any dates that might usefully be included on this page. The Leeds Methodist Women's Luncheon Club meet on second Wednesday of each month from October to May at Devonshire Hall, Cumberland Road, Headingley. Three-course meal followed by a speaker. Come and enjoy food and fellowship, a warm welcome awaits you. Further details Mrs S Maude 0113 2579381 Deadline for the Spring issue is13th March LIFE AND WORK of the Oxford Place Methodist Centre is published quarterly: Winter (January), Spring (April), Summer (July) and Autumn (October) by Leeds Methodist Mission. Correspondence and contributions should be addressed to: The Editor, Life and Work, Oxford Place Methodist Centre, Oxford Place, Leeds LS1 3AX. Telephone: (0113) 245 3502 (office hours) or may be sent by e-mail to kenneth.tait@btinternet.com (Text attachments are preferred in plain text, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, RTF, or Open Document format. Images and pictures can be accepted in most formats.) Please visit our web site at www.oxfordplace.org.uk Oxford Place Church is in the Leeds (Mission) Circuit (Registered Charity No: 1138731)