More inspiration from England

Besides time at the Urban Theology Unit, we’ve also spent part of a day in Bradford, a once affluent but now struggling industrial city with lots of poverty and issues of race relations, also home to the University of Bradford and Bradford College. We visited the Desmond Tutu House on the edge of the campus, led by Rev. Chris Howson, the Anglican Diocese of Bradford’s City Centre Mission Priest, who is doing some amazing things to help students and other young people explore issues of spirituality and become active in the struggle for peace and justice. Chris is well known in the UK for his involvement with Fresh Expressions, which has parallels with our emerging church movement. We’re incredibly thankful for his generosity in sharing his time, even taking us on a (very cold and soggy) walking tour of Bradford, with a stop at the German Church in Bradford (once a Methodist Chapel) for midday worship.

The center itself and its ministry are impressive. They have a gathering room, called Peace Chapel, used for worship, but also for meetings of groups promoting peace, justice, environmental awareness, and other causes compatible with their mission. Worship gatherings at the house include SoulSpace (a relaxed, participatory, inclusive gathering) on Sundays at noon and JustChurch (focusing on issues of peace, justice, and human rights) on Tuesday evenings. We ended our visit with a great lunch at Treehouse Café, housed in the Desmond Tutu House but run by the Bradford Centre for Nonviolence – a smorgasbord of local, fair trade, organic food, coffee, and desserts. We learned a lot and left with plenty of ideas. It was a very inspiring visit. (See further notes about this visit on my New Light blog.)

We took advantage of a free day on Thursday and drove about 90 minutes to Epworth, childhood home of John & Charles Wesley (and their 12 or 13 siblings). We saw the Anglican Church where their father, Samuel Wesley, was the rector for 39 years. As a priest and leader of the early Methodist movement, John Wesley was banned from entering this church because his ideas were so controversial and radical… a good reminder that God sometimes moves us to witness and work for change, and sometimes that means doing and saying things that are against the mainstream of society and even against the authorities of the church! Not to be defeated, John Wesley preached from other places in the town, including his father’s grave outside the church. The rectory where the Wesleys lived for almost 40 years was closed for the season, but we got to walk around it (and peek in the windows), and around the village, which was quite a thrill. We also saw the Wesley Memorial Methodist Church and several other historic sites in Epworth.

Rachel is taking everything in stride! She is sleeping well and entertaining everyone, and when it really counts, she’s even settling down and looking at her books contentedly so we can listen to speakers and participate in sessions. We are thankful.