from THE CITY LINK, City Church's monthly magazine

This month's CITY LINK

Articles from past issues:

MAKINGPOVERTYHISTORY--Notes on corruption

Understanding our history

Ready, Steady, Grow!

MAKINGPOVERTYHISTORY-Notes on corruption

A lot of ink has been spilled lately on how much charitable giving winds up in the Swiss bank acounts of corrupt local politcal leaders instead of getting to where it is needed. Consider these points from Robin Samuel of Cardiff's Christian Aid office:

1. Corruption never benefits the poor.
2. Not one British Company has ever been prosecuted for corrupting third world politicians – can you believe they are really that ethical! Christian Aid is calling for international laws which would hold companies responsible in accordance with the law of their home country, when they break the law in another country. British companies actually have the right to tax rebates known as ‘Trade Facilitation Costs’ – which is often just a fancy name for bribery. Gordon Brown has been unsuccessful in attempting to get the provision for such rebates cancelled.
3. Corruption is a two way process (the corruptor and the corrupted) – The Commission for Africa make this point.
4. Agencies such as Christian Aid have been highlighting the corruption issue for many years.
5. Is corruption only a Third World (Two-Thirds-World) issue? Who gave the money to corrupt leaders? Who has turned a blind eye to what corrupt leaders were doing?
6. Christian Aid doesn’t give money to Governments only to community based groups and our record and answerability in this respect is exemplary. One way of challenging corruption is to strengthen Civil Society which gives a voice to the poor. Christian Aid funds a number of partners who do ‘anti-corruption’ work and these groups often call their own governments to account.

See these websites for further information:

http://www.christianaid.org.uk/indepth/0305cawreport/fuellingpoverty.htm

 http://www.christianaid.org.uk/indepth/0202tnc/transc.htm

 http://www.christianaid.org.uk/indepth/9906corr/corrupt.htm

 
back to top

Understanding history helps us look forward

Part of the work of making a Church Profile for the District Council involves looking at where we’ve been. A group met one Sunday night recently to look at our history as a way of learning who we are, and where we might want to be headed. They all agreed that City is well known as a friendly, welcoming church, and saw this spirit reflected in many City decisions made over the years.. Alison McQueen, with a little help from Doug and Tom, reports on what they came up with:

 — 1962 Adult Christian Education Centre founded at Charles St. Congregational Church.

— 1971 Uniting of Wood St. Congregational Church with Charles St .

— Formation of The United Reformed Church marked by service in Westminster Abbey, following much talk of ecumenism and further union.

— Re-organisation of local government, bringing together all the administrative elements required to push forward Cardiff ’s long delayed inner city development.

— 1976 City Church formed in Windsor Place . Charles St/Wood St. Churches (now URC) united with Windsor Place URC (formerly Presbyterian). City would be the only English-speaking free church in the city centre. Douglas Bale and. E. Wyn Parry inducted as joint-ministers. Douglas Bale commissioned as Urban Chaplain to the city. 1978 City Council condemn the church hall and church rooms attached to the church as dangerous structures.

— Cardiff Adult Christian Education Centre becomes ecumenical, with an ecumenical management committee and sponsors.

— 1980 Permission for re-development agreed in recognition of special function of City Church for work and mission in the city centre. Refurbish church and replace church rooms with new building (now refectory, lounge etc). Alterations at front of the church, and pews at back removed to allow a chapel to be created.

— 1981 Rev. Peter Scotland becomes co-minister with Douglas as minister with pastoral responsibilities, leaving Douglas free to develop the urban/ industrial chaplaincy.

— 1980s. An era of intensive work and outreach as City Church sought to fulfil its mission in the City Centre. This period saw the establishment of Cardiff Action for the Single Homeless leading in 1993 to the opening of the Huggard Centre by HM the Queen; the creation of the Cardiff Bond Board – the first such board in the UK – providing covering finance to enable single young people without the means to put down deposits on privately rented accommodation; the creation of South Glamorgan Intervol (bringing voluntary and statutory bodies to work together in the interests of the elderly, the handicapped, the unemployed, children, and other dependent groups). It was also the decade of mass unemployment to which the church and the chaplaincy responded with a range of services and activities. It also saw the beginning of the extensive Cardiff Bay Development project and crucial meetings were held in City Church leading to close involvement through the chaplaincy with CBDC management. Largely encouraged by Joan Cooper, the church began work at Cardiff Prison giving support to families visiting fathers and sons, often from a distance.

— 1990s . An Ecumenical Centre, based on City Church , but entirely independent of City control, was set up in 1992 but closed early in 1993.

— The group generally agreed that the ‘90s was a “dull” decade, and this seemed true locally for the church as well as culturally. City experienced significant membership loss. Meanwhile a “new” Cardiff was emerging with a pedestrianised Queen Street , new shopping and a rapidly developing youth scene. Cardiff Bay was developing, with an ecumenical church presence at the Lightship.

— SPCK was facing closure in its city arcade site. Peter Scotland proposed re-siting the shop at the back of City Church , replacing the chapel, and allowing a new room (the “Upper Room”) to be created over the top replacing the unused gallery.

— 2000s Continued secularisation of society. In the midst of huge commercial development of the city centre, planners seem to see a churchless city, with little concern for the “spiritual” development of citizens. Plans for further pedestrianisation of the city centre and overdevelopment in commercial and entertainment sectors threaten further isolation of city centre churches. The church continues to adapt to changing city circumstances. Churches Together in the City Centre have recently expanded to include Bay area churches. There may be need to work more closely with URCs as well. City is reaching out to marginalised people who can get as lost as the church sometimes feels itself to be.

— City Church is growing again, though slowly. Its history and the vision of being a church for the city centre, as well as its prominent position, places it where the vision at its inauguration intended it to be. City needs to work sensitively with surrounding churches to meet the challenges of expanding commercial and entertainment development of the Cardiff Bay and the older city centre.

On Sunday 10 July please plan to stop after worship for lunch and a discussion of questions in the Church Profile study about how we move into our future—how we welcome and integrate new people and build discipleship

back to top

Ready, Steady, Grow!
This excerpt from an article by Evan Silverstein in the October Presbyterians Today features Erika Poethig, whom Tom remembers as a little pre-school girl in the years he studied theology in Chicago. He was (and remains) a close friend of her parents.

If Presbyterians could turn pro, Erika Poethig would be a first-round draft pick. This 33-year-old Chicago resident comes from a line of Presbyterian clergy that stretches back 400 years. Both her parents are ministers, and both also served as missionaries in the Philippines.

She has worshipped in more Presbyterian churches than some moderators of the General Assembly—big churches, little churches, churches featuring traditional, contemporary and “blended” worship. She has been a member of four congregations and served as an elder in two and on one board of deacons.

So when it came time for her to settle down and choose a congregation to be her long-term church home, she knew what to look for.

After completing post-graduate studies at the University of Chicago in 1996, Poethig visited a host of Chicago-area churches. She knew her church would have to have “hart and courage” and be the sort of congregation that would help her connect with God.

When she stepped into the sanctuary of Lake View Presbyterian Church, she had found her home—although she did not know it right away.

“The first service I went to had 40 people. It was very small, and that was a little bit of a turnoff,” Poethig says. “But the people were so warm and inviting, and the pastor, Joy Douglas Srome, gave forth such creativity and life. So I continued to come back to Lake View and ultimately joined, maybe six months after I started attending.”

It had been years since anyone had joined the 120-year-old church.

Willing to change
The Lake View congregation was struggling in spite of being on a prime corner of Chicago’s north side, not far from Lake Michigan and the Wrigley Field baseball stadium. Like countless other urban congregations in the 1990s, it had gone through dramatic changes. Its aging membership was losing touch with the community’s rapidly changing demographics. Many long-term residents, mostly senior citizens, had moved and were replaced by new families with young children. The area also had become the centre of Chicago’s gay community.

The church had to adapt to survive.

Lake View shifted its focus to redevelopment, hoping to build on its strengths in implementing new programmes. The sanctuary was renovated with Carolina-blue walls, oak-toned beams and blond floors. New Christian education courses for adults were launched. Sunday services began to incorporate media, music and drama.

Today it is not unusual to hear Madonna, James Taylor or Bono resonating from the rafters or to see church members acting out verses from the Bible.

“That’s our typical service,” says Poethig, who is now serving her second term as an elder. “It’s fun to go—one of the things that’s great is you never know what to anticipate on Sunday. There’s something new, and something compelling and interesting and stimulating.”

The church now offers a monthly Taizé service featuring meditation and chant-like songs in a candle-lit setting, combining traditional worship forms with a contemporary spirit.

The changes worked for the congregation, which had 47 members when Strome arrived 8 years ago, with only about 30 people turning out for Sunday worship. Lake View now has about 175 members and welcomes 130 people worshippers on a typical Sunday. It has added 25 to 3o new members every year since 1996. About 50 percent of its members are under age 40.

In less than a decade Lake View has become one of the 30 fastest-growing churches in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Deborah Bruce, of the PCUSA’s Research Services Office, cites several strengths that are most predictive of church growth: good care for children and youth, high levels of member participation in activities and leadership, an atmosphere that makes new people feel welcome, and a willingness to make an intentional effort to be open to the interests and gifts of new people.

And a church does not have to be conservative to grow. Lake View Presbyterian is as progressive as they come, and an Open and Affirming congregation like City Church.

back to top