THE JANUARY 2014

SPECIAL ONLINE EDITION SeeMAGAZINE JOURNAL OF DIOCESE : THE IN LANCASHIRE

2013:2013: AA DioceseDiocese reviewreview EVENTS ACROSS 2013 The Church of England in Lancashire is a large and diverse organisation. Known as ‘Blackburn Diocese’, after the town in Lancashire which is home to the region’s Cathedral, it covers most of the traditional boundaries of the County. From your local parish church (there are 226 parishes) to the work of the Diocesan Boards of Finance and Education, there is a lot going on – some of it you may not even realise is the responsibility of the Diocese; while some things others may take for granted. To illustrate the wide diversity of the Diocese’s work, here we look at events from across 2013. This special edition of ‘The See’ only scratches the surface of the work of the Church of England in Lancashire but will give you a flavour of the amazing wider organisation you/ we are a part of. Front page pictures, clockwise from top: The and his wife Heather meet the clergy chapter in Blackpool on their visit to Blackpool Deanery as part of the Bishop’s series of ‘Deanery Days’; soon-to-be Bishop Julian meets a volunteer at Blackburn Foodbank on the day his appointment was announced; Kirsty, who featured in a video about the St Phillips Grassroots Centre in Nelson. Kirsty was a user of the centre and now volunteers there and young people attending the event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Blackburn Cursillo Group. January As the new year dawned, thoughts were turning the final appointment process for Lancashire’s new Bishop. People came from across the region – and even the world – to pray for the yet to be appointed at a special ‘Praying for the Bishop’ event at . Among the attendees was Rev. Dintoe Letloeyane from our link Diocese in the Free State, South Soon to be Bishop Dintoe Stephen being interviewed Africa, who was on a visit to the by BBC Radio reporter Joe Wilson at the 'Praying for region. was just the Bishop' event months away himself from being appointed as the new senior Bishop for Free State, which took place in March. Meanwhile, in his new year message and Acting Rt Rev , looked forward to an exciting year ahead saying ‘hope springs eternal!’

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Hundreds of young people from across the region had the time of their lives as they attended the first ever February Diocesan-wide ‘Messy Church’ event. The venue was Runshaw College in Leyland and children got the chance to try their hand at everything from junk modelling and balloon-powered cars to chocolate craft and Wii Sports. Messy Church was organised by the Blackburn Diocese Board of Education (DBE) team. Rev. Paul Lock, the new Director of Education for the Diocese said: “Reaching families across the Diocese is very important for us now and the future and this is a great way of helping people to see how church can be fun, no matter what your age!” Rev Lock and the DBE support 185 Church of England schools, including four run jointly with the Methodist Church. There are nine Academy schools (five secondary and four primaries). Voluntary Aided schools total 149 primary and four secondary. Voluntary Controlled schools total 22 primary and one secondary. There are approximately 36,288 primary pupils and 10,376 secondary pupils giving a total of 46,663 in Church of England education across the diocese. March The new Bishop for Lancashire was announced. Rev. was and would be appointed formally as Bishop of Blackburn in October. This page tells the whole story of the day and the coverage received. His first public appearance was at the Foodbank in Blackburn town centre. The Foodbank was started Julian and his wife Heather meet with Diocese and with seed money from St Gabriel’s Cathedral clergy and staff on the day his Church of England in Blackburn appointment was announced. and opened on November 16, 2012. It is just one of many initiatives across the Diocese to help the poor and needy which are supported by, or are run by, local Church of England churches. Bishop Julian said: “I am very aware of the very significant challenges facing many in Lancashire at a time of austerity and cutbacks and a shortage of jobs. It is no coincidence that this announcement is taking place at a foodbank, one of many round

3 EVENTS ACROSS 2013 the UK, each one a sign of the struggle it is for some to get through the next week. I would hope to be a champion and spokesman for those whose voice is often not heard.” Also this month, the Diocese promoted and supported the Syria Crisis Appeal. April

Farmers across the region were worried about this year’s harvest following a terrible summer in 2012, and a terrible winter, weather-wise, with snow causing havoc. The Diocese backed a national call to pray for a good harvest as Farmers across the region were struggling to sustain part of its environmental work livestock and their lands which prompted the CofE and a mission to care for God’s and the Diocese locally to pray for a better summer creation. The Church of England and a good harvest issued a special prayer to help focus thoughts. Rev. Chris Halliwell, Blackburn Diocese Rural and Environmental Project Officer said: “The Church is here to support and help ALL our local communities, urban and rural, and we encourage all parishes across Lancashire to use the prayer collectively in their regular services as well as individually in personal prayer.” May

Good news for the Diocese in Lancashire with the announcement of the latest attendance figures for the Church of England nationally. Blackburn Diocese had the third highest Diocesan rise (4.4%) in average Sunday attendance across England; which has 43 Dioceses. A packed cathedral for two recordings of Songs of Praise which took place in this Meanwhile total average weekly month. There was also good news this month attendances (for services held across the for attendances in all Diocese churches. whole week including Sunday) were also Picture courtesy Lancashire Telegraph 4 EVENTS ACROSS 2013 showing signs of growth in Blackburn Diocese, with a slight increase of 1%. Attendances are monitored by the Diocesan Board of Finance which also supports the functional work of the Diocese including managing issues in relation to land, property, finance and legalities; the organisation and governance of the Diocese’s work, as well as providing HR, communications and safeguarding support. Anglicans from all over Lancashire also headed to Blackburn Cathedral this month for a live television broadcast followed by two further services which were recorded for future broadcast as part of Songs of Praise. Also in the congregations for the three services were church choirs from across the region and they raised their voices to give added impact to the singing. More than 1500 people visited the cathedral for the recordings. The successful Blackburn Diocese Cursillo Group also had a day of celebration in May to mark its 25th anniversary. Anglicans from across Lancashire made the trip to St Ambrose Church, Leyland for events to mark the special day on Saturday May 18. Anglican Cursillo is a movement of the church providing a method by which Christians are empowered to grow through prayer, study and action and enabled to share God’s love with everyone.

June

The latest people to be ordained into ministry across Lancashire had their special day on either June 29 or June 30. A near-record number of took place this year. The new ‘ordinands’ came from all over the Diocese and had varied backgrounds before entering ministry – from a policeman to a university lecturer. Prior to their big weekend they were all pictured together at the Diocese’s retreat and conference centre at Whalley Abbey with senior clergy, including Bishop , Bishop John Goddard and Archdeacon and Diocesan Registrar Stephen Crossley. Whalley Abbey dates back to medieval times; is The near-record number of open to the public and is a fantastic venue for Ordinands for 2013 are pictured business meetings, conferences and weddings, as with senior Diocese clergy while on well as providing bed and breakfast retreat at Whalley Abbey.

5 EVENTS ACROSS 2013 accommodation in beautiful surroundings. Also this month, communications staff from the Church Urban Fund (CUF) were in the region and worked with Diocesan Communications Manager Ronnie Semley on the filming of a video to promote Together Lancashire. CUF were visiting St Phillips Grassroots Centre in Leeds Road, Nelson, to film the work going on there and the people who use the centre. The video features on their YouTube channel.

July

After much discussion stretching back more than a year The Church of England General Synod confirmed Lancashire as the home for six parishes that previously sat under the Diocese of Bradford in Yorkshire. The parishes were set to move to Blackburn Diocese as part of changes to create a new ‘super-Diocese’ of West Yorkshire and The Dales, consisting of the Dioceses of Bradford, Ripon and Leeds and Wakefield. The new parishes are Hurst Green; Mitton; Waddington; Grindleton; Bolton by Bowland and Gisburn and they had already been formally welcomed at a Blackburn Diocesan Synod meeting earlier in the year with a large majority voting in favour.

The , The Gisburn is one of six new parishes that will Venerable John Hawley, said: “The parishes join the Diocese in April, following the will strengthen and add to the fabric of the reordering of boundaries in the Yorkshire Diocese in many ways, particularly in Dioceses. relation to rural affairs and church growth in rural areas.” Meanwhile the Bishop’s Harvest Appeal for 2013 was launched. This year the Diocese linked with Christian Aid and Traidcraft, to help Honey and Cocoa producers in Latin America. By the end of the year more than £10k had been raised across the Diocese.

6 EVENTS ACROSS 2013 August Churches across the Diocese celebrated with their summer festivals and events. And one even played host to celebrity chef Jamie Oliver! Jamie helped to revive a community festival when he brought Channel Four’s 'Food Fight Club' to St Oswald's Church and Preesall in Lancashire for two days of filming.

Vicar Shaun Baldwin with Jamie Oliver and Jamie, and chef pal Jimmy Doherty were Jimmy Doherty take a break from making making a series of programmes about ‘lost Tosset Cakes in Stalmine and Preesall foods’ in the UK that will be aired on Channel Four in 2014. The Lancashire programme is about the little-known ‘Tosset Cake’. The cake is local to Stalmine and Preesall and dates back centuries; linked to the old wakes holy day celebrations to mark the feast day of St Oswald. Local vicar, Rev. Shaun Baldwin was involved in the filming throughout and later wrote about the experience. He said: “The revival and filming of the Tosset Feast was a great experience that brought together all sections of the Over Wyre community. We think that this was the first celebration of the Tosset Feast for over 100 years!”

Bishop of September Burnley, Rt Rev. John Lancashire’s Acting Bishop, Rt Rev. John Goddard, Goddard, hailed the undoubted success of celebrates the prayer initiative launched by The Church of England earlier this year to pray for the fantastic farming communities recovering from last harvest year’s terrible weather conditions. season with This year’s Harvest season was been a great Cliviger one for the region and across the UK. farmer Bishop John celebrated the news, and the Jonathan launch of the annual Bishop’s Harvest Shorrock Appeal for disadvantaged communities, by

7 EVENTS ACROSS 2013 paying a visit to a local Christian farmer, Jonathan Shorrock, 46, who lives on Dyneley Farm, Cliviger, near Burnley in Lancashire with his wife and two sons. The Bishop said: “I give thanks to God for our prayers being answered and a much better result this year for hard-working farmers everywhere, not just in Lancashire.”

October

Following his consecration as Lancashire’s new Bishop at on October 10, Rt Rev. Julian Henderson was formerly inaugurated into the role at Blackburn Cathedral on this date. Between the 10th and the 19th the Bishop made 54 stops around the County to pray for Lancashire. Then, following the inauguration ceremony, the Bishop headed out on to the road again and between October and December Bishop Julian has visited all 14 of the Diocese’s Deanery areas and met hundreds of people along the way. His ‘Deanery Days’ included a huge range of opportunities to find out about the work going on at a Bishop Julian, centre, Bishop local level. On his visit to Blackpool Deanery, for John, Bishop Geoff, example, the Bishop had lunch with local clergy; visited Archdeacon Michael and a local primary school and then stopped off at the Archdeacon John pray during Streetlife Centre based at St John’s Church in the town the service which formerly centre, which provides shelter for young homeless installed him as Lancashire’s people. Bishop, the Bishop of Blackburn. Each day culminated with a social evening where the Bishop talked about his background; his personal faith and answered questions. Also this month the Diocese made its first major foray into social media with the launch of its YouTube channel. Since then it has had more than 3600 views and a whole host of additional videos have been uploaded. Recently a video showing highlights from the Bishop’s Deanery Day evening presentation was uploaded for example. Meanwhile the first ‘online only edition’ of The See (this one is the second) was launched to give more in-depth coverage of key events during the year.

8 EVENTS ACROSS 2013 November

Senior clergy from all spectrums of opinion across the Diocese welcomed the outcome of the debate on women at General Synod.

Synod approved a package of measures as the next steps During his ‘Deanery Day’ in Whalley Deanery, Bishop Julian helped to launch ‘The Mellor Cookbook’ with towards enabling women to be local parishioners. ordained as bishops in the Church of England. The proposals received broad support - 378 votes for, 8 against and 25 abstentions.

Bishop Julian, a strong supporter of women bishops and the of women, welcomed the encouraging degree of consensus saying: “I am very hopeful that we may have found a way forward that for the sake of our mission to the nation keeps those opposed to this development in the mainstream rather than the margins of the Church of England."

Bishop Julian continued his tour of the Diocese on 14 ‘Deanery Days’. The , which covers the whole of Lancashire, is split into 14 ‘Deaneries’ from Tunstall Deanery in the north to Chorley Deanery in the south and from Blackpool Deanery in the west to Whalley Deanery in the east. December

Bishop Julian participated in the launch of the ‘Christmas Starts with Christ’ campaign at the start of December. A national ecumenical initiative, it aims to build on the ever- increasing numbers of people going to church over the festive period.

However, at the same time, recent survey results show that 51 per cent of people now say that the birth of Jesus is irrelevant to their Christmas.

Bishop Julian said: “Christmas is such an important part of the Church calendar and it is a time when Christians shine as lights in their communities. 9 EVENTS ACROSS 2013 “We cannot let the nation lose the real meaning of Christmas and so I’m delighted to support this initiative to remind everyone that Christmas Starts with Christ. The message that comes with Christ at Christmas is one of hope, joy and life everlasting. There could be no better present to receive than that.”

Meanwhile fourteen new Lay Readers were also licensed by Bishop of Burnley, Rt Rev. John Goddard, at Lytham St Cuthbert's Church this month.

Also, senior clergy from across the Diocese, as well as in our link Diocese in South Africa, paid tribute to Nelson Mandela on the news of his death this month.

Finally in his new year message for 2014 (both written and on video via our YouTube channel) Bishop Julian looked forward to the ‘limitless opportunities’ ahead in 2014 to collectively spread the Gospel of Christ, including his Summer Festival, due to take place on June 21 and 22 at Arnold KEQM School in Lytham, which will also incorporate a Evangelistic Mission Event. The Bishop encourages everyone to mark it in their diary now!

No less than fourteen new lay readers were licenced by Bishop John this month.

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