News from the Circuit and Beyond

David Bradwell, refugee co-ordinator for 'Scottish Churches Action for Refugees', is visiting Lampedusa, and Italian Island near the north African coast, to take part in a Protestant churches' conference on borders and to attend a service commemorating the thousands of people drowned in the Mediterranean while trying to reach safety. He has sent his reflections....

I've seen more police than I would have expected for a community of just a few thousand inhabitants. They are a reminder that tiny Lampedusa is now at the vortex of global forces driving displacement.

Congleton High Street and Town Hall

It is more than four years since our Circuit Meeting agreed unanimously to enter into a Licence Agreement with Ascension Trust to seek to set up the Congleton Street Pastors Project.

This was along with three other Christian denominations in the town – C of E, U.R.C. and New Life, the four of us working together. We have roughly 20 Street Pastors, whose training has been spread out over a year.

Weekly Street Pastor Patrols have been taking place now since June 2014. Initially, they ran for a year on Friday evenings only, from 8pm to midnight with a break in the middle. Over time it became obvious that to be more effective later times and Saturdays needed to be incorporated.

By the first quarter of 2017 patrols were on duty on Fridays between 8pm and midnight, and Saturdays between 10pm and 2am. Street Pastors patrol in uniform in a group of four and are backed up by a prayer team at Westwood House, Trinity Methodist Church, who are in touch by mobile phone and also provide refreshments for the break time.

Our Street Pastors are overwhelmingly held in high regard by those they meet in the town, young and old. 

Holmes Chapel Methodist Church have made a commitment to become a Dementia Friendly Church. Small adjustments have already been made to the building to make it a more suitable and welcoming environment for those living with Dementia and their carers however our major project has been the launch of the ‘Memory Cafe’.

Praxis (The public issues newsletter of The Baptist Union of Great Britain, The Methodist Church, The United Reformed Church and The Church of Scotland) have launched A Very British Nativity, a new campaign video highlighting the injustice in the UK asylum system.

At the start of December 2016, the UK Government released its quarterly migration statistics, which show that in September 2016, 37,958 asylum seekers in the UK were receiving support from the Government’s National Asylum Support Service.  As a result of their recognition as sylum seekers they qualify for accommodation and/or financial support of less than £6 per day!