In today’s Independent, Mary Ann Sieghart, who is not a Christian believer, eloquently defends the Church of England against recent attacks from Richard Dawkins, who appears to think that the church is a worthless and even malign institution.
One of Ms Sieghart’s reasons for that defence chimed strongly with me:
Social workers, teachers and doctors may commute into impoverished areas, but the vicar is often the only professional still living in the parish he or she serves. You don’t get more in touch than that.
Inner city vicars see it all
I am sometimes intensely frustrated as local friends deal with professionals who come into our parish to run things and advise people on their lives. Once you live outside an area it is very difficult to truly know the people who live there. The parish system of the Church of England is one of its true strengths.
Vicars know their parishes better than many social workers, councillors and politicians know their patch. Their houses are not open to callers, they are not mingling with local folk at multiple weekly events attended by the young, the old and the needy. Knowing people is about more than hearing their problems at a surgery or dealing with them in a professional capacity. It’s about being with them, drinking coffee and eating cake, weeping with them and just hanging out.
Christians in churches other than the CofE are also serving in the inner city and deprived urban areas – for example, Mez McConnell is pastor of a church on a housing scheme in Niddrie, the most deprived housing estate in Edinburgh.
I wonder how many of Richard Dawkins’ atheist pals have chosen to live in an inner city area to make a difference? How many of them are visiting the elderly and running youth clubs? God’s love motivates us to serve the folk in our parish and to live in an area that most people would be unlikely to choose as ‘desirable’. What motivates Richard Dawkins I wonder?
The Vicar's Wife 
Today I am on leave from work to progress a dissertation that I am writing on the subject of Chaplains in the Police Service. Interestingly whilst I was pulling some of my material together today I noticed this quote from one of the interviews that I carried out during my research into the use of Chaplains by the police. The interviewee (a former member of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies) said ” I spent half a day in Merseyside and the community Police Sergeant took me round the patch and I asked him how many officers who police Merseyside also lived there and he said ‘none’. I said how many teachers lived and worked in Merseyside, how many medical providers – ‘none’. The only people who provide a service in the community and live in the community are the faith leaders and that is a pattern that you will find replicated in other places. ”
So, I agree…it is so important for Churches to continue making a difference in their communities by being part of them. From a Police perspective, a subject of interest to me, working with local churches is of potentially great value – the leaders in those churches are not paid professionals who exit the area every night, they are part of the community, understand the community and are in a position to make a difference.
You are right, David. We have some excellent Police Officers locally who really know the patch – and we enjoy a great relationship with them. Alas, although one PCSO who knows almost everyone is still around, other officers have recently been moved elsewhere in a shuffleround by a new Inspector. This may benefit the wider area, as obviously criminals are not bound by any defined locality, but at the moment we feel a loss, as those who know history and people are no longer here. When this happens, it is even more important for the Police to tap into local knowledge – and here at the Vicarage there is not just knowledge – there is cake too!
I am constantly impressed with those vicars who choose to live in difficult communities and serve the people around them. In fact I have to say that most vicars I meet are incredible people. The cost to them and their families can be great having to make difficult sacrifices in order to show some of God’s hope in seemingly hopeless places. I get angry when people criticize the whole church for being irrelevant. It does far more good in our society than any other organisation. Andy Hawthorne’s Message Trust is another example of what can happen when Christians seek to follow Jesus’ example.