A place over time

While I was walking around the North Road area this week I began to recall what the lady had told us a few months ago that North Road used to be a good place to come with really good quality shops. Today I was looking down the street trying to imagine what it might have looked like 100 years or more ago, how had it changed? When I returned home I trawled the internet for pictures and information and found the photos fascinating. The top photo here is modern day, the second one 1955, the third one 1910 and the last one 1835! The treets seem very quiet in 1835 and there do not appear to be many shops. In 1910 there is definitely more bustle and horse and carts feature. Shop signs are more prominent. In 1955 the shops all have canopies and there seem to be an awful lot of shops. This is a place which has developed a retail reputation from a quiet street to being a place to be to what it is now, busy but transient and full of shops and businesses which largely appeal to those falling on hard times. In 1875 the Miner's Hall was prominent as mining and Unions played such an important role in the lives of people in and arund Durham. Mining too has gone since the 1960s onwards. It is maybe ths loss of this mining identity which has had some impact on the fortunes of many and hte identity of North Road itself. Last week we visited Sacriston and looked and listened to the area for an hour. Sacriston was also a mining heartland and now seems to struggle with it's own value and identity. It made me ask the question, if this is what has happened to the place, how has it imacted on the people involved? Where does their identity lie now?

Love is...

My colleague and I have been walking the streets of North Road for a few moneths now and had quite a sense that it was almost an unloved part of Durham. We have begun a process of trying to find out from local folk and visitors what they think of NorthRoad, what are the joys and challenges? We have begun to put posters in windows of shops saying Love North Road? with a QR / website link to a questionnaire. Since we chose the strap-line of Love North Road we have seen different love messages around Durham. During the Lumiere festival there were two quite striking messages. In the market square in the middle of the snowdome was the message "I Love Durham". On North Road, at the top of the Miners Hall was a neon sign reading "Capitalism Kills Love". It was interesting to us that the message above the Miners Hall was almost admitting a lack of love being shared in the area whereas part of what we are trying to discern is how the churches might demonstrate Christ's love to the North Road community.

What is a church community?

As part of a recent church consultation in the North Road area, I discovered that one of the churches had originally been built to serve a new housing development which was to be built behind the current bus station. This the church did for many years. In recent years though, the housing is predominantly student lets and therefore the community around the church has changed. The church still work hard at trying to engage with the community but they are aware that the community chages everyday. Most of the congregation on a Sunday travel in by car or bus and therefore do not live in the housing around the church. During the consultation one of the gentlemen talked about how difficult it was to serve such a changeable community. Village chapels have a relatively stable community where people will tend to come to special events and services even if they do not come to Sunday worship regularly. In an area where many people are just passing through on their way to work or for shopping this is much more difficult. How can we develop a sense of community in a physical location under such conditions? And how can a church community do mission in such a transient community? These are real challenges in North Road and may require some quie radical thinking.

New Monasticism on North Road?

This week I met with the Pioneer reading group over a latte. We got chatting about corporate worship and new ways of leading people in prayer and worship. We chatted a little about the increase in interest in New Monasticism and groups who have a Rule of Life, just as the Methodist Diaconal Order do of which I am a part. We also talked about rhythms of prayer and daily offices. After an hour I asked the question “How does this relate to Pioneer ministry? What can we learn?” I put into the mix my initial reflections about the bus station on North Road and wondered how might worship look there? We talked about signs and symbols which people readily identify with worship and prayer whether they are churched or not. We particularly mentioned the symbol of the candle for prayer and presence and the sound of bells as a call to worship. So I began to reflect on how these symbols might be used in somewhere like the bus station. Is there a place for daily offices in a place where people often have a daily rhythm of travel? How would it be if a 5 minutes daily office was signalled with a few chimes of a church bell? Would people engage or would they walk away? In a highly transient place, is there room for a rhythm of prayer and worship?

Love North Road

18^th November 2011

While I was on placement in Manchester in September I was struck by an image. Manchester had, just a few weeks before, witnessed rioting in its streets in response to riots in other parts of the country. In a large percentage of the shops and business windows around the city were posters with a large red heart and the word Manchester underneath. The message being “I Love Manchester”. This seemed in stark contrast to the destructive message of the riots. When I started on placement in North Road I had a sense that this was an “unloved” part of Durham City. The pride is in the other side of the bridge with its fancy shops and nice buildings. North Road, at first glance, is predominantly charity shops, gold and cheque exchange centres and bars with some of the buildings themselves looking a little worse for wear. As Paul and I walked along North Road on Friday we noticed a neon sign which had been put up to coincide with the Lumiere festival which states “CAPITALISM KILLS LOVE”. Paul and I had already decided that “Love North Road” was going to be the tag-line of our placement and this seemed even more important in response to this neon sign. Here we were on a retail-dominated street which ironically was responding to the needs of people struggling in a recession prompted by the greeds of capitalism. Part of our placement is to help the local churches to discern how they might be Christ in this area and engage with what God is already doing. The Bible talks about loving your neighbour, how can churches be agents of Christ's love in that neighbourhood? How can they "Love North Road"?