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.