Case Study: Churches and cultural programming

The connections nurtured between contemporary art, spirituality and faith by churches are often of a one-off or temporary nature – an exhibition, an installation, a residency – rather than a sustained programme integrated into other aspects of that church’s mission and ministry. Where such programmes do exist, they tend to be in larger churches or cathedrals, where greater resources can be found, than in local parish churches.

In over 20 years of ordained ministry in the Church of England, I have sought to build longer-term programmes in each of the four parishes where I have ministered. In each parish, I have used a different combination of cultural programming in each Parish because of the different contexts and the range of resource available to me. Along the way, I also encountered and used the 4 Cs model of mission (culture, compassion, commerce, congregation) that provides an effective means to review and create integrated approaches to mission and ministry which include cultural programmes.

In this case study, I briefly review the programmes set up in each Parish, including several with smaller congregations and available resources, and draw out key learning from each initiative.

Regeneration initiatives

My curacy was served at St Margaret’s church in Barking, East London, which was set alongside the ruins of Barking Abbey at the cultural end of the town in a deprived multicultural borough undergoing regeneration. The key initiative here was to engage with the public arts programme of the local authority which was accompanying the wider regeneration initiatives within the borough.

Three different projects included: an art workshop for young people creating designs for vitreous enamels by Dale Devereux Barker located in Barking Town Centre (Making Barking Brilliant); interviews of older church members for a film (RE:Generation) by Michael Cousin that was premiered at the church alongside an exhibition of archive and contemporary photographs showing change and continuity in the area; and film of the church environment and congregation members that was projected onto its clear glass windows by visual jockeys SDNA (Abbey Happy), as part of a wider projection installation (Love and Light) which highlighted the key heritage buildings in the town.

These engagements were made possible because the local authority needed community groups able to provide access to hard-to-reach communities in the area. Churches in the UK are often a key gathering place for a diverse range of the local community, both for worship and because facilities are hired out to other community groups. As a result, we were able to offer the local authority access to a diverse range of people in the local community, including those they found harder to engage in the Arts. The benefits for our congregation included involvement in an interesting range of Arts activities which drew specifically on the diversity of our congregation and the sustainability over time of our ministry.

Other cultural initiatives which also connected to the diversity and heritage of our church included: commission - a painting by Alan Stewart of a black Christ offering breakfast to a multicultural group of disciples (Early in the Morning) to counter-balance the images of white Biblical figures and saints found elsewhere within the building; concerts – utilising the talents of those in the congregation and community including South African concert pianist Manuel Villet, Nigerian juju singer Jide Chord, and Nigerian oboist Althea Ifeka; exhibition – loans to ‘George Jack (1855 - 1931) Architect & Designer-Craftsman’, an exhibition at the William Morris Gallery; gifts - an art book made by George Emmerson, a local artist, depicting the church and its environs and an icon of ‘Christ blessing the children’ by Kjellaug Nordsjö, a Scandinavian iconographer, from our Swedish partner church for our Youth Chapel; and Workshops – workshops for young people in Fashion and Graffiti art, as part of the SOULINTHECITY mission, included creation of a mural by graffiti artist AKS that included the words ‘one’, ‘heart’, ‘soul’, ‘unity’, ‘community’ and ‘together’.

These initiatives drew people from outside our congregations to the church while encouraging people of all ages within our congregation to see themselves as affirmed and valued through the imagery and activities of the church.

Art trails and festivals

My first incumbency was at St John’s Church in Seven Kings, East London, in a multicultural suburban residential area. The key initiative here was to connect artists and churches to maximise the impact of existing and new art.

Churches locally, and more widely in the Episcopal Area, had interesting examples of art which had been previously commissioned but which were not publicised or viewed to any great extent. St John’s had a recently installed East Window by Derek Hunt, as well as other stained glass by the Kempe and Whitefriars Studios. To create wider awareness, encourage visits, and organise additional activities (such as art workshops, exhibitions, guided tours, open days, and sponsored walks), art trails were created firstly for the local churches and then for the Episcopal Area. Leaflets and website pages for the trails described the artworks able to be viewed at each church on the trail, together with contact/opening information and maps showing locations. We drew on a combination of paid and volunteer researchers to find the artworks that were included and to write about them and the artists who made them.

The basis for the Art trails was that people would be unlikely to travel to view one or two artworks in one church but would be more likely to travel if they could see a range of interesting artworks in different churches in the course of a day’s or half day’s visit. This proved to be the case with people attended the organised activities linked to the trails or visiting on an individual basis and, over time, visiting all the churches on the trails.

I was also involved in linking churches together to create Art Festivals that opened church buildings for a range of Arts events and drew people from outside church congregations to those events. The fundamental insight for this initiative was that, if each church in a defined locality organised one or two Arts initiatives in a defined time period, an Arts Festival would be created without any one church having to do a large amount of organisation. If those events could also be organised within the time period of an annual locally run Arts Festival, so much the better in terms of marketing, publicity, and community awareness.

At this time, I was also involved in setting up and running an artist’s collective called commission4mission, the members of which were artists interested in undertaking commissions for churches. Their work was publicised through newsletters, exhibitions, and art talks. 13 commissions were undertaken over an 11-year period and exhibitions held at locations including Chelmsford Cathedral, Coventry Cathedral, Norwich Cathedral, St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Methodist Central Hall Westminster.

Asset-based community development commends looking for resources in the local area and this is particularly important and effective for smaller churches with more limited resources. Identifying how churches can work together and who and what is available outside the church congregation in the wider community can be key to setting up effective and wide-ranging cultural programmes. My experience in Seven Kings clearly demonstrated the value of these approaches.

Participatory initiatives and the 4 C’s

St Martin-in-the-Fields is a large, significant church located at the heart of the UK’s capital city, with a history of innovation in regard to the 4 Cs of culture, compassion, commerce, and congregation. I joined the clergy team at St Martin’s in order to develop their wider partnerships with other churches by setting up and running a network of churches called HeartEdge, which sought to share the 4 Cs as an encouragement to churches to be at the heart of their local communities while being with those on the edge and facing marginalisation. Within the St Martin’s congregation, I also had a role in working with artists and craftspeople.

St Martin’s has a reputation as a church that has effectively and creatively commissioned contemporary artists, such as Shirazeh Houshiary (East Window), to create new work for the church building and its environs. However, through meeting many artists in the congregation after my arrival, it became apparent that the major programme of aspirational commissioning of artists from outside the congregation had left artists in the congregation feeling under-valued. What was needed, as a balance, was a participatory programme led by the congregation’s artists. Following consultation with artists and craftspeople themselves, a programme including a monthly drawing group, seasonal contemplative art workshops, a monthly display of work by the artists on a rota basis, and an annual exhibition was introduced and generated significant energy and involvement from artists and craftspeople whilst adding significantly to the contemplative and educative offerings available to the congregation as a whole.

A community art initiative led by the artist Anna Sikorska provides an excellent example of participatory art that helped the congregation and community at St Martin-in-the-Fields reflect on themes of light seen through fallibility and flaws as inspired by 2 Corinthians 4.6-12. Sikorska’s installation was set in the Light Well of St Martin’s during November and December 2017 and was the culmination of a community art project in which individuals from across St Martin’s – church congregation, Chinese community, clergy, staff and members of the International Group – gathered together over time and tables of clay to carefully form the porcelain lanterns which filled the Light Well for the installation. Each of these porcelain lanterns was filled with light from a simple string of light bulbs.

These cracked translucent lanterns lit from within were a visible realisation of St Paul’s image of light in clay jars. By linking the lanterns together, this installation also showed that it is as we come together, linked, like the lanterns, by the light of Christ that we become the Body of Christ. This installation and community art project enabled reflection on the understanding that there are fractures and flaws running through each of our lives and these imperfections actually enable the light of Christ within to be seen more clearly. Our vulnerabilities are, therefore, the most precious aspect of our lives; of more significance than a confident pride in ourselves that will not acknowledge weakness.

Having observed such initiatives in practice and the ways in which they brought energy to the congregation, Revd Dr Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields suggested the following threefold approach to use of the Arts by churches:

‘A congregation may encourage art on three levels. One is the participatory: a local church may host an artists’ and craftspeoples’ group; it may take participants of all abilities; there’s no reason why it can’t host members of all faiths and none; perhaps each month a member of the group may be invited to exhibit their work in a valued and visible place, and be given the opportunity to write or speak about it. Another is the aspirational: a competition might be held for an artefact to be placed permanently in the church building, tenders invited, donors sought, publicity encouraged, visitors attracted. Similar approaches might apply for temporary art installations. A third level is the commercial. A church building might be a suitable venue for a display and sale of artworks; yet another host of new faces drawn in, conversations triggered, relationships made; and the church perhaps taking a 20% cut of all piece sold. In a short time a secluded, secretive space may be opened out to become a centre of community activity, energy, and creativity.’[i]

In these ways, the participatory initiatives at St Martin’s brought new energy to congregational life while also providing an example of the 4 Cs in practice and enabled the identification of new models within the culture strand.

A cultural and heritage centre

My current Parish is that of Wickford and Runwell within the Diocese of Chelmsford and in the southern part of the county of Essex. Wickford is an expanding market town in rural Essex and Runwell is a village on the northern edge of the town which development is now incorporating into the town itself. The rapid growth of Wickford means that it has not fully embraced its new identity and does not have all of the facilities in its town centre that would be expected in a town of its current size.

Through use of the 4 Cs model of mission to review missional activity within the Parish and opportunities latent within the community, we identified that Wickford did not have a cultural and heritage in the town centre, that the only public buildings which could house such a centre were the churches, and that St Andrew’s Church was of a sufficient size and suitability to be developed as a cultural and heritage centre, while also remaining as a church.

We began exploring this possibility by sharing the idea with creatives locally and then by setting up an initial programme of culture and heritage. This involves regular art exhibitions and heritage displays combined with a fortnightly arts and performance evening that has included art talks, concerts, dance performances, exhibition viewings, heritage talks, open mic nights, and readings of poetry and prose. We have also organised concerts and workshops outside of this basic programme, including working with schools to hold art workshops for pupils based on our exhibitions.

We have worked with local artists and groups, while also bringing in creatives from further afield. In this way, we are seeking to be both aspirational and participatory in our practice. Our programming has supported local creatives in developing their careers and practice whilst also bringing people into our building who would not have attended our services.

More recently we obtained government funding for a feasibility study to explore how best to scale up the development of St Andrew’s as a cultural and heritage centre. The feasibility study involved considerable community consultation combined with assessment of government arts funding and options for the structuring of the project’s governance. Following the recommendations of this study we are setting up an Advisory Group formed of local creatives, expanding our partnerships including working with the local Business Improvement District on a community cinema initiative, and formulating plans for a grassroots music venue initiative.

This supports our wider vision of connecting effectively with the wider community by increasing the range of entry points to the building and congregation while improving the sustainability of both through commercial hire of our spaces.

Learning lessons

My engagement with congregations and the wider community through the Arts in the context of faith has involved community engagement, partnership working, creation of inclusive images, explorations of current social issues, attractional events, and pilgrimage style trails. These have drawn new groups to churches and have enabled other agencies to engage with diverse congregations. Art trails, in particular, have provided a marvellous way to encourage visitors to engage with the diversity of art found in many churches, and open to all the spirituality inherent in such art.

Cultural programming needs to be organised with the input and ideas of creatives. It needs to engage with the wider ministry initiatives and topics of the church whilst also being open to what God is doing amongst the community of creatives more widely. Identifying how churches can work together and who and what is available outside the church congregation in the wider community is key to setting up effective and wide-ranging cultural programmes. In this respect, partnership working with others such as other churches, the local authority, national and local Trusts or grant funders, Arts groups, and others, is vital.

As each context is different, time must be spent initially in community/congregational consultation and through use of frameworks such as the 4 Cs to identify the opportunities that exist within the Parish. Such consultation will also often identify several creatives willing to become involved in the development of new initiatives. In his writing on culture, Sam Wells has used the metaphor of churches as estuary space; a metaphor that derives from the artist Makoto Fujimura and which describes ‘a transitional place where cross-fertilisation can take place and creativity can thrive amid diverse conversation partners’.[ii] This, even more than the bringing to church of new people who might not otherwise attend, is where the true missional activity stimulated by culture takes place. The Arts open up conversations about fundamental aspects of life and belief.

A visitor to an exhibition I organised noted that the exhibition was extraordinarily broad-minded, human and thought-provoking and that churches are extraordinary places for such exhibitions to be held. It is the thought-provoking nature of these interactions which open the already religious to the wonder of art and the non-religious to the possibility of faith.

As such, while each of the examples included in this case study is different due to the differing contexts of each Parish, taken together they demonstrate the value of including culture within a balanced approach to mission as advocated by the 4 Cs model of mission.


Further information:

• Case Study: St Martin-in-the-Fields – https://www.godscollections.org/case-studies/st-martin-in-the-fields
• Case Study: Wickford and Runwell - https://www.godscollections.org/case-studies/wickford-and-runwell
• Art, London, and Religion - https://joninbetween.blogspot.com/2022/05/art-london-and-religion.html
• Wickford & Runwell – The Arts and artists - https://www.wickfordandrunwellparish.org.uk/the-arts-and-artists.html
• St Margaret’s Barking & the Arts - https://www.saintmargarets.org.uk/history/Arts.html

Books:

S. Wells, ‘A Future That's Bigger Than The Past: Towards the renewal of the Church’, Canterbury Press, 2019

S. Wells ed., ‘Finding Abundance in Scarcity: Steps Towards Church Transformation A HeartEdge Handbook’, Canterbury Press, 2021

References:

[i] S. Wells, ‘A Future That's Bigger Than The Past: Towards the renewal of the Church’, Canterbury Press, 2019, pp.66-67.

[ii] Ibid, p.66.

Images:

• Graffiti artist AKS with the SOULINTHECITY mural in Barking
• 'Early in the Morning' by Alan Stewart in the Youth Chapel at St Margaret's Barking
• Cover of Art Trail leaflet for the Barking Episcopal Area
• Installation view of Anna Sikorska's 'Light the Well' project at St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Installation view of Anna Sikorska's 'Light the Well' project at St Martin-in-the-Fields
• Concert by Rev Simpkins & the Phantom Notes at St Andrew's Wickford
• Performance by Infusion Physical Theatre at St Andrew's Wickford. Exhibition by Runwell Art Club
• Exhibition viewing evening at St Andrew's Wickford for 'Adventures in Joy' by Max Blake

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Rev Simpkins - John Henry's Prayer.

International Times: Barking

My latest poem to be published by International Times is entitled 'Barking' and is about St Margaret’s Barking and Barking Abbey. 

It has come to be written because one of the responses to my 'Four Essex Trios' series of poems was a suggestion from the Bishop of Chelmsford that I also write a poem for the Barking Episcopal Area of the Diocese of Chelmsford. This is that poem and it expands the series to become 'Five Trios'.

'Four Essex Trios' is a series of poems on thin places and sacred spaces in Essex. The four poems in the series are:

• 'Bradwell';
• 'Broomfield';
• 'Pleshey'; and
• 'Runwell'.

The poems have been published by Amethyst Review and International Times.

'Bradwell' is a celebration of the history of the Chapel of St Peter-on-the-Wall, the Othona Community, and of pilgrimage to those places. My previous posts about Bradwell and the Othona Community can be found here and here.

Broomfield in Essex became a village of artists following the arrival of Revd John Rutherford in 1930. His daughter, the artist Rosemary Rutherford, also moved with them and made the vicarage a base for her artwork including paintings and stained glass. Then, Gwynneth Holt and Thomas Bayliss Huxley-Jones moved to Broomfield in 1949 where they shared a large studio in their garden and both achieved high personal success. 'Broomfield' reviews their stories, work, legacy and motivations. For more on the artists of Broomfield, all of whom are commemorated there with blue plaques, see here, here, here, here and here.

'Pleshey' celebrates the Diocesan Retreat House at Pleshey in Essex and the legacy of Evelyn Underhill as a retreat director. My posts about Pleshey can be found here and my posts about Evelyn Underhill here. My poem can also be found on the Diocesan Retreat House website here.

'Runwell' takes the reader on a visit to St Mary's Runwell, while also reflecting on the spirituality of the space plus its history and legends. This poem has been included in the Amethyst Press anthology, 'Thin Places and Sacred Spaces',

My other posts about St Margaret's Barking can be found here, here, here, and here. See also here and here.

The series draws inspiration from T.S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets' and, in common, with the 'Thin Places and Sacred Spaces' anthology reflects on the experience of feeling the touch of eternity in art, nature, silence, or sacred architecture. The ‘thin place’ is a Celtic term, originally indicating a specific geographical location where the veil between heaven and earth seems exceptionally thin or lifted altogether. Bradwell, Broomfield, Pleshey and Runwell are all places in Essex where I have had that experience and where heaven and earth, past, present and future seem to be intermingled.

My earlier pieces for IT are an interview with the poet Chris Emery, an interview with Jago Cooper, Director of the the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, plus reviews of: albums by Joy Oladokun and Michael Kiwanaku; Nolan's Africa by Andrew Turley; Mavis Staples in concert at Union Chapel; T Bone Burnett's 'The Other Side' and Peter Case live in Leytonstone; Helaine Blumenfeld's Together exhibition, What Is and Might Be and then Otherwise by David Miller; 'Giacometti in Paris' by Michael Peppiatt, the first Pissabed Prophet album - 'Zany in parts, moving in others, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more unusual, inspired & profound album this year. ‘Pissabed Prophet’ will thrill, intrigue, amuse & inspire' - and 'Religion and Contemporary Art: A Curious Accord', a book which derives from a 2017 symposium organised by the Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art.

Several of my short stories have been published by IT including three about Nicola Ravenscroft's EarthAngel sculptures (then called mudcubs), which we exhibited at St Andrew's Wickford in 2022. The first story in the series is 'The Mudcubs and the O Zone holes'. The second is 'The Mudcubs and the Clean-Up King', and the third is 'The mudcubs and the Wall'. My other short stories to have been published by International Times are 'The Black Rain', a story about the impact of violence in our media, 'The New Dark Ages', a story about principles and understandings that are gradually fading away from our modern societies, and 'The curious glasses', a story based on the butterfly effect.

IT have also published a poem, The ABC of creativity, which covers attention, beginning and creation, 'Broomfield'.

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Tom Yates - Love Comes Well Armed.

Current and past activity

I am Team Rector for Wickford and Runwell in the Diocese of Chelmsford and Area Dean for Basildon. My current and past activities all fit within the HeartEdge 4 Cs mission model.

Our three churches and halls in the Wickford and Runwell Team Ministry are hubs for the community in Wickford and Runwell. Between them activities and groups supported include: Coffee Mornings; Councillor Surgery; Art and Heritage Exhibitions; Floral Art; Gamblers Anonymous; Huff & Puff; Lace Makers; Ladygate Scribblers; Martial Arts; Meet & Make; Mothers Union; Parent & Toddlers Group; Parent’s 1st Group; Phlebotomy Clinics; Singing Group; Tai Chi; U3A; Unveiled arts and performance evening; Warfarin Clinic; WI Craft Group; Wickford Chapter; Wickford Lodge; Wickford Women’s Institute; Yoga. These groups and activities provide a wide range of social, leisure and educational opportunities for the local community, as well as providing warm spaces that enable those attending to save on heating in their homes while attending. In addition, local schools visit our buildings for a range of educational opportunities. 

Our Unveiled arts and performance evening plus our art and heritage exhibition programme deliver new cultural offers in Wickford. These seek to bring high quality art and performance to Wickford while also encouraging local talent by providing new platforms for local performers and artists. We take part in Bas-Arts Index and Wickford Voices (Creative Basildon) and use heritage displays provided by Basildon Heritage. We have worked with local arts organisations such as Runwell Art Club and Next Step Creative, while also utilising local artists and performers such as Jackie Burns (Space Artist), Dave Crawford (Musician), Eva Romanakova (Singer), John Paul Barrett (Artist) and Steven Turner (Dancer). We have supported the possible development of a Wickford Business Improvement District (BID), including joining the Town Team.

We are making use of the HeartEdge 4 Cs which has enabled a focus on cultural programming that has brought new contacts with the community and which is generating additional opportunities for grant funding. One church in the team is being developed as a cultural and heritage hub for the town, while others are expanding their focus on contemplative spiritualities and traditional parish activities. Within these initiatives, a new enquirers course has been introduced and a monthly discussion group for young people.

The Basildon Deanery is a group of Church of England churches in the Basildon, Billericay and Wickford areas. Our 19 churches are grouped in 10 parishes and have great community activities, enjoyable cultural events and artefacts, beautiful environments, and fascinating heritage. In the Basildon Deanery we have used Mission Opportunities Fund grants to set up a Deanery website (https://basildondeanery.co.uk/) and to work with mission consultants/coaches.  

My creative writing has been published by Amethyst Review, International Times, Strait, and Stride Magazine. I write regularly on the Arts for national arts and church media and my journalism has been published by: AM; Art+Christianity Journal; Artlyst; ARTS Journal; ArtServe Magazine; ArtWay; Church Times; Epiphany; Expository Times; Faith in Business Quarterly, Franciscan Magazine; Gods' Collections; Ilford Recorder; Image Journal; International Times; Journal of Theological Studies; Muslim Weekly; National Churches Trust; New Start; Seen and Unseen Magazine; Strait; Stride Magazine; Transpositions; and Visual Commentary on Scripture. 

My publications include: ‘The Secret Chord’ (Lulu, 2012, with Peter Banks); ‘Finding Abundance in Scarcity’ (Canterbury Press, 2021, ed. Samuel Wells); ‘Liturgy on the Edge’ (Canterbury Press, 2018, ed. Samuel Wells); ‘Living with other faiths’ (Contextual Theology Centre, 2006 / Greater London Presence & Engagement Network, 2009); ‘Christians in the workplace’ (Diocese of Chelmsford, 2007, with C. Ball, P. Ritchie and P. Trathen); and ‘Despair and Hope in the City’ (Alistair Shornach, 1990, with Philip Evens). I have poems that have been included in two anthologies: 'Thin Places and Sacred Spaces' (2024); and 'All Shall Be Well: Poems for Julian of Norwich' (2023).

My previous roles in the Church of England have been as: Associate Vicar for HeartEdge at St Martin-in-the-Fields (including three years as p/t Priest-in-charge at St Stephen Walbrook), Vicar of St John’s Seven Kings, and Curate at St Margaret’s Barking.

At St Martin-in-the-Fields I led the development of HeartEdge from its launch in 2017 to become a growing international and ecumenical movement of churches, organisations and individuals from Australia, Canada, England, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, South Africa, USA, and Wales. The movement includes Baptist, Church of England, Church of Scotland, Episcopal, Independent, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Protestant Church of the Netherlands, Remonstrant, Roman Catholic, Salvation Army, United Reformed, and Uniting Church.

Initiated by the congregation at St Martin-in-the-Fields in 2017, HeartEdge is a movement for renewal, fuelled by people and churches sharing their assets, experience, resource and need. As an ecumenical network, HeartEdge brings together people to share ideas and experience, do theology and develop their church and community. HeartEdge is about churches developing four Cs: Commerce - Generating finance via enterprise, creatively extending mission. Culture - Art, music, performance re-imagining the Christian narrative for the present. Congregation - Inclusive liturgy, worship and common life. Compassion - Empowering congregations to address social need. 

I also had three main areas of responsibility in relation to the congregation at St Martin’s. First, I created an artists’ and craftspeoples’ group involving participants of all abilities which organises art workshops, a monthly drawing group, exhibition space in the Crypt, annual exhibitions, and a lecture series. Second, I was the clergy lead for the Disability Advisory Group, Disability Cross-Site Working Group, and annual conference on disability and church organised in partnership with Inclusive Church. Among other outcomes the support and facilitation I have provided enabled delivery of a full organisational Access Audit, six conferences, and two publications. Third, I was clergy lead with the Global Neighbours Committee which, as a sub-committee of the PCC, enabled St Martin’s to support their neighbours around the world by contributing to the funding of projects, through prayer, raising awareness and other activities. In this period I also led on their partnership with St Mary’s Cathedral Johannesburg. For three years I was also Chair of Westminster Churches Together.

I supported a curate as a team member at St Martin’s and undertook the setting up and preparation for a second curate who began after I had left. I was also a Post Ordination Training Tutor for Two Cities & Stepney – attending and contributing to POT (IME4-7) meetings in order to provide continuity of pastoral care and contribute to teaching. I also became an Associate Tutor for St Augustine’s College of Theology, teaching a module on The Arts, Culture and Christian Ministry and Mission.

At St Stephen Walbrook I created in ‘Start:Stop’ – reflections for those on their way to work - a mission model that worked in its context (creating a new sustainable congregation and drawing new people into the wider life of the church) and is replicable. I demonstrated the viability of a new Monday lunchtime service, now being taken forward as Choral Classics. I set and demonstrated the value (in terms of visitor footfall and deepening spirituality) of ongoing arts programming in a City church context. I revived the relationship between the church and Mansion House and introduced a new annual service to the City which was enthusiastically embraced by the Livery Companies and Ward Clubs. I also addressed the issues which were holding back the missional development of the church - and put viable, high-quality alternatives in place, often using the partnership with St Martin’s to do so. I was a training incumbent to one curate at St Stephen Walbrook.

St John’s Seven Kings aimed to grow together as a community of God's people, filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus Christ's example and teaching. I sought to lead us as a community (including a team of reader emeritus and authorized local preacher) in that aim and enable us to live it out through worship, love, inclusivity, growth, service, witness, healing and prophecy. 

I sought to do so, in particular, by: addressing financial issues through stewardship and hall usage; an ongoing programme of building maintenance; community engagement through community campaigns and groups (including the chairing of Seven Kings & Newbury Park Resident's Association and the Management Committee of Downshall Pre-School Playgroup, plus serving as a Community Governor at Downshall Primary School); further development of the St John’s Centre as a community hub; development of a community garden; schools ministry; development of a Ministry Leadership Team; use of a variety of styles of service; establishment of a youth club; delivery of a Sunday School and annual Holiday Club; clustering with three neighbouring Anglican churches; establishment of a local Scriptural Reasoning group; establishment of a social enterprise project (Seven Kings & Newbury Park Sophia Hub); and publicizing of our engagement with the Arts (including the creation of a local Art Trail) and the wider community. 

I began the development of these initiatives with a review of the existing Mission Statement for St John's and we reviewed progress by means of a worship survey, a mystery worshipper, and ongoing discussions in Ministry Leadership Team meetings. From 2008 I was a training incumbent contributing to the training of two curates.

I had wide ranging and varied experience during my title post, including a 15 month interregnum when I was the sole priest in the ministry team based at St Margaret’s Barking. In addition, to pastoral, preaching and teaching ministries, the occasional offices and leading worship, I set up and chaired the Faith Forum for Barking & Dagenham, organized an ecumenical programme of SOULINTHECITY initiatives across the borough, set up and supported a support initiative for self-harmers, organized the delivery of ESOL courses from the St Margaret’s Centre, and organized church involvement in a range of borough-led Arts projects.

My ministry has involved a focus on the following:

• The Arts i.e. organisation of concerts, performances, events, exhibitions and study days in each Parish and through commission4mission; oversight of contemporary Church Art commissions in each Parish and through commission4mission; delivery of Arts-related courses in parishes, through commission4mission and as part of Diocesan Lent and Eastertide programmes; painting/creative writing; arts-related journalism with a national profile, and publication of ‘The Secret Chord’. For my sabbatical I visited significant sites connected to the renewal of religious art in Europe during the twentieth century in order to reflect on the significance of these sites both for art history and good practice for commissioning.
• Inter-faith engagement i.e. managed a project which introduced a Faith Communities Toolkit to three Jobcentre Plus regions and piloted new approaches to Jobcentres working in partnership with their local faith communities, including design and quality assurance of a comprehensive Information Pack (the Faith Communities Toolkit) and delivery of training in the use of this Toolkit; set up and chaired the Barking & Dagenham Faith Forum including: agreement of aim, objectives and statement of commitment; preparation of constitution; planning of Launch Event; chairing of Organising Committee; development of Faith Forum programme; and fundraising; planned, publicized and run, through Faith in London's Economy (FiLE), seminars on Ethics in a Global Economy and Re-negotiating ‘value’, using speakers such as Saif Ahmad, Jay Lakhani, Dr. Edmund Newell, Mannie Sher and Baroness Uddin; undertaking of consultancy work for Faith Regen Foundation; development of the Living with other Faiths Resource pack; involvement in Greater London Presence & Engagement Network (PEN) and Chelmsford Diocese Presence & Engagement Group; development of a local Scriptural Reasoning group and of Seven Kings Sophia Hub. 
• Training i.e. as a trained Trainer I have: taught a module on The Arts, Culture and Christian Ministry and Mission for St Augustine’s College of Theology; delivered the Living God’s Future Now online programme of workshops for HeartEdge; written and delivered ‘Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story’ sessions and courses through St Martin’s and HeartEdge; designed and delivered the ‘Living with other faiths’ congregational resource pack for CTC (later revised for Greater London PEN), including delivery of training for individual parishes, as part of the Diocese of Chelmsford’s Lent & Eastertide programme, and as a unit in Stepney Area Reader’s Training; designed and delivered (with others) the Christians in the Workplace resource pack for the Diocese of Chelmsford, including delivery of training using its materials for individual parishes, as part of the Diocese of Chelmsford’s Lent & Eastertide programme, with St Mellitus College students and SSM curates in the Diocese; designed and delivered (with others) ‘The Big Picture’, ‘Living the Story’ and ‘Christian Art – fallacy or fusion?’ series of courses on faith and popular culture for the Diocese of Chelmsford’s Lent & Eastertide programme; delivery of Lent Courses; leadership of home groups; POT Tutor for Two Cities and Stepney Areas; and contributions as a speaker to a wide variety of conferences, seminars and workshops.
• Workplace ministry i.e. Weekly email to work-based email group; Christians in the Workplace courses; development of Christians in the Workplace Parish Resource pack; planned, publicized and run, through FiLE, seminars on Ethics in a Global Economy and Re-negotiating ‘value’; set up 'Start:Stop' at St Stephen Walbrook and 'Contemplative Commuters' in the Wickford and Runwell Team Ministry.

I have been: Trustee and Chair of Trustees for the Voice of the People Trust; Trustee and Elder of the New Life Church Centre, Dagenham (originally Grieg Hall Evangelical Church); Consultant, then Director of FRF; Consultant for MADE in Europe; Chair of Trustees for Downshall Pre-School Playgroup; Community Governor for Downshall Primary School; Chair of Seven Kings & Newbury Park Resident’s Association; Secretary of commission4mission; and Director of Sophia Hubs Limited. I am currently a Director of FRF and a Local Advisory Board member for Wickford Church of England School. 

Prior to ordination I worked in the Employment Service/Jobcentre Plus for 18 years and held a range of policy and operational posts primarily at management levels including: policy development work on New Deal 50+ and New Deal for Disabled People which included researching US approaches to Welfare to Work and organizing a national consultation event; managing a team of 14 delivering an assessment and rehabilitation service for disabled people; setting up a pilot Personal Adviser service and leading a consortium bidding to deliver a Job Retention service; and managing a project which introduced a Faith Communities Toolkit to three Jobcentre Plus regions and piloted new approaches to Jobcentres working in partnership with their local faith communities. During this time, I trained as a trainer. 

I have BA (Hons) degrees in Modern English Studies and Contextual Theology. In a gap year after Further Education, I led a British Youth for Christ voluntary youth work team which organized a mission, holiday club, Youth Services and took assemblies/lessons in schools. 

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Delirious? - Find Me In The River.

Chris Beales R.I.P.

 

Chris Beales, who died on 12 January 2024, was a social entrepreneur working in housing and education and on issues of faith and economy, locally, nationally and internationally.

As Malcolm Brown writes: "Canon Chris Beales was probably the leading exponent of the partnership approach to Christian social action in the past 50 years. Always deeply committed to local ministry, his ability to connect social needs to potential solutions, and to gather resources for innovative projects, epitomised the Church’s latent convening power and commitment to social change. Chris got things done through a totally unforced charm and boundless enthusiasm, grounded in a profound affection for people and love of ordinary communities."

We met, as he explains in the video above, when he was working with Employment Focus and I was in JobCentre Plus. Employment Focus (originally known as Employment Forum UK) worked across the country with people of all faiths on employment, training and enterprise development. They held a series of major regional events, ran a Black Economic Empowerment programme, working with black majority churches, and a national Inter-Faith Action Programme. They also ran construction, ESOL and employability training programmes in London and Birmingham. During this time Chris produced "Catalytic Converters", a training programme to involve faith groups in social and economic development and service provision in their communities. Chris later ran a Catalytic Convertors course at St Margaret's Barking, while I was curate there.

Through our employment work we both met Saif Ahmad, then CEO of Faith Regen UK (later Faith Regen Foundation) and we both contributed in various ways to their work, as a multi-faith UK based regeneration charity, to reduce social exclusion. The multi-faith nature of urban Britain combined with the diversity and equalities agenda meant that those working in employment and training services needed to understand their customers and employees who were part of faith communities. This development provided an opportunity for me to work on the development of a Faith Communities Toolkit for Jobcentre Plus which provided information for staff on the nine world religions (including Christianity) represented in the UK and ideas and guidance on contacting and working with people of faith. Through Faith Regen Foundation, I was also involved in preparing similar resources for staff at Sainsbury’s, Calder UK Ltd and the learning and skills sector, more generally.

Chris and I later reconnected through HeartEdge when he participated in the above webinar which explored ways in which all churches can get involved in housing need locally and the theological basis for doing so. Chris had joined the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing when it was launched by the present Archbishop of Canterbury. Malcolm Brown writes that "His effervescent cheerfulness, mental acuity, and capacity for work, plus his genius for networking, made his contribution indispensable to the eventual report, Coming Home." He then, as a member of Executive Team following up the recommendations of "Coming Home", applied his energies to turning the recommendations into action.

In Church Times he wrote of how the church can be beneficial in bringing communities together: “Relationships have to be cultivated and trust established. In each local authority area, someone – clergy or lay – should be doing the research, meeting the planners and developers, building relationships, making friends, and feeding in ideas to be included in local plans and masterplans.

“In larger new housing developments, we have the chance to model places where housing is well-designed and caters for all ages, ethnicities, incomes, and circumstances; where facilities and services are easily accessible and to hand; and where schools and community facilities, open spaces, and sports and leisure facilities are local – creating places not of isolation, but inclusion: places where people love to live.”

His report ‘Building new communities in North East England: challenging church and society' identified significant new housing developments being built or planned in each of the 12 local authority areas across the region and explored the challenge of how to “build good community”; his aim being to lay the foundations for new strategic thinking and action by Churches and others, working with landowners, builders, planners, communities and all involved. Click here to read his report.

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Madness - Our House.

Pleshey: Retreat, icon and poem

It's always great to be at the Diocesan Retreat House in Pleshey. I have many special memories from past retreats and the House retains the special atmosphere originally developed by Evelyn Underhill, who we remember on Friday. New memories have been added through a short retreat with Area Deans led by the Archdeacon of Southend with reflections from Revd Ann Coleman.

In the Chapel is an icon of Jesus the Vine based on John 15, which was written by Kjellaug Nordsjö. 

Nordsjö was a Swedish-Norwegian artist, who is considered one of the Nordic countries' foremost icon painters. Her icons can be found in the Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt, as well as churches in Rome, London and New York City. I had the pleasure of meeting Nordsjö at her home in Arvika during a trip to Sweden as part of my curacy at St Margaret's Barking and of bringing back an icon written by her for the Youth Chapel at St Margaret's.

Here is a poem that I wrote today:

Pleshey

The Archdeacon bows before the altar,
the ending of a Eucharist
that concludes our short retreat
as Area Deans at Pleshey.
A blaze of colour and fire of movement
on the altar frontal animates this
simple, calm and holy space that
resonates and reverberates with
memories of training retreats,
preparations for ordinations
and cell group support in ministry.
I am here to the glory of God
says the plaque in memory of
Friend of Pleshey, Evelyn Underhill.
You are the salt of the earth,
The light of the world, says Jesus
in our Gospel reading.
We are to bring out the different
flavours in our communities
and illuminate the good
that is hidden and under-appreciated.
As Evelyn Underhill once said
God is always coming to you.
So, meet and receive him
with gratitude.

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Michael McDermott - Where The Light Gets In.

Art, London and Religion

Samuel Johnson famously made the urbane observation that "when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life.” As this remark was based on the perceived impossibility of intellectuals leaving London “for there is in London all that life can afford," I wonder whether this applies to me, given I have left London after seven years at St Martin-in-the-Fields and 40 years in London all told.

While I don’t feel in the least bit tired of life, I do recognise that, as I leave, there is an opportunity to look back and assess the way in which life, London, art and religion have been connected for me in that time. Nineteen of those years have been spent in ordained ministry during which I have sought to minister in and through the 4 Cs of culture, commerce, compassion, and congregation. I have been involved in initiating church-based art projects in the suburbs of East London and at central London churches such as St Martin’s. Cultural initiatives of which I have been part have included artist collectives, art trails, community art projects, exhibitions, festivals, installations, performances, projections, and workshops, while also writing regularly on the arts in London for mainstream and church publications.

I’m not, of course, the first to undertake such a review. ‘Visualising a Sacred City: London, Art and Religion’ appeared in 2017 claiming to be “the first major examination of the religious imaginary of this great metropolis through the prism of the visual arts.” I can’t compete with that but can provide an update, encapsulating, in part, the impact of a pandemic.

‘Visualising a Sacred City’ described a time in which those three – art, London and religion – got to “tease, play with, brush against, and energise one another.” The book provides a baseline from which to measure my experience. From 2000 onwards – the year in which 'Seeing Salvation: The Image of Christ' was staged at the National Gallery – for public galleries to talk about religion has ceased to be courageous and has become normative in a post-secular and multicultural space. The ground on which these three, play, tease, brush against and energise one another can be variously described as neutral, mutual and, even, holy. What art and religion offer to London, the book suggests, is a way of looking – attention to what is there – which “gives a certain humility to one’s views about what London should and must be” and leads to “shared views of what our habitations are and might be.”

London is home to one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the world. Not only a multicultural city, however, London is also a post-secular city where almost two-thirds of people identify as religious compared with 53% in the rest of UK. How has the relationship between art and religion been impacted by this demographic diversity and to what extent can London, as a result, be viewed as a case study for people going to church to see art, and – potentially - leaving with some religion? These are among the questions to which I have sought answers.

My ordained ministry in London has been bookended by public projection installations engaging with diversity locally and globally and, also, by commissions involving diverse images of Jesus and the disciples. In my curacy at St Margaret’s Barking, we worked with SDNA, a creative studio with a track record of animating galleries and public spaces with bold and imaginative displays to engage new and diverse audiences in fresh and exciting ways. At St Margaret’s, SDNA filmed people from the congregation and then digitally enhanced these images before projecting them onto the windows, roof and tower of the church. This project, called Abbey Happy, turned the church into a temporary artwork that was a blaze of light and colour with moving stained glass showing a diverse congregation at play. The project was part of an evening art trail, called Love & Light in the Town Centre which highlighted, through projections, significant heritage buildings and was organised by the local council through their Arts Services department with funding from the Arts Council.

Community engagement is a key measure for the success of such initiatives and that unlocked involvement for our church, as we were one of the few places locally where people from many of the diverse groups within the area’s population consistently gathered. That fact led to a wider involvement in the Council’s public arts programme including a photographic exhibition, the premiere of a film, and several art workshops.

The same year – 2005 – also saw the unveiling of an original painting commissioned for the Youth Chapel at St Margaret’s, as the climax to a Lent Course which explored images of salvation from conceptual art, figurative paintings, and feature films. Early in the morning was unveiled by the artist Alan Stewart and dedicated by the Bishop of Barking. The painting depicts Christ cooking breakfast for his disciples by Lake Galilee after his resurrection, as told in John 21. Stewart painted a black Christ surrounded by disciples of every ethnic origin to reflect the diverse congregation that worships at St Margaret's.

This image deliberately introduced a black Christ and a diverse collection of disciples into a church in which previously only images of white people were to be seen. The importance of addressing the injustice of that imbalance has been reinforced for me at several points in my ministry but was never more apparent than at the unveiling of this image when our black churchwarden broke down in tears at the sight of the painting.

I wrote an article for Artlyst in 2021 on the same issue, prompted by the National Gallery’s virtual exhibition (due to the pandemic) Sensing the Unseen: Step into Gossaert’s ‘Adoration’, and quoted theologian Robert Beckford who noted that, “Jesus is a man of colour from the ancient near east;” an olive-skinned Palestinian, not a blonde European. If that is so, we need to ask, as Beckford does, how then “did we make him an Aryan and use that image to oppress other people?” I concluded that we need those like Beckford and Benedict Thomas Viviano, who developed the theory that there were both men and women among the Magi, to arrive at a more historically accurate and theologically significant picture of the Magi’s visitation, which involves an inclusive group of Magi visiting a black Christ.

With that understanding, the incarnation and ‘Gentile Christmas’ reveal that God’s heart is on the edge of human society, with those who have been excluded; that God is most evidently encountered among those in the margins and on the edge. Those who have been rejected are then seen to be the energy and the life-force that will transform us all. The life of the church is, as Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, has noted, to be one of continually recognising the sin of how much we have rejected, and celebrating the grace that God gives us back what we once rejected to become the cornerstone of our lives.

More recently I have worked again with Alan Stewart to create a Last Supper that includes disabled people but is also an image in which everyone is invited to come to the table. This picture, with its image of a blind Jesus, was shown first at St Martin-in-the-Fields when it was used this year as an altarpiece at our Lenten Bread for the World Eucharist. The Blind Jesus (No-one belongs here more than you) is an image in charcoal of the Last Supper which includes the central character of a visually impaired Jesus, surrounded by twelve people of differing ages, backgrounds and abilities. An empty chair invites the viewer to find themselves at the table. This Jesus challenges theological and Biblical imagery of blindness as sin or something to be cured.

Stewart's marvellous drawing of the Last Supper gives us an ecumenical or catholic image of the Last Supper through its depiction of a diverse group of disciples surrounding a blind Jesus. This is an image of many who have experienced barriers to inclusion getting in and joining in, with the recognition that experiences of exclusion are central to a faith that sees Jesus become the scapegoat for humanity to remove barriers to encounter with God we had earlier erected. The Jesus who does so bears on his body the marks of his Passion, carrying those signs and experiences into an eternity of unity and communion. His experience of being scapegoated and excluded becomes revelatory and the route by which all can return to community.

In the same way, the experience of disabled people must also become central, as in this image, not through the eradication of disability by means of supernatural healing, but by the eradication of all barriers to communion, so that the insights of all can be received for the benefit and building up of the whole people of God. We need the vision of communion that Stewart shows us – one that Jesus institutes through the Eucharist, shares in parables of the Messianic banquet, and which will become our experience in eternity - in order that we begin to live that future now.

Among those most excluded in London are refugees and asylum seekers. In 2018, St Martin’s hosted Sam Ivin’s Lingering Ghosts exhibition which offered space to contemplate the often-underreported plight of those who wait for the possibility of asylum in a place of limbo, without work, with little money and in temporary accommodation. His exhibition was based on a simple idea, yet one which combines prophetic insight and emotive impact as it speaks truth to power. Ivin physically scratches portraits of asylum seekers erasing their eyes to convey the frustration engendered by the ‘hostile environment’ for migrants, which blights lives and erases the identities of those detained in its clutches. These modified portraits simply and powerfully enable us view the plight of those that wait for asylum.

In 2016, when I was also Priest-in-charge at St Stephen Walbrook in the City of London, Michael Takeo Magruder created a digital installation Lamentation for the Forsaken which juxtaposed the sufferings of the Syrian peoples, including refugees, in our own day with the death of Christ. Takeo evoked the memory of Syrians who had passed away in the conflict by weaving their names and images into a contemporary Shroud of Turin. In this way he reminded us that Christ's death is symptomatic of all suffering throughout time. His work offered “a lamentation not only for the forsaken Christ, but others who have felt his acute pain of abandonment.”

Lamentation for the Forsaken was the 13th Station in a public art project that sought to use the story of the Passion to prompt reflection and action in response to challenges of social justice. Drawing upon the traditional Christian practice of walking and praying the fourteen Stations of the Cross, this project - which began in London in 2016 and has been replicated in Washington DC, New York City, Amsterdam, Deventer, Online, and Toronto - is designed to engage people of all faiths and none. In each city that hosts the project, a team of curators design a bespoke route with fourteen stops, creating a form of contemporary pilgrimage marked by works of art, old and new. The journey weaves through both sacred and secular sites, and often breaks down the boundaries between these categories.

Art trails also provide a marvellous way to encourage visitors to engage with the diversity of art found in many churches, and open to all the spirituality inherent in such art. In 2017, I was involved in the launch of The Art of Faith, a self-guided walk around the City of London, a location containing the greatest concentration of historic churches anywhere in the UK. What is less well known is the extent to which they contain significant examples of art commissioned from the 20th century onwards.

Many of the churches in the City were damaged by bombing during World War II, providing opportunities in the post-war reconstruction to engage with contemporary art. Artworks included in the trail are by prominent modern artists such as Jacob Epstein, Patrick Heron, Damien Hirst, Henry Moore, and Bill Viola, as well as work by other reputable artists such as Thetis Blacker, John Hayward, Keith New and John Skeaping. By encouraging viewers to treat such trails prayerfully as though on pilgrimage, art trails enable visitors to uncover moments where the sacred inhabits the ordinary. Seeking silence and stillness in the busyness of the City is a spiritual exercise that all can explore, whether religious or of no faith. This is particularly so, where each artwork is accompanied by a reflection to help viewers engage spiritually and practically with stillness and prayer.

Deepening faith with the Arts has been a key aspect of the ministry of St Martin-in-the-Fields for many years including initiatives such as Great Sacred Music and annual Passion and Nativity Plays. ‘Inspired to Follow: Art and the Bible Story’ is a discipleship course which uses fine art paintings from the National Gallery (on St Martin’s doorstep), a Biblical story and a short theological reflection, as springboards to help explore Christian faith today. The course was designed by Alastair McKay, with input from the wider clergy team, while he was a curate at St Martin’s. Alastair says: “What people love about the course is engaging with a single visual image over the course of each session, in conversation with others, in the light of some initial reflections about us and God. Different people see different things within a painting, as they do within a Bible story. And they connect what they observe to their lives, in diverse ways.” ‘Inspired to Follow’ developed a new life online during the pandemic and became a much-valued source of inspiration and ideas for many during lockdown.

More recently, St Martin’s has supported the National Gallery in creating an Interfaith Sacred Art Network in London. This began with the theme of Crossing Borders, inspired through two paintings by Orazio Gentileschi: The National Gallery’s The Finding of Moses, and The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, loaned to the National Gallery by Birmingham Museums Trust. The network began with a symposium featuring a wonderfully diverse array of talks on sacred texts, opportunities to view the paintings together, a special service at St Martin’s, and a dinner to celebrate the formation of the new network. In the paper I presented, I suggested that Gentileschi’s decisions regarding the gender and class of those depicted provide an interpretive crux relating to the arc of the story as it bends towards liberation. Drawing parallels between the liberation found in the Exodus and experiences of the English Revolution that began shortly after the creation of Gentileschi’s painting, I suggested that the painting gestures towards the future crossing of boundaries in relation to gender and class without realising them fully in the present.

As with T.S. Eliot, in my end is my beginning. I began with a projection installation and end with another, this time at St Martin’s. Fields of Vision was an immersive exterior projection created by Marcus Lyon. The work, which covered the whole church façade at its East End, explored concepts of freedom, service and community in our modern world through oral histories, large scale portraits and ancestral DNA mapping, with music by Brian Eno. The piece wove together the narratives of 28 extraordinary individuals from across the globe - changemakers chosen by their own communities - to tell a deeper story of our interdependence and the extraordinary power of collaboration.

Lyons’ Human Atlas projects, on which Fields of Vision was based, are social impact art projects that bring together a specified number of nominated change agents to tell a deeper story about how we self-author and co-author a more hopeful future through portraits, interviews, soundscapes and DNA mapping. The DNA mapping highlights the vital part migration plays in human civilisation and community. Lyons’ i.Detroit Human Atlas project, for example, involved collating 1,202 pieces of information over the course of two years, including the ancestral DNA of 100 individuals from Detroit, yet with 91 places of origin, and maps of migration journeys out of Africa that date back thousands of years.

In these ways, exploring London’s diversity affectively and engagingly through the visual arts in the context of faith has involved community engagement, partnership working, creation of inclusive images, explorations of current social issues, attractional events, and pilgrimage style trails. These have drawn new groups to churches and have enabled other agencies to engage with diverse congregations. Being with and paying attention to those on the edge while involving such groups in art projects has also been key, as has working across a range of different media and approaches. Migration has been central to London’s diversity, multi-culturalism, and post-secular identity, so engaging creatively, constructively, imaginatively and theologically with this issue has been at the heart of this survey; an approach that has been counter-cultural in a time when the UK has been a hostile environment for migrants.

Attending to the many ways in which public galleries now discuss art and religion, while taking opportunities to form partnerships has also enabled creative reach. Art trails and digital projects in particular have connected sacred and secular spaces, dissolving some boundaries between both in the process. Projection installations in particular inhabit the public square. Such interactions provoke new conversations - conducted with humility - concerning what London should and must be and also what our habitations – temporal and eternal - are and might be. As a visitor to an exhibition held at St Stephen Walbrook once noted, churches are extraordinary places for such extraordinarily broad-minded, human and thought-provoking exhibitions to be held. It is the thought-provoking nature of these interactions which open the already religious to the wonder of art and the non-religious to the possibility of faith.

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Ricky Ross - London Comes Alive.

St Martin-in-the-Fields, HeartEdge & St Mary the Virgin Cathedral, Johannesburg (4)

Here's the sermon that I preached at The Cathedral of St Mary the Virgin, Johannesburg, for their 90th Anniversary Celebration Service:

I bring greetings and congratulations from St Martin-in-the-Fields on your 90th Anniversary. It is a joy to us that we have shared in partnership during the latter period of those 90 years and a pleasure that the partnership has been revived and renewed since Dean Xolani began his ministry here. I am thrilled personally to have this opportunity to visit and learn from you and those you have given me the opportunity to meet in Johannesburg, here at the Cathedral and in Alexandra, Sophiatown and Soweto.

For my curacy, I was at a church in East London (UK, not South Africa!) which, because of its history, was full of images of white people although it had a large black majority congregation. The historical development of the church had created a disconnect between its past heritage, which was mono-cultural, and its current congregation, which was diverse. We realised that this disconnect couldn’t continue and had to be addressed. So, we commissioned an artist to create a painting as an altarpiece in one of the side chapels and took Jesus’ post-resurrection appearance cooking breakfast for his disciples beside Lake Galilee as the image for this painting. We stipulated that Jesus should be black and his disciples’ multi-ethnic. When the image was unveiled Eileen, our black churchwarden, shed tears of joy that the diversity of our congregation was now reflected to some degree in the imagery and story of the church and that she and others from the Black and Minority Ethnic communities in that place could see themselves in the story of faith depicted within that church.

I learned that this image became a sign of the kingdom in the church and changed our culture for the better. Signs show what is in front of us, so reflect where we are and direct us somewhere else, so point us to the future. The creation of this image revealed our lack of diversity in the past and created a greater appreciation for the diversity we had found in the present. The image provided a way of affirming that such diversity is our future in God’s kingdom. Similarly, the visual art which is here in St Mary’s or which has been here over the years provides one way to tell the story of your 90 years as the Cathedral for Johannesburg, as well as indicating possible areas of development as you begin your next 90 years.

In 1936 Ernest Mancoba’s African Madonna, which is now held by the Johannesburg Art Gallery, was displayed here to raise funds for those in need in the drought-stricken Limpopo. This sculpture seems to be the earliest South African interpretation of the Holy Virgin that is not European in appearance. Unlike most church sculptures in South Africa for which imported oak or teak was favoured, Mancoba carved his figure of indigenous yellowwood. Mancoba’s ‘sculptures Africanized the prevailing Western norms of iconography and aesthetics.’ (Elza Miles)

So, here at an early stage in the life of the Cathedral was a black artist using indigenous materials to create a genuinely African image of a central figure in the Christian faith. Mancoba trained as a sculptor at the Grace Dieu Mission near Polokwane, where artists such as Gerard Sekoto and Job Kekana also trained. Grace Dieu Mission was Africa’s first modern art workshop and developed a trademark style of wood carving that won considerable critical acclaim in the 1930s and allowed the school, through commercial activity, to support and promote the first professional black artists in South Africa.

Job Kekana carved relief panels of the lives of the saints for your pulpit in the 1940s. He was a skilled sculptor who undertook all manner of carvings for churches, from pews to pulpits. He spoke of wanting his religious carvings to be ‘true’ historically, and therefore usually only depicted Biblical figures as Africans in African settings if specifically requested to do so. His relief panels here were designed by Martinus Moolman, a teacher at Grace Dieu, and depict European figures in traditional drapery. Those depicting St Ambrose, Thomas Aquinas and St Chrysostom show these saints in architectural settings which required Kekana to use elaborate perspective. So, under the influence of Grace Dieu’s teachers, Kekana’s work primarily followed the conventions of European church art.

Above the chancel steps and dominating the whole church is your famous hanging rood, an almost life-size wood-carving of the Crucifixion that was hung in 1957 as a memorial to William Palmer, Dean from 1924 to 1951. Palmer had been part of the Campaign for Right and Justice which called for full and direct representation of all sections of the community, irrespective of race. By the 1950s, the Cathedral had become one of the few racially integrated churches in downtown Johannesburg, yet it was decided that your rood should be made in England. The artist was George Baden-Beadle, who was Secretary, then Managing Director of Faith Craft; a business, set up through The Society of the Faith, that successfully and creatively produced church furnishings, vestments and other ecclesiastical artefacts from 1921 – 1972.

In this same period the artist Cecil Skotnes was employed as the cultural Recreation Officer at the Polly Street Recreational Centre here in Johannesburg. Under his guidance Polly Street came to be identified as an Art Centre and a significant training ground for a new generation of artists who were able to experiment and make work, developing and honing their skills to the point where they too were recognized as professional career artists. Skotnes was able to put the Centre and the students in touch with an array of contacts including many foreign visitors and dealers, as well as acquiring commissions from churches and the City Council. This continued until the apartheid authorities effectively shut down Polly Street. Skotnes also undertook commissions himself and, in 1983, created Stations of the Cross for this Cathedral in memory of Fr. Neville Jarvis Palmer. With his woodcuts, in particular, Skotnes is reckoned to have developed a genre and a style that was uniquely South African.

More recently the sculpture 'Sinethemba' by Chaim Stephenson was installed in 2015. This was almost twenty-one years after the arrival of democracy in South Africa and the dedication by Archbishop Desmond Tutu at St Martin-in-the-Fields of the sculpture of which 'Sinethemba' is a twin, our ‘Living South Africa Memorial’ to victims of injustice and violence. The sculptures were inspired, as you know better than I, by the iconic image of the shooting of Hector Pieterson in Soweto in 1976. Sam Wells, the vicar of St Martin’s, said, in a sermon here, that, ‘In 1976, [this] was a picture of the brutality and injustice of the apartheid regime, and the solidarity and resilience of the struggle to bring democracy and the rule of law to South Africa’. By 1994, the sculpture portrayed the burden the anti-apartheid movement had carried for so long. Then, in 2013, ‘when we at St Martin’s gathered with so many South African friends to mark the passing of Nelson Mandela, the image asked a question: Mandela had carried South Africa in his arms for so long; who would carry South Africa now?’ Now, he suggests, ‘it may be that this statue is a declaration of faith that the God who in Christ has brought forgiveness, is in the business of bringing resurrection too’. All this Christian reflection initiated by a Jewish artist was was inspired by stories from the bible, despite not practicing religion himself.

The story told by your artworks demonstrates the power that the visual arts possess in reflecting and shaping culture. Culture is a key aspect of the model of mission – culture, compassion, commerce and congregation - with which St Martin’s has worked over the past 30 years and which we have made the basis of HeartEdge, the international ecumenical movement of churches of which St Martin’s and St Mary’s are both part. That is because, as human beings made in the image of God, we are culture-making people who create communities, fashion environments and shape societies.

Our Bible readings today (Genesis 2. 4b-8, 15, 18-23; Philippians 4. 4-9; Matthew 13. 31 & 32) begin with God’s creativity in fashioning our world and our own creativity experienced because we are made in God’s image. The world that was fashioned through creativity God called good, and God gave to us, as human beings, the task of caring for and cultivating this world using our own creativity. Adam and Eve’s task of tending the garden, the primary task of agriculture, represents the beginnings of cultural life on earth.
One of the formative aspects of this creative culture-making is to name the good that we see in the created world - the creatures, people, artefacts and cultures around us - and, by naming these things, to increase our understanding of the world and cultures that we inhabit. Of course, our creative culture-making can be used both for good and ill, as you know only too well in this country. Indeed, this passage from Genesis has been used to justify the oppression of patriarchy. God’s intent, however, is that we use our creative abilities to see and name the essence of all that is around us and use that knowledge to support our mutual flourishing. St Paul, in his letter to the Philippians, revived this understanding with his injunction to look for what is true, honourable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, excellent and praiseworthy in that which is around us. Jesus called us to use our creativity in creating signs of the kingdom of God which start small and then grow in ways that provide shelter and support to others.

So, we have been formed by God to be creative culture makers seeing and naming the good in order that we create signs of the kingdom of God. That is what you have done here over your first 90 years in creating an inclusive community that has supported social justice and engaged with culture, commerce, compassion and congregation in order to be a sign of the kingdom of God here in Johannesburg. That was what was happening when, for example, several of your deans were deported for challenging aspects of apartheid, when the first black Dean was appointed, when land and property were developed to provide financial support for the Cathedral, and when visual art was created for or brought into this space.

Your artworks are also signs of the kingdom of God as it has been expressed here in St Mary’s. Signs, as we noted earlier, show what is before us and aspects of these artworks reflect the time in which they were made and the issues current at that time. Your art is by a diverse group of artists and shows a diversity of approaches which sometimes engage with contemporary issues and sometimes seek to show that the Christian story is for all times and all cultures. In this way a diverse set of answers have emerged to the questions of who creates, what is created, and of how cultures change depending on the answers given to those questions. Similar dilemmas were also experienced in my curacy where the image of the black Christ in our Youth Chapel was created by a white artist.

So I wonder how will these same questions be answered here in the future? Who are the artists that could create images for this Cathedral in the future? What images would create signs of welcome, community and inclusion in these times of when around our world particular groups in society are being scapegoated, targeted and attacked? Many of the artworks here come from initiatives that combined culture and commerce to provide routes out of poverty and oppression. What equivalent initiatives are needed today to provide similar opportunities in different ways? Could initiatives like that be part of your plans for the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Precinct? How can we, as inclusive Christian communities, create signs of God's kingdom today in the midst of the scapegoating and violence that surrounds us?

Signs also point forward towards a place we have yet to reach. Jesus spoke about the kingdom of God as something small in the here and now which then grows to become large in the future. What are the small seeds that you can plant in the here and now that may have similar impact in the future to that which was achieved by Grace Dieu Mission, Faith Works and the Polly Street Art Centre? Each of these began as something small but grew to have significant impact.

Speaking of the need for HeartEdge as a movement for renewal in the Church, Sam Wells has said: ‘The church … has to let its financial needs and the material poverty of many it encounters become entry-points to new adventures, new relationships, new discoveries in God’s kingdom. What are needed now are communities of ordinary virtues, but ones infused with grace: thus trust, honesty, politeness, forbearance, and respect are the bedrock of such communities, while tolerance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and resilience are among its abiding graces.’ As an inclusive community with a commitment to the Arts, a commercial basis to your financial sustainability, and a compassionate commitment to engaging with the pressing issues of your time, over the past 90 years this Cathedral has been an example of the HeartEdge mission model lived out in practice. That is one of many reasons why we, at St Martin’s, are so proud to be in partnership with you and so pleased that you are using the HeartEdge framework of compassion, culture, commerce and congregation to review your current mission and ministry.

Christ calls us to create signs of the kingdom of God in each generation. Those signs cannot simply repeat what has gone before. They need to be creative re-imaginings of the kingdom for the present time? So I wonder, where are the artists, the dreamers, the ideas people and creatives in this congregation and community? Where are energy, inspiration and initiative to be found in the wider community, beyond the congregation, with which you can partner for the future?

As we look back to celebrate what this Cathedral has been and has enabled over the past 90 years, including its art and culture, we also need to look forward and take inspiration to go on new adventures, develop new relationships and make new discoveries which will enable us to be and become signs of the kingdom of God for this time and this day here in South Africa, here in Johannesburg. What are needed now are congregations that combine creativity with commercial acumen and compassion. Communities of ordinary virtues infused with grace; with trust, honesty, politeness, forbearance, and respect as their bedrock and tolerance, forgiveness, reconciliation, and resilience among their abiding graces.

Let us pray: We pray for the dreamers of this life, O God, for those persons who imagine new possibilities, who long for what others cannot perceive, who spin dreams of wonder and majesty in their minds. Defend them from ridicule and harsh criticism, from self-doubt and lack of faith in their dreams, and from abandonment of this call to make things new. Grant that from their dreams may come forth blessings for humankind to enrich the quality of life and the wonderment of us all. Amen (Ashley Marinaccio)

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Amadodana ka Eliya.