feature
“It is important to remember where we The Bible teaches that loving our have come from: the early Christians were in neighbours must be our priority. a society where no-one else believed in their faith, and yet Christians were called to be in But are all parts of the UK Church that context,” he says. really switched on when it comes In Ephesians 2, Paul speaks of Christians reaching out to those who are outside the to seeing Muslims as that faith: “The Cross got us to embrace, and that neighbour? And does a dimension was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace of fear play its part in reluctance to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so to build relationships? Rebecca made us equals.” (The Message) “He came and Taylor takes a hard look at a subject preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.” the Church cannot ignore and finds (New International Version) congregations sharing their lives and their faith unreservedly... Tense times For some the thought of building relations with people of another faith is not an easy concept. But if you dig deep – do we really think that God wants us to ignore the elephant in the room that is Muslim-Christian relations and leave it un-tackled? Jesus himself was living in a country with a vast array of cultures and a foreign occupying army. There were many times he reached out, where he spoke to the person who was not Jewish. Do we need to engage and do the same? Alastair Kirk is a university chaplain working in the West Midlands as one of the 60 diocesan interfaith relations advisers for the Church of England, who, often combined with other jobs or parish roles, provide advice for churches wanting to develop good relations with different faiths. He agrees that the members of the early Church lived among a mix of cultures.
Newspapers and commentators have long reported on tensions in cities. I spoke to one Christian leader who said he recently went to a British city, long hailed as a hotbed of difficulties between groups, and physically felt the desperation and tension as he walked along the high street. I also know of a Christian community worker who was able to help a Muslim family engage in a long process of healing following a trauma, just because she knew them and could help.
Diluting faith?
Some in the Church find the concept of interreligious dialogue a challenge, arguing that once involved, our beliefs will be diluted and we will compromise in order to build good relations. But those involved in the work point to their cross-cultural experiences actually strengthening their Christian beliefs. As they discuss their faith with their Muslim neighbours or work together on a local issue such as bringing together
communities after the awful 7/7 bombings, eradicating a drug culture or donating clothes together to local refugees, they become more confident of their own gospel. Nick Coke, along with his wife Kerry, is the Salvation Army officer in charge of Hope asha church in Stepney, east London. With Bangladeshi Muslims making up 65 per cent of the Ocean Estate, Nick and Kerry live in the community and have developed strong relations over a number of years. “My wife and I spend a lot of time visiting and sharing meals. We meet people through our children who attend the school so we meet local kids and their families. We are intentional about sharing our lives and being in each other’s homes.” Nick also talks openly with his neighbours about faith. “We try to share who we are and our faith,” he says. “It is very easy to talk about it with our Muslim neighbours and we are open about sharing the gospel. Our Muslim friends tell us about Islam – we have lots of conversations on what we share and look at what our differences are.” As well as relational work, churches are also providing services to their communities expressing beliefs through action. Phil Rawlings, vicar at St Brides in Old Trafford, Manchester, tells me that as well as English classes, the church runs mother and toddler groups that are attended by large numbers of people from the Muslim community. “People feel it is a comfortable place – it’s safe,” says Phil. “The work we are doing here is not primarily about about evangelism it’s about relationship building.”
Peaceful places
For Angela Hughes, minister at Stainbeck United Reformed Church in Leeds, reaching out to local people from different groups is
idea sep/oct 2011 • 21