An Anglican church has been set up in a Shropshire town once described as “Godless” for having among the lowest-recorded church attendances in Britain.
For the past 18 months Christians have been worshipping in Lawley School in Telford, a town with fewer than one in 100 regular church-goers in 2005.
The primary school-based church has now been recognised by the Church of England as the River Community Church.
This seems to be in an area of recent development in Telford which is virtually a new town, so the church is continuing with its aim of providing coverage for the whole nation.
The Diocesan release quotes the vicar:
[blockquote]“The church is about the people, not about the buildings. Presently we are using a school. We’ve met in a pub. We’ve met in Costa Coffee! So anywhere we can get people together to share our faith is our hope for the future. We’re not worried about buildings. Maybe we will have a building one day. We’ll just have to see what the Lord does.†[/blockquote]
Quite so. May they flourish.