Come as you, says the church

Bishop  James Bell goes on the streets of Harrogate to invite people ‘Back to Church’

The Bishop of Knaresborough joined with members of St Peter’s Church in the centre of Harrogate last week in giving out invitations to members of the public to come ‘Back to church’.

The Rt Revd James Bell called on churches throughout the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds to invite neighbours and friends to church on national Back to Church Sunday, September 27th, and he put his words into action as he went onto the streets of Harrogate with invitation cards.

Nearly all of the 43 CofE dioceses from Truro to Newcastle took part in this year’s Back to Church Sunday, along with Churches Together in Scotland, the Church in Wales, Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed churches nationwide, Elim Pentecostal churches and Anglican churches in New Zealand and Canada. It made the event one of the largest co-ordinated evangelism events shared across the Church in recent history.

Bishop James Bell has challenged congregations in the Ripon and Leeds diocese to develop what he described as a “a culture of invitation and welcome.” Writing in the September edition of Together, the Diocesan monthly magazine, he said: “ Whether or not you are using the concept and the materials of Back to Church Sunday this year, we all need to wake up to the challenge to give urgent attention to developing a culture of invitation, welcome and hospitality.”

The theme of Back to Church Sunday this year was ‘Come as you are’. Many churches in the area used special invitation cards, posters and materials to get the message across that the church is open to everyone.

Speaking after the day, on BBC Radio York, Canon Tony Shepherd said the day had, for St Peter's at least been a success. "We reckon about 30 to 40 people came Back to Church - either those who hadn't been for a very long time and some we didn't know at all but had heard about the day. It's a brilliant scheme and as far as we were concerned it certainly worked!"

(Canon Tony Shepherd, Vicar of St Peter's Harrogate, with Bishop James Bell)