A Tale of New Cities

Twenty-one years after Faith in the City ignited a fierce political debate in Thatcher’s Britain, in the spring of this year a successor report, Faithful Cities, published by the Commission on Urban Life and Faith, was launched into the public domain.

Faithful Cities’ initial public impact was lower key than its predecessor, but in the longer term it might yet be as influential in informing public policy. That’s the view of the Rt Revd Stephen Lowe, recently commissioned by the Archbishop of York as the Church’s ‘Bishop for Urban Life and Faith’.

A key member of the commission that produced Faithful Cities, Bishop Stephen is passionate about the need for its findings to be promoted in church and society. Top of his to-do list will be visiting dioceses nationwide to discuss how the report can be put into action in a national strategy for urban mission.

He will also begin work with local and national government in a bid to put the priorities of Faithful Cities on their agendas.  For example, he says,  “I would like to see the whole issue of well-being and happiness, which we focused on in Faithful Cities, being taken into the measure of successful regeneration in a town or city.”

And thirdly, he will be working to ensure that clergy have the right training and resources to work in urban areas. “I would love to see some sort of academy for training and development of clergy and lay people in urban mission.”

Already, a loose network of 80 representatives has sprung up, appointed by the Bishops, to take the report forward. In January, they will meet with Phil Woolas, Minister for local government in the Department for Communities and Local Government. “We want to see a strong partnership of faith groups with local authorities, so that people of faith have greater influence over what sort of cities are being developed.”

He cites the need for a more balanced housing provision and for greater access to spaces where people of different traditions or social backgrounds can meet. In the end, he says, we have to persuade policy makers and developers that a good city is not measured by the profit motive.

As clergy are so often located in the very urban places the report addresses, the Church can speak with particular authority. He knows this from personal experience - choosing to live on a local housing estate in south Manchester. “There’s no doubt that this has given me credibility, the simple fact that I am vulnerable to break-ins like my urban neighbours.  When we had an arson attack on the house, it did my street cred a lot of good!”

It is part of the strength of the Church of England that it is “rooted in every local urban community”. Bishop Lowe concludes, “Our huge network of clergy there gives us an enormous advantage over other national organisations. It’s my job to get government to understand this”.

Bishop for urban life and faith - the Rt Revd Stephen Lowe was commissioned in Manchester Cathedral

More about Faithful Cities: www.culf.org.uk