George Moffat ministers in a largely Muslim parish, but he still finds there are opportunities for a fruitful Christian ministry.
Fr. Moffat who is team Rector of Manningham St. Paul's and St. Mary Magdelene's said:
Economically you would never describe inner city churches as viable.
But the new communities who are living there are more or less isolated from main-stream English society and the church are making a contribution to that by staying here.
The schools in the parish are virtually all Muslim and when".. the children come on school visits to the church it is a great opportunity for them to come in and ask questions.
Muslims are interested in Jesus particularly the ones who are working in inter-faith issues. He is mentioned numerous times in the Koran.
We are partly in a missionary situation and you react to that by building bridges and get involved with matters that are of common concern.
We try to keep abreast of what is happening to young people in the parish. So we are offering some pastoral support and encouraging the staff of the schools as well as supporting the residual elderly white people in the area.
There are more than 20 old folks homes in the parish and a lot of people who go to church , are elderly.
A lot of the white families in the area are broken families who have abused children or children with behavourial problems.
We run a youth club and Sunday Schools which is difficult because there is no staff to keep them going. We took 12 children away on a summer camp this year for the first time.
Manningham Mills community association is a bridge builder.
The church is used by Bradford & Ilkley College for giving English classes for Muslim and Asian men.
The main focus is the prayer morning and evening. People come into church both at St. Paul's and at St. Mary Magdelene's to pray.
There are a lot more funerals than there are marriages and baptisms. There are hardly any baptisms - that is just the nature of the parish.
There is a language problem, particularly for the elderly on both sides. Young people practise English, but there is no need for the adults to learn English.
I think the parish is safer than in some other areas in terms of personal attacks on vicarages. Sometimes schizophrenics demand food and money and that can affect your family.
You have got to be very careful of where your family is in terms of age and maturity before you bring them into an inner city parish.
You have got to develop specific skills to deal with those for whom care in the community has not been as great as it might have been. I have been here for three years and I have built up contacts.
I go into 10 schools and they all make me welcome. Certainly since the education authority recommended a more serious approach to RE some of the schools have started coming into church. They use our two churches, have a look round and learn from what they see.
We do some limited evangelism, but at this stage we are at the pre-evangelism stage of getting to know each other.
There is an Asian Christian fellowship in the city. I have met women who have dropped out of the family marriage market are separated from their relatives after turning to Christianity.
There is no prostitution at all now - certainly no visible evidence of it - none of the condoms round the church that we used to find or the prostitutes.
The Bradford Working Women's Project and the Health Authority initiative is staffed by nurses looking after the health and welfare of prostitutes. I go visit them.
Last Modified: June 07, 2004