Church opens its doors on to the High StreetSaturday March 1st 2008 saw a full church at Trinity, Gosforth, as a congregation that had spent a year in the wilderness of a local school found itself back in its refurbished and extended buildings - and all ready for a new ministry of service to the High Street on which it is set.
The church was formed in 2000 when the two Methodists churches and one United Reformed church on the High Street joined forces to form a Local Ecumenical Partnership. They immediately set about working towards the £3.25 million development that includes the new Trinity Centre which, with its café and other facililities, is due to open at Easter.
The rededication service, a ticket-only event because of the demand for places, was led by Trinity minister Pastor David Bedford, who was joined by a number of Methodist and URC ministers including the District Chair and Synod Moderator. Music was led both by organ and choir, and by Trinity's own versatile band; and the story of Trinity from 2000 onwards was told first by former minister Barry Lumley, and then (looking to the future) by lay evangelist Peter Waugh and his wife Jane.
Children played a prominent part in the service, providing a striking visual picture of what the Church of God really is - all sorts of people of all sizes rather than a building - and then becoming the backdrop to the unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the day's celebrations.
The sermon was given by URC General Secretary David Cornick, who started with the vision of the prophet Zechariah of the streets and squares of Jerusalem, where old people sit at peace and children play around them. "Living with God in your midst, living with the passion of holiness." "God is with us" promised David "as the difference maker" - and the difference is described by Paul as New Creation. And that new creation is glimpsed by the apostle as the irreconcilable are reconciled, even on the back streets of a city like Ephesus. In the same way, God calls us now to be a meeting place, where the difference of God in Christ is experienced.
A challenge surely to a church opening its doors again on to Gosforth High Street!
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