Episode 1 Chaplains: Angels of Mersey

Chaplains are modern-day disciples.

-Ta-dah!

-Ye-ey!

Would you like a bacon sandwich?

Excuse me, are you Jewish? Have you got any Jewish pals here?

They take the word of God

out of the church and into the places we work and play.

This is what Christ is.

He came and walked and talked and lived amongst people

and this is really what a chaplain does.

They are employed in our hospitals and universities,

at the football ground and on the street.

We are here to help everyone who's vulnerable, right?

-We are very vulnerable!

-THEY LAUGH

SIREN BLARES

I think all chaplaincy is front-line ministry,

and it means you're actually out where it's happening.

It's a kind of "sleeves rolled up and get your hands messy" spirituality.

Bringing people together and trying to do whatever good possible.

They come to us with a listening ear,

spiritual guidance and a helping hand when life gets tough.

This is where we should be.

These people are not going to be in church at 10:00am on a Sunday,

-they're going to be in bed.

-THEY CHEER

When the wheels fall off, that's when people pray.

People don't expect children to die in a hospital like this,

they expect them to get better.

It's about real life and sometimes real death situations.

The streets of Liverpool is going to be in the Lord's presence.

Don't you worry about that.

We're following chaplains in the city of Liverpool,

the work they do and the people's lives they touch.

As congregations continue to fall,

the church is trying to reach us in different ways.

Chaplains who work in the outside world

are an increasingly vital link

between the church and people's everyday lives.

Liverpool's iconic Children's Hospital, Alder Hey,

is one of the biggest in Europe.

Chaplains have worked in hospitals since the start of the NHS.

Hiya, lovely. Hiya, Lee. You OK?

Alder Hey's chaplaincy team

is headed by Anglican priest, Dave Williams.

This is where you're meeting people in need

who mightn't necessarily come into church

because they feel there's a physical barrier of the door.

There isn't here, and they can just come and talk

and be honest with you, you know, about their feelings.

Without feeling in any way judged, I hope.

Thanks for seeing me.

Take care, God bless you both. Ta-ta.

To meet them where they are is really what, I think, ministry is about.

It's where Jesus would be, I think.

Not in the churches necessarily, but out where the people are.

She's wonderful, isn't she? How old is she?

The chaplains are there for patients and families 24 hours a day,

seven days a week.

How are you feeling?

You were fed up being in hospital the other day when I met you.

You still fed up? Or better than being in jail?

HE GIGGLES

David and Rachel Kingsley have just arrived at Alder Hey

with their son Samuel, who is seriously ill.

He's had a hard day. Give him a kiss.

Tomorrow, Sam will have six hours of open heart surgery.

It's a desperately anxious time for the whole family.

-Are you pleased to come and see where Sam is?

-I am.

-Good boy.

You're a bit worried about him, aren't you?

What are you worried about, sausage?

There are lots of nurses and doctors here going to look after him.

That's good news.

Hello? Is that Father David Potter? Hi.

The family has asked Alder Hey's Catholic chaplain,

Caroline Ferguson, to make an urgent call to their local priest.

And the parents have asked could he receive the Sacrament of the Sick?

And they have asked could I contact you first.

They'll be absolutely thrilled.

See you later, bye.

Oh, that's great. He's coming.

He's coming. He's coming to see the parents and is going to give him,

the baby, the Sacrament of the Sick,

which is what the parents wanted.

It was a big shock, even though you know in your mind

that these things are possible and they happen to people.

When it's actually a concrete experience for you,

it's a bit difficult to get your head around.

It was more complicated by the fact that we were told

when we heard about the heart problem

that he was also likely to have Down's Syndrome

and I was more worried about Down's,

-and you were always much more worried about the heart.

-The heart.

And to be honest, since he's been born,

it's not an issue to me any more.

He's an absolutely delightful little boy

and we're really pleased to have him.

So first thing in the morning,

we'll be up to theatre and then it'll be a bit of a difficult, um,

six hours or so while we wait for, hopefully, everything to go well.

The priest is now on his way to Alder Hey

and Caroline is preparing the hospital chapel

for Samuel's service.

I'm trying to make it just a little bit more

what you would expect in a church, so the religion comes into it.

They are a very religious family

and I think it will be a huge help for them.

You've got to try and put yourself in Mum and Dad's position.

"How would I feel if that was my baby?"

You know, and we try and support them as much as possible.

We don't usually do it in the chapel but this is a special occasion.

In another part of the city,

James Harding, Liverpool University's Anglican chaplain,

is preparing for the start of the new academic year.

This place is going to be absolutely buzzing with students.

It's going to be heaving with students.

James, a self-styled modern-day chaplain, wants to show young people

how religion can play a part in their lives.

It's the most exciting time of year for me, to be honest.

This is where it all happens, Freshers' Week.

It goes on for maybe three or four weeks

and in those three or four weeks, it's just all day, every day.

Once a fresher himself,

he understands the problems new students come up against.

Working out what your boundaries are in terms of relationships

and drink and drugs and your social life and all that kind of stuff.

It's a difficult, difficult life to navigate.

Hopefully, I can walk with them through that difficult time.

At Alder Hey, the hospital chaplains have invited Rachel and David

to the chapel for their son Sam's special service.

ORGAN MUSIC

People don't expect children not to get well in a children's hospital.

It's not like an adult in an acute hospital where people maybe

do come in in their final years to die.

People don't expect children to die in a hospital like this.

They expect them to get better.

When they're suddenly thrown into these situations,

they are in absolute turmoil.

One lady who lost a little one said to me just before she died,

she said to me, "I've never had to think about this.

"Heaven is where my 84-year-old auntie went.

"Not my two-year-old daughter."

And that's the situation they're in.

-In the name of the Father, and of the Son and the Holy Spirit.

-Amen.

-The Lord be with you.

-And also with you.

We welcome David and Rachel and welcome Samuel, especially,

on the day before his heart surgery.

As the gospels relate...

The family's priest will give him the Sacrament of the Sick

for the dying and the gravely ill, to give them spiritual strength.

A prayer of faith will save the sick persons

and the Lord will raise them up.

Now in our prayer of faith, we appeal to God

for Samuel's health and well-being.

Through this holy anointing, may the Lord in his love and mercy

help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

May the Lord, who frees you from sin...

-..save you and raise you up.

-Amen.

-Amen.

Samuel, may the Lord be with you to protect you,

may he guide you and give you strength,

may he watch over you, keep you in his care

and bless you with his peace.

And may Almighty God bless you all.

The Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

-Let us bless the Lord.

-Thanks be to God.

James, the university chaplain, has moved to a house

near the campus with his wife, Kate, and their young family.

When they met, he hadn't even dreamt of becoming a vicar.

That almost looks like spaghetti!

James was ordained over the summer.

He's wondering whether to wear his new vicar collar

for the first day of term.

So I'll try it on.

It's, it's just an unusual feel.

I've been talking to Kate about whether, erm,

when I'll wear it and what does it mean?

Is it, is it more than a uniform?

Does it mean something more than just like a policeman's uniform

or a nurse's uniform?

I guess one of the things I've thought about

is when I'll wear it and when I won't wear it.

Probably feel like I should wear it when I'm just walking around campus.

I'll just try this actual collar.

I'm more of a jeans and T-shirt person.

I know someone, you know, that wears theirs all the time.

I've even seen them mowing the lawn!

Kate's getting used to her new role, as well, as a vicar's wife.

I feel like I won't really fit the usual stereotype.

Although I have just got a new sewing machine.

No, I think, I think James won't be a vicar in the traditional sense.

It will be an interesting new chapter.

It's a little bit weird, you know, men in long black dresses.

I don't even really know how to get into it.

It's a bit like you wrestle into it.

Do you like it, Noah?

Ta-dah! What do you think to Daddy's vicar outfit?

What you think?

Shall I do a twirl?

Shall I do a twirl for you? Look.

You look beautiful, James!

At Alder Hey Children's Hospital,

it's the morning of baby Samuel Kingsley's heart operation.

His parents, Rachel and David, are getting him ready.

-Oh my goodness, it's enormous. Is it front to back?

-Yeah.

Don't they need to open up the front?

-They'll just take it off?

-They'll probably take it off.

Yeah, there'll be no gowns in theatre.

Silly bows, aren't they?

That's a nice tall boy. Look at you with your head up.

You look ridiculous, don't you?

Does nothing for your street cred, baby.

I'm just very grateful that they can do it and they're so experienced

and I feel very hopeful that he's going to come out the other side

with a brand-new heart that works really well.

And I've got great confidence in all the people working here,

they are very good.

They do their jobs very well, in a very caring way.

-So I'm hopeful. How about you? How do you feel?

-Yeah, I'm OK.

-Nervous. Nervous.

-HE GIGGLES

Hey, baby.

It's time to take Samuel down to theatre for his operation.

The surgery is expected to take at least six hours.

Samuel's now in the care of Alder Hey's heart surgeons.

All the family and the chaplains can do now is wait

and pray for good news.

Liverpool's freshers' fair is under way.

So what we'll do is poster, poster, poster, poster.

It's the most important event of the year for the University chaplains.

There is a green one somewhere.

We're serving everyone breakfast and coffee and tea

and muffins and doughnuts and things like that.

I'm trying to get non-Christians to be interested in faith,

I'm trying to get Christians to be interested in church

and I'm trying to get new Anglicans to the city to be interested in my church.

Thousands of students are coming along

to join clubs and societies,

but how many will want to sign up for church?

Uni life for me is about obviously learning

and enjoying the course you are doing,

socialising, meet new people, being in a new city.

Faith doesn't really come into it that much for me.

I will be drinking and I'll be socialising and going out

and the church doesn't really, sort of,

come into that aspect of my life.

Signing up new students isn't going to be easy

but James Harding has a sales trick up his sleeve.

He's come up with an offer he hopes freshers will be unable to refuse.

What we've got is the voucher system and it you write your name

and your details in return for a bacon butty,

fresh coffee, a doughnut, a muffin, that kind of thing.

So it's a bribe, effectively.

But everyone's bribing people over there.

You've got, you've got to bribe them somehow with something.

At the 11th hour, James goes for the traditional look.

OK, right. Let's give this a go.

I'll see if it either attracts students or repels them

and then I'm going to get changed in 40 minutes back into my T-shirt

if it's not going well.

The most recent statistics

about what university students believe

still points to the fact that the vast majority, 45, 50%,

still classify themselves as Christian

yet only 1% of Christian... of university students go to church.

So clearly, people believe but they don't have a sense of belonging.

So I'm looking at how to transfer that 50% of students

that are saying, "I have some kind of Christian belief,"

how to translate that into actually belonging to a church community

where they can grow in their belief.

At Alder Hey Hospital,

baby Sam is still in theatre having open-heart surgery.

It will be several hours before his family hear

whether it's been successful.

It's not very nice to wait

and every time you have a minute to stop, you think,

you catch your breath, "what's going on, is he all right?"

I'm sure he's all right.

This is open surgery.

They open the chest, they open the heart. They stop the heart.

They work inside. They start the heart up again.

They close the chest. It's a big thing.

It's a big thing and it's a small baby.

What's your biggest concern?

Obviously, that he will die.

And I think people find it hard to say that

but I'm a very pragmatic person when it comes to life

and that's our biggest fear, isn't it, always?

So we have to keep hopeful.

I think a huge part of our work here

is to be with people in dark times.

Everyone wants to be with people in happy times

but maybe not so much in the dark times.

Sometimes that's really great

and it's a wonderful part of this ministry,

that we can just be with people in dark times and just say,

"Look, I'm here,

"because I believe God's here and you're not on your own."

And that's what people need to hear.

Everything's in God's hands. You know.

He's got a plan and a purpose and all that's happening is part

of a big picture he has for our lives

and the more we trust in that,

the more free we are to live really fully.

Would you girls like a free breakfast?

I'm cooking breakfast in the chaplaincy all morning.

-I've got a team of people.

-At the freshers' fair,

James's breakfast strategy seems to be working.

-Thank you very much.

-I've got a free breakfast this morning.

-Would you like a voucher for that as well?

-Thank you.

I can offer you a free bacon butty and fresh coffee.

Bacon butties, doughnuts, muffins.

We've got three vouchers left,

that means we've given away 497.

Mike's gone to print off another 500 because it seems to be working.

James is feeling super confident.

Even the free beer team are trying to get in on his patch.

Can you guys do your signing in front of your stall

so I can get people in front of my stall? That's fair, isn't it, yeah?

It's a dog-eat-dog marketplace today.

Would you like a free breakfast in Mulberry Court?

It's time to head back to the chaplaincy

to see how many students have turned up for the free breakfast.

It might be that they've had loads of people in,

it might be that people take the voucher,

walk around for a bit and go later.

Hopefully, we'll see how that's going.

The news isn't good.

-Has no-one come in for a breakfast?

-No.

-Just one person.

-OK.

James handed out 500 vouchers but hardly anyone's taken up his offer.

It's time for James to up his game.

The students won't come to the chaplaincy for breakfast

so he's taking it to them.

"MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE" THEME

These'll go in like 30 seconds.

Right, what we need to do is get someone

signing in return for this stuff, OK?

-Do you fancy a bacon sandwich?

-Yeah, OK.

-We've got some ketchup.

We are just taking people's e-mail addresses.

Would you like a bacon sandwich?

Take an invite to my church as well.

Do you ever feel like this is a funny place

for someone doing God's work?

It's exactly where I need to be doing God's work.

-You think so?

-Yeah.

-Why?

I've a proactive attitude.

There you go, ketchup, bacon.

Take a bacon sandwich. Great.

-And there is an invite to church.

-Thank you.

You'd like a bacon sandwich?

You know, you didn't find Jesus in the temple, in the synagogue,

you found him out and about with the people, making friends with them,

feeding them, feeding 5,000 people with just a bit of bread and fish.

That's exactly what Jesus would be doing today.

Bacon sandwich?

And let me give you an invite to church as well, while you're here.

I did take one of his cards.

And, like, I'm going to read into it further.

I'm going to go on his website and have a look at everything so yeah.

It was good and it's nice to see them at freshers' fair,

giving out bacon sandwiches,

showing they're in touch with what students want.

The last bacon sandwich has got your name on it

if you just sign up on the e-mail address.

No, I don't know what I signed up for.

I just wanted the bacon sandwich.

God, bacon and ketchup have been a winning combination.

This is it. This is the last of the bacon. There is no more after this.

We've just had such a good last half-hour in terms of names,

contact details and people stopping.

So it's working really well.

I've sent people out to buy more toast and bread,

then we are going to just go down to just free toast.

But this has worked brilliantly.

I'm just so pleased I've got so many people signed up

and stopped to chat to me in the last 20 minutes or so.

So I'm really pleased.

I've made those contacts, now I've got to follow them up.

I've got to offer them something relevant,

something exciting, something interesting.

The hard work begins now.

At the Children's Hospital, baby Samuel's heart surgery is over.

But there are complications

and he's in the intensive care unit.

So Sam kind of didn't get going very quickly in a way.

He needed a lot of oxygen when he came out

and he's continued to need a lot of oxygen

because there are various issues with his lungs.

His heart is working very well but his lungs are under a bit of strain.

He is ventilated and he's completely sedated

-so he's more or less unconscious.

-BEEPING

It's a case of taking things and hour and a day at a time

and then just trying to plan to keep everything going.

As Samuel fights to recover from his surgery,

Rachel and David's hospital vigil continues.

It's a week and a half since baby Samuel's operation

and chaplain Caroline Ferguson is going on a visit.

-Hello, Caroline.

-How's things?

-He is doing really well.

Samuel's operation has been a success.

He's recovering well and will soon be heading home.

He's pulled through and he's done so well.

When you come back for outpatients,

do come back, do come down to the chapel to say hello.

-Definitely.

-Cos I really want to see how he's doing.

-Yeah.

It's home from home.

I've left a little prayer down there on the board to say,

"Thank you, God. For all the care he's had."

Well yes, I think the Lord was sort of around, keeping an eye on things.

-Definitely. Yeah.

-Take care.

-Have a safe journey. Bye.

-Thanks, Caroline. See you. Bye-bye.

I feel ready for the next step,

which is to not to worry too much about his physical health now

but to get on with helping him to be the person that he is

and he's going to be,

but great to go and to be on the other side of it all.

And to know, you know, that he's doing well, his heart is fixed.

So here's to the future, hey?

Good boy.

I actually get quite a buzz from something like today,

when I'm saying, "Bye-bye, have a safe journey home."

He's so much better than he was two weeks ago and it gives me,

really gives me a buzz as well.

It's just giving them the support

and it's been a pleasure with the family. They're a lovely family.

We see miracles here every day and we do.

Medical miracles and God's miracles. We see them every day in this place.

Wonderful things happening.

And that's the great thing about this hospital,

is that people expect their children to get better.

And praise God, most of them do.

Next time:

On the town with the street pastors.

I feel like we are here for a reason and God sent us.

Now I don't think it any more, I know it.

Please contact us.

And Rabbi Shmuli Brown mounts a charm offensive.

He's going to be getting 24/7 love, that guy,

if he wants it or if he doesn't want it.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd