21/02/2016 Songs of Praise


21/02/2016

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Transcript


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A recent survey discovered that attendance

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at Church of England services had fallen below a million

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for the first time. Some churches are being forced to close.

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Many lie empty and others are sold and often turned into flats.

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So what's being done? Well, there is some good news.

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On today's Songs Of Praise,

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I'll be discovering the creative things that people are doing

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to keep their church at the heart of the community.

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And no, you're not seeing things - the church IS a Post Office.

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We meet some members of the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service,

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who are firefighting for Christ.

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I don't need to be in a church to serve.

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We can all serve our communities in whatever place we're at.

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-One, two, three, go!

-DANCE MUSIC PLAYS

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And Josie's in central Manchester at a church

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taking worship music to the next level.

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And where the pastors seem to want to steal our jobs!

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Welcome to Songs Of Praise this morning!

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It's great to have you with us.

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We have some great music,

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including a performance from one of Scotland's finest - Barbara Dickson.

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And it's the second week of Lent, so, for those of you who've given

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something up, here's a hymn of encouragement.

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Visit any village, town or city

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and the one thing you'll find is a church.

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They're an important part of our heritage.

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The Church of England has 16,000 of them around the country.

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But there's a problem - fewer and fewer people

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are attending the services and, although people may like

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the idea of their local church and its sense of history,

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they may not want to pay for its upkeep.

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I've come to St James's Church in London.

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Like many, their day begins

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with early-morning prayers for parishioners.

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Oh, Lord, open our lips and mouths...

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For years, they were a very small congregation

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worshipping in a huge empty church, until their vicar -

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the Reverend Andrew Foreshew-Cain - came up with a plan.

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Is this a church or is it a Post Office?

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It's a church, a Post Office and it's a whole lot more.

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Come on inside and I'll show you.

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MUSIC: Please Mr Postman by The Marvelettes

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Wow! It's really noisy! BUZZ OF CONVERSATION

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-It's like it's a Post Office and so much more!

-So much more.

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How do you get a Post Office in a church?

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We had a tweet in 2014 from the local estate agent.

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They were looking for a shop front for the new Post Office and I said,

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"I haven't got a shop front, but I've got a really big church."

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And that's not the only thing you've got here.

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Oh, no, we have all kinds of things in here now.

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We have a cafe and we employ a bunch of people there as well.

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-This play centre...

-And the big play centre.

-..is huge!

-Big and noisy!

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Local mums were saying there wasn't much in the area for them

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to do with their kids and it seemed a perfect marriage.

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We get 3,500 people a week through the building.

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What do you think of people who think that churches should be

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a place of worship and quiet contemplation?

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Well, I think they can be at times,

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but they can also be places of life and enthusiasm and engagement.

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-And that's what this place is.

-So, you have all of this,

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all of this engagement, you also have all of this,

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-the high altar...

-Everything.

-..the services that are happening here.

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So how do you maintain it as a place of faith?

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When we built the place, we consciously chose not to

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separate out all of this from the worship space.

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-Yes.

-So it all flows in, one to the other,

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so God is watching over everything that we do here.

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That's an important message, I think, to send to people

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who come in here - that all of life is important to God.

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And we have Sunday worship, when all of this is closed, and it is a place

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of quiet contemplation and prayer and worship.

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And the congregation appreciate that.

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When Andrew came up with this idea, I thought he was mad.

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Just look, I mean, it's absolutely amazing.

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It's become a social hub for the neighbourhood.

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The play area, personally, I don't like it.

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But I do understand its purpose as well.

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What it does, it brings people into the church,

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who actually absorb the ambience of the church, whilst conducting

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sort of secular activities, like going to the Post Office.

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The church is about family and community.

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That's exactly what this is.

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The congregation has doubled, which is nice.

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It was from a very low ground.

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We're about 40-50 people on a Sunday now.

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And we're now getting children and young families coming,

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which we didn't get before.

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And do you think that that's as a direct result of them having come in

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-here first?

-I'm sure that's exactly the reason why they're coming to us.

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Because they are here, they are comfortable with the space,

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and, when they come back on a Sunday morning,

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they're in a familiar environment, which isn't intimidating,

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and they know is welcoming.

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When we think of traditional church music,

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it's often accompanied by a church organ.

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For generations, it provided the soundtrack to worship and still,

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of course, has a role to play in the story of Christian music.

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But as Josie's been finding out, there are increasingly

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churches up and down the country that are busy writing a new chapter.

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Welcome to Manchester.

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Not the most recognisable part of the city, I'll grant you that.

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But today, it's not about what you can see,

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-it's about what you can hear.

-MUSIC POUNDS

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And this is no ordinary warehouse.

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ROCK MUSIC PLAYS # Fearless! #

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Here we go!

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ALL: # We are, we are We are fearless! #

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It feels like you've walked into a rock concert.

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But it's Sunday morning and it's 10am!

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And this is the Audacious Church!

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# ..for Jesus! We are, we are, we are fearless!

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# We are living for Living for Jesus! #

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In a time when some congregations are in decline, Audacious has grown

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from 90 to well over 3,000 members in just eight years.

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Is there anybody here who's in love

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-with Jesus this morning?

-CHEERING

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Good morning, welcome to church.

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The church runs community projects and the services have

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all the traditional elements, including a sermon.

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I serve the man.

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-APPLAUSE

-And the man has a plan!

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But it's the very contemporary sound of the music that stands out.

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The Bible talks about having shouts of joy, um, clapping hands, dancing.

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And so, there is a real element of celebration in the Bible.

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I think, when you understand what Jesus has done,

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how can you keep quiet? We really feel like that's the case.

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We can't be quiet, we can't shut up and God is so great!

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-DANCE MUSIC PLAYS

-I want to see every single person

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off their feet! Front to back, one, two, three, go!

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Can you remember that first time you got here -

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-what was your first impression of it?

-Wow!

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When we first came, the music was a bit of a culture shock.

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But you just sort of go with the flow, I suppose, in a way.

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# ..we will shine the brightest! #

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I mean, as an African, we dance everything, we sing everything!

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I enjoy it, cos it's something different. It's out of the ordinary.

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# ..make us one, bring us light! #

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The music's new, the music's fresh.

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And that's why, you know, I certainly enjoy being here

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and why I know these guys do as well.

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-# Ray of light! #

-Here we go !

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To many, the songs in an Audacious service may sound radical,

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but, for the band who write them, the approach is nothing new.

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Key change, and you get off the stool.

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'When you look at William Booth and The Salvation Army,'

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and brass bands - that was, you know, the secular music of the time.

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And that was, you know,

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-their way of getting people into the church.

-Yeah.

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With something familiar, that they could understand and relate to.

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It's just all about finding a new and a fresh

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and a relevant expression of our worship and praise to God.

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When you're having the stage, the lights, the music,

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how do you ensure that it is an act of worship and not a performance?

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We're not coming here just to have own personal time.

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Like we're coming here to be a part of the church, part of the family,

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and we're worshipping together

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and so, there has to be an outward expression and you could say, yes,

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it's performance, but not performance in the sense of,

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"Look at me, everyone!" but it's actually, "Look at Jesus!"

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# We are, we are We are fearless!

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# We are living for Living for Jesus! #

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They may not remember a sermon, even though I thought it was brilliant.

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What they're going to remember is the songs that they're singing.

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And I think it was probably John Wesley who actually said,

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"We learn our theology through the songs that we sing."

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# We are living for Living for Jesus! #

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CHEERING

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Wow! That music would certainly wake you up on a Sunday morning!

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Now, our next hymn comes from South London and,

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whilst it may not be quite as loud, it's certainly just as heartfelt.

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SIREN WAILS

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We've all heard about trying to get the work-life balance right,

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but what about the work-faith balance?

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Sometimes it's all too easy to hang up our faith on the door

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on the way into work.

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But one group of Christian firefighters from the

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Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service meet up regularly to help

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each other deal with the difficult situations they are called to face.

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Fire, guys!

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When firefighters respond to an 999 emergency call,

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they have to be prepared for any situation,

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as Watch Commander Paddy Quinn from Omagh knows only too well.

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SIREN WAILS

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It's a house fire.

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And, according to this, it's two persons reported.

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-The police had phoned it in.

-OK, sir.

-Michael, you got it covered?

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Even for experienced firefighters, like Paddy,

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it can be traumatic when the call is to attend a serious incident.

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Through the Troubles in Northern Ireland,

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the biggest loss of life in one incident was the Omagh bomb.

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CAR ALARMS WAIL

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Paddy was one of the firefighters on watch in Omagh back in 1998,

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when the Real IRA exploded a car bomb

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in the centre of the market town.

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For us, as firefighters, to have to go

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and deal with that, it was very traumatic.

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I'd never witnessed a scene like it.

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Especially since you knew people. People were asking me to help them.

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And it was just like the most impossible thing to do,

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was to help that day, because there was so much need

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and, as a firefighter, you felt so helpless.

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And it's something that I never talked about for years,

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cos of respect for the families and nobody needed to know the trauma.

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You sort of parked it in the back of your mind,

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but every now and again, it came back to you.

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-Robert initially asked me...

-Because of the nature of their work,

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Firefighters are encouraged to talk about their experiences.

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And one of the organisations in Northern Ireland

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that can provide support is Firefighters for Christ.

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Once a month, the group meets in Belfast and it's the job

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of one of the founding members to cook up a hearty breakfast.

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Primarily, Firefighters for Christ is about encouraging firefighters

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to live their lives for Jesus Christ. We have trained chaplains

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within Firefighters for Christ.

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We also have counselling facilities within Firefighters for Christ.

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People that are having issues - either family issues,

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finances, or just not dealing with life well.

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It's quite a difficult job,

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in the sense that there's a lot you can take home with you.

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What you've seen and what you've had to cope with.

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A lot of the times, you might be the only Christian on the station,

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not just the watch, but potentially the station altogether.

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So it's nice to have other guys there that have a faith.

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Firefighters for Christ is a worldwide organisation

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and, as part of their mission work, Paddy recently visited Uganda,

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where they support a children's home.

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These people are just so alive

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in their love of God and their praise of God.

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We're able to bring funds out to them, to bring clothes out to them,

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pay for the new roof on the emergency relief building.

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And they were also there to train local firefighters

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and deliver free life-saving equipment.

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Firefighters throughout the world are firefighters.

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We have a brotherhood, we have a bond.

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And, in that bond, we want to be able to save people. So, yes,

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we want to help them save themselves

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and save others with these practical techniques of rescue.

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But ultimately, our main goal is

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that we rescue their spiritual lives.

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'If you take Jude 23, it says exactly what firefighters do -

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'to snatch others from the fire and save them.'

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-Good morning, church.

-ALL: Good morning.

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3-0 seconds, 30 seconds!

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'Firefighters, we serve, because our name says service.

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'Whether it be in a really serious situation, such as the Omagh bomb.

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'Equally as important is when we go to an old lady

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'who's burnt her cooking and is in distress and we go and help her.

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'And it's shown me that I don't need to be in a church to serve.'

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We can all serve our communities in whatever place we're at.

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SIREN WAILS

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Great to hear the congregation in Bristol there.

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Now, we have some wonderful performers on Songs Of Praise

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and this lady has been entertaining us for many years, with hits such as

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I Know Him So Well and January, February.

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Here, singing a song from her latest album, Barbara Dickson.

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# My song is love unknown

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# My Saviour's love to me

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# Love to the loveless shown

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# That they might lovely be

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# O who am I

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# That for my sake

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# My Lord should take

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# Frail flesh and die?

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# Sometimes, they strew His way

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# And His strong praises sing

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# Resounding all the day

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# Hosannas to their King

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# Then "Crucify!"

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# Is all their breath

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# And for His death

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# They thirst and cry

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# They rise and needs will have

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# My dear Lord made away

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# A murderer they save

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# The Prince of Life they slay

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# Yet steadfast He

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# To suffering goes

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# That He His foes

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# From thence might free

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# Here might I stay and sing

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# No story so divine

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# Never was love, dear King

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# Never was grief like Thine

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# This is my Friend

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# In Whose sweet praise

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# I all my days

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# Could gladly spend. #

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Earlier in the programme, I told you about

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the recent Church of England survey that discovered that numbers

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attending weekly services had fallen to their lowest ever.

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It's dwindling numbers like that

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that cause churches like this to close.

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St Alban's Acton Green in West London was empty for seven years.

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Now it's reopened as part of the Church of England's initiative

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to create 100 new congregations in London by 2020.

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It's quite an ambition.

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'The man tasked with achieving this

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'is Bishop of Islington, the Right Reverend Ric Thorpe.'

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In a church, I've never seen anything like this!

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'Here at St Alban's, they've come up with an unusual plan.'

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Why have you got a tent indoors?

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While they're fixing up the building,

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a tent means that the congregation can stay warm inside.

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'Well, that's a novel way of solving the problem

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'of no heating and a leaky roof.'

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Bishop Ric, how do you create a new congregation

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-where there isn't one?

-Well,

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in the Church of England, you need three things to start a new church -

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-you need a Bishop who says yes...

-Mm-hm.

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..you need a leader, like a vicar who's going to go

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and lead the new thing, and then you need a group of people

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who are going to follow that leader and start something new.

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Um, welcome to St Alban's this morning.

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-Um, how are you all doing?

-CHEERING

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And then, that leader - the vicar - says,

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"OK, we're going to encourage people to start coming,"

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and the services might start soon after that, and then,

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once those things are happening, then you're up and running.

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SINGING

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And we want to recognise that there are lots of different groups

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of people in London who we're not connecting with.

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And so, starting 100 new congregations is about saying,

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"Let's find those places, those people groups,

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"those networks and say, 'Let's start a church for them.'"

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And St Alban's has certainly found those family groups.

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Well, this church didn't look like it had a future.

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It was, er, going to be converted

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into residential flats - nine luxury flats -

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um, but the local community were up in arms about that

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and 5,000 or so signed a petition to save the church

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for the community and to be a church again.

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Um, I've lived in the area a long while, um, and it just felt

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very important to keep this as a local community space.

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-It's a good place for mums and fathers to be...

-Yeah?

0:28:380:28:42

..and basically get to know each other and it's a nice place

0:28:420:28:46

for the littler kids to bounce around and have fun.

0:28:460:28:49

What is it that excited you about coming over here?

0:28:490:28:52

I guess it was kind of the blank canvas, so the opportunity

0:28:520:28:55

to reopen it, start another congregation here and just put

0:28:550:28:59

your own flavour on it, really, take it wherever you want to go.

0:28:590:29:03

-ALL:

-# ..we surrender to the truth... #

0:29:030:29:10

When they come in, hopefully they find a welcome,

0:29:100:29:12

and community that they want to be part of.

0:29:120:29:15

And then, actually, at the end of the day, what changes

0:29:150:29:17

people's lives, what makes them stay, is Jesus, it's the Gospel.

0:29:170:29:21

The same Gospel that's been preached for thousands of years,

0:29:210:29:23

but it still changes people's lives today -

0:29:230:29:25

that's why people stay in church.

0:29:250:29:27

That's about it for this week.

0:31:130:31:14

Next week, Aled Jones encounters some Welsh pride

0:31:140:31:17

in Port Talbot as he discovers how the community there is

0:31:170:31:20

dealing with the future of their steelworks.

0:31:200:31:23

Now, we finish with a hymn that reminds us that,

0:31:230:31:25

although styles may change, faith endures.

0:31:250:31:28

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