Apr 24th, 2007 by admin70 |
About 18 months ago, I was asked by Bob Hepworth, the Chair of the Local Strategic Partnership, if I would like to join the Advisory Group. This has progressed to membership of the full Board, as from December 2006. Because some of the members are not familiar with the acronym SHINE, I usually sign as representing ‘St. Helens Churches.’ I am the official ‘Faith Rep,’ and so this representation seems doubly applicable.
I began by being a listener, but now find myself able to make contributions to discussions. In particular, last November I mentioned the existence of a Church of England Report called ‘Faithful Cities.’ I have now given a PowerPoint presentation to both the Advisory Group, and the main Board, and this has been well received. It has brought the church’s possible agenda for an urban Borough like St. Helens to the forefront of people’s awareness.
There will be a further presentation to the Mission in the Economy lunch, on 26th April, and the Chief Executive of the Council, Carole Hudson, has suggested that a small group of us from the LSP Board begin to meet, to see what progress might be made in implementing some of the Faithful Cities Report’s suggestions.
It’s still too early to say what these might be, but a door has opened for discussion about the application of Christian priorities to the LSP’s thinking and strategy.
Chris Woods
