Welcome
Welcome by the Moderator of the North Western Synod
Copyright Simon Ho
“Perhaps it is something in the damp Lancashire air but Manchester’s
creativity has changed the world. ... The city’s creative confidence is
still booming.” Thus a typically modest (Manchester) Guardian leader on 15
February 2007.
A Christian commentator notes: “Here in Manchester the Roman army
established a key base in AD79 … References to Christ were carved in the
stone wall of our city during Roman times.”
(writes Dennis Wrigley of Maranatha). He goes on to list dozens of
Manchester ‘firsts’ in the specific fields of public and private transport,
industry, art, sport, religion, politics and the media (– given its imminent
expansion here it is worth noting that before the BBC existed the first
public radio transmissions came from Manchester).
I can only echo his final comment: “The people who built Manchester were
never afraid of change… The Gospel of Christ is about change: it is about
transforming individual men and women and transforming society. We thank God
for the heritage of this city and we pray for the spiritual transformation
which God alone gives.” These words should encourage you, members of
Assembly, which in a year of challenge meets in a place where change is
normal. Here of all places we may respond to the creator God, the creative
Spirit and to the Lord “who makes all things new”, beginning with us.
Welcome to England’s second city.
Peter Brain
North Western Synod Moderator
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