All Saints’ archives contain several publications from the 1960s and 1970s. St. Paul’s and All Saints featured in the epilogue of the report Ever Pressing Forward – Church and People in a Cheshire Town by Rev. J.S. Cowan. This document was a study in mission produced for the Centenary of St. Paul’s, Coppenhall, 1969 and for the Crewe, Nantwich and District Local Christian Council. The following is an extract from that report.
St Paul’s and All Saints : a decade.
What has been significant in the last ten years or so? Perhaps it is too early to say. The most obvious thing is that St Paul’s has been thoroughly restored and the new All Saints’ built in Stewart Street. It is equally obvious that neither of these things could have been done without Planned Giving or Stewardship. At least we have overcome one of the weaknesses to which John Cowan pointed on pages 12-13. The new church has been hailed by the Architects’ Journal as ‘one of the most significant churches built in any country since the war’,
But buildings are only a base : on the one hand for worship. We are rightly told on page 13 that ‘It is relatively easy to provide buildings for worship – It is much harder to build a worshipping community to use them’…. On the other hand buildings, if used rightly, may operate as a base for mission. Does the significance of the last decade lie in preparation for mission?
Perhaps the answer will be found only in what we now make of what has been given to us. The answer or choice is still in the making. One of the more hopeful signs is the tentative participation by the laity in a greater missionary consciousness. At least the Parochial Church Council and others now meet specifically to consider different aspects of mission by our Parish Consultations. A good number of parishioners act as Messengers to improve the church’s contact with people. These are small seedlings for the future: will they grow or will they wither? We have still much further to go in clearing the decks for real missionary enterprise as required in the present day.
We may risk one guess: our future lies in relation to others. This should be obvious from the fact that most of the area around St. Paul’s is likely to be demolished in the next few years. Other signs of the times may be seen in the movement towards Anglican Methodist unity; in the present discussion on ‘Partners in Ministry’ a report which envisages a ministry of greater partnership or team. Even at this moment a commission is being convened by the Bishops top consider the future relationship of parishes and churches in the area so that they may be more effective in mission.
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