What It's Like to Run a Church in the UK's Least Religious City

[rug]

(All photos by the author)

By Wedaeli Chibelushi
September 11, 2016

As an atheist, I'm almost exclusively never at church. But it's a quiet Sunday afternoon in late August and I'm sat on a church pew next to Eileen Richards, an elderly lady with a story to share. God had told Eileen's mum to uproot from Essex and settle here in Norfolk's capital, via prayer, and Eileen says her mum conceded. Eileen was eight at the time. Did mum do the right thing? Eileen leans closer to me and nods. "God was here," she says, beaming.

Norwich's bond with God goes way back. In the middle ages, the city's booming wool trade funded several elaborate churches. At its peak, Norwich held 57 of them ("one for every week of the year!" locals will tell you). Those halcyon days reportedly came and went – the most recent census, from 2011, shows that Norwich has the highest proportion of respondents in England and Wales who identify with "no religion".

According to Eileen, Norwich churches are no longer good at deliverance. Her 45-year-old son, Matt Richards, agrees. For this reason, he founded the Radical Church – the one where I'm sitting in next to Eileen. Matt's movement joins an undercurrent of subversive churches running through the city. So how do you run a radical Christian campaign in a city with so few Christians?

Well, some would disagree that Norwich's Christian population has dwindled. Bishop of Norwich Graham James contested a census back in 2011, telling the BBC that Norwich is "a centre of vibrant Christianity today". Richard George, of Norwich's Cornerstone Church, backs the Bishop. "Many churches, not necessarily the traditional churches, are growing rather than shrinking", he says. "I don't really know what happened with that survey... I don't think that's a true resemblance of reality." Richards' church rejects tradition; they have no set meeting day or time, choosing to move elusively throughout the city. Similarly, a representative from Burn 24-7 Norwich, a movement that meets for six, 12 or 24 hours for non-stop worship and prayer, shares Richard's scepticism.

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/norwich-least-religious-city-radical-christian-movements