We are a diverse, gathered, open, growing and welcoming Christian community drawn from a wide variety of faith backgrounds. We believe in the importance of engaging directly with the wider life of the city in all its glorious – and sometimes painful – variety. We are growing in confidence as we seek to be ‘incarnational’ Christian presence in the city. Much of what we do has a commitment to justice at its heart; this is a church which deliberately seeks to be inclusive; it is also a church in which honest questions and careful thinking are encouraged.
Birmingham continues to change very rapidly; the ‘Education Quarter’ is growing quickly on our doorstep. The church is located on the edge of the city centre’s major retail experience and it is very likely that the terminus for HS2 will be located a few hundred metres away from us. We are utterly committed to providing a wide range of opportunities for Christian worship, service and witness at the heart of the city.
As a Methodist-URC LEP, we are committed to the fullest possible levels of co-operation and resource-sharing; when we became a ‘shared’ church in November 2011, we regarded this as the start of an exciting journey, not simply an end in itself. We are blessed with some very capable, committed people, financial resources which bring with them a considerable degree of responsibility and a prime location, which together mean that church life is never dull or routine! We are seeking to improve on our current pattern of monthly meetings in which everybody is encouraged to have a voice; when our Guiding Principles talk of, ‘responding to the rhythms of the city’, we are at pains to ensure that this is an accurate description of what we seek to do.
We are an inclusive church. We made rainbow banners to fly at Birmingham Pride. We wrote, ‘all are welcome!’ and with that, ‘Diversity, Love and Respect’ to it, because that is the way in which ‘all our welcome’ in this Church: in respect and love of difference, accepting each other as people made in God’s image. There are of course ways all of us need to grow and change, but we want to be clear that this is a safe space in which we are diverse.
We are an inclusive Church and have registered as such, because we realised that people coming to our city who are LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex +) would not know that our church is diverse and inclusive, or that LGBTQI+ people are accepted and treated equally in church life, including equal opportunities to be involved and hold office.
So we are registered with Inclusive Church and Visible Congregations not to mark a change in the nature of our church, but as a commitment to being more visible and to letting people know ‘this is who we are’ as a church. We are a diverse Church already and others are welcome to come and be diverse with us!
“Forty years of membership at this church has sped by. As a teacher, I enjoy engaging in dialogue with young people here. Teenagers (and the rest of us!) are regularly confronted with difficult challenges to faith, not least by experiences of suffering and injustice which surround us. We do not offer glib answers in this church but encourage openness to the ideas of others and the chance to be honest about what we do or don’t believe and about how we should respond to these challenges. We have lots of fun too and have been known to resort to strawberries and chocolate biscuits to sustain us when in need of revival! I like to be busy. Many of the church members go away once a year on a walking weekend which helps me to get to know new people and learn about their lives. I love singing in the church choir, which is led by a young and talented musician, and I enjoy acting in the annual production put on in the church hall by Carrs Lane Players. This year we have started holding a weekly coffee morning inviting in people who would like to chat or simply to enjoy other people’s company for a short time instead of being on their own. I think this is a great way to show that our doors are opening to people in the city.”
We are all unique individuals and that is respected here, you can be as crazy as you like or not too chatty there is absolutely no judgement. Come and feel the peace and love of God our heavenly father. Also, you can stay and have tea or coffee with us after the service.
“I’ve been part of the Church at Carrs Lane for nearly 4 years now. My over-riding memory of coming to the Church for the first time was the welcome I received; a genuine welcome that made me feel like people were glad to see me because of who I was, not because I was just another person to make up the numbers. The Church has a huge amount going on so it’s very easy to get involved and meet new people, in fact, sometime it can be difficult to keep up with just how much is happening! I’ve found that there’s a strong commitment to social justice, as well as a willingness to explore new ways of doing things as we try to work out what it means to be a Christian community at the heart of a busy city.
It is more than twenty years since I first came to Carrs Lane United Reformed Church. I had come to Birmingham as a student at Queens’ College, training to be a URC minister. I was warmly welcomed into a church where so much was happening in the way of serving and witnessing to the Love of Jesus in the City Centre and beyond. I remember being involved in the BBC ‘Songs of Praise’ early on! I was given encouragement and support by many church members and ministers throughout my training, and was able to experience different aspects of ministry through church contacts. I have been blessed by making loving friends in the congregation. When I was ordained as a minister I was still close to Birmingham and able to continue to worship once a month with the church. It was at Carrs Lane that I met my husband Phill. It was a very special day when we married in the church with friends from Carrs Lane and the churches where I was serving and, of course, my family. I have retired now and continue to appreciate the generous fellowship at Carrs Lane; the challenges to Christian discipleship which are issued; the varied worship; the healing services; the liberal theology; the music and the commitment to a gospel of justice and inclusivity. I thank God for the faith in action which is lived out by the diverse people of The Church at Carrs Lane.
