Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long
as ever you can.
John Wesley
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held at the Touchstone Centre, Bradford - July 2010
(a personal account, written by delegate Julia Edwards)
Question: How does one prepare to serve as a Mission Partner in Fiji?
Answer: By being a delegate at The District Interfaith Representatives Conference Bradford, of course!
Day 1
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| Awais Dominic and Revd Dr Barbara Glasson, Director of the Touchstone Centre |
The District Interfaith Representatives Conference was the first of its kind to be held at Touchstone, and its programme looked very promising, comprising as it did of a range of talks, discussions and activities, all of which were designed to keep us informed and entertained over the next 30 hours or so. We would in time be hearing from leaders, academics and members of all the main faith communities in Bradford…, but first we had our initial introductions to each other and to the city. Revd Dr. Barbara Glasson, the director of the Centre, led the group in these and our opening devotions.
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| Revd Dr Dominic Mughul, Robert Fisher and Pam Cram |
Still pondering, we stretched our legs with our next activity: a trip to the near-by Doha Mosque. We learned
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| The Doha Mosque |
We asked questions over cups of water and delicious fairly-traded Palestinian dates. I wonder whether all our churches would offer the equivalent fair-trade tea and biscuits to a visiting group?
Back at Touchstone the final session of the day was a presentation on Sikhism and the Sikh community in Bradford. Just to keep us on our toes, it started with a quiz!
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| Rajinder Singh Panesar |
We then had a lively and entertaining hour or so with Rajinder Singh Panesar. He’s a lecturer, and I’m sure there’s never a dull moment in any of his classes!
Evening fellowship was over a meal. Our venue, the ever-popular Karachi restaurant, was conveniently located just around the corner. It is one of Bradford’s original curry houses and apparently a favourite of Rick Stein (or so the newspaper article proudly displayed on the wall proclaimed!!)
Day 2
Islam in the West was our opening session of the day, and Dr Philip Lewis, an academic at Bradford University (and by his own confession, an Anglican married to a Methodist!!) gave an excellent contextualised account of the present-day challenges facing Muslim communities in the UK.
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| Dr Philip Lewis |
I had not thought before of the historical basis for Islam’s views of the West. This session was a real mind-opener for me, and we covered so much material that our enthusiastic follow-up discussions carried on through our coffee break! Philip could have kept our attention for the rest of the morning, but we had to move on with our programme, quite literally, as next came a ride on the city’s Free Bus.
The Free Bus, a relatively recent addition to Bradford’s transport system, follows a circular route around the city centre. Our task was to observe Bradford’s population each going about their daily business and so get a glimpse of the multi-faith make-up of the city. The bus at points became quite full. Like many who ride on public transport few people spoke to their neighbour during their journey (an interesting sociological study in its own right…!), though the woman sitting to my left happily chatted away to me. She was from Huddersfield and visiting her friend. Unsurprisingly our conversation soon involved the weather… a unifying cross-cultural and cross-faith UK conversation piece. (An aside: earlier this month at a World People meeting held at Selly Oak Methodists, I had learned that the word “changeable” was one of the first words that those newly-arrived in Britain learnt!)
Next on the agenda was a trip to Bombay Stores, a large wholesalers / shop within walking distance from Touchstone. We got soaked on our walk there and back, and returned ‘steaming’ to Touchstone just in time for the regular weekly prayers in the basement chapel. All the Centre’s staff make an effort to attend, and so I felt privileged that we could accompany them, though Barbara Glasson had mischievously chosen as her opening theme St. Swinthin’s Day!!
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| Ushna Dominic and Shabana Kauser, with Julia Edwards in the background |
Our last session of the Conference was from the female perspective: Awais Dominic recounted her life as a Christian growing up in Pakistan and as an adult of her experiences of moving to Bradford nine years ago. Shabana Kauser, a young Bradford-born Muslim outlined her approach to her faith and her experiences of growing up in Bradford, and Ushna Dominic recalled her experiences of actively living out her faith on a recent 12-month placement.
At the end of the Conference, I very much appreciated the work and effort Touchstone staff had made to make the conference a success, and the openness with which the faith representatives spoke about their particular faith and community in Bradford. Each had encouraged questions, and thankfully no question had been considered too ‘daft laddie’ to be asked!
At the start of the Conference Barbara spoke of Bradford’s textile-based past, and during the Conference we learned that our attendance had initiated the first dialogue between Touchstone and the neighbouring Doha Mosque community. I hope and pray that this newly-formed relationship and our ‘inaugural’ District Interfaith Conference only help to strengthen further the weave between Bradford’s interfaith neighbours. They are a pattern to follow and we can all learn from their example.
For the account of another participant and more photographs of the Conference see the Inter Faith Officer’s diary.
Images © Joy Barrow
