Christ Church . Coventry . a further article by the vicar , the Rev Robin H Blandford . roughly four years ago I had the privilege of writing for Church and people the story of how our church , which had been destroyed in the war , was rebuilt on a new site here in Coventry , where it was more needed . I have been asked to say something about the subsequent life and work of the church since then . this is a temptation to any Vicar , but the devil sees to it that we are kept humble , even when full of joy because of the work of God in our midst . I outlined in my previous article our lay workers scheme . the parish was divided up into groups of fifty houses . every lay worker had the oversight of and responsibility for one such group of fifty houses . there are two thousand houses in our parish , so that meant forty lay workers were needed . these were forthcoming from the congregation that had survived the destruction of the church and had worshipped for fourteen years in a small mission church lent us by the Cathedral . they were all keen Christian men and women but they consented to take a fourteen-week course after which they were commissioned by the Bishop . we covered the new parish , calling on every house , distributing a free magazine and asking particulars of every household for a card index system . later another visit at every house yielded a crop of orders for the magazine resulting in an overall monthly figure now of one thousand two hundred and fifty copies in a parish of two thousand houses ( I have a wonderful magazine editor ! ) . these lay workers are like the veins in a human body , they bring life to every part of the parish where they gain access and their regular monthly visit keeps them and the Vicar in touch with all sorts of cases , and with every need as it crops up . what of the work of the Church ? I think it is only fair to ourselves to say here that , as our parish was formed by areas taken out of two other parishes , most of those people who were likely to attend a place of worship were already doing so , and unless some reason existed for their changing we had only the sub-soil to work on . there was also a live baptist Church within the parish . beginning with the Sunday congregations we worshipped for two years in the new Church Hall while the new Church was being built . the hall , seating about 100 ( when set out as a church with choir stalls ) , was generally nearly full , but I rather dreaded the day when that number had to sit in the church , the body of which holds three hundred and thirty . that day came after two years and now , after worshipping in it for a further two years , we have a morning congregation of about one hundred and fifty including the children &apos;s church which leaves during the service , and an evening congregation of about two hundred . this evening congregation contains a high percentage of young people and is a very cheering sight . there is hymn-singing for young people after the service to which forty or fifty stay . this is carefully planned with some special item every Sunday and organized by two young day School teachers in turn . Sunday School and Bible classes number about three hundred . every available space in the hall and all ten classrooms are filled and now two primary classes have to use the church as well . a girls &apos; Bible class numbers about fifty and divides into four groups . the boys &apos; Bible class is not much less and divides into two groups . mid-week activities . weekday organizations form an important part of the work of every church and we try to meet the needs of every age group and stage of Christian development . for women we have a devotional meeting on Wednesday afternoons and a women &apos;s guild on alternate Thursday evenings , and the young wives &apos; fellowship on alternate Sunday afternoons . men are not numerous yet in our recently formed C.E.M.S branch but we do have an entirely Christian programme and at the moment are studying the 39 articles . a mixed Bible study and discussion group meets every Tuesday in the vicarage and other men attend this . our uniformed organization for children is campaigners , which proves very effective and efficient , numbers in all clans exceeding a hundred . it is greatly to the credit of the Chiefs that the elder boys and girls go on into the craftsmen clans in good numbers . many keen Christians have emerged from this organization . teenagers of both sexes are also provided for by a young people &apos;s fellowship with an attendance of about forty in term time and fifty or more in the vacations . from the very first we have based this on the principle Christ first and no apologies . the result has been many conversions and a deep Christian work . the admirably run local youth for Christ has been a great blessing in this too . for recreation they have games ( badminton , table tennis , skittles , etc ) on all available Saturdays . these are for members only except that visitors may be invited for three occasions . if after that they do not join the young people &apos;s fellowship I should have to tell them that it is a condition of coming . in two years I may have had to do so once . a not overlarge but very much alive prayer meeting is held every Friday . in the four years we have been here we have had the great joy of seeing two of our young men reach the ministry , both of them outstanding men . a further two are in training now and three more have applied for interviews with C.A.C.T.M or already attended . at least one other is reaching that point . at a recent service in a nearby church we had the further joy of having three of our congregation admitted into the order of lay readers at the same service . these , too , are men of exceptional calibre . this brings our available lay readers up to five . not all these young men have been the product of our own church but some have come from outside at various stages in their Christian growth and have made this their spiritual home . we thank God for this great gift . it is also something for which we can praise God that a congregation of strongly evangelical tradition , plus one from the area where we now are , have merged together well with scarcely a note of discord . we are indeed privileged to have such wonderful buildings . a modern church , the surprise and admiration of all who see it , a beautiful hall ( hardly the word to describe many church halls ! ) with ten classrooms alongside , adjustable to four by moving screens , a caretaker &apos;s house and vicarage , all in one short road . we can thankfully say they are the best in the diocese , if not very much further afield , and a great help in the administration of the work that they house . dowdy buildings do not glorify God nor attract people to come . is all this expensive to run and keep up ? yes , it is . we compute that we have got to have a monthly income of &amp;pound;170 . we are like a man on a bicycle ; we have to keep moving or we can not keep going : a challenge and incentive to maintain a spiritual church life . from the warden of Mabledon . glancing over the past year , one is impressed by the wide range of Christian interests represented by those coming to stay for longer or shorter periods . there have been houseparties for the training and building-up of young Christians in the service of Christ : missionary societies have brought their home staffs or council members for fellowship in prayer and for the discussion of mutual problems and opportunities : parishes have allowed themselves to be bereft of clergy and some of the Sunday congregation in order that a quiet parish weekend might be spent away from the usual routine . one such group recently brought whole families - father , mother , and children . two mission fields . a house-going parson makes a church-going people - so I learned at college , and I believed it was a C.P-A.S slogan . I was convinced it was true , and travelling home from central Africa eight years ago to work in a Liverpool parish I resolved that house visiting would have priority . I was also convinced people were hungry for the word of God - preach the gospel and you will fill the church . by the grace of God and his good hand upon me , for seven and a half years I have acted on these convictions only to find that neither seems to apply in this part of the mission field . nevertheless visiting and the scripture message will always be my priorities , but let ordinands and young clergy be saved from false optimism ! whilst not regretting acting on a false assumption , I wonder why there is such a small response in this part of Liverpool to the same gospel which brought Africans flocking to our mission churches and preaching places , not only to hear but to receive ? some say it is because Africa was pre-Christian , whereas Liverpool is post-Christian . all have sinned and come short of the glory of God - it was generally unnecessary to persuade Africans of this truth , they were only too conscious of their need . in twenty-two years I never heard one claim to be as good as , or better than , his neighbours . I hesitate to say my parishioners are not conscious of sin , but generally they are satisfied to be better than their neighbours ( or to think they are ! ) they are not conscious of a need for the saviour , and never flock to church . I would readily agree that our African brethren had not such counter-attractions as the week-end caravan , the car , amusements , T.V , and Sunday work at double pay , but to them the village dances , beer orgies , and cultivation ( by which they lived ) were just as important . some contrasts might enable us to draw a conclusion . revealing contrasts . our African village teachers were primarily evangelists and through their ministry enquirers into the Christian faith were enrolled and instructed . those determined to go forward for baptism were admitted to the catechumenate . a minimum of two years was considered necessary for regular instruction and testing before candidates were accepted into a baptism class . the pastor had to be satisfied ( as far as he was able ) that each was a born-again Christian . whether the baptism took place in the river , or in the Church , it truly symbolized the sinner being buried with Christ , and raised with him to newness of life . every baptized person knew indeed that the washing of water was the outward sign of the cleansing from sin within . it is sad to recollect that probably less than ten per cent of the original enquirers were baptized - but the general leakage from the Church was before baptism . when I came to St Bede &apos;s it was a shock to find the normal request for baptism was Mum says will you do the baby next Sunday . my insistence on personal interviews with the parents and their presence at the baptism frequently meant they just went elsewhere to have their babies done . I was equally shocked to find the congregation objecting to baptisms during morning prayer . it has been a long hard struggle to make this the norm , and for parents and godparents to realize it is such an important event , and that very particular preparation is needed . now , the whole congregation will say together in sincerity we receive this child into the congregation of Christ &apos;s flock &amp;hellip; , and usually parents are appreciative of our methods . they are visited at least twice before the baptism and monthly for as long as possible . even so it does not bring them to Church - we still have a long way to go to reach our African Church standard . 