“I GREW up in what was by then an increasingly multi-cultural Birmingham, child of a teacher, in a house which had severe damp problems, but lots of books. I remember being present, aged six, at the dedication of a new plot for the rebuilding of Carrs Lane Church in the city centre, to which my parents had moved when their local church closed.
“I remember the dramatic ruins of its great Victorian predecessor;…the pulpit amidst devastation in the demolition… and the fun with static electricity from the plastic carpets in the new building. It’s a conident church culture that has since all but passed away; a feeling of conidence in a rebuilding, and of a ‘non-conformist’ identity which could stand up to a stufy establishment, in politics and in faith.”
The Rev David Coleman is the recently appointed Chaplain to Eco-Congregation Scotland. He’s recalling his more traditional roots in his hometown of Birmingham.