Dominating both its city's skyline and the promotional pamphlets that advertise the North East, Durham Cathedral has the status of a medieval tourist attraction, a relic only deserving of historical interest. However, it is, in fact, home to a church community striving to serve the 21st century inhabitants of the region. Speaking to this community's leader, the Bishop of Durham, Dr Tom Wright, I was interested to discover how he felt his church remained relevant to two social groups in modern Durham: the city's students, and the inhabitants of the region's more deprived communities. | "The church has to do everything in its power to appeal to young people because they are our future." | | Dr Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham |
The student body in Durham is young, multi-cultural and liberal, therefore not consisting of what I perceive as the stereotypical church audience. Young church-goers When asked whether any of these people still cared about the values of his institution, however, Dr Wright answered defiantly: “There are many churches in the city that are full of young people, and clearly the gospel is relevant to them. Indeed the Cathedral congregation is one of the fastest growing in Durham and it's by no means only ‘fuddy-duddy’ people.” This may certainly be true, but national trends show attendances dropping year-on-year, suggesting all is not well for the church. When encouraged, Dr Wright asserted his commitment to making Christianity appealing to youths, in order to reverse such trends. “Undoubtedly the church has to do everything in its power to appeal to young people because they are our future,” he said. “That does not mean watering our message down, it means knowing how to present it to attract young people, how to get them on side.” As well as representing both the old and the young within his diocese, the Bishop has to find the common ground between people of differing financial backgrounds. Serving the community
 | | Durham Cathedral dominates the city |
With its economy boosted in part by the University, the city of Durham is a relatively wealthy place. It is, however, an anomaly surrounded by one of the more financially deprived regions in the UK, and, as such, a lot of Dr Wright’s duties include serving seriously disadvantaged communities. “There are certainly many urban areas in the region which are depressed and many rural areas have faced serious hardships since the BSE and foot and mouth crises,” he commented. Given the financial struggles of much of County Durham, it is a responsibility of those who hold power in the region to aid those in need. Dr Wright was keen to promote the church as provider of such help: “If you look at the St Chad’s project in Bensham, childcare has been supplied to a very deprived area where most children come from single parent families. And in West Harton, the ‘action station’ there helps people with literacy and financial advice,” he said. It is clear that such projects are needed to aid the deprivation of certain districts in the North East. Therefore, whether or not the church retains the popularity it had in bygone times, its attempts to help the local communities should not be scoffed at or ignored. “The church ought to be out on the street being an enormous force for good,” Dr Wright told me, “and that is what we are trying to do.” | 
