The First-Year in the Narthex
Picture: MsAnthea antheais via flickr.com
Moving to a new city and finding a new church can be daunting, but can also be an enriching experience. Jennifer Paley recalls her efforts, which have left her more able to appreciate the richness of Christianity in all its diversity.
So, you’ve arrived in York, unpacked the cardboard boxes, discovered the local nightlife and survived/enjoyed/vomited your way through freshers week. Well done! Now comes the hard part; Sunday. You know you’ve should go to church but there seems to be millions to choose from. I remember, in my first week, looking through the CU’s ‘Don’t Panic’ booklet, trying to pick a church that sounded like my own back home. I ended up meeting people in Vanbrugh stalls to walk down to St Michael Le Belfrey (known affectionately by its congregation as ‘St Mike’s’.) There were about 100 of us who walked down that first Sunday in one great big line. My favourite memory of that night is of a guy called Paul who ran up and down the line of people learning EVERYONE’S name. The very nice thing about this was that in the following weeks and terms whenever he saw me he always went “Hi, Jen”! Over the next few weeks I started cycling down to the church on my own and then ended up sitting with random people that I didn’t know. Being rather shy, I was unwilling to engage in small talk with these people and consequently felt rather isolated. St Mike’s can be rather daunting at first because there is a huge number of people in the congregation. I have to confess, I gave up going and didn’t try any other churches. (May I just point out Freshers this is a BAD idea! Even if you start going to a church and don’t enjoy it don’t give up, shop around a bit and find a different church) Luckily my story doesn’t end there. I became very good friends with two Catholics on my course and started going to Campus Mass. Now, please forget the Roman Catholic stereotypes that you may have come across and let me tell you about Campus Mass and its congregation. The congregation is 90% student and I was warmly welcomed by those present and introduced to a completely new (for me) style of service and worship. It was a wonderful time of learning new ideas and challenging other people’s faith. I started to see a different side of God and started to question my own beliefs and ideas which helped me to grow as a Christian. In addition to this I met some lovely people who are now some of my closest friends on campus and was introduced to some of the university chaplains. In addition to this I was introduced to “Brunch at More House” where, for a small donation, you could have your lunch cooked for you. This also gave the opportunity to sit and chat to your fellow worshippers in a relaxed environment. Thus passed my first year at University. When I returned for the second year, after a summer of attending my home church, I realised that, much as I enjoyed Campus Mass, I was missing taking communion and modern worship. I decided to give St Mike’s another try and compromised with myself by attending St Mike’s in the evening and a different church, such as Heslington or St Oswald’s, in the morning. This way, even if St Mike’s didn’t work out, I would have some other options. Eventually my housemate, to whom I will be forever grateful, persuaded me to sign up to some of the activities offered by St Mike’s. I signed up for the Student link and for a cell group. The Student link is where the church marries you up with a family or a couple from the congregation who will then meet up with you a couple of times a term to take you on an outing or feed you Sunday dinner. It gives you a chance to see a different side of York and to escape the ‘student bubble’ that is all to easy to get into at University. My “family” live about 20 minutes drive from York and it was so refreshing to escape the city and sit in a car!! I’ve also now been to parts of Yorkshire which I wouldn’t normally have seen. Further to this, being around non-students has given me some perspective on life after graduation! A cell group is what some of you may know as a home group. It’s a small group of people who meet up once a week for a meal, fellowship and prayer. It lets you get closer to people of a similar age and you can then turn to them for support and guidance when necessary. Joining my cell group was the best thing I did in that second year of uni. Suddenly I had other people around me who I could sit with in church! It encouraged me to keep going to church and if I got an evening where I didn’t feel like going I’d just text one of them for encouragement! Cell group was also a safe environment to say anything that you wanted and be whoever you wanted to be. I’d like to finish by saying that church hunting may be easy for you, it may be hard but stick at it. It’s taken me a long time to find where I’m comfortable and where I fit in but it’s been worth the journey because I’ve learnt a heck of a lot along the way.
Picture: stuck in customs via flickr.com