Church is open to new ideas from all (From Stroud News and Journal)

Church is open to new ideas from all

Having spent four months at the helm of Bisley's Church, new vicar, the Rev Simon Richards, is gearing up for his first Christmas in charge. Reporter Sian Davies visited him at his vicarage to talk religion, young people and the Church of England.

WITH IDEAS such as a dance remix of Onward Christian Soldiers to engage young people, Rev Simon Richards is keen to show there is more to religion than just Church on Sunday.

Part of the reason Simon, who was a vicar in Berkeley for 13 years before moving to Bisley in July, was chosen to take over from Ian Farrow when he retired, was due to his skills with younger people.

"Something they were looking for when they took me on was my ability to engage young people in the church and include all parts of society," he said.

"I've started going into schools and building a good relationship with the youngsters there and we've got a growing family service. But we've also got to find other approaches to making religion appealing to young people.

"There's a lot of really great things going on outside the church as well as inside and we need to develop more modern approaches to it. "I had this one idea of having a church mixing club - they could mix classic hymns like Onward Christian Soldiers and give them a new modern treatment."

One venture Simon is particularly enthusiastic about is a 10-week road show which is due to come to Stroud in 2007. The programme is based on the Ten Commandments, with a different one covered each week.

Simon explained: "Each week they have an amnesty relating to that commandment, so in Manchester when it was 'thou shalt not steal' everybody handed in things that they had stolen - on the second day someone handed in more than £1,000."

Simon, who is in charge of the churches in Bisley, Oakridge, Chalford and France Lynch, is also set to take over as the area Dean for the Stroud region.

The 58-year-old, who has four grown-up daughters - Ruth, 23, Tabitha, 26, Keren, 29 and Jemma, 31, always wanted to join the church. "I had a brief career in the civil service working for the land registry but at the same time I had an inkling that I wanted to be ordained," he said.

"It was always there in the back of my mind. Even if you're bought up in a religious surroundings though you've got to find your faith in yourself. The great thing about the work I do is that there is no such thing as an average day so there is no chance of getting bored.

"I was a civil servant doing a nine to five job and knew I couldn't do it for the rest of my life - even though what I was doing was fairly exciting."

Having made the decision to go into the church Simon returned to college to do A-levels before heading to university and studying for a degree in theology.

Simon said: "I went back to college because I was told I should have a degree to be ordained - but I failed RE A level the first time I took it."

Simon then spent two years studying at the London College of Divinity followed by two years in Nottingham, when the college moved. Simon and his wife, Jill, who works as a school nurse, are busy settling in, but when he does have free-time he spends it fly-fishing.

Now we are heading towards winter, Simon is looking forward to getting his teeth stuck into the Christmas season. "My plans for the future are to keep doing what the last vicar was doing," he said. "And then to fulfil the things that people want from me."