Reflections and Stories

One student’s story of faith in Liverpool

I started the journey to find a church in Liverpool at the very start of my second year. I’d grown up in a Church of England family and had decided to get confirmed at 17, but in my first year I’d never even looked for a church in Liverpool; I hardly remember the thought crossing my mind. It had...

Belonging: Finding Space for Room

“And on this rock I shall build my church” (Matthew 16:18)

As I leave the walls of church behind me, in the ice-cold wind, I ponder. For indeed each brick found a place to belong to the next, as churches were constructed all over the land, in such abundance. Beautiful architecture of its...

The Challenge of Welcome

“We are a welcoming church” is something churches often use to describe our congregations - but if we are honest, it’s easier said than done. Welcome is an interesting word, with meanings around greeting, invitation, and hospitality. On one level, a welcome is fairly easy - a friendly hello does...

The Summer I Met Martin Luther King Jr.

In the summer of 1964, the Revd Ian Whyte – then a divinity student at the University of Glasgow and SCM member – was spending his time at the Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, often preaching at the local church in Alabama. Outside the beautiful surroundings of the college,...