Church of England will engage with community

Actually he has two jobs. Apart from being in charge of an area containing more than 2.6 million people with an estimated economic output of more than £50 billion, he will also serve as Bishop of Leeds.

It will be Pentecost Sunday, the day on which Christians mark the blessing of the Holy Spirit conferred by Christ on his remaining 11 disciples (the 12th, Judas Iscariot, had killed himself).

Pentecost, which derives from ancient Greek, means ‘fiftieth’ – in this case, the 50th day after Easter. When Nick Baines was last interviewed for this paper in late March, he used another Greek word, “kairos”, meaning timely, opportune, the supreme moment.

“I think I have been very fortunate in that I came here at a time when things were beginning to happen,” he said.

At the time he was referring to Bradford and its burgeoning developments – City Park, Westfield and the Odeon; but he could also have been talking about the wider context in which his former diocese now finds itself part of a much larger enterprise which extends from the Lune Forest in Teesdale to Barnsley in the south.

Throughout his time as Bishop of Bradford – a job that stopped at Easter when the Bradford Diocese itself was dissolved after 97 years – Nick Baines always encouraged a wider, less parochial outlook, not narrowed by defensiveness.

He said: “Being the victim is never a strong motivator for being creative, for making things happen. In the three years I have been here, I have seen the change in the way Bradford presents itself with greater confidence.

“Four months before Make Bradford British was on the telly the pre-emptive strike (from) Bradford was entirely negative. In the end, Make Bradford British was quite interesting, quite good.

“How do you argue against an ex-policeman admitting he was racist? If the media are going to do something on Bradford we are not running for the barricades.

“If you have to hide from things, there’s no impetus to change. If you define yourself as a victim, it’s not your responsibility to do anything about it.”

At the service on June 8, a ticket-only event that starts at 4pm, the Archbishop of York the Most Reverend Dr John Sentamu will be president and preacher. The areas that make up the new diocese – Bradford, Wakefield, Leeds and Ripon – will be represented by three cathedral choirs, the choir of York Minster and an eight-piece brass ensemble from Leeds’ St George’s Church.

This spirit of inclusiveness continues the following month when from June 15 to 20, Nick Baines will be formally enthroned at each of the cathedrals in Wakefield, on July 15, Bradford on July 17 and Ripon on July 20.

Once the necessary formalities are out of the way, after the summer we can expect the Bishop to name the area bishops he has chosen to serve Wakefield and Bradford. This was something he talked about in general terms in March.

“I would expect an area bishop to engage with the college, the university, schools; it should be very creative. I am looking for someone who understands the opportunities of a northern city,” he said.

“The new area bishop will be coming in to a place that’s grown in confidence. There’s a serious possibility of the Odeon getting started now. You have a very energetic leadership at the university.

“I am not going to lose touch with Bradford. The Bradford experience will inform what’s done in other parts of West Yorkshire & the Dales. I have always argued that you have to look at the urban through the lens of the rural and vice-versa. You can only understand your own culture if you see it through the lens of another culture,” he added.

The various cultural perspectives that comprise West Yorkshire & the Dales make up a kaleidoscope. The future of the Church of England’s newest and biggest diocese is going to depend in part on how that is viewed and in part how the church responds to what happens.

“Interfaith is not about resolving tension, it’s about doing business, engaging together for the sake of the common good,” the Bishop added.