Gospel choir joins with cathedral choir for celebration

Southwell Minster’s service of evensong moved to a new beat at the weekend, when a Pentecostal choir joined the musical line-up to welcome a new black pastor as an ecumenical canon of the cathedral.

The Revd Christian Weaver CBE JP, who is the Minister of the Pilgrim Church in the Meadows, Nottingham, was installed as a canon,  joining two other eceumnical canons - the Rt Revd Malcolm McMahon, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Nottingham and the Revd Wesley Blakey, Chairman of the Nottingham and Derby District of the Methodist Church.

The special service on Saturday, 26th January, marked a practical sign of Christian unity at the end of  the 100th Anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Dean of Southwell, the Very Revd John Guille said: “It was a terrific occasion when we combined the choral tradition along with the Pentecostal Caribbean choir tradition and it was wonderful how each complemented the other and it was a great occasion. It’s good that Christian Weaver is now one of the college of canons, with the role being an ambassador for the cathedral and a critical friend.”

The Revd Christian Weaver was born in the Caribbean island of Antigua. From early childhood Christian won prizes in school and the community for his paintings. He studied art at Leicester College of Art and some of his portraits are on show in the Pilgrim Church in Nottingham. In 1963 he took up pioneering pasturing work in the Pilgrim Holiness Church and he is currently National Superintendent of the Pilgrim Church. He and his wife Daisy have been married since 1962 and have worked together in church planting and administration.

Christian has a Masters Degree in Sociology and became the first black person in Nottingham to achieve professional social work qualifications. He has taught community studies and theology in further education colleges and also spent three years working as a police constable.

He was appointed lead officer for Nottinghamshire County Council, seeing through the authority’s policies on equal opportunity and race equality. His work in the community and campaigning for justice has led to two awards from the Queen. In June 1990 he was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) and in 2002 was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). Christian has also been a magistrate in Nottingham for over 20 years.

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