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Bishop goes underground with Back to Church invitations A Nottinghamshire bishop will be going underground to give a special welcome Back to Church to miners in the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham next week. Last year the Bishop, the Rt Revd Tony Porter, took to the skies in a plane to help promote the message of Back to Church Sunday, but he now aims to dig deeper with a visit down Welbeck Colliery next week on Tuesday, 23rd September, when he will also meet with colliery workers and give out invitations to miners coming off their shifts. Bishop Tony said: “I’m looking forward to having a taster of what it is like to work below the surface. The coal mines are an important part of our heritage and many of our communities were established around the local pit – Welbeck and Thorseby are now the last two working mines left in this county - although I am delighted that UK COAL are looking at the viability of re-opening Harworth Colliery which ceased production two years ago. I’m really pleased Welbeck Colliery and UK COAL have allowed us to hand out invites for Back to Church Sunday. Our message this year is that everyone is a VIP and important to God – we are trying to extend our invitations as widely as possible.” Photo opportunities: The Bishop of Sherwood will be available for a photo immediately before he goes on an underground visit at Welbeck Colliery at 8.30am on Tuesday, 23rd September AND around 1pm, when he comes back to the surface. At 1pm he will also be available for interviews and there will be longer opportunities for photos by the lift shaft and with miners returning from their shift. Around 100 churches across the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham are taking part in the national Back to Church Sunday campaign on Sunday 28th September 2008 – planning to give a warm welcome to visitors. Last year more than 1,000 people came back to church around the diocese and organisers hope to build on that number this year. Local churches are planning special welcomes to tie in with the VIP theme – at St Mary's Church in Westwood the congregation are planning a Champagne breakfast, red carpet and men in dinner jackets to greet visitors! The national campiagn has extended to other parts of the world for the first time this year, with 37 Church of England dioceses from Exeter to Newcastle joining with Churches Together in Scotland, the Church in Wales, Baptist, Methodist and United Reformed churches nationwide, Elim Pentecostal churches and Anglican churches in New Zealand and Canada. This represents exponential growth for Back to Church Sunday, which began in Manchester in 2004 with the message ‘Missing You’, and spread to Wakefield in 2005, nine Church of England dioceses in 2006 and 20 in 2007, when 20,000 people came back to church in one day. Research by the Diocese of Lichfield after last year’s Back to Church Sunday suggested that 6,000 people came back to church on that day and that, six months later, between 700 and 900 (12-15 per cent) had become regular members. About a further 3,000 are still in touch with their inviting churches and may have come at Christmas or to a social event. The 2008 resources centre on a special and personal invitation, with a place card bearing the emblem ‘VIP’. The venture is supported by Traidcraft, which produces fairly traded and environmentally friendly resources for churches to advertise their invitation and welcome. Local churches buy a Back to Church pack, with posters, prayer cards, balloons, welcome team tshirts, with ‘friendly feedback’ cards for newcomers. See below for a full list of churches taking part in the campaign across the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham on 28th September 2008.
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