Spiritual sharing creates a family

What makes for a successful

Unitarian congregation?

Macclesfield to find out.

Voices rang out from the pews along the three sides of the

chapel:

“I’m grateful for my children.”

And: “I’m grateful for the love I’ve been given here.”

Another expressed gratitude for a warm and loving family.

And then a voice from behind me: “I’m grateful for a place

I can bring Ben, and he can make a noise and people don’t

worry about it.”

A burst of laughter followed because young Ben had indeed

been making a noise, and it was true that no-one seemed to

mind.

chapel of King Edward Street in Macclesfield, and

the minister had asked people to say one thing in their life

they were grateful for at that moment. The spontaneity and the

in Macclesfield – and its minister, the Rev Michael

Dadson.

the Unitarians at Macclesfield (not ‘of’ or ‘at’). This evokes

partnership and sharing, and also informality. Yet at the same

time, there’s evidence of highly-tuned organisation at King

Edward Street.

A bookmark on each pew displays the chapel’s Covenant

– a simple brief statement of belief, but clearly the product of

much effort and thought. The bookmark is part of a range of

chapel publicity, all simply and beautifully produced.

The Minister with the Unitarians at Macclesfield surprises

me (and the congregation too it seems) during this harvest

service. Michael ascends to the high pulpit and yet doesn’t deliver

any sermon or address. Instead, he leads with a series of

linked meditations and readings around the theme of autumn,

evoking the beauty and mystery of life.

to gain an understanding of this community. My visit

began on Saturday just after midday – Michael had arranged

an open lunch at the chapel, so that I could hear from members

about life at King Edward Street.

Amid the enthusiasm and the buzz, it was clear that people

are experiencing genuine spiritual growth. This, in turn,

has created (I kept hearing from members) a congregation that

feels like a family. (Some of their accounts appear on the Inquirer Interview page.)

Membership at Macclesfield Unitarians is around 40, that’s

not much more than when Michael started out three years ago

– but average attendance at Sunday services has risen to about

congregation stand out is the spiritual development taking

place.

I was able to meet up later with the chapel’s President, Eila

Forrester, a congregational member for more than 30 years and

a former lay leader at the chapel. She is from a distinguished

Unitarian family; her father was John Kielty, himself a former

minister at King Edward Street – and general secretary of the

General Assembly for 20 years.

Eila recalled for me Michael Dadson’s arrival three years

ago. She told me she put it to him then that the congregation

lacked cohesion and energy – and that what was needed was a

strategic approach.

“We wanted a minister to share the workload of running

community life – not to mend our boiler, but to mend our

responded immediately. It was like a marriage made

in heaven.”

Michael tells me that he felt Eila was, from the start, giving

him permission to go ahead and do what he felt was needed.

Her support was crucial, he says. “So I told the congregation:

‘we need a sense of cohesion, identity, belonging … and from

– and he proposed that they should develop their

own. It was forged through a series of congregational meetings

and many drafts, with all members having a say, and all

eventually agreeing the final version. (This Covenant appears

at the bottom of the page.)

And it has been renewed each year at a special Covenant

for joining. (Four new members joined the chapel last

year, and five this year.) Michael feels the Covenant has bound

the congregation more closely together.

The other key feature of the chapel is the formation of

and working in small groups is central to this, he says.

At least five new groups now meet regularly, all involve spiritual

sharing – but each has its own style and focus. These

groups are: Signposts (described in chapel literature as ‘ to

support one another’s day-to-day spiritual awareness’); Credo

(‘to help one another’s thinking and behaving’); Frontiers (‘to

broaden our spiritual horizons’); Holding Circle (‘to hold in

heart and mind those needing our care and support’); and Tao

(‘reflecting upon Taoist teachings’).

The Frontiers group evolved from a conventional study

group into one aimed at broadening horizons through encounters

or exchanges. Michael is not afraid to experiment – other

groups have been formed but have not lasted.

I attended a session of Signposts, held after the Sunday service.

Sitting quietly in a circle, each of us lit a candle in turn and

spoke of how we were feeling. I felt everyone present spoke

openly – in some cases about everyday concerns, in others

about deeper emotions of loss and joy. There were no questions

or discussion, just the chance for each member of the

circle to speak and to be heard.

Michael sees these groups as developing practical spirituality,

a point which congregational members also emphasised.

Michael himself is particularly attracted to the Taoist philosophy,

with its non-theistic, down-to-earth approach to living.

He describes Taoism as ‘a manual on how to live’.

Michael appears to relish the busyness of his life – he is

at the heart of events at King Edward Street chapel, while

also having part-time involvement at Newcastle-under-Lyme,

that he wants the congregation to develop the confidence

to operate on its own. He quotes from the Tao to the effect that

the true leader is one who inspires people to achieve while

remaining unnoticed.

vicar (in the 1980s). “Form was all important then – I

felt I couldn’t open up. Now my work is all about opening up

possibilities for people.”

Covenant binds congregation together

Michael is well supported by the management structure at

King Edward Street. He has a Supervisor, Judith Burrows, a

chapel committee member, and a legal manager in her professional

life, with whom he meets each month. Judith told

me their meetings had initially been fairly formal but she acts

now more as a ‘sounding board’ for the minister, as he talks of

his hopes and plans for the chapel community. Both said how

much they valued these meetings, and Michael made clear he

is well supported too by the committee and its chairman (who

was away on the weekend I visited).

The chapel is also supported by the national structures of

the General Assembly – for example, its new leaflets were

funded by the Communications Commission as part of a pilot

project. The members I spoke to did not paint a purely rosy

picture of life at King Edward Street. The chapel faces problems

common to many of our worship places: how to bring in

more young people and keep them involved; older people not

attending much beyond worship services; newer members not

having a tradition of regular worship attendance.

But Michael feels there can be solutions to these apparent

problems. He is keen to hold congregational lunches more regularly,

with a choice of activities on offer, appealing to a range

of interests and ages – from tai chi to ‘spiritual art’. Only one

such lunch has been held so far, but he sees potential here for

breaking down barriers.

The chapel suffers from having no hall and no kitchen, and

despite its historic status, has at last been given the go-ahead

to build an extension and re-arrange the space within to create

a hall, kitchen, indoor toilets and a small meeting room. This

will make congregational lunches a much easier undertaking!

And the extension will also allow more events involving the

wider community, as well as lettings. The hope is that this will

encourage more outreach – and in turn new kinds of growth for

the Macclesfield Unitarian congregation.