This week, two of BBC Radio 4’s Daily Services will be broadcast from Bournville Parish Church in Birmingham.
The Daily Service is a short 15-minute radio programme, providing space for spiritual reflection. Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra at 09:45am and available to listen again on BBC Sounds, it includes a Bible reading, prayer and a range of Christian music.
The Daily Service has been broadcasting since 1928, making it the longest running radio programme of its kind.
This week’s services will focus on model villages, exploring the vocations of these historical industrial communities. Bournville Parish Church will feature in both Monday and Friday’s services.
A model village, with a history rooted in Christian faith
Bournville is one of the most well-known model villages in the UK.
Just four miles south of Birmingham city centre, it was founded by George and Richard Cadbury in 1890s to house workers from their Cadbury chocolate factory.
The Cadbury brothers were Quakers, and their Christian faith inspired them to create a different kind of village, where staff and the wider community could have a better quality of life.
Bournville Parish Church, which is dedicated to St Francis of Assisi, was built in 1925 as part of the model village.
The first service on Monday 3 August featured an interview with Caroline Cadbury, the great-granddaughter of George Cadbury.
Caroline says: “George and family were Quakers but they welcomed all faiths or no faith at all and wanted people to be able to be free from prejudice or judgement.”
The gospel reading is from John 15:1-11 – the vine and the branches. In these verses, Jesus describes Himself as the true vine and invites us to abide in Him.
Monday’s service reflected on how St Francis continues to inspire us to pray that we might allow ourselves to live ‘in Christ’, and to discern the presence of God in all that God continues to create.
A welcome for all
On Friday 7 August, the Daily Service will return to Bournville to consider Luke 10:25-37 and the story of the Good Samaritan.
Bethany, a member of the ministry team at Bournville Parish Church, will speak about how the church shares a longing that all people, irrespective of their backgrounds, know Christ’s welcome. She illustrates this by speaking of the work of the St Francis community in Bournville to deepen it’s understanding of how those living with neurodiversity might experience barriers to feeling welcomed and safe within our churches.
Revd Canon Richard Wharton, Vicar at Bournville Parish Church, says: “Our lives and the life of the church is deepened and illuminated in proportion to our capacity to turn to our neighbours and meet the stranger. In doing so we will … encounter Christ”
Listen to both programmes at 9.45am on BBC Radio 4 Extra or listen again on BBC Sounds.