Manchester's "Forward Movement"
SIR,—It is well that " the truth of things " is known in heaven. It is obviously not known in Winchester, for Canon Roger Lloyd in his article in your issue of December 19th on A Mission Year is far from the truth when he cites Manchester as one of the towns where " follow- ing the example of the Mission to London . . . for a whole week evangelistic missions have been preached in every parish church." This apparent slip might be overlooked were not Manchester and its supposed mission singled out for special mention in two other places in Canon Lloyd's article. This is a pity, for it does the Church in Manchester an injustice, and I trust you will allow me to correct the false impression given by Canon Roger Lloyd.
This year Manchester has begun what is known as the " Forward Movement." From the outset, under the wise guidance of the Bishop, we have avoided doing the very things Canon Lloyd in his inexcusable ignorance has said we have done. We have not followed the example of the Mission to London; we have not had a whole week of evangelis- tic missions in every parish-church, nor do we intend it; the missioners have not all gone home—indeed the " missioners " in Manchester's " Forward Movement" have not even left home. We have not taken people away from their normal tasks, nor is that part of our plan. These and a host of other negatives give the lie to Canon Lloyd's astonishing assertion.
The " Forward Movement " in Manchester aims at doing the very things which Canon Lloyd advocates when he says: " To convert Manchester means . . . the sanctifying (by the Church) of its whole corporate life and all the ways in which it is sustained." The Movement was launched at the Cathedral on September 25th this year, and is to continue in its present phase until the end of 1954. Its object is so to strengthen and deepen the life and worship of the church in every parish that, both corporately and individually, church- people may more effectively reach out to those who stand outside the family of Christ. This will be attempted in a yariety of ways. The operational unit is the parish, and it will be for every parish under the leadership of its incumbent to make its own plans and carry them out. Help is available from outside the parish, a number of clergy having been chosen from within the diocese to act as leaders and preachers and parish consultants.
For Manchester, therefore, evangelism does not mean " a tremen- dous, and therefore very occasional shake-up." It means, on the contrary, the creation in every parish of a permanent mission-station and the demand that every congregation will, under the leadership of its parish priest, become and continue to be a missionary congre-
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