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The Bishop of Manchester launched a new church in the parish of Christ Church, Chadderton, when he visited as part of his diocese-wide pilgrimage on Saturday 11th October 2008.
The bishop's visit began with prayers at St Saviour`s, after which the bishop was taken to visit a number of local community projects, among them, "The ROC" (Radclyffe Outreach Centre), a joint project between the church and voluntary community workers, local schools, police, and local councillors.
A reception for the local community, hosted by church members, was held at St Saviour`s. Among the guests were the Mayor and Mayoress of Oldham and a number of local councillors and representatives of community groups and organisations.
Participating in the service of celebration and commissioning which followed at Christ Church was the newly-ordained curate, the Revd. Tony Ford, who first became a Christian through his contact with Christ Church and who has grown in faith as a member of the church family. In recent years Tony has followed a sense of calling to ordained ministry and was ordained deacon in 2008. Three churchwardens also represented each congregation in the parish and spoke of the life and history of the church.
Handing the baton back to the Bishop at the end of the service was
Amin, an asylum seeker from Iran who now attends sixth form at Blue Coat School. Amin recently became a Christian and was baptised and confirmed the following Sunday.
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