Your race-stories of hope

Hope in Ashton
A man was stabbed one night in Ashton under Lyne and it wasn't long till some of the young people who knew him rang at the vicarage for help. They didn't feel safe on the streets any more.

The local team Vicar Jo Farnworth welcomed them, and found things for them to do like cooking and talking and even going away together hiking and abseiling. Jo said: "It became very apparent that many of the young people around here have little hope. They don't have much to do.

They don't always find any provision
made for them, and so they feel that nobody really wants them. And as a church we can show there is hope - they can have hope - their lives can be different, that's part of the gospel message that we can bring to young people."

Some of the young people spoke to BBC Radio about their welcome from the local church: "Jo was there for us - she was the only person who opened her arms to us. So we got a few of our mates round and we talked about it and we prayed."

"We're safer, we're alot safer. Cos we're not out messing about and we're not getting in trouble with the police or getting in fights."

"We feel like someone wants us to do something better with our lives. It feels like a second home."

St John Cheetham
Teamirat was born in Ethiopia and went to church there as a young boy, but later he stopped going. He says: When I was in my teens I did my own thing. I started to get into fights. Deep down I was afraid and insecure."

Now Teamirat works at St John Cheetham to help serve people in the local area in different ways.

"Since I started to read the Bible I have a new sense of confidence and security. I have hope. I think this is because I am coming back
to God."

St Martin Droylsden
On the way to Australia for a Christmas break with family, Roy collapsed at the airport, and spent nine weeks heavily sedated in intensive care. The doctors diagnosed severe pancreatitis and predicted only a 20% chance of survival. In those dark days, Sylvia says she never gave up. Even on the days her heavily sedated husband didn't recognise her, she nevertheless kept hoping.

"God was with me and I had so much support from church. Knowing they were praying for us meant a great deal."

A hospital visit from their parish priest was the turning point. The Revd Brian Lipscombe ended his visit to Roy's bedside with the Lord's Prayer. As Brian prayed, Roy's lips began to move, as he silently mouthed the words of the prayer too. It was the first indication of awareness after two months.

For Sylvia, as she saw Roy's lips moving, it was a tangible reason for hope. She later referred to it as 'an anchor to hold on to'.

Now restored to health, Roy says he experienced God in those dark days in a way he will never forget. "Now I know I don't need to be in church to be with Him. I can be in the garden on in the kitchen. But I know he saved me to serve Him, and that is what I want to do."

Chaplain Kevin Ball said, "We are there to show that someone cares, whether a staff member has a faith or not. We are with people day by day in their working  environment, sharing with them their joys and sorrows, allowing them to explore their faith, if  they want to, or just to talk."