Bradford 2025 has kicked off the New Year as the UK’s City of Culture, providing a perfect opportunity for gospel-focused churches to reach a wider audience.
The West Yorkshire city was announced as 2025’s UK City of Culture in May 2022 but has since been maligned by many (for reasons ranging from its gloomy weather to economic decline and racial problems). Almost a third of Bradford’s population is under the age of 20; and according to the 2021 census, four in ten people identified as being from an ethnic minority across Bradford District as a whole (significantly higher in the city centre).
But the former industrial powerhouse has a rich cultural heritage, notable for its Roman remains, Victorian architecture, thriving wool trade, and the Brontë Parsonage where Charlotte Brontë wrote her greatest novels.
Bradford is also the base for Christians Against Poverty (CAP). Its director of fundraising, Alex Jones, who (with his wife) has been personally involved in the City of Culture through their involvement with a local street band and the community arts organisation, described the naming of Bradford as City of Culture as ‘a momentous occasion for our city’.
He added: ‘Founded and headquartered here, CAP has witnessed first-hand the challenges faced by many of our neighbours … We believe God’s love, shown through compassionate action, is vital to our city, and so we are excited to see how He will use this opportunity to highlight good work and continue to show Jesus’ love.’
James said many churches, including his own, are planning events to engage with Bradford 2025 as UK City of Culture.
Matthew Pilkington, pastor at Bradford’s Sunbridge Road Mission, says the City of Culture year provides ‘opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with people attending some of the 1,000 cultural events planned in the Bradford region this year’. Evangelist Roger Carswell has produced a tract focused on Bradford as 2025 City of Culture (see picture) and is planning several evangelistic events from the end of January.
Matthew adds that 2025 is a big year for Sunbridge Road Mission church family, having started constructing a new church building. He says: ‘This includes an integrated community space to enable us to have an open door throughout the week. It’s exciting to be building after many years of preparation and fundraising, but we still need to raise around £650,000 to complete the project.’
While the wider financial and cultural impact on Bradford as UK City of Culture is unclear at this stage, Matthew is positive: ‘Our hope for Bradford is rooted in something far more secure – the promises of God and His concern for our city.
