A candle in the night
There is a church where more than a hundred people, many of them young, mostly unchurched, step inside to pray. Since opening its doors for a weekly Friday-night vigil three and a half years ago, over 15,000 people have accepted the invitation to enter the medieval church of St Mary’s in Guildford to light a candle and pray for peace. This takes place in the heart of the town, attended by the stag and hen parties, students in fancy dress and clusters of friends who are heading home from pubs and clubs. The invitation is simple, to pray for peace.
Nigel Campion-Smith is a member at St Mary’s, a joint Anglican and Methodist church. Nigel was one of those behind Common Ground’s initiative which began monthly ‘Night Vision’ sessions inviting people in at the gate some years back. “We were planning a February 2022 session with a theme of love,” he says. “But, the night before the session, Russia invaded Ukraine. We changed the plan and invited people to come in, to light a candle and to pray or just reflect. A lot of people came in that night.”
The response reshaped the ministry entirely and peace became the central theme. “It inspired so many,” Nigel explains. “While it is hard to turn down an opportunity for a more peaceful world, people also asked if they could light a candle for friends, for family, for situations they’d heard about on the news. It became a shared act of hope.”
Each Friday from 9.00pm–11.00pm, two volunteers stand at the church gates, where they extend a simple invitation, to light a candle for peace. One of them, Michael Lee, describes how unexpectedly positive the reaction has been. “It’s quite a step to stand out on the street and invite pub and club goers to pop in,” he says. “But people are remarkably positive. Nobody has ever been rude about it. They’ll say, “I’m not dressed for church”, or “I’ve had a drink”. But we tell them that’s not part of the deal, everyone’s welcome.