Despite warnings that Norfolk people are slow to accept incomers, Bishop Graham is the first to acknowledge that he has received a warm welcome in his first year. His own warm, cheerful personality and an unstuffy approach, must surely have contributed to that response as he has travelled the county getting to know people.
“I have been encouraged to find the same awareness of the presence of God, and longing for Him to touch them, in churches with very different traditions and to see the amount of active engagement in social action in the city and county,” said the bishop. “I don’t think many people are aware of the involvement of Yarmouth Christians in the care and settlement of asylum seekers for example.”
His aim is to encourage local churches in their work and witness, mainly by caring for the clergy, but also to remind ordinary people of God and His claims, as Jesus did, by his own involvement with them. Although not involved in party politics, he cares deeply about the problems faced by rural communities and spoke on their behalf in London as part of the protest to Barclays Bank about the closure of rural branches.
Warm welcome: Bishop of
Norwich, Rt Rev Graham James.
