Why St Helens needs to come together and be more kind to one another

Those words really hit home this week when read by Reverend Philip Fell, associate pastor at the Christian Life Centre.

When the coronavirus crisis first tightened its grip on St Helens, and the entire country for that matter, the sense of togetherness was palpable.

READ > St Helens Council's former chief executive was paid £256k in final year

This was galvanised by St Helens Together, an initiative launching by St Helens Borough Council and delivered largely by an army of volunteers.

Fast forward several months and that sense of togetherness feels different.

The divisions appear more noticeable, the discourse feels less caring, less kind.

Rev Fell has grown increasingly concerned by the language that has become so common on social media battlegrounds.

“I don’t know how many times I’ve thought, I’m coming off this,” Rev Fell said.

“My concern is how we speak, the language that we’re using around this.

“This has been a concern going on for a long time.”

One morning this week, Rev Fell was reading the Bible, as he does every morning, when he came across an especially thought-provoking quote.

The quote came from an unexpected place, not through the Bible he was reading, but from an email, and left a lasting imprint on its recipient.

Rev Fell said: “It’s a verse out of the New Testament. Be kind to one another.

“And I just started thinking about that and thinking, you know, yeah, be kind to one another.

“Actually we need some kindness around. There’s a lot of stuff wrong, there’s a lot of stuff going wrong, but we need some kindness.

“At a street level there’s a lot of that. There’s a lot of community spirit, people hanging out on their doorsteps, clapping the NHS, and rightly so.

“I spent 25 years in nursing, so I was out there clapping. And it’s great. People are doing one and other’s shopping, calling in on one another.

“And the council and the voluntary sector have been involved with that. St Helens Together has been just fantastic, absolutely great.

“But the language isn’t great a lot of the time and I think that, for me, that is a huge, huge challenge.”

An army of volunteers led the support efforts during the first lockdown and will be vital in the months ahead

The negativity surrounding the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis has been particularly frustrating for Rev Fell, especially as the discourse has been mirrored here at a local level.

He believes it is time to leave behind oppositional politics in favour of a contributory approach, with rivals working together, constructively, for the greater good.

Rev Fell said: “I know sometimes we say, well in politics there’s one group in power, and we’re here to hold the other group accountable.

“Accountability isn’t necessarily unkind, in fact no accountability ever should be unkind. If all we’re saying is, that’s what you got wrong and we told you should have done that.

“And of course that’s what’s happening now with Boris (Johnson). You said you weren’t going to do that, we said it should’ve happened.

“Scientific advisors said it should’ve happened, so you’ve got it wrong again.

“Local politicians are saying stuff like this, ‘they’ve just messed it up from the beginning’. I think that’s unkind and therefore if it’s unkind it’s unnecessary.

“Because if they get it right, there aren’t a lot of voices raised saying you’ve got that really right, well done. And it’s not right.”

Rev Fell stood down as a senior Minister at the Christian Life Centre in January, but has continued to work part time throughout the year.

He is also the chair of the Hope Centre, which has provided vital support to some of the most vulnerable people in St Helens throughout the pandemic.

One of the big issues impacting people throughout the pandemic is the impact it is having on peope’s mental health.

This is likely to become even more of a pressing issue for many of us as we head into at least another month in lockdown.

The lockdown may not be as stringent as the one we faced in March, but it will still prove testing, especially given what we’ve already been though in 2020.

The coronavirus crisis has undoubtedly impacted people's mental health

“None of us are immune from this stuff,” said Rev Fell said.

“Back in the first lockdown, it was a Sunday morning, we were at home, just tuning in to our lockdown service and I just happened to be doing the speaking that day, doing the sermon.

“I was watching myself and listening to myself and I said to myself, ‘I don’t know who that guy is. I don’t feel today like I could be saying the things that he’s saying’.

“And it really rocked me. Really made me think. We can all be affected in our mental health and how we’re feeling about ourselves, about life, about this whole scenario, which is just so strange.

“Fortunately, I’ve got a good family, a good team around us, so it was ok. But you suddenly realise, wow this is really having an impact.

READ > Reverend Philip Fell, associate pastor at the Christian Life Centre.

“If I’m feeling this, there are other people that have not had the support that I’ve got, don’t have the connections I’ve got, don’t have the resilience I feel I have.

“And how are we supporting them? What are we doing for them?

“That’s why we’ve tried to support, it’s Ok Not to Be Ok, and all the mental health projects around because it’s so, so crucial.”