by the Bishop of Bermuda the Rt. Rev. William Down: I am going to talk to you this afternoon about the role of the Church in Bermuda today. I want to do this because I know that many of you belong to various churches, and we all have a common task. Before I do so I want to tell you a little of my personal background so that you will know where I am coming from.

I was born and brought up in England. I was educated in the State system before going to Cambridge University at the age of 20. I was ordained into the ministry of the Anglican Church when I was 25, and served as a curate in Salisbury in England for four years. After that, for the next 27 years, I served with The Missions to Seamen, the Anglican Church's outreach to the seafarers of the world. We had 118 seafarers' centres all over the world, and honorary staff in a further 250 ports.

For 12 years I was a chaplain, and ran large seafarers centres in South Shields and Hull in England, and Fremantle in Western Australia. These centres were open to all seafarers irrespective of any considerations of race, rank or religion. In Fremantle I was also a chaplain with the Royal Australian Naval Reserve.

In 1976 I became the chief pastor and chief executive of The Missions to Seamen, and for 14 years I visited all the 118 centres at least once every two years. During these years I travelled two million miles by air, as well as many more by road, rail and sea. I spent an average of four months a year overseas. I got to know a lot about the world and the Church in that time.

When I came to Bermuda as Bishop in 1990 it was because, as the then Archbishop of Canterbury put it, "I had knocked about a bit!'' During my five-and-a-half years in Bermuda I have witnessed a number of changes and come to understand something of what makes Bermuda tick.

I have seen at first hand the many wonderful assets which Bermuda has. It is one of the most beautiful and attractive places in the world. Great care has been taken to preserve its culture, and to maintain the highest standards of building design and materials. It is a very clean and tidy island. It is not cluttered up with advertising boards. It has always been a favourite place for tourists because it has always been a safe place and its people are so friendly. It has a strong Christian tradition. Business and Government have combined well to make and keep Bermuda a prosperous country. We enjoy a very high standard of living.

I have seen at first hand some of the tensions which are ever-present in our community. There is a right and proper desire to be rid of all forms of racial prejudice and discrimination, and the anger and frustration which manifests itself when apparent injustice is done. There is a right and proper desire to ensure that Bermudians do the jobs for which they are qualified and suited, and the anger and frustration which manifests itself when it is perceived that this is not happening. There is the continuing uncertainty and insecurity which many highly skilled and capable expatriates feel when the renewal, or not, of their work permits is a constant factor in their lives.

I have seen at first hand the changes which have taken place during my time here. There was the Gulf War, which had a dire effect on tourism for a while.

There was the deep worldwide economic recession which affected us all in the early 1990s. There has been a startling rise in cases of robbery and violent crime. There has been a worrying increase of unruly behaviour in our schools.

The deadly threat of AIDS has become a grim reality.

I have seen at first hand some of the social problems we have. The abuse of drugs and alcohol is serious. Pushing of drugs is a real problem. There is a lot of promiscuous sexual behaviour, often without precautionary measures being taken. And there is a disturbing unwillingness to talk about promiscuous heterosexual behaviour, and its effects on home, family and community life.

Such is the setting in which the Church operates here in Bermuda. It is in this setting that the Church needs to be relevant and effective.

Before I go any further I want to make it clear what I mean by the term "The Church''.

The Church is NOT some strange, remote, out-of-touch body whose decisions have little or no relevance to the man in the street. Nor is it a small group -- or series of groups -- of Christians who for one reason or another won't have anything to do with other Christians. Nor is it just the building where we worship God.

The Church is people. It is, as our Anglican Prayer Book puts it, "the blessed company of all faithful people''. St. Paul described the Church as the Body of Christ. Jesus is the head of the body. We, individually, are all important and integral parts of the body. Together, we combine to make up one body -- Christ's body, the Church. For the body to function properly all its members need to work together in harmony.

The Church is both divine and human.

It is divine in that Jesus brought it into being; in that He Himself is its head; and in that its life is guided by the Holy Spirit.

It is human in that the individual parts or members of the body are weak and prone to failure and sin, and can thereby disrupt the working of the body as a whole.

It is because the Church is both human and divine that we have separate churches, many denominations, and are not visibly united.

Here in Bermuda it is vital that we Christians should be more united than we are, if we are to be really relevant and effective. We need to realise and accept that we have to work together if we are to make our proper impact on the community.

There are some encouraging examples of this happening in some areas.

Fairhavens, the women's drug rehabilitation centre, is a project in which all the Churches were invited to participate. The interdenominational chaplaincy team at Agape House works well together. The campaign "Churches Against Drugs'', which is just getting underway, has brought a number of the Churches together. There is good collaboration between individual Churches in particular projects.

But more -- very much more -- needs to be done together. And it can be done.

In the maritime world the Churches began working together 25 years ago in the ministry to seafarers. They were inspired to do this at a wonderful and exciting conference in Rotterdam. There were representatives of many Churches working in the maritime world at the conference. They came to the realisation that they could serve seafarers better if they did it together rather than separately.

In many ports, all over the world, they pooled resources. They prayed together. They planned together. They worked together. In the years since then clergy and lay people of many denominations have come to accept, respect, trust, and love each other as never before. Anglicans, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists and others have found deep and lasting joy and satisfaction in ecumenical collaboration.

The visible result is that the Churches now present a united front to seafarers. Often one seafarers' centre house chaplains of several denominations. Gone are the days of several seafarers' centres competing for the custom of the seafarers. Surplus buildings have been sold, and new joint work has been started in newly developing ports.

The Churches CAN work together.

In the maritime world they DO work together.

As we, the Church, seek to be effective here in Bermuda, our Churches NEED to work together! Our task as the Church is to fulfil our calling.

Our calling is to proclaim the Good News that God's only Son, Jesus Christ, came into the world as a human being, that He lived among us as both God and man; that He died on the cross to pay the price of our sins; and that He was gloriously raised to life three days later. The good news is that the power of sin and death is broken.

Our calling is to proclaim that God loves everybody. It is to love and serve our fellow human beings. And it is to be the salt of the earth: by the quality of our lives and the quality of our service we are to win the world for God.

This is the eternal unchanging task of the Church.

But in every generation the task of the Church is to proclaim its message in a way that meets the needs of the day.

I want to put forward some ideas and suggestions about how the Church in Bermuda should be tackling the needs of today.

First, in a strongly Christian country like Bermuda, the Church should serve as the conscience of the community. It should give a clear positive lead on moral issues. There may well be differences of emphasis in the various Churches; these cease to be important if there is agreement on the main points.

But if the Church is to be the conscience of the community it is vital that every Christian should live a disciplined Christ-centred life.

22 Bishop speaks of role of church From Page 21 There is no better way of influencing people than by living what you believe.

It is also true that sloppy undisciplined lives do not commend the Christian faith. Each individual Christian has a duty and a responsibility to show the self-giving love of God in his or her everyday life.

Second, the Church should play its part in influencing public opinion. In the five years I have been here I have made considered public statements on capital punishment; on the availability and use of condoms; on the sanctity of marriage; on AIDS, and our attitude towards people living with AIDS; on homosexuality; and on Independence.

If we are to influence public opinion in a significant way then we have a duty to ensure that what we say is God's word to us, and not just part of our personal agenda. What we say should be rooted and grounded in the teaching of the Bible as a whole. It should take account of the teaching of the Church in the past. It should spring from our God-given and God-guided powers to reason and intelligence. And it should be the product of prayer and wrestling with the particular subject.

And third, the Church should be active in the community.

There is a real problem here in Bermuda of sexual promiscuity -- people sleeping around indiscriminately. Often they do so without taking precautions.

We need -- both as the whole Church and as individual Christians -- to teach and ram home the Christian message of the sanctity of marriage; of the beauty of the sexual act when it is the expression of trust, respect, affection and love between a couple faithful to each other; and of the need to be responsible and disciplined.

There are real problems in Bermuda of racial unease and tensions, and of increasing violent crime. Both the Church as a whole and we as individuals should not only speak out on the these subjects but also involve ourselves in action to counter these problems.

There is a real problem with AIDS here in Bermuda. There is a high incidence of people here living with AIDS. Many people have already died of AIDS. I admire the work done by the interdenominational chaplaincy team at Agape House -- their attitude is one of love; of acceptance; of gentle counselling; of care for the family of the sufferer; and of self-giving. I don't hear them say, "You made your bed, now lie in it. I have no sympathy for you''.

And there is a major problem in Bermuda of drug abuse, drug pushing, and alcohol abuse.

The Church has a vital role to play here.

The "Churches Against Drugs'' campaign drew up a simple statement of intent.

It says:- "We recognise the serious consequences of illicit drug use and alcohol abuse in our community, and (we) unite to work willingly towards the elimination of these problems in our neighbourhoods''.

The role of the Churches is this.

It is to educate their members about the seriousness of the drugs problem, and to keep it before them.

It is to bring together parents of young people to discuss the problems of drug abuse, and to devise ways of discouraging their children from experimenting with drugs.

It is to prepare and produce good written publicity material portraying the nature and seriousness of the problem.

It is to train and equip speakers and group leaders who are willing to serve in this field.

It is to encourage the members of their congregations to be sympathetic, understanding, compassionate and welcoming towards people with drugs problems.

It is to proclaim boldly and clearly that Jesus transforms people's lives. We believe that no problem is too difficult for Him to solve. We believe that no sin is too great for Him to forgive. We believe that He is the answer to the drugs problem.

And it is to seek out those who are in the grip of drug abuse, and to lead them gently to our crucified and risen Lord. It may well start by just sitting on the wall with them, chatting, as one of our priests does.

That is the role of the Churches.

Now for our role as individual Christians.

As individual members of the Body of Christ it is important that our lives reflect what we believe.

As individual members of the Body of Christ it is important that we make ourselves aware of the nature and seriousness of drug abuse and drug pushing.

It's no good burying our heads in the sand, like ostriches, and hoping that the problem will go away. It won't! It's serious, and the wholehearted efforts of us all are needed if we are going to overcome it. We need to educate ourselves, and to keep our knowledge up-to-date.

As individual members of the Body of Christ we should be prepared to actually DO something about this problem. We should be prepared to stand up and be counted. Here are some things we can do.

We can make a point of ensuring that any young people near and dear to us are aware of the dangers of drug taking.

We can be on the look-out for tell-tale signs of drugs abuse among the people with whom we mix -- the rapid drinking; the glazed eyes; the slurred speech; the shifty manner; the hyperactivity; and the signs of a hangover or withdrawal symptoms. We need to be prepared to say something to them, difficult though that might be.

We can volunteer to be members of church or secular groups which are seeking to identify and help people with drugs problems.

We can ensure that our attitude towards people with drugs problems is one of compassion, sensitivity, and understanding rather than of condemnation. We can share our experience with others.

We can make plain our conviction that Jesus can, and does, transform people's lives. We should not ram our convictions down other people's throats -- but we must be ready to speak about Jesus when the moment is right.

We can make our own this simple Mission Statement, drawn up by "Churches Against Drugs'': "I will willingly work to eliminate illicit drug use and alcohol abuse in our community''.

And we should not underestimate what we can achieve. As a priest once wrote: "I am only one -- but I am one.

I cannot do everything -- but I can do something.

What I can do, I ought to do; And what I ought to do, By God's grace I will do.'' These are some of the major issues confronting us here in Bermuda. The Church has a vital role to play in all of them.

CHURCH HAS IMPORTANT ROLE TO PLAY -- Bishop of Bermuda the Rt. Rev. William Down.