This brief profile of Churches Together in East Leeds is a reflection of its achievements and current on-going programme throughout the past twenty years, that being the period of time the writer has been actively involved in its work.

Over these years I think it fair to say that the mainstream churches have drawn ever closer together in their journey towards attaining that Unity and Oneness Christ our Lord prayed for and which is made especially explicit in the observance by all the member churches of the Week of Christian Unity.

Anglican, Catholic, Methodist and United Reform Christians in Cross Gates, Manston, Halton, Templenewsam, Stanks, Swarcliffe and Osmondthorpe have demonstrated regularly their Witness to the Common Baptism they share in a variety of joint initiatives ranging from the annual Good Friday Walk through the streets of East Leeds to the Cross Gates Carnival, from the production of the Ecumenical Christmas Card to the Shopping Centre Nativity Tableaux and more recently to the community project, 'Connecting Cross Gates' managed by Karen Gray, a member of Church-in-the-Home, a recent and happy addition in our area to the traditional churches above. These and many other projects have been and are presently undertaken.

In a review such as this opportunity should be taken to pay a warm and sincere tribute to the numerous lay folk and clergy from all the constituent church communities who worked and prayed ceaselessly for Churches Together in its early days, the fruits of whose labours are to be seen these many later years.
With more Parish Mergers and Team Ministries imminently planned in the Leeds East area it would seem the future lies in an ever expanding vineyard in which even more willing labourers will be called to the harvest, may they not be found wanting.
R.T.S.