Nobody Cares Anymore!  "I wish someone would give me £5 for every time I've heard these words, or a variation on them", so says Revd John Davis.  In fact, John's presence is a demonstration that somebody does care.  For the past year, John has been working as an Agricultural Chaplain in the Selby area of North Yorkshire.  As such, he makes regular visits to the Selby Livestock Mart and keeps in touch with the local NFU.  Recently, he has also been given the part-time job of Chaplain to Askham Bryan College of Agriculture, further strengthening his links with the agricultural industry.  Just to make sure that he's not under-employed, he is also one of the three Rural Officers appointed by the Diocese of York to keep the Church informed about the state of agriculture and issues in rural communities more generally.

	Revd John Davis at Selby Livestock Mart
Revd John Davis at Askham Bryan College of Agriculture and Horticulture

Whilst having 25 years of parish experience behind him, John now heads up a team of Industrial Chaplains from various churches in the Selby area who seek to care for people in their places of work.  Between them they serve not only the agricultural industry but also power generation, paper products, the staff at Selby Civic Centre and, latterly, the Selby Coalfield.  In fact, the Industrial Mission in Selby began as a chaplaincy service to the miners of the new Selby Coalfield 26 years ago.  The value of an industrial chaplain was soon recognised and further chaplains were appointed and the work extended into other local industries.  But what does  an industrial chaplain actually do?

John takes up the story, "Time and again we hear the sorry tale that people feel that both they and the work they do is misunderstood or under-valued, or both.  What we do is to listen to people, try to understand their situation, and to affirm them as people as well as members of an industry".  Sometimes particular issues arise that chaplains can air elsewhere with a view to making a difference….though confidentiality is of paramount importance.

One of John's major concerns at the moment is to encourage people to remember the link between the food on the supermarket or local shop shelves and the farmer who grew or raised it.  "I'm concerned", he says, "that people are increasingly taking food for granted, with seemingly little understanding as to where it came from and how it gets to their plate".  John is also a strong advocate for locally produced and marketed food.

Another question that pops up on a regular basis during John's visits is, "Where is your Church"?  John takes the story up again, "Folk seem genuinely pleased, if a little surprised, that the Church is prepared to pay for people like me to take an interest in them and the work that they do".  Whilst some point to declining attendance figures, John is keen to stress the positive things that the churches do and sees the present time as a time of "re-assessing what is really important to us and how to meet that challenge".  A recent report highlights the contribution that the Church is making to the Yorkshire and Humber area.  The Church delivers 6,500 community projects, employs an estimated 3,000 staff, co-ordinates between 50-70,000 volunteers, generates work with a cash-equivalence of some £55-75 mill. per annum with 150,000 benefiting directly (three-quarters of whom are not church-goers).

"Nobody Cares Anymore!"  Clearly somebody does and John, and his team, are part of a Church that still seeks to demonstrate its concern for people, their work and their communities.