Reply to Martyn Saunders Rawlins

The following is a news report published in the Hastings Observer concerning our new Art Gallery opening and the reply from Martyn Saunders Rawlins in the letters section of the Observer the following week, attacking us and our Christian faith. We have also included letters written to the Observer by other members of the public to bring correction to Martyn Saunders Rawlins and the statements he made.

Published Date: 28 April 2008
By Julia Taylor - Hastings Observer

It was one of the most controversial decisions in 2007 - to allow the Sonrise Church to run St-Mary-in-the-Castle - and today the church pastors will be eagerly awaiting the local election results.

Because at the time of the controversy, Labour councillor Jay Kramer said if Labour got back into power they would remove Sonrise from the building, though this was later retracted by her fellow councillor Jeremy Birch. Glenn and Cathy Khan have been running the historic building for the last nine months, and the public opinion of the Born Again Christian church appears to have done an about-turn. Cathy, 42, said that people had mistaken their church for namesake right-wing homophobic churches in the US, and stressed that they had no associations with them.

Peter Finch, Hastings Borough councillor, has always backed Sonrise. This week he said that the church running St-Mary-in-the-Castle was saving the tax-payer £100,000 a year. He said: "If one recalls the controversy and disagreement prior to the lease being granted and the distinct lack of support from some quarters, Sonrise Church are doing an excellent job. "There are many varied public and non church uses of the building with an estimated attendance of 12,000 to 13,000 people."

With the church services limited to Sunday, the pastors spend the rest of the week business-managing and maintaining the performance space and cafe at St-Mary-in-the-Castle. "We're passionate about the building itself," Cathy, originally from Croydon, said. "And we're committed to seeing the building used by every group in the community." One group now making use of the space is Bourn4Art. Originally based at the Bourne Hall, the group were asked to leave when the Old Town Wesley Chapel was sold by owner Tony Smith from Brownbread Horse Rescue Centre in Battle.

Following a renovation of the hall after he purchased it in 1992, Tony no longer has the time to run it, and made the hard decision to let it go. But very soon after the 180 Bourn4Art artists found their work homeless, Cathy and Glenn from Sonrise stepped in. Bourn4Art organiser John Pearce said the group would still be keeping the name, despite the change of location, and have their first exhibition planned for June, as well as a permanent gallery. He said: "It's fantastic.

It's the best hanging space for open exhibitions between Dover and Brighton. It's internationally known. "It would be a great shame to see a gallery space like this with empty walls. "What I have found is, to get your work hung at a gallery is very expensive and cliquey.

I wanted to give all artists an opportunity to hang their work. "For the open gallery it's £2 per week per painting for a minimum of four weeks. All the work is for sale. "It's looking very promising." For more information about Bourn4Art call John on 07833 796323. For more information about the church go to www.sonrisechurch.co.uk.



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Reply from Martyn Saunders-Rawlins

Re: 'Evicted Bourne artists find new home, Hastings Observer, May 9:

THE above article reads like an advertisement for the church and is not as impartial as one would expect from a newspaper. There is no hint of irony in Sonrise Church offering a home to the Bourn4Art artists when their first action on gaining possession of St. Mary-in-the-Castle was to evict South Coast Artists (SoCo) simply because they felt that some of the art displayed by this pre-eminent group was considered 'unsuitable.'

In the original article it was suggested that the public opinion of Sonrise Church appears to have done an about-turn which is a misconception as the controversy surrounding the decision to give the lease to Sonrise Church continues unabated, with artists and other local residents actively boycotting any event that takes place at SMIC. We continue to object to Sonrise Church's occupancy of St. Mary-in-the-Castle for many reasons, one being that the lease awarded was on ridiculously favourable terms that disadvantage the council tax payers of Hastings.

Sonrise Church also receives an annual grant of £10,000 towards maintenance of the building and so effectively pays no rent at all. The people of Hastings are subsidising Sonrise Church.Cathy Khan is at pains to try to distance her church from "right-wing homophobic churches in the US", yet it was Sonrise Church which welcomed the Rt. Reverend Wallace Benn to SMIC last year to deliver a sermon.

Bishop Benn is one of the most controversial figures in the Church of England who not only staunchly opposes the ordination of women or homosexuals, but actively preaches against the acceptance of same-sex relationships.Many Christians as well as non-Christians find these exclusive beliefs quite unacceptable and abhor the fact that as council taxpayers our money is used to support them. Cllr Finch's estimation of an attendance of 12,000-13,000 must also be questioned.

Those of us who live near to SMIC and pass it every day and most evenings, are well aware that most of the time it is rather quiet and that not only do there seem to be fewer events held there but many of those that are of Christian nature and not of general appeal. Even the recent jazz supper organized by St. Mary-in-the-Castle Friends was poorly attended, mainly due to the boycott.

I wish John Pierce and the Bourn4Art artists every success at SMIC but feel that they should stop to consider what happened to SoCo and to ask why Pelham Arts, Sonrise Church's last arts initiative failed?
MARTYN SAUNDERS-RAWLINS The Croft

Replys

I FAIL to understand why your correspondent has got so concerned about Sonrise Church. I recently hired the venue for a large secular event and found them to be charming and helpful.
The venue was as good as ever, and with the Sonrise people on hand it was actually an easier event to run than those I have run in St. Marys in the past. I also fail to see why getting Wallace Benn who happens to be the Bishop of Lewes, in to give a talk is a problem.
Personally I do not agree with his views but he is the local Bishop not some odd guy from a long way off.I would say give Sonrise Church a chance to get St Marys working as a venue. They were really good to us and didn't seem to be in any way obstructive.
After all what we all want is to see the Arts thriving in this town and here is a venue that is working so let's use it.
KEITH LEECH Collier Road

I MUST correct Martyn Saunders-Rawlins' statement that the recent jazz supper organised by St Mary in the Castle Friends was "poorly attended". In fact, 200 or so people enjoyed an evening of fine music from Chris Hutchinson, Juliet Devereaux and friends and feedback from the event on April 19 has been overwhelmingly positive. We are hoping that all those who wish to see St Mary in the Castle take its rightful place in the life of Hastings will turn out for our next event on July 12 when Mike Hatchard and friends will be providing the entertainment at this magnificent venue.
CHRIS SHOREMAN Chairman St Mary in the Castle Friends

MR Saunders-Rawlins (Letters, May 30) is surely 'cutting off his nose to spite his face' by refusing to use St Mary-in-the-Castle and then complaining that it is not open enough to being used (when much effort has been put in to making it available to a wide range of groups). And he is entirely wrong to say that my friends at Sonrise Church 'evicted' SoCo Arts group, as their going was a Council decision before Sonrise gained access to the building.

However, my reason for writing is to set the record straight about my friend, Bishop Wallace Benn, who Mr. Saunders-Rawlins calls "controversial", maintaining that he opposes ordination for homosexuals and women and is against the acceptance of same-sex relationships. Wallace (who as Bishop of Lewes is Area Bishop for our town too) is in fact continuing the long-standing stance of the Church of England (and of the majority of Christian denominations), based upon the Bible, that the place for sexual activity is within marriage alone, because such activity is too precious to be squandered elsewhere.

It is surely those who seek to alter that established teaching who are "controversial". The Bishop has never said that homosexuals should not be ordained, nor that relationships between people of the same sex should not be deep and committed. What he has said, in accord with church teaching, is that all those who are unmarried (including those of a heterosexual orientation) should not be engaging in sexual intercourse.

Anyone who disobeys the biblical guidelines in that way (or any other) needs therefore to come for forgiveness to God, and should not be ordained while continuing in such error. While Wallace believes the Bible allows only men to lead churches (and he and I have an amicable disagreement about that), he has been scrupulously fair in accepting the opposite view within the Church of England, and has been a real support to those ordained women under his care.
Bishop Wallace is a delightful person, and a good friend to our town (having campaigned strongly against any closure of departments in our hospital, for example). It is unfair and untrue to give only the narrow view of him expressed in that letter.
REV. CHRIS KEY Rural Dean of Hastings & St Leonards

Our Reply

I WOULD like to bring some correction to a letter published in last week's Observer in regard to Sonrise Church and St Mary in the Castle. The letter was in response to us helping a local arts group 'Bourne4art' find a new home for their exhibitions at SMIC.

A number of points were made by Martyn Saunders Rawlins who is known as an expert in Russian Art with strong connections to Sotheby's and Bonhams (as reported in the Daily Telegraph). First he claims that, as new tenants of the building, our first action was to evict the previous tenants Soco arts group.

The truth is that their tenancy agreement was with Hastings Borough Council (not Sonrise Church) and Robin Holtman the, then, Chairman had made a statement that he intended for SOCO to leave St Mary in the Castle within a few months anyway. Prior to our moving into the building, an exhibition was held by the group and artwork using our child protection policy was displayed and put up for sale to the general public. We considered this work disturbing as images of a sexual nature had been superimposed over that information, even though one was of a fertility goddess from an old church building at Kilkenny.

It was also reported by the Observer at that time that Mr Saunders Rawlins called us Nazis because we complained, which we found most upsetting.He then claims that we do not pay rent to Hastings Borough Council. The church pays a monthly rent for the duration of the lease. The church and its running costs are not subsidised by the people of Hastings as he claims, however H.B.C make a small contribution to the restoration and ongoing maintenance of this grade 2 listed building, as landlords of the premises, which they then reclaim from us in the form of a monthly rent payment. Running costs and upkeep of the premises previously cost the people of Hastings over one hundred thousand pounds a year and therefore we have been are able to save the local taxpayer that sum.

Our business plan that was presented to the council, proposed that S.M.I.C would still be used as an arts venue with the addition of a café area as well as being made available for community use. We are currently seeing all three areas up and running and proving to be successful. Events have been well attended and, as Councillor Finch rightly said, we have seen approximately 12000 – 13000 in attendance with an estimated footfall of 20,000 by the end of our first year.90% of events held have been hired events from groups within the community and have not been of a Christian nature as suggested in the letter. A wide variety of entertainment has been enjoyed including opera, theatre, charity events, Jack in the Green and of course the recent Jazz evening with St Mary in the Castle and friends.

The Bishop Of Lewes the Rt Reverend Wallace Benn did indeed deliver a sermon last year in S.M.I.C as Mr Saunders Rawlins claimed, however the event was held by a local Anglican Church who hired the premises and not by Sonrise Church as he suggested.Mr Saunders Rawlins appears to have gathered his information from a number of sources but, unfortunately, also appears to have been misinformed and has been supplied with incorrect information.He then goes on to attack our Christian beliefs with the suggestion that we do not have the support of local Christians.

We would like to remind him that over twenty local Christian groups have given us their support; we are also members of the 'Evangelical Alliance' and part of the local 'Churches Together'.Part of our mission as a church is to work with the local community to bring regeneration and to help people find purpose and meaning in this life; we would ask, therefore, that we are now left alone to continue this important work in Hastings.
GLENN KHAN Senior Pastor, Sonrise Church