A choice in the wilderness

Without fanfare or triumphalism, evangelical Christians have opted to live and work in blighted areas of Manchester to tackle inner-city social problems. David Ward reports.

If you ask Gary Bishop what biblical text he would hang over the door of his Salvation Army hall in east Manchester, he replies, without hesitation: "Isaiah 62." This is quite a long Old Testament chapter that would require a lot of wall, so, on his behalf, let us pluck out verse four to give some sense of what Bishop and his team feel about a part of the inner city so far untouched by the glitz and glass of cafe-bar culture: "No longer will they call you deserted or name your land desolate..."