Solace

Solace - Wendy SandersonWendy Sanderson, Night Club Chaplain, Church Army Evangelist, Lay Pioneer Minister and co-founder of Solace tells the story of this unusual fresh expression of church in South Wales.

Two years ago, I co-founded Solace with James Karran, an assistant Baptist minister. Solace is a new form of church that meets weekly in a bar in central Cardiff on Sunday evenings.

Solace - Rowan WilliamsFrom the beginning we met a lot of people who were into clubbing who were interested in Jesus, God and faith but often, not traditional expressions of church. So we began on April Fools Day 2007 aiming at people who were searching for something. I am 32, and clubbing is part of my life, so Solace has grown out of our lives as clubbing people. On our launch night over one hundred people turned up, mostly I am sure out of curiosity, and now on Sundays we draw on approximately fifteen to twenty people a week. When the Archbishops of Canterbury and Wales came, of course numbers rocketed. We like guest speakers!!

In an attempt to make church accessible and relevant to clubbers, we broke it down into four different elements, which we do on four different Sundays a month. Each month we focus on a theme, and deliberately target difficult issues such as sex, relationships, debt and other issues that really matter to clubbers. The first Sunday each month tends to have a guest speaker and three of our regulars take a bible verse and say what they think about it with questions afterwards. On the second Sunday we have an entertainment night and people bring their friends. On the third Sunday we hold a debate night and recently looked at the issue of sweatshops and how we can be more active in the fight against exploitation. On the fourth Sunday, we have Agapé, based round the symbolism of Communion, and using the arts and other elements in an alternative worship style event enabling those attending to express themselves.

Solace - tablesWe engage with the de- and un-churched – in fact anyone who is interested in exploring faith. We have wanted to break down the negative stereotype that many hold concerning Christians and Church. Most of the other churches in the area are geared up to the needs of young families with children, but we are uncompromisingly focused on the many younger adults who are single. There are many, many single clubbers in their twenties and thirties who do not relate to forms of church which seem to over-focus on families. In many ways, Solace is a spiritual community, a society of friends where clubbing is an important part of our lives, and most of us are single. We are pleased that Solace has developed into a place of hope, a place of peace and safety. Some have said they value it as a place where you can be completely yourself and be accepted unconditionally and where people are non-judgmental.

Solace - logoWhen it comes to discipleship, we specifically work on a one-to-one basis, where the themes and discussions on Sunday nights encourage people to explore or re-imagine spiritual things. We allow people to challenge each other on Sunday nights, and encourage people to dig deep with the Christian faith and the stuff of life. This is learning about the faith through proactive engagement in activity. Something like an Alpha Course or Emmaus just would not work in a clubbing context.

We hope that people will increasingly explore the Christian faith starting where many are – a long way away from it. Through a strongly relational mission we hope that Solace will continue to grow a very strong community of people who 'are and who are not yet' Christian. We are also now looking for our own building, to house not only the Solace Sunday nights, but the many social outreach initiatives we have started, which need developing by having a permanent space.

Joe's Story

I’ve been a Christian for a number of years, but never fitted into 'traditional' church; feeling like an outsider and never quite connecting. This feeling of detachment has meant that I have undergone long period without attending Church. I felt disconnected from God, mainly because I was trying to be someone that I wasn't and it was just too hard emotionally to keep that level of pretense up for long periods. One of my closest friends felt the same way and so we decided to look for an alternative form of church.

In March 2008 we found Solace on the internet. The first meeting we went to, was discussing the issue of debt and making it relevant to my life! For once I found somewhere that made my faith relevant, with like minded people, who rather than judge, accepted me, flaws and all. The biggest and best difference Solace has made is that I am now a Christian 24:7 rather than just on Sundays or in front of other Christians. Solace is a place of acceptance and hope which makes my relationship with God relevant and effective, Solace is somewhere that my God given gifts are needed, used and developed for the glory of God and I will always be thankful to God for guiding me to it!

Emmanuel Café Church

Emmanuel - Matt WardA fresh expression of church that is 'fuelled by coffee'… Matt Ward, a chaplain at the University of Leeds, takes us behind the scenes at Emmanuel Café Church.

In the days before Café Church, students would meet for a fairly traditional Sunday afternoon service. By the time I arrived at the university, I felt it wasn't engaging them and it certainly wasn't engaging anyone else.

I inherited a number of struggling worship events and was told, 'You sort it out!' but I knew the first thing to do was not to jump to do anything at all. Instead we wanted to listen to God. For the first term-and-a-half we just met together and prayed together, asking what we thought Church was, and where God's work could be found on the campus.

It didn't take us long to realise that sharing faith tended to happen around coffee and cake! Emmanuel Café Church grew from that, and we're now in our fourth year.

It's easy to fall into the numbers' game. How many people are attending, how regular is their attendance, and can we chart growth in what we have been doing? The fact is that we have got quite a large number of people who would say they are members of Café Church. They may not come week in, week out, they may only have been once but they feel a connection, and see themselves as a part of what we do.

We work in a number of ways to keep those connections. These include:

  • having a regular place to meet;
  • a Facebook page;
  • sending a weekly electronic list saying what we did last week and what is coming up next week;
  • texting people to say, 'How are you? What's happening for you?'.

The networking continues with students who have left the university. It's one of our key issues at the moment. How do they move on from our fresh expression of church into new places? They may grow in faith and confidence as students here, so how do we help and encourage them in that transition stage?

Some ex-students keep connected for a considerable period of time, particularly if they have ended up working in quite isolated or dangerous areas of the world. They want to share what is happening with what they see as 'their' community.

Emmanuel Café Church - chatCafé Church operates in 10-week bursts during term-time. Obviously, as we operate in a university environment, we always miss the major festivals. That's a bit of a challenge for a church community… but there are still ways to celebrate 'together', even when we're not in the same place at the same time.

In previous years, I have sent a sermon by text on Christmas morning. You have just 168 characters in a text. What can you say about the Incarnation within those sort of limits?! I don't know about doing that via Twitter with 140 characters. That really would be a challenge.

We've had some very successful one-off events, but we usually meet from 5 on a Sunday evening, and it's very deliberate timing. It's the end of a weekend so if students have been working they can come out afterwards, and if they have had friends to stay or been away themselves, they will generally be back by then. It's extremely informal and very much a 'drift in and out' idea. People may get involved with the discussion starters we leave about the place, take a look at the stations that could be around the room, or perhaps simply catch up with others and have a chat about how the week has gone.

Towards the end of our time together they usually have another drink because the whole thing is fuelled by coffee. They leave at about 6.30 to 7pm.

The idea that people who go to church at a certain time on a certain day does not connect with these students at all. Instead it's a continuous process. I see people on campus through the week, maybe in a queue for yet more caffeine, with others meeting to have meals or drinks together. In Acts 2, the sharing of lives and the sharing of things in common with each other is seen as important and I think that pastoral thing, that growing thing, that making of disciples, is key to Café Church, as it should be for every type of church.

Emmanuel - logoEvery year has seen quite a sense of growth in the life of the church, and in the lives of those who have come and found faith or confidence in their faith. My hope for the future is that Café Church continues to be shaped in a way that serves the needs of the students who come in and reaches out to students who don't. If it looks the same in 12 months as it does now, it won't be doing that.

The Terminus Initiative

Methodist pioneering minister Joy Adams explains how her fresh expression of church began life in a butchers shop in the local bus terminus. The result was the Terminus Initiative – an ecumenical Christian community.

The Terminus Initiative started out as a community café in an ex-butcher’s shop at a bus terminus. From the beginning we sought to be a loving response to the needs of the local 'Lowedges' Estate community in Sheffield.

Terminus - AGMIt was initially conceived out of unmet needs of a 'mission audit' completed by a local Methodist Church. To complete this, we went out into the estate to ask questions about what people thought the needs were. The most significant finding of the survey, was that local people thought the church was irrelevant and had nothing to contribute. One of the greatest needs that people did identify was the need for a drop-in for older people to be able to come to meet people and socialise in safety, and also a place for younger people. At that time the estate was known for being a rough place with problems with drugs and anti-social behaviour. This coincided with an offer from the owner of the butcher's shop to the Methodist church, to use it for something to help the community. I was asked if I would assist in the exploration of potential solutions to the meeting of these needs and sought other agencies to see if there were any opportunities for partnerships to be able to take on the shop for mission and ministry. So the vision for a community café gradually emerged.

Terminus - Joy AdamsI was one of the founding members of the initiative, as I was involved with it in the early days of my training for Methodist ministry. I quickly discerned that God was asking me to stay with the Terminus Initiative, which at the time was completely against the usual expectation of Methodist itinerant ministry. So I kept this discernment to myself (not even telling my husband) waiting for it to be confirmed by someone else to test it. Within a few weeks, our Superintendent Minister at the time, Ian Bell, asked me if I would consider staying on and co-ordinating the Initiative, but that there would be no money for a stipend. As I had retired early on a pension from the National Health Service, I decided I could cope, and committed to it.

Terminus - prayer dayThe Terminus Initiative is now in its eighth year. The café is open three days a week, targeting different groups in need, and the premises are used by other community groups when the café is closed. The Terminus Initiative, with its other projects, has supported asylum seekers, refugees, drug users, people with alcohol addictions, people with mental health needs, young people, and older people. In fact there are many social activities going on all the time including discussions/Bible studies, and prayer underpins it all.

Terminus - Women's conversation clubIn the many partnerships we have, we focus on the spiritual needs of those who come into the Terminus building. We hope that the work of the Initiative has challenged people's perception of the church as 'irrelevant', replacing negative stereotypes with a greater respect for Christianity and the Church. We have seen many people seeking to explore the Christian faith coming out of the community and loving service they have experienced at the Terminus. Many of these people have gone on to discipleship groups of the partner churches, as we seek to be a committed local 'mixed economy' of church finding unity of purpose in mission.

The Terminus Initiative is a good example of what can be done regarding fresh expressions of church, when local churches work together and get their hands dirty.

Terminus - TedTed's story

Having been brought up in the Methodist Church, at the age of 15 I decided there was no such thing as a 'God'. My life from then was based on the scientific method. Proof and disproof were at the roots of my beliefs and actions. There was no room for things that could not be recognised by any of the physical senses. There was no room for faith in how I made my life decisions. For 50 years I conducted my life according to those principles, even though I rarely made a sound decision in all that time.

In 2006 I moved to a new home. Two weeks after moving in I went into hospital for a hip replacement. When I came out I was alone and unable to move very well. I did my weekly shopping on the internet. I saw no one, I felt down and lonely. So much so that one day I decided to hobble up to the local shops where I found the Terminus Café. Over the following weeks and months I made lots of new friends. I was still an atheist at this time even though most of the people with whom I had become friendly were Christians.

Towards Christmas 2007 I was asked if I would like to go to the Terminus Café Christmas Party to be held at a local church. I enjoyed the party, even if I felt a little uncomfortable during prayers. After the meal, I met someone who told me that on Tuesday afternoons a Fellowship meeting was held in the church. It was a friendly event lasting about an hour.

I began attending the Fellowship meetings early in 2008, at first with some apprehension but after a month or so I began to relax and I noticed I was starting to enjoy the songs we sung. The prayers began to be less of a problem for me and I began taking notice of the message the speakers were offering. A lady in the Fellowship group told me she was to be baptised and asked me to support her by coming to the service. I hadn't been to a church service in 50 years but said I would attend, which I did.

During the service a thought struck me – I remember it clearly. 'My way of thinking should apply to how I explain God's universe'. It then dawned on me that I had become a Christian. God's universe is his creation and he has given me the privilege of being able to understand little bits of it! The little bits of the universe that I understand have helped me to make my living and now I can use that understanding to give praise to God for the magnificence of his creation.

It has taken many years of study to reach a mature view of those parts of the universe that I know a little bit about. Whereas, I have accepted Jesus as my Saviour, as a child would accept by faith all that a parent has told them. Faith is hope in the future. Hope by faith is how I have gained an inner joy and contentment believing that my life has been saved by Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. I have turned from my sins to my Lord God, having been proud and following my own path. Now I ask him to guide me, to show me the way I must go to walk in Jesus' footsteps.

Hartcliffe and Withywood Lighthouse

When Rachel Schofield realised there were real spiritual and social needs on two estates in Bristol, she decided to do something about it. This is her story.

Hartcliffe and Withywood Lighthouse began with the inspiring vision of community transformation and Christian outreach based in local houses. The aim was to reach out to local people on the large adjoining needy estates of Hartcliffe and Withywood on the southwest edge of Bristol.

Working on a regeneration project in Withywood from 2000, I quickly gained a heart to reach people in the area with the Christian message, and felt frustrated that local churches were not in a position to reach adults in their twenties to fifties. Only around 2% of local people attended the local churches yet many local people expressed a belief in God, but didn't know who Jesus is.

Whilst working on a church based community clean-up project I met local resident Heather Williams and Revd Jenny Low, the new curate of St Andrews Church. They both shared my vision for the area. Jenny opened up her house and the three of us (leaders of the Lighthouse) with other Christians from the local catholic and evangelical churches met for a year to pray and develop the vision, before inviting local people to come along.

Lighthouse - Baptism

At the launch of the Lighthouse in 2002, we invited local people we knew to join us for a full Christmas meal, particularly people who were the hubs of the local community who knew many people. We wanted them to help the project become known. Since then around 10-25 people have met every Friday evening for a meal, and time afterwards where a guest would share their testimony about an issue which affects local people such as abuse, addiction, relationships, debt and so on. This had an impact on those who attend particularly many unchurched, male, single parents in their 20s and 30s. Overall we estimate that the project has supported over 70 people since it began.

Initially we funded this ourselves, but after 5 years as things grew we were able to secure funding for food costs, training, materials and venue hire from a charitable trust and Bristol Church. As the sense of community has grown in these groups, we have taken people off to visit churches and festivals such as 'New Wine' to broaden their Christian experience.

Our annual prayer walk was so exciting that in 2004 we decided to start monthly prayer meetings. These were initially for the leaders to pray for the area but those attending Lighthouse wanted to be part of it. The meeting was changed to a format which was more inclusive for local unchurched people and held in a community venue at the local "Teenage Parents Project". The services are participatory with contemporary worship songs, creative interactive reflective elements, small group work and prayer, using modern technology and film.

After a few years, many of the group began to seek more Christian spiritual input, specifically wanting to explore the bible and prayer. We tried to encourage them to attend the local or other churches in the city but the gap between them and the churches remained wide. Over two years five members of our fresh expression of church were baptised in a paddling pool in the front garden of the house, right in the face of the community who watched on.

An established Christian couple bought a house in the area and offered themselves as leaders in 2009. This enabled us to start a discipleship group for those wanting to explore the Christian faith in more depth. This is held in a members house and a core of eight people meet each week to study the bible, pray have fun and eat pudding.

The Lighthouse now does worship, mission and community and has been working with the Church Urban Fund in a study on mission outside church and to reflect on the development of the group.

It remains a challenge for this fresh expression to become sustainable when the leaders are all volunteers. We are trying to make the project less dependent on a few of us and would like local people to develop into leaders, but that still remains a major challenge.

Steve's story

Lighthouse - Steve

I was born in Hartcliffe but my family moved to Knowle West, a neighbouring estate in South Bristol. My parents split up when I was young, my mother left us and I was bullied a lot because of my disability.

One day the local police came to my secondary school to choose a pupil to give them the opportunity to go to America. I couldn’t believe it when I was chosen. On the journey out, I was late to Heathrow and missed the flight. They put me on another flight but later that day I discovered that the flight I should have been on was the Pan Am flight which crashed and all passengers were killed. That was my first experience of flying and it was then quite scary but I had a fabulous time in America. Looking back I knew God is really looking after me.

A few years later I met my ex-partner and started a family. She went off with another man and took the children who I am now trying to get access to through court. I met a community worker at the Fathers Project I was attending who was from the Lighthouse and I decided to go along to try and cheer myself up. People were so kind and welcoming although I was expecting weird looks. The testimonies made me think "why don’t I give it a go" and God was helping me get over the loss of my mum and cope better with not being able to see my children. In July 08 I got baptized at the Lighthouse and now I go every week.

Changing the landscape: fresh expressions and the long term

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was the keynote speaker at a national event in Lincoln focusing on the long-term development of fresh expressions of church. Dr Williams was joined by Dr Martyn Atkins, General Secretary of the Methodist Church in Britain.

Roberta Rominger, General Secretary of the United Reformed Church was also present to hear Graham Cray formally welcoming the United Reformed Church to the Fresh Expressions partnership.

changing the landscape - denominational leaders

The event – hosted by Fresh Expressions at the Epic Centre, Lincolnshire Showground – saw Rowan Williams and Martyn Atkins exploring growth to spiritual maturity and the long-term future of the fresh expressions movement. They were joined by John Saxbee, Stephen Lindridge and Pete Atkins looking at local shared ecumenical support and ownership and introducing Fresh Expressions Area Strategy Teams (FEASTs) and Elaine Lindridge and Chris Russell who gave the practitioners' view.

Bishop Graham Cray, Archbishops' Missioner and leader of the Fresh Expressions team, said that Lincoln was a particularly appropriate venue because of the successful work being done across the county in establishing pioneering forms of church.

Some people have said fresh expressions of church are just the latest fad,

he added,

but the Lincoln experience proves otherwise. There are good signs of church growth there, and it was the first area of the UK to develop a county-wide ecumenical FEAST. The rest of us have much to learn from the work in Lincolnshire.

Reaction

What a great day that was on Friday. It was a well planned, a nicely balanced day with time enough to network as well as to listen and meeting with so many who are optimistic about the future of the church whilst struggling with the structures. Such hope is not a common theme amongst clergy and church people at the moment.

Sarah Cawdell, Hereford

Great day, enjoyed everything about it.

Andrew Hall, via Facebook

There was a fantastic buzz and energy, and it was such a powerful spirit-filled day. I left challenged and encouraged in equal measure. THANK YOU!!

Sue Eizzard, via Facebook