Day: 24 July 2012

The Springfield Project

Early in the 1990s, St Christopher's, Springfield, Birmingham, experienced a period of renewal and growth. A small group of mums thought that this excitement within the church should make a difference to the surrounding community. They take up the story.

As with so many churches, a commitment to serve was translated initially into the setting up of a stay-and-play session for local parents. What makes St Christopher's different, though, is that the local parish is predominantly Muslim and other-faith.

The stay-and-play group met in someone's home and numbers were so small that the venture was nearly closed after a year. By 2010, however, what is now The Springfield Project had become the primary mission arm of the church.

It provides a professional nursery, family support work and after-schools clubs linking in with local statutory provision from health workers, midwives and social services. Each week, a purpose-built children's centre and adjoining interlinked church host dozens of local families, the majority of which are Muslim, Hindu and Sikh.

Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch talk of the need for 'proximity space' as we engage with other cultures. The Springfield's Project's practical vision of service provides a good example of church holding the ring as a very public place of encounter between Christians and those of other faiths.

The project has blurred the dichotomy between 'evangelism' and 'social action'. Its strapline of 'God's love in the community', a message that was emblazoned on a banner in the hall, points to an appreciation that the majority of the local community actually recognise a belief in God.

Although Tony Blair's press secretary, Alastair Campbell, may have said that they 'do not do God', most of our neighbours do in fact do God! They are not a a clean slate, on which the church can write answers to questions about eternal destiny. For many in our neighbourhood, God's purposes, moral questions and prayer already figure highly.

This means that for the significant numbers of Christians working in The Springfield Project, their faith is very public. There are regular prayer meetings, information is given about Christian festivals and beliefs, and there are staff days away to affirm and talk through the Christian value-base and how it ought to drive our services. All of these are available for, and discussed with, our non-Christian staff and our users.

The church's determination to see the Christian faith distinctively shape its outreach in a multi-faith context has not led to inter-religious tension and suspicion. Rather, Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus have respected the church all the more.

We have been seen to be serious about our spirituality, to pray, read the Bible and be confident Christians. Muslim staff have said that they feel more comfortable, being people of faith themselves in an often threatening, secularising age.

For St Christopher's members, then, church does not stop when the vicar dismisses the congregation with a blessing on a Sunday morning. Monday through Saturday, there is prayer and worship around and alongside very practical provision for our local community.

We have had the privilege of praying with and for those of other faiths as we have openly shared our lives, while always rejecting the manipulative exploitation of vulnerable users of our services.

St Christopher's is not ignoring the very real differences that exist between faiths. It is paying attention to context so that our engagement with the community is able to respond to some of the vital connections and similarities that exist.

On any given day, St Christopher's and The Springfield Project are vibrant hubs of conversation, service, interaction and prayer between Christians and those of other faiths: good news in an age of inter-religious bad news!

Regenerate-RISE

Praise@Platt is a time of worship that has evolved for all those involved with Regenerate-RISE, a charitable organisation that cares for all those who would otherwise be housebound or isolated, living in either high-rise flats in Roehampton or the more wealthy area of Putney. RISE facilitates outings, activities, lunches and a support service with practical help, home and hospital visiting, along with emergency shopping and prescription collections.

Held on a Sunday afternoon, Praise@Platt is low key, simple and about 45 minutes in length. It includes Bible readings, prayer, a time of reflection, worship with members playing musical instruments to modern songs and a short talk. The Gideons have provided large print New Testaments, and the words of the songs – from Songs of Fellowship for Small Groups – are on the wall via an overhead projector. CDs or DVDs are played as musical accompaniment, with appropriate sound levels for the hard of hearing. 

The service is followed by a meal of sandwiches, crisps and cakes, whilst the worship songs continue to play in the background. Each time, the members are given a picture postcard with a Bible verse representing the theme of the service to think about during the week. This is because the majority who attend do not have any basic Christian teaching to fall back on. 

One member of RISE was recently baptised, whilst other members cheered and clapped when he gave his testimony as to how he became a Christian, and a 92 year man was confirmed after giving his life to the Lord at a specially adapted Alpha course. Praise@Platt hopes to expand in the near future to welcoming older people from the local community to encourage them in their faith and give them a new experience of church.

Ealing soup kitchen

Over many years, 13 churches and Christian organisations in Ealing, West London, worked together to provide a soup kitchen for people on the edge of society. The kitchen was held at St John's Church on a Sunday afternoon.

In 2004, the churches and organisations involved decided to fund a worker for homeless people to provide continuity of care and advice every weekend afternoon. Daphne was appointed. Her vision was to minister not just to individuals' emotional and physical needs, but their spiritual ones as well.

She began to invite soup kitchen clientele to the reflective evening service held by St John's upstairs. Those who came could be disruptive, and they tended to sit at the back and watch. But one evening, the service was held café-style. People on the back row became involved and enjoyed it.

The church decided to do this every Sunday. Numbers from the soup kitchen have grown steadily. The original congregation was always pretty small. Some members of it became helpers and leaders in what was effectively a new congregation. Others have found a home in the morning worship.

In 2009, between 40 and 70 homeless and disadvantaged people were attending each week.

The event starts at 5.45, as the soup kitchen is winding down, and lasts for about an hour. People sit round tables, eat doughnuts and drink coffee. A band leads the music. Someone may come to the front to tell a story or give a testimony. There can be a talk, followed by discussion at the tables. Each table is hosted by someone who takes the initiative in introducing people and engaging in conversation. There are about ten leaders and helpers involved each Sunday.

Among those who come are people with childhood experiences of church, some who are Christians, some who know nothing about Christianity, some from other faiths and others who have been hurt by Christians in their past.

It will be interesting to see how this café church evolves. At present it feels a bit like conventional church done café-style for people who are disadvantaged. This has been wonderfully fruitful, but can it ever become church-shaped and led by people on the margins of society? Given the emotional and physical difficulties faced by those who come, this would be a huge challenge.

Sidewalk

Inspired by a year working with Metro Ministries in New York, Barry and Camilla Johnston are connecting with non-churched children and youth in their area by going to where they are.

Every Saturday for eight months of the year (spring/summer/autumn), they take their yellow Sidewalk van to the same local park where local children gather to play. The team run an hour of activities that include songs, games, a memory verse, a drama based on a Bible story, three object lessons and a life lesson (cartoon story tying it all together). Though aimed at the children, parents and older siblings tend to watch from the back. Some are increasingly helping in minor roles and making suggestions of what would make it better.

For all the children they befriend, appropriate longer-term discipleship of those who want to know more about the Christian faith is one that the Sidewalk community takes responsibility for. They make regular visits to the families of the children that come and are starting to look to establishing a community house as a base for some who are involved.

Sidewalk LogoThe Sidewalk community who facilitate this ministry meet weekly for food and fun. They meet in the park to continue to build relationships with families there and then gather in a team member's home. In terms of the fresh expressions journey, they are now preparing for the stage of what kind of worship will sustain them. What kind of deeper spiritual disciplines or input is appropriate for the community that is made up of seasoned Christians, new Christians and not yet Christians that all play a part in making Sidewalk happen?

Being a multi-cultural area, they have found many of the kids coming to Sidewalk are from Muslim families. As cross-cultural mission engagement with Muslim children and their families is not common, there are limited resources available for this kind of ministry. Therefore, they are pioneering something very precious and learning as they go.

Space4Me

Playtime at Philadelphia is for mums of children under 5 in Sheffield that has evolved out of a flourishing mother and toddler ministry of a large church.

St Thomas' Philadelphia has three well-established Playtime groups meeting on different days of the week. Due to their popularity, the larger numbers mean that opportunities for prayer and discussion with those interested in finding out more about the Christian faith is limited.

In January 2009, Space4Me was begun as a joint venture between Playtime and Restore (the church's ministry to vulnerable people). Space4Me is aimed at women who are interested in exploring more about God but struggle to 'fit' into a usual church setting. Meeting weekly in term time, those with children are able to drop them at the crèche provided and enjoy an hour and a half exploring self-esteem through spirituality together. It is deliberately kept small to enable friendships to deepen and discussions to take place.

After an opening prayer, the group eat lunch together. This is followed by a craft activity on a theme relating to self-identity/esteem (through card-making, treasure box, jewellery-making, clay, photo frames) and chat. The group then turns to sharing time with the offer of prayer for those who would like it. To finish, there is 15 minutes of gentle input on a Christian theme relating to how God sees and values them. Mums and their children meet up once a term to have celebration time together.

Mini Mass

A eucharistic midweek congregation in suburban North Ascot in Berkshire aimed primarily at under 5s and their families. This fresh expression of church, called Mini Mass, meets on a Tuesday morning at 9.30am after the school run. Meeting in the Chapel of St Mary and St John, chairs are arranged in a horseshoe shape with a small altar at the open end.

Adults and children are all welcomed by name by means of a song. A Bible story is told either from a picture book or acted out using Godly Play methods. All are then asked to share something they are thankful for and something they would like prayer for; the intercessions follow, again in the form of a simple song. The group is then led in a eucharistic prayer, including short sung responses by the parish clergy or occasionally by one of two mums who have permission from the Bishop to officiate at a communion by extension service. This leads into communion. After a prayer of dismissal, tea, coffee and biscuits are served in the adjoining hall.

It's not just mums – grandmothers and child-minders attend, and occasionally a few dads. In addition, a few other adults attend, some who find work patterns make attending Sunday congregations difficult, as well as others whose discipline includes a daily eucharist. Older children also attend out of term time. Mini Mass is run by the mums themselves who review its effectiveness on an ongoing basis.

The vicar believes that one real strength of Mini Mass is that it has proved for some to be a gentle way 'into the church' or 'back into the church'. One ongoing concern is that for some it has proved to be merely a cul-de-sac, with a service designed for children being the only act of worship for a few of the adults. While some reflection on how to move beyond this is required, Mini Mass remains one of the important opportunities for outreach, service and pastoral care offered by the parish of All Saints.

These reflections of the parish illustrate one of the dilemmas of church for under 5s. Who is being discipled in this context and what does discipleship mean? What is the long term strategy for helping young children grow up in the Christian faith?