The Salvation Army Archives

Sanctuary West London

Salvation Army Captains Gary and Dawn Lacey came to Ealing in 2013 to set up a prayer centre and develop Christian community there. Dawn tells the story of what happened.

The concept of planting a house of prayer wasn't new to my husband, Gary, and I because we had previously set up centres in Durham and Liverpool. In fact, the vision was very much that we would set up a national network of these prayer houses.

However, almost right from the start in West London, we have felt ourselves to be in a really tough spiritual battle. Church planting, or being involved in fresh-expressions-type work, is never the easiest thing to do – and we've had that calling about houses of prayer over the past ten years – but everything seemed to step up a gear when we came to Ealing.

We still hold on to the prophetic words that God gave us about houses of prayer so whether Ealing is the final one for us to be involved in, and someone else then takes up the mantle, we don't know. We just seek to keep going wherever God leads us. All the settings we've known have been so different. In Liverpool, the prayer house seemed to help disgruntled Christians come back into relationship with God though we did also do much street work there – and praying for the city. In Durham, a lot of young students got involved.

The vision for a house of prayer is to create a place that is based on prayer, mission and justice. Hospitality and pilgrimage, creativity and teaching are also very important to our missional approach. Here, the focus is on serving those in need, people who are experiencing homelessness and those who use the building we're based in during the week. A few organisations rent the space but they are still very much aware that it's a Christian house of prayer. Gary and I pray that we're faithful in simply opening the doors and seeing what God does.

There are four designated prayer rooms, a hospitality area, a community room, spaces for creative prayer and a worship/gathering room.

Our main meeting is on a Thursday evening, we are not doing a Sunday morning service. What's happening is that we are building a community of people happy to meet together on Thursdays to find out more about what it means to be a Christian; it's almost like a home group. We have recently been looking at, 'What does God to say to us in the silence?' That same group will eventually form a new church; there are about twelve of us at the moment – some of us are staunch Salvationists, others go to an Anglican church. It is a great mix of people.

We probably have about an hour and a half together during which time we have coffee and listen to a talk before we leave it open for discussion and just go for it! As a community, we have a daily rhythm of prayer at 10am and 12noon and that forms the basis of what we are about. That very much feeds into this place being somewhere for people to become more effective in the development of a lifestyle of prayer; that's why we have prayer cards out on the table for everyone and teaching on subjects like personal prayer life, spiritual warfare, street prayer and prayer ministry. When people come in and talk to us about experiencing homelessness, or desperation, or whatever it may be, we always ask them if they'd like us to pray for them.

We have a paid worker, who is brilliant, and we have loads of volunteers. We certainly need them because we run a charity shop next door as well. Our café is open from 10am to 3pm, Tuesday to Friday, and 9am to 1pm on Saturdays. We've got a luncheon club, a kids' club, and also have a particular call to those who are experiencing homelessness. Our goal this year is just to stabilise everything that's happening because at the heart of everything we do is the desire to see people come to know Jesus.

It's interesting to look back at the history of this place because there was a Salvation Army Centre in this building from 1909. In the past it was a very traditional corps but, by the time we came, there were only about 10-15 people left and they knew that something needed to change; they just didn't know how to make that change. It's all about bringing people into a relationship with Jesus – whether that's done in a traditional or contemporary way.

I totally understand that it can be very difficult to take on board why things need to be so different, particularly if you've always done something a certain way. All I can say, here in Ealing, is that this is growing; people are coming to a knowledge of God because he is doing new things and we have just got to join in!

Mitcham Missional Community

Salvation Army officer Mark Scott tells of building community, and a Rule of Life, in the London borough of Merton.

My wife, Emma, and I were appointed to Raynes Park Community Church three-and-a-half years ago with a remit to start a missional community in Mitcham. The Salvation Army had conducted some research prior to us arriving because they were working predominantly on the west side of the borough of Merton and they wanted to work more coherently across the borough as a whole.

The borough, in the south-west of London, is very diverse from east to west and Mitcham borders Lambeth, Wandsworth and Croydon.

We live in an amazing part of Mitcham called Eastfields and have loved getting to know our neighbours and people who work in the community. Before we made the move, The Salvation Army hadn't been in this area for about 70 years but their support has been fantastic. The great blessing to us when we first arrived was being given the gift of a time of listening. It was amazing to hear stories and learn what it is like to live and work in Mitcham. We heard about the great depth of history that Mitcham holds; both the documented and that which has been passed on from generation to generation.

A fact that stayed with us was that the name Mitcham comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning 'Big Settlement' or 'Big Home'. A representative of the Jeremiah Project – a Churches Together in Mitcham initiative – shared this with us and it is not insignificant as they have been such an amazing support for us as a couple and now more significantly our church community.

Churches Together in Mitcham is like nothing we've ever experienced before, there is a real heart to work together and serve Mitcham. When we first moved here as a couple with two small children, their love for us was vital and the way in which they welcomed us with open arms for us was a true representation of Mitcham being a 'Big Home'! They've not only shared their love with us but their knowledge and networks too.

Around this time we also spoke to the Urban Expression mission agency, with whom Emma and I had a long-term personal relationship with, and sought to become team leaders. This provided more specialised support for us and a network of people who were able to understand and speak into the life we were living.

After being in Mitcham for 16 months we moved into a house in the Eastfields area and it was around this time that a friend of ours began asking when we were going to 'start our church'. Our friend was interested in exploring faith and who God is after being part of a faith community as a child but no longer called herself a Christian. God had this in hand and, at the same time, brought more established Christians into our field of vision and they, in turn, decided they wanted to support us as well.

We began gathering in our kitchen as a group of eight, sharing in creative forms of worship, some interactive teaching and finishing with a shared meal. This continued for about six months.

As our gathering has developed so has the format, although we have always retained the shared meal, seeing this as a vital part of sharing our lives together. After a further six months, things began to feel a bit more established and so, as a gathering, we wanted to put some structure (although some would see none!) to what we did. I've been very interested in the concept of urban new monasticism for a number of years and it's from here that we became interested in a Rule of Life.

For nine months we carried out research to try and glean how different places were living a Rule of Life before deciding what was applicable to us. The Rule is conceptual in the way we live our lives out but it's practical too – including the scheduling of an annual retreat and committing to laugh together regularly. Our hope is that, as a gathered community of believers, we can continue to learn what it means to 'Seek God' and 'Display his Love' wherever we might find ourselves. I think it's fair to say that we have been changed by the people who have opened their lives to us in the short time we've been here and we hope we will continue to learn from them.

Mitcham is such an amazing place to live; we have felt such openness and kindness since moving here. We love that our children are growing up in an environment that is honest and accepting and while the organic nature of it can be difficult, we’re looking forward to all that lies ahead.

Stoke Newington Café Church

Armada Spasy

Major Kathryn Blowers of The Salvation Army tells how Roma churches are developing in Kent.

My husband, David, and I served with The Salvation Army in Prague for nine years. In 2003 we returned to this country when we were appointed to a very large, traditional corps in Margate where there were a number of Czech and Slovak speaking Roma people.

We started some ministry with them, mainly social, but seven years ago we launched a house group involving ourselves and 3 other couples, including our daughter who had married a Czech Roma. From that grew a church which now welcomes in about 120/130 people in all and, two years ago, we also planted another church in Chatham.

Our whole aim is to train and disciple and equip people for ministry; we are not a 'social' church as such so we don't do food banks or mums and toddlers' groups and so on. Those are all great things to do but they're not our particular focus, we do help in the community but it's not in order to 'get people in', our community work is simply an expression of the life of the church. We help people to be saved by God and we then disciple them, nurture them, teach them, develop their ministry and send them out to do it all over again. Evangelism is very much the natural outcome of discipled people living lives which are committed to Christ.

As a result of this approach, our corps programme comprises:

main worship meeting and children's programme (Saturday);

family day (no organised programme – Sunday);

housegroups (Monday) at various locations;

drop-in (9am) and Bible school (Tuesday);

women's meeting and a housegroups in Chatham and Gravesend and youth ministry in Margate (Thursday);

discipleship class (Friday).

On Wednesdays a mission team leads a meeting in Chatham – supporting Chatham corps in ministering to the Roma community in that town – and on Thursdays housegroups are led in Chatham and Gravesend by mission team members.

We've probably got about 40-50 people (including children) meeting regularly at Chatham now and we're also talking about setting up another group in Gravesend. There are five house groups in Margate, about 80 people are included in this house group ministry. Our youth house group has now divided into two and meets on a different day.

I would say that about 95% of the people in our own congregation have been saved in the last seven years. Many of them want to become members of The Salvation Army, wear the uniform and get really committed to it. We also teach very strongly about tithing and the church was in the top 5% of giving in our division, in relation to size.

Many of our meetings currently take place at the Northumberland Gospel Hall in Margate but, in early 2015, we will move into a building on the high street. This is exciting because it further allows us to do what we ought to be doing and we will have another Salvation Army couple with us which will enable us to plant out from that 'hot spot'.

We had a first wedding from the Chatham group on 28th December 2014; this was great news because the Roma people don't normally get married. In their culture it's more normal to live together but we've had several weddings at Margate since the church started.

One of our biggest challenges is answering the rather political question of, 'Why are you doing a separate church for them?' To me, that could also be seen as almost a racist comment; the fact is we're simply trying to keep up with what God has been doing with the Roma people and providing the space for them to come to know him and then tell others. This is truly missional work without going abroad.

Cortonwood

Lieutenant Catherine Dodd is leader of The Salvation Army in Cortonwood, South Yorkshire. She tells how their mission to 'go, gather and grow' has developed in the past six months.

I've been in church leadership for the past 10 years and had been serving part-time at Cortonwood since 2010 – alongside being the Officer (Minister) at an established Salvation Army church locally. In October 2013 I was appointed as the full-time leader here and Cortonwood was recognised by The Salvation Army as a new Church plant. We are situated right at the heart of our community, in a neutral venue above the Cortonwood Miners' Welfare Club.

Cortonwood was deeply affected by the miners' strike 30 years ago and the subsequent demise of the UK coal industry. Cortonwood Colliery closed and, as the biggest employer locally, this meant that life was changed forever for most of the families here. As a miner's daughter, I understand the culture and have a heart for the people of ex-mining communities.

It had been felt for some time that God wanted to do a new thing in the Dearne Valley, and so began the process of discerning the 'what' and 'where'. Since 2010, The Salvation Army had been experimenting with different ministries through the formation of a Dearne Valley Planting Team, which I was blessed to part of. Confirmation soon came that Cortonwood was the place where God wanted us to be.

There was no physical Church presence in Cortonwood – the Methodist Chapel closed a few years back, and the parish church is situated in a neighbouring village, but I always believed that God wanted to build a church here in Cortonwood. Furthermore, I discerned that it was never his intention to plant a Church by parachuting in a group of Christians. He made it clear to me that this new plant was to be formed from people within the community who, for whatever reason, were not engaging with a traditional, attractional model of church. He wanted it to emerge from us 'journeying out' and coming alongside the community, working with them and seeing what would develop – without being prescriptive as to what it would look like or what shape it would be. To have the freedom to be part of that from the very early days, and then go on to lead that, is a great blessing.

Initially, we did not have a base of our own and so we used various community venues as gathering places, which is something that we still do and are keen to maintain– we didn't want to go down the route of having one place that would be regarded as 'Church'. We have been blessed with the provision of our base at the Miners' Welfare Club, which provides us with office space, a community prayer room and multipurpose room – it's an accessible place where people can come along without it being a traditional Church building, which can sometimes be a barrier to people. We use it for some of our events, but by no means all.

One of the venues that we use is Costa Coffee. We have always had a good relationship with the manager there, and so when we were looking for a venue for worship we made an approach and we were delighted to be allowed to use this space. Since June 2012, we have used Costa as the venue for our now monthly worship event 'The Gathering', where we meet after hours on a Sunday evening. It's an event which is aimed at unchurched people, where there is good coffee, conversation, live music and opportunity to pause for thought.

We were very keen to have multiple connection points with our church. Some of the activities that we are currently delivering include weekly school's ministry, Toddlersong, food drop-in (with budgeting advice on offer too) and a Community Choir. Since January 2014, a weekly informal and conversational cell group has commenced which we call 'Time & Space', giving people an opportunity to ask the difficult questions as they explore faith. It's beautiful to see how God brings that together. The people are shaping that time of worship themselves through partnering with the Spirit; that's the way it's got to be. We have some powerful prayer times and it's very raw; it's allowing people to 'be' where they are. We have got a lot of needs in this area and some people feel downtrodden; when they start to see their value in the eyes of God, it's quite a special moment.

The key to relevance, is, for me, all about being willing to be experimental and acknowledging that this is a valid form of church. It has to be fluid. Whatever we start, we are not going to put it on tablets of stone and continue with something ad infinitum; we view things in seasons, and we just go with it. I believe this missional community, this fresh expression, is not a 'stepping stone' to traditional church – it is certainly church in its own right; yes it's firmly rooted in Salvationist doctrine but we are not frightened to be quite pioneering in the ways we go and reach out to the community.

We want this to a place where people feel safe, welcomed and loved, where we can work out together what it means to be disciples of Jesus today as we serve the community of Cortonwood.

It's wonderful to see individual's lives being changed as God’s work develops. One of the guys, who is coming to food bank, wants to start to get involved in volunteering; we are also establishing a community allotment as a means of creating community, tackling food poverty by growing fresh fruit and veg for our food drop-in and caring for creation, and we are also seeing people from our local community get involved with this.

It's still very early days but it's a wonderfully energising thing to be involved in – you know that when you get up in the morning you are going to see evidence of what God's doing in people's lives. I have always had a heart for the unchurched and a real concern that people need to hear the gospel but can't – or won't – come to established church. At Cortonwood, we are seeing people engaging with our way of being Church who would not otherwise do so. It's so important to come alongside people in relevant ways as part of their community and leave it to God to engineer the conversation. We've seen that happening in all sorts of ways, including through the local school, where I have been involved for the past four years, and have recently taken on the role as School Chaplain. We did a whole school, in-school Messy Nativity and most recently a Messy Easter for all children and their parents.

Our next priorities will be serving people in practical ways by offering 'eating on a budget' (cook 'n' eat) sessions, and setting up as an Employment Plus Centre, where people can come along and receive help in their job searching. It's all part of discerning the current needs within our community and responding accordingly.

In January, Vicky Hughes joined our team as a part-time Community Development Coordinator. Her role is to develop the food bank and get our community allotment up and running. She will also ascertain community needs and put plans in place to ensure that we can, in the name of Jesus, do something to help towards meeting those needs.

Life can seem very busy at times as I seek to balance ministry and family life. As well as leading this church plant, I'm also doing a MA in Aspects of Biblical Interpretation through London School of Theology. Distance learning can be difficult and the 10 hours of study per week can be tricky to fit in but I carry on with what God has set before me; I always find that he gives me the time I need to do what he wants me to do. I never feel overwhelmed in any way, and firmly believe that Cortonwood is where God has called me to be.

Church has got to be accessible for people. We need to be available to our communities, to love them and be prepared to journey with them in an authentic way. When we move away from our perceptions of how church should look and abandon ourselves to the Spirit, then we see God do amazing things. It is a joy to behold. Lord, may your Kingdom come, your will be done in Cortonwood, as it is in heaven.

RevCoffee

Methodist VentureFX Pioneer Minister Simon Oliver, whose ministry comes under the banner of 'RevCoffee', explains how new things are happening in Cottenham through community, creativity, Christianity and cappuccinos.

I am employed by the Cambridge Methodist Circuit to work alongside the Cottenham Community Centre (CCC) and Coffee Shop.

The Centre and Coffee Shop came into existence when, after many years of faithful worship and service, Cottenham Methodist Church closed down in November 2007. The day after its final service a public meeting was held to explore the possibilities of how the building might be used as a community resource.

The CCC was formed, much hard work and fund raising was carried out, and in February 2011 the beautiful Coffee Shop was opened. It is no longer a church, but I am privileged to be a part of the Community Centre team. I was appointed as part of the VentureFX scheme to work alongside the CCC with young adults and families in Cottenham, a vibrant village of about 7,000 people just outside Cambridge.

At the heart of my role lies a conviction that being a welcome, accepting, incarnational Christian presence in the community is key to contemporary ministry. So I spend a great deal of time simply hanging out in the coffee shop, sometimes working behind the counter, sometimes tapping away on my laptop, and often just meeting friends old and new.

Out of these relationships, and my connections with other community groups and churches in the village, I try to find fresh ways of exploring issues of life, meaning and faith. People are interested in looking at such issues but often feel alienated, disconnected or simply uninterested in traditional Church, or are just too busy with the chaos and demands of life to find the time and space in their schedules.

We now have quite a few initiatives and projects going on in and around the Community Centre and Coffee Shop; my wife and toddler are very involved in many of these groups. My approach is to be as collaborative as possible, so everything has been set up as a result of prayerfully listening to what people might be interested in, and in partnership with others (sometimes Christians, sometimes those who don't usually have anything to do with traditional church). These initiatives include:

Arts Night: A small group of young-ish poets, musicians, storytellers, comedians, singers, photographers and artists get together on the second Sunday of the month. It is a mostly musical group and we have also had some great poetry from Larkin, Yeats and our own members, short stories and photography. Each month has a theme (eg war and peace, parenthood, love, death, resurrection) and we share original and borrowed material and attempt collaborate in creating new works, as well as putting on quality performances. And we always have some really interesting conversations exploring issues of life and faith from a variety of perspectives.

Film Club: A fun, new group where people of all beliefs and none come together to watch a movie, eat popcorn and then explore the existential and spiritual issues that come out of it.

Dad's Play: We have a large (70-plus on the books) group of dads and male carers/guardians of under-5s who meet informally in the back hall of the Cottenham Community Centre Coffee Shop. The kids get the chance to play together while the men get a chance to eat bacon sandwiches and drink good coffee. We also have regular curry nights – although the children aren't invited to this!

Marriage and Parenting Courses. We have run a number of these courses in the Coffee Shop.

Daily Prayer: This takes place from 8:30 – 8:45 am, Sunday to Friday at the Coffee Shop. It is often just a couple of adults and my two-year-old, but others often pop in, have a natter and occasionally join us or ask for prayer.

Football Plus+: A group young and not-so-young men play football on the first and third Sundays of the month, and a small group of us are exploring the possibility of using of the fourth Sunday to talk football, life and faith over a couple of beers (or lemonades).

the Roost: this is new all-age event which we have been experimenting with over the last few months on Sunday afternoons and which officially 'launches' in September. It is a relaxed group which includes arts, craft, conversation, messy play, videos, the Sunday papers, music, poetry, coffee, flapjack and more to give people the opportunity to have fun together, create community and to explore different issues from a Christian perspective.

All of our activities aim to be open and accessible to all, and to give people the opportunity to develop meaningful community and consider the possibility of faith. All beliefs and viewpoints are valued, and seen as equal conversation partners as we try to make sense of life together. Everything is done in very low key and simple ways and – as I have already said – relationships take precedence over activities.

My ultimate hope is that through one or more of our initiatives people are given the opportunity to have a meaningful encounter with Jesus Christ and to explore what that might mean for them.

I take the Methodist and Fresh Expressions commitment to ecumenism very seriously, and have found it very encouraging to work alongside the Baptist Church, The Salvation Army, All Saints Parish Church and Christians Together in Cottenham as we seek to develop our ministries in collaboration.

It is not always easy, but it is a wonderful role and a rewarding project, and I feel very grateful to God and to the Methodist Church for allowing me to be a part of it!