Answer: It’s in the picture. (well, the building anyway) This is ‘The Welcome’, a Fresh Expressions café church on the Over Ward housing estate in Knutsford -the graffiti above the window is advertising worship times and prayer. (Fresh Expressions is a growing movement, not just in the Methodist and Anglican churches, and I'll go on, and on, about it sometime. Just look at the website for now) Over Ward is one of the poorest places in the region, an overspill of the massive local government housing areas in Manchester dumped alongside Knutsford, one of the richest areas in the UK and the sort of town where the used car dealership carries Porsches and E-type jaguars. (Not an exaggeration: I checked on the way past)
This huge culture and income gap was the problem which confronted the church in Knutsford, so when they began to try and reach the area, they listened to what people wanted. After a year of consulting and talking with local people, they opened ‘The Welcome’ (A name given by local people) in a shop unit in the estate. A café which also offers activities and clubs, computer and learning workshops for adults, mostly run by Debbie, the manager. This isn’t a typical ‘church plant’ of the kind I’ve experienced, where a house church decided to move into a ‘new area’ and grew by transfer growth from the existing places of worship: it’s a radical response to a need in a new area which the traditional churches of all shades couldn’t reach. In the same way that ‘new’ services don’t seem to split congregations but reach different people, this church doesn’t poach members from existing churches but reaches out to a new, non-churched subculture.
It is most definitely a church: On Tuesday morning they have a worship time, where a passage is read and people are invited to discuss it, meditate on it, or to make a creative response. This is bolstered by a service on third Sunday of the month which is a communion, but there is no sitting in rows or long liturgy: the service is based around a two course meal, with communion between the courses and some teaching on the passage(s) covered in the month.
Cafe/worship area. Just off is the archway to the recently opened second unit
which houses the computer learning centre and children's play area.
From the moment you walk in the feel is of a caring, professional café and it communicates to people that they are wanted and loved. It’s been a bit of a fight sometimes for resources and to get traditionally-minded church committee members to see that this is not a ‘mission to get people into church’ but a church of its own right.
This should change soon though: Debbie told me that they will soon become the first Fresh Expressions church in Methodism to have a membership service. Of course this caused more problems to some people as it has never been done before, so there isn’t a programme for it at all, but Debbie reckons they will figure something out: if no-one knows what to do, they have a lot of freedom.
This huge culture and income gap was the problem which confronted the church in Knutsford, so when they began to try and reach the area, they listened to what people wanted. After a year of consulting and talking with local people, they opened ‘The Welcome’ (A name given by local people) in a shop unit in the estate. A café which also offers activities and clubs, computer and learning workshops for adults, mostly run by Debbie, the manager. This isn’t a typical ‘church plant’ of the kind I’ve experienced, where a house church decided to move into a ‘new area’ and grew by transfer growth from the existing places of worship: it’s a radical response to a need in a new area which the traditional churches of all shades couldn’t reach. In the same way that ‘new’ services don’t seem to split congregations but reach different people, this church doesn’t poach members from existing churches but reaches out to a new, non-churched subculture.
It is most definitely a church: On Tuesday morning they have a worship time, where a passage is read and people are invited to discuss it, meditate on it, or to make a creative response. This is bolstered by a service on third Sunday of the month which is a communion, but there is no sitting in rows or long liturgy: the service is based around a two course meal, with communion between the courses and some teaching on the passage(s) covered in the month.
Cafe/worship area. Just off is the archway to the recently opened second unit which houses the computer learning centre and children's play area.
From the moment you walk in the feel is of a caring, professional café and it communicates to people that they are wanted and loved. It’s been a bit of a fight sometimes for resources and to get traditionally-minded church committee members to see that this is not a ‘mission to get people into church’ but a church of its own right.
This should change soon though: Debbie told me that they will soon become the first Fresh Expressions church in Methodism to have a membership service. Of course this caused more problems to some people as it has never been done before, so there isn’t a programme for it at all, but Debbie reckons they will figure something out: if no-one knows what to do, they have a lot of freedom.
2 comments:
"Where is the church?"
See sign on door: "We're sorry, but the church is not here today, we're busy out meeting people where they are at. Well, no, come to think of it, we're not sorry at all. Thank you, The Church"
If it's not been done before, how will they know how to do it? Arrgh!
It sounds great.
I'm about to embark on a sabbatical from HBC, and not sure what I'm going to do with my time.
In April when I was reading some form of daily prayer every morning and one or two people were welcome to join me - that was good, but I've got reservations about going to anything that's "traditional church" and "Lone Ranger Christians" (to borrow a phrase of our current minister) don't end to fare too well.
Hmmmmm
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