Starting is as easy as ABC…a fresh expressions story of Katie Kelly and the congregation of Bermondsey St James
By David Cundill
Katie joined as vicar of St James in May 2024. St James is a friendly, average size inner city congregation in SE16. Sadly the church had had no children attending on Sundays, which contrasted with the large numbers of families living locally. So how did they start to address this need?
First, through connections with the local school they tried a Messy Church with a small group of volunteers; an approach of activities, worship and food for families that many churches use. Katie says that “numerically it literally blew our minds…we had over 100 people attending the first time”. But after a few gatherings it started to diminish. People found it too busy and they couldn’t form friendships with so many people there. It was also a lot of work; “we had 5 different crafts each time” and providing food was demanding “endless runs to get pizza”. So this is what they did instead.
They stopped the Messy Church and they also stopped the only parent and toddler group that met in the church at the same time. That group was only attended by nannies working in the area that didn’t want any spiritual dimension to the group. So the existing toddler group was not working in terms of mission. These were quickly replaced with new more manageable things.
A new parent and toddler group was formed using contacts made through Messy Church, the school and advertising locally. The new group has a spiritual dimension with a light touch and is building relationships with the parents who attend.
“Toast” a new weekly, family, after school fresh expression replaced Messy Church and it is simple to run; “We get out some boardgames, some craft materials and painting things, and have drinks and toast”. This runs once a week during term time 3.15-4.00pm; just after school and is starting to build relationships and a sense of community amongst new people.
Added to this, during the summer St James have launched “Together Outside” a series of larger events in Southwark Park with snacks, games and activities to help families connect with each other and with people from the church. This has included pavement chalks, serving hot dogs and even a water fight (before any hosepipe ban) where Katie says she “got absolutely soaked”!
All these approaches need is a small number of lay volunteers to help run; who provide simple. practical support on the day, and who can concentrate on spending time building relationships with families each time they meet.
These experiments in mission have inspired others in the church to try new things. There are plans amongst some of the congregation to create a contemplative space for the many young adults in the area this autumn. Katie has consciously given space to those that want to try new things like this, to have a go and see what develops. Katie’s wisdom is that ”this is God’s provision; if it’s right it will work out”.
The approach of starting new things at St James looks like it is following a typical fresh expressions journey: Prayerfully listen to God, the community around you and people in your church, find ways to build friendships with new people through showing practical love to them, build community, be prepared to answer questions about Jesus and a spiritual dimension as opportunities arise and over time you will see new people engaging with worship and church. Lastly be prepared to repeat the process as people become enthused and prompted by God to do so.
It also reminds me of Michael Moynagh’s ABC for starting fresh expressions of church and at St James it is clearly bearing fruit: Ask friends, Begin with what you’ve got, Chat to others, Dream up many possibilities, Experiment, Follow the fresh expressions journey and trust that God is in charge. Starting afresh, when a church appears to have few resources or people or where a whole type of local people are missing can seem daunting, but the simple, humble and flexible approach that St James has adopted is working, is seeing new people join their worshipping community and is as easy as following your ABC.
