Intro

We were contacted by David Grice, the newly appointed Church community worker at Chelsea Christian Centre.  David was interested in finding out more about how to effectively connect with the schools in his area in ways that would benefit both the schools and their wider communities.

Story

We have had regular meetings with David to chat through some ways of supporting the local schools and how to make positive and meaningful connections. The church hosted a pop up nativity on Christmas Eve 2016 (resources provided by the Bible Society) which they advertised to their nearest school community by handing out fliers after school one day. The result was that over 100 people from the local community attended! Early in 2017, David arranged a couple of introductory meetings with head teachers from local primary schools to see what positive connections could be made. The outcome was that two of the schools participated in the Noise project, and a team came into the schools to help with jobs around the school grounds. The schools were really pleased with the help they had received. In December 2016 and in March 2017, David came to training events run by BSC on how to run Christmas and Easter trails for local schools. Following this, BSC provided ongoing support, envisioning and resources to enable David and a team from the church to host their first Christmas Trail in December 2017 for the local school and community.  They have since gone on to run a bespoke Easter Trail in a local school, and are planning for the Christmas trail to accommodate more children this year.  The team also ran their first Light Stop event, 31st Oct 2018 – which over 75 children and adults attended!  This involved the church being open for children and families who were passing by trick or treating, or wanted to come to an alternative event – they were free to stay for as long as they wanted and join in with games/craft/refreshments.  It has been a privilege to journey with David and his team so far and we’re looking forward to supporting him further as the story continues!