“To begin with we had four guys from Walk come to our church and they brought an immediate freshness to us”
I first met Simon when he and the guys from Walk worked on replacing our old church roof. Since then we’ve had over one hundred men from Walk at our church in Penkhull over the years, either as members or coming to support those from Walk when they get baptized.
Before the guys from Walk started coming we had a conversation as a church about whether we were the kind of church that wanted to reach the people that need us the most or whether we wanted to be a nice comfortable club on a Sunday. For us to welcome the guys from Walk in we had to make sure we were creating a space that they would feel at home in, we couldn’t just ask them to join in with church as we’d always done it.
To begin with we had four guys from Walk come to our church and they brought an immediate freshness to us. There was something about the aliveness of people new to faith joining our church, it challenged us in really great ways.
Most obviously, we had to change the way we led a service or preached. Instead of casually mentioning someone like David, Noah or Samuel, we had to make sure we were explaining those stories and not just assuming everyone knew them. We also made more effort to ground our preaching in ways that were applicable to real life, we wanted to make sure we were serving the guys and the church with teaching that would impact them positively and relate to their experience.
Being close to Walk as a church has been great. It has done our church good to see God working and changing lives for the better. It has also helped us define our mission. I think every church has to decide what their purpose is and why they exist for the community that they serve. When Walk set up a house in Penkhull those men became part of our community and it became part of our mission to serve them as they go on their life-changing journeys.
And honestly, it’s been an honour to know the men and have them be part of our church. They are not visitors or guests, they are part of the family.
Stories of hope and of lives changed
We have lots of stories to share with you. Stories of hope, stories of lives changed, stories that will encourage you and stories that will blow you away. Follow the link below to read more.
