St Andrew’s in Boscombe has created a ‘Living Room’ for its community, a place where people can feel at home, build relationships and find a warm welcome. The community hub has grown out of a year of getting to know its neighbours and developing friendships beyond the church walls.
Revd Lorraine Kingsley said, “I started when I came to the church by building relationships, not with any agenda, not to get people into church, just because I believe that God is relational. We are called to be relational, and we can’t speak into people’s lives unless we know them. I think if we want to express the love of God then we have to love people, we have to listen to them and take the opportunities as they come.”
Those opportunities have included early morning swims in the sea, cycle rides, evenings together at the seafront or a local café, Thursday morning coffee and barbecues at one another’s homes.
These friendships have also brought people into church. Around 35 neighbours came to the Midnight Mass last Christmas, while others have joined Easter services and the launch of the church’s Sunday evening service, ‘The Upper Room’.
The church is keen to use its space for more than just Sunday services and to be available for all in Boscombe. The Living Room will be open every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday morning, offering a smile or a listening ear, coffee and cake, games and puzzles tables. The invitation is to ‘come as you are and be who you are.’
The community helped prepare cakes for the launch of the hub, while one neighbour opened her home as a prayer lounge.
Lorraine said the hub meets a need in the area: “There are many of our community who feel isolated or anxious and struggle with their mental health. This is also an area of deprivation where people struggle with addiction and unemployment. The needs in Boscombe are huge. We want our church to be a beacon of hope and light. We hope that by being open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursday mornings, people will start to see this as a place of life.”
The hub is already providing an opportunity for new connections. Michelle lives near the church and said, “It’s really nice. I’ve met this lovely lady Margaret, and we’ve just sat and had a laugh. There’s a real community feel about Boscombe so it’s nice when we can all get together and the church is a brilliant part of making that happen. Everyone is really welcoming every time you come in, whether you’re a stranger or not.”
Margaret added, “I like meeting people as I live on my own. I just met Michelle, who is somebody else I now know. This is another place to go, have a cup of tea and meet up. It’s great that the church reaches out to people and in ways that make people feel relaxed.”
Ania is another of the church’s neighbours. She said, “This is a space for community, welcoming everyone no matter their background. I’m from Poland originally and I’ve always felt very welcomed here. It’s a lovely place to meet people, to find yourself, to find some peace and to find God. Sometimes you have a bad day and to know that there are people who will lift you up is just a lovely thing.”
The hub will also be recommended by NHS social prescribing teams to people who could benefit from connection and support for their mental health and wellbeing.
Social prescriber Rachel Bellamy said, “There are many people who are isolated, and this is somewhere for them to come and it’s a safe space. They’re going to have a friendly welcome, and they’re going to be able to sit down and do some low-level activities, which will also help with any anxieties and help to build friendships and connections in their local community.”
Building from its relationships, the church’s first Alpha course is running at the vicarage in the autumn.
Lorraine added, “What we do here in St Andrew’s Church and what we do in our neighbourhood, where God has called us to live, is all part of the same thing. It’s all part of proclaiming in word and action that we will be a people that seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. I always just say to people that if I was a stick of rock, Isaiah 58 would run through me and I believe that as a church, we are called to be a restorer of streets for dwellings. That’s here in church, in conversations in coffee shops, in our neighbourhood gatherings, swimming in the sea, wherever we are.
“It’ll be exciting to see what God does in and through us. We don’t bring God into a community, God’s always working through his church, in his church and on the streets and we just join in with what God’s doing.”
