In this audio discussion, Richard speaks to Revd Phil Roche, a pioneer minister from the Diocese of Guildford, about opening the doors of the church, being a steady presence in the local community. Listen or read the transcript below.
If you’d like to find out more about the topic discussed, please contact Revd Phil Roche on rev.phil@outlook.com.
Richard: So thanks, Phil. It’s great that you’re willing to share your experience. Can you tell me what the church was like that you were working with, at the beginning?
Phil: So the church I was working with as part of the team was on the Surrey Hampshire border. It had had a very rocky recent history, congregation down to about 20, when we first joined there and was lacking in life and joy.
Richard: Right. And after? And what’s it like now?
Phil: After we’ve been there for about fourteen months, the congregation had grown from 20 to about 70 across the whole age range, when we went, age range 50 to 90. Now 7 to 90, and completely multi multinational. It had been very white middle class. It’s now completely international Ugandans, Nigerians, people from Hong Kong. In this country, we had people from the Gypsy Roma heritage background, and also people from the north of England like me!
Richard: Fantastic! And, I mean, that’s a big change. What what made the difference, Phil?
Phil: Two two things. Firstly, presence. If you want to see the doctor, you go to the surgery. If you want to see the vicar, you’re gonna go to the church. So you have to be in the church. In order to be present, we had to open the door. It was a part time post. We were there as a team, Fridays and Sundays. We opened the doors, we turned the lights on, and we put the kettle on. And when people came in, we welcomed them.
Richard: And, I think you were saying about God, what’s God’s job, and what’s our job? What were your thoughts?
Phil: Yes. So so we were very, very clear and the, there was a licensed lay minister, a reader in the team, and her phrase very clearly is ‘salvation belongs to the Lord, the teapot belongs to us’. The theology behind that is that people will be saved through their interactions with God. It’s our job not to put them off, but to welcome them, and that teapot come comes in many shapes. It can be an art group. It can be any number of activities. It’s our job to share the love. Salvation belongs to the Lord. The teapot belongs to us.
Richard: Great. Thank you very much.
