Priors Park Chapel, lovingly known as ‘The Chapel’ by the local community, is situated in the heart of a large ex-council estate in Tewkesbury.
For many years the seed has been sown by friendships forged and the love and compassion of Jesus shown and declared to many of the 4,000 residents. In spite of these efforts, the Sunday morning congregation had fallen discouragingly.
Various paths
However, recently, there has been a clear move of the Holy Spirit and now the harvest is coming home. The attendance has increased in the past 12 months from ten people, most of whom were over the age of retirement, to a vibrant but fluctuating congregation that can sometimes reach nearly 40.
In what ways has our God been working? A stroke, brought on by years of alcohol abuse, caused one lady to seek God and find him. For another it was seeing the outpouring of love through the church to someone in need. Another woman’s eyes were opened to who God really is through the Alpha course.
Among the poor and needy
The church feels very strongly that the gracious compassion and generosity of our heavenly Father should be displayed through Christians to those around. In a world of very damaged and abusive relationships, in never-ending spirals of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, where it is very tough to raise children in a society devoid of discipline, if he were here in person the Lord Jesus would be right in there among the poor and needy showing unbounded grace and mercy.
Through the constant provision of God, the church has sought to meet the needs of those coming for help, whether it is meeting rent arrears, ministering to victims of domestic violence, meeting the cost of food shopping, offering transport to attend court hearings, offering accommodation for the homeless, or topping up gas and electricity cards.
And it was from the responses to these acts of kindness that a number wanted to attend an Alpha course, from which four became disciples of Jesus.
From these four, as they shared their testimonies with friends and families, others were drawn to come under the power of God’s Word.
Stronger relationship with Christ
‘Yes, there are times when we have been criticised, taken advantage of, or verbally abused’, says church leader Nigel Haddow, who is also a director in a local quantity surveying practice, ‘but we are not called to judge those to whom we are ministering, but rather to take up our cross and follow Jesus’. Nigel and his wife Jackie, who works as a nurse for those with learning difficulties, were led by God at the beginning of 2015 to encourage the church to seek a stronger relationship with the Lord Jesus.
With less than a handful of able helpers in the church, leading a congregation, many of whom are single parents, brings its own challenges, including how to care for the children while the parents are engaged in worship. Dealing with lives broken by alcoholism and drug addiction brings other challenges of inconsistency and unreliability.
Alternatives
In order to cope with this, the church has recently started to alternate the worship times. On the first Sunday of the month there is an afternoon all-age interactive service where parents and children alike are involved.
Each third Sunday afternoon, the service is café-style, with an informal time of crafts and quizzes and teaching. The children then are given the opportunity to play supervised games while the adults study the Bible together. And what better way of rounding off the afternoon than with a cooked meal together.
The remaining Sundays have morning services with more traditional worship. ‘It is so thrilling to see God at work in the hearts of the people’, said Nigel.
