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8 THE BRIDGE... February 2010

WallingtonSpringfieldChurch

Bryan Harris’s

PARISH PROFILE N o

 t  a

benefits like buildings or staff,other than the Minister-in-Charge’s stipend. On Sundaymornings when over 200people from babies topensioners meet in a localsecondary school, it’s for some

 very ‘Un-Common Worship’,lively, spontaneous and lay-led.

 Yet that worship retains ashape that is recognisably

 Anglican because SpringfieldChurch remains rooted in theCofE, playing an active part inthe Deanery and the Diocese,and deliberately avoiding‘competition’ withsurrounding parish churches.

Being part of the Church of England is clearly important –to the congregation as well. Ispoke to a lady who switched

to Springfield from acharismatic free church and

the sense of being part of something bigger thanSpringfield was a big factor inher decision.

 With 200 plus people worshipping every week, of  whom around 45% are under18 years of age, they areclearly doing something right,so what is it?

There’s an air of professionalism abouteverything they do, with a staff team (both paid and voluntary)each concerned with a specificaspect of church life.

They’ve thought carefullyabout young people forexample. So there is aprogressive system that begins

on Sunday mornings with acrèche for the tinies; usually at3 years of age the children goup into ‘Sparklers’ whereteaching begins as well as fun,games,crafts and so on;‘Roadrunners for 5-11 yearolds takes the learning further

 with group worship, teaching,drama, quizzes and so on. Andat each stage the youngstersare registered in and out sothe church and their parentsalways know where they are.From school year 6 upwardsthere are youth activities onSunday mornings meeting forprayer and (lively) worship andtwo evening cell groups forolder teenagers and a monthly

 youth club. There is also aparent and toddlergroup one morninga week run by agroup of Springfield’s parentsfor others outsidethe church – and aChristian clubrunning weekly withthe children at alocal primary schooland a Messy Churchonce a month on aSaturday includingparents, several of 

 whom have as aresult becomechurch members.

 Another key

factor is a focus on‘relationships’ - atmany differentlevels. When I talkedto people afterSunday worship,time and again that

 word came up. Onelady told me howshe and her familyhad been made tofeel welcome ontheir first visit buteven moreimportantly, wereremembered byname when theycame back a secondtime. Another talkedabout the support

she’d received from

other church membersthrough an illness and a man

talked about the suppor thehad received followingredundancy!

Relationships are at theheart of the cell groups whichare central to Springfield’s life– there members support andencourage each other but alsodrive the church’s social andcommunity activities as part of a relationship with thecommunity around them(including supporting acharity of their choice). And

 with no parochial area togenerate baptisms, marriages,funerals - the family events

 which bring people intocontact with ‘church’ – thecell groups are the vehicle for

outreach, as members inviteothers to share theirrelationship.

Relationships are also amajor factor in Springfield’shigh profile public events. AtChristmas they took over alocal cinema for showings of ‘Christmas Carol’ – andpreviously ’The Lion , the

 Witch and the Wardrobe’ - where everyone in theaudience (around 500 people)

 was there by personalinvitation from a churchmember. The same goes forthe 550 plus people at ‘Feast inthe Field’ the annual Summerextravaganza of food andmusic, sports, games and will

apply to the talent and theaudience for a ‘Springfield’sGot Talent’ show later this

 year. They run the largestHoliday Club in the area, with250 children and no publicity,

 just personal invitations tofriends and neighbours. Forevery event, the answer to thequestion ‘how do we involvepeople outside the church’, isinvariably personal invitation.

 Will Cookson has beenMinister-in-Charge for thepast seven years. He said “Ourgreatest resource is our peopleand the relationships whichthey have with each other and

 with those in the communityaround them”.

 Will (left in the photo - topright - taken at the weeklymeeting) leads a dedicatedstaff team including AngieCookson (Cell Coordinator),

 Ann Nicholls (Pastoral Care),Sue Bosley (Children andFamilies Minister), NigelElderkin (Administrator) andBecca Watkins (Youth Pastor).But they are just the tip of theiceberg with many volunteerslike Children’s Leader Chris

 White and Mary Bowen, whoco-ordinates the very effective

 welcome team, playing theirpart. It’s a very active churchso there’s plenty for everyoneto do and a lot of effort is putinto growing new leaders to

share in the work. Already over

WallingtonSpringfieldChurch

If you get the opportunity tovisit Wallington Springfieldchurch be prepared to putaside your preconceptions of church’ (and aboutcharismatic worship) and tobe incredibly encouragedabout the future of our faithand the Church of England!

Springfield is very differentfrom the parish churches weusually profile. To begin withit isn’t a parish – legally it’s anextra-parochial place’ withinHoly Trinity & St Patrickparish, from which it sprangto life some 17 years ago. Andit has no parish churchbuilding, there’s no vicarageand no geographic base. Theypay parish share – but areentitled to few of the usual

80% of church members are

doing something, I was told.Sunday is when the

‘building blocks’, the cellgroups come together for

 worship – and normally helprun the service. Morning

 Worship at 10.30 twice amonth and Holy Communiontwice a month (whichobviously has to be moreformal and ‘CofE’ ). There isalso an evening service once amonth held at St Paul’sChurch on nearby Roundshaw.‘Shape’ is important in

 worship, says Will Cookson, soevery Morning Worshipincludes confession, readings,prayers, teaching and worshipsongs. The worship is lively

and enthusiastic – and theenthusiasm is infectious!

 Whichever cell is on duty that week welcomes people,provides readers, pray-ers, andeven makes the (real notinstant) coffee afterwards. Onthe Sunday I was there, theservice was led by a member of the congregation who will beordained in July – inCanterbury Diocese – anotherlay person preached and WillCookson had nothing to doother than to present abirthday bouquet to a ninety

 year old member of thecongregation (below).

People give generously, which is fortunate as apart

from the obvious costs of running Sunday Club, youth

 work and the different

outreach events, they pay for several part-timfull time staff memberhouse Will lives in, ‘rethe school (where themain hall and a growinumber of classroomsSpringfield Centre, aconverted shop off theStreet which serves asChurch Office; the loca monthly Day of Praycommunity concerns ‘drop in’. In addition tnumber of local commcauses, they support p

 working in mission ovand a school and comproject in Kenya. Theygiven £2,000 to the H

Disaster Appeal from fand followed it up witcollections for specificorganisations in the fiTearfund.

 And what of the futuseems that others wanof what Springfield haoffer. “We don’t want become a mega-churcpeople is manageable congregation, beyondrelationships can suffe

 Will. “So imagine our when a local Vicar askconsider planting acongregation in her pThe parish has a high of children and schoo

 we can offer our exper

and there are already number of people withcongregation whose dknowledge of the paripeople will be key to amission. We are lookinplanting a café style chthe existing church bu

 where the parish will continue to offer mortraditional worship.”

“The Anglican Churchurch for the peopleEngland – all of the pdedicated to proclaimfaith afresh to eachgeneration. That’s whtrying to do in our genand this place – and innew venture” said Wil

From babies to teens are welcomed at the creche... sparklers...road runners... and youth worship

The weekly team meeting